laminated lavenders | dreamnotfound

11

11 - cara

~

"so, what are we up to today?" george asked the trio, right hand settled on his hip while he leaned on the refrigerator, the three groaned in response. it was their second day in america, and they were tired, with george as an exception. "staying in?"

"yeah, i feel like i've been hit by a truck." sapnap whined, pressing his face on the table even further. "i don't want to walk right now, gogy."

"i'm also just in the mood for fast food right now, i might order." wilbur mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "yeah, i'm deffo going to order. what do you guys want?" the tall brit asked, they told him their orders and he wordlessly inputted the food and drink combinations.

"actually, i'll be right back. i'll just go on a walk." george said, and they looked at him - each giving some form of agreement.

"stay safe." techno smiled, standing up to get himself a glass of water, turning his head down a bit because of how close it is to the ceiling.

"return home soon, my love, my gogy!" sapnap exaggerated, giving george a toothy grin while petting friend, who stood beside nick's chair.

"oh, love, huh?" george turned, eyebrow raised when he looked at the youngest, "did you forget about karl?" he joked, with sapnap smiling at the mention of his lover - pulling his phone out to text him something useless yet sweet.

"sapnap? forget about karl? in what world, george?" wilbur smirked, leaning back into the chair - pushing himself forward when he was about to fall - treating the slender, golden chair with brown accents like a rocking chair, to which george didn't mind. "sure, when pigs fly, sapnap will forget about karl." he laughed, "by the way, stay safe, george."

"thanks." george smiled at the three, "i won't be long." he reassured, walking out of the front door and started to wander aimlessly around the street, stopping by an ice cream parlor. george entered the establishment, pastel pink walls greeting him.

"hi! how may i help you?" a gentle voice asked politely, george looked up to see a girl with fluffy, white hair, pale skin and light blue eyes. the nametag pinned on the right side of her shirt had her name written in cursive; cara.

"hi, uh, may i get a strawberry flavoured ice cream? five scoops please." george smiled.

cara?

george narrowed his eyes, looking at the nametag properly. it was. cara. his mind drifted off to one of clay's letters, it wasn't possible, was it?

'today, my parents adopted an older sister for me! she has albinism, which was totally cool - she looked like a fairy character. she is very pretty and takes care of me when mom and dad aren't around; her name's cara, but i call her puffy because of her puffy hair and she reminds me of a sheep, and in return, she calls me her duckling! because i always follow her around and all that. i tell stories of us to her, and she hopes to meet you someday.'

the brit snapped out of his thoughts when cara told him how much he had to pay, pulling out his wallet and paying her - cara's blue eyes drifted down to the polaroid picture tucked in the plastic pocket of george's wallet. he couldn't be, could he?

"here you go." george handed the money to cara politely, with her smiling in return.

"i hope this isn't invasive, and you don't have to answer, but - are you george, by any chance?" cara asked, taking the dollar and proceeding to scoop the strawberry ice cream from its pastel pink bucket, the strawberry prints chipping away from the plastic. "do you know a clay?"

"yeah, why?" george replied, tilting his head to the side in confusion. 

"i'm cara, i was his adopted older sister." she explained, "and, clay has told me an awful lot about you." cara smiled at the smaller boy before her.

"where's clay? how is he?" george asked frantically, cara chuckled - handing the strawberry ice cream over to the former, something flashed in her eyes - but it was too quick and george didn't catch it.

when cara was asked the question, she wanted to lay on her bed and be stuck in a fetal position - forever wishing that she can fold into herself, and that the ground would eat her alive, disappearing without a trace, but that won't do. cara doesn't know - she wasn't sure, but deep down, she knew that disappearing wasn't the answer or the solution to her predicament. at the moment, she felt like her body wasn't her own and that she was floating in outer space. the temporary solution to her little conflict right now, however, was to indirectly give the brit before her an answer. "i have too much to explain, can we talk tomorrow? in the old house?"

"how is clay?" george asked, persistent and determined to know an answer as to how his friend was.

"it's too complicated, please, we can talk, but not here." cara muttered, pleading, her light blue eyes stared into george's honey brown with the same fire and persistence.

"fine." george gave up, taking a spoonful of ice cream from his cup. "i'll come over in the afternoon, if that's alright with you?" he asked.

"sure, i'd love to know more about you." cara smiled, "i'm sorry, i just...there's so much for me to explain. i just wanted us to talk about my little duckling in a place more private. you wouldn't want me to drop some details, do you?"

"of course not." george agreed, sighing before dropping his tense shoulders. "i apologize, too. i haven't seen clay in a long time, there's so many things i want to apologize about and i don't want to lose him again, cara."

"i understand." cara reassured, george checked the time on his phone before muttering a small goodbye - the white haired woman smiled gently and waved as she watched george's retreating figure. letting out a sigh, she banged her head on the table, "what am i gonna do, clay?" 

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02/25/21 - first draft
03/09/21 - edited