She's Not Afraid/ Carl Gallagher

Now and Forever

   I walk into Debbie's room extremely tired. I start looking for an outfit. I grab a white and black stripped t-shirt, black leggings, and my green army jacket. I throw the clothes on still half asleep and pull on black combat boots. I put on concealer and mascara and pull my hair in a messy bun. I take out my vocabulary paper for German and start studying as I walk down stairs.

"Good morning!" Fiona says cheerfully.

"Hey.", I say glancing up at her and see she's packing lunches.

I sit down at the table noticing no one else is here.

"Where's everyone?", I ask.

"They went to get some breakfast.", she replies taking a seat. "They said they'll bring you back something."

"Good I'm starving.", I respond happily not looking up from my studying.

"So, I think we need to talk.", she says getting my attention.

I look up from my words and notice she has a familiar envelope in her hands. Oh no, I think.

"Where'd you find that?!", I ask knowing exactly what it is.

"Lip called me.", she states.

"That fucker.", I say under my breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?", she asks surprised.

"I was going to today.", I lie.

"The day before the tour?", she questions.

"I don't even want to go.", I say which is sorta a lie.

"Because of Carl?", she asks.

"Things just finally started going good and I can't just leave him now or anyone else!", I defend myself.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity though.", she reminds me.

"I know but..", she cuts me off.

"But you should go. Carl will always be in love with you no matter where you go. He will understand.", she says thoughtfully.

"Ok what if we compromise.", I propose. "I'll tell everyone and they can come on the tour."

"And...", she says expecting more.

"I will seriously consider this.", I reply blandly.

She gives me a thumbs up and a huge smile. I fake a smile back.

"We're back!", I hear Debbie yell and the door shut.

Carl walks through the doorway carrying a Starbucks bag. He looks so hot. He has on a leather jacket and black jeans.

"Hey baby.", he says winking at me.

I laugh and we all sit down to eat.

"This tastes like actual shit.", Carl says setting down his coffee.

I laugh. He never liked Starbucks. He grabs three cake pops out of the bag and shoves them all in his mouth.

"You literally have no manners.", Debbie says annoyed.

I look at my phone 6:45.

"We better go.", I say standing up and grabbing my stuff.

"Your gonna be early.", Debbie tells me.

"We're gonna walk." I respond. "Come on Carl."

He gets up and grabs his stuff. We say goodbye and walk out the door.

"Why are we walking?", he asked confused.

"I need to talk to you.", I say quietly. "Can we skip some classes?"

"You wanna skip?" He asks. I nod at him. "This must be important."

He grabs my hand and we both smile. We start walking to the old abandoned building.

Carl pov.
Laci rarely wants to skip. I start to worry. I hope she's not gonna break up with me or anything. We walk into the old empty store and sit down on the steps.

"So Fiona is kinda making me do this.", she says nervously.

Oh shit I think. Fiona made sure when we started dating that I knew Laci was better than me and the only reason we were dating is because it made Laci happy. She also said if I ever hurt her she'd rip my balls off. Laci pulls an envelope out of her bag and hands it to me.
I look at the contents which include a booklet and a fancy letter. I start to look them over. It reads "Junior Language Camps" at the top in fancy letters. I start to read realizing Laci got accepted into this camp.

"So basically I got invited to this German camp.", she says as I read over the papers. "I don't think I'm going to go though.", she adds quickly.

"Why wouldn't you go?", I asked confused.

"It's for nine weeks.", she replies.

"So?", I say looking up at her sad face.

"Carl... I just can't leave you for that long. I never want to leave you at all.", she says almost in tears which shocks me.

I lean in and pull her body towards mine.

"I never want you to leave either....but you should never let me hold you back from a decision." I reply trying not to break down.

I kiss her head and say just what I feel... "Laci I will love you if your here or all the way on the other side of the fucking world. I will love you even if you hate me. I will love you today and everyday, now and forever." I tell her even though it sounded cheesey as shit.

She pulls away from my grasp and kisses me softly on the lips and then she pulls me into a hug that I never want to end.