The Love Hotline [ ✓ ]

XVI

Gideon | Carys | Angie

Angie was hyperventilating and for once, it wasn't because of Dylan O'Brien's "adorable dimples" and "dreamy eyes". Well, it wasn't the main reason anyway since they were in Angie's bedroom and she did have a whole wall dedicated to her "boyfriend" but that was beside the point.

In the midst of Angie's fangirling session, a loud crash resounded from the corner of her room.

"YOU SMASHED TEDDY?!" Angie stormed over and gripped her best friend's shirt with a look in her eyes that could kill even the dead. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

"I had to deliver the good news before I said the bad," Carys replied calmly. "That was for renaming him to 'my BF' when I was... doing things."

Angie opted for the silent treatment and fondly picked up the shattered pieces of the broken garden gnome, gathering them up in her arms. "It's okay Teddy. You're with Petra now. You're in a better place..." she muttered before dumping the remains in the bin.

"That was pretty anticlimactic, if you ask me," Carys commented casually.

Angie glared at Carys as she stood up. "How many of my gnomes are you going to sacrifice to the gnome god?"

"How many have I sacrificed so far?"

"Three. Lenus, Petra and Teddy."

"I wasn't asking for names but okay."

"They have to be honoured for their bravery. It's not everyday that you're betrayed by people you thought you could trust."

"Is it not?"

Silence met Carys' bitter statement.

"Sorry. It just came out."

"That's okay. It's not like time can erase everything."

"But what if it can?"

"No, Angie. It can't."

"But what if it can?"

"Is there something you want to say?"

"No. No. I'm all good." Angie grinned. "Anyway. We need a game plan. First of all, do you want him to find out that you're the one-"

"No! Definitely not."

"Well then, here's the plan..."

• • • •

"Good morning America! Hope you're having a wonderful day! I'm looking for a girl they call Carys Allison."

"I'm still having trouble seeing what you see in that idiot."

"I think I'm starting to see where you're coming from."

Angie stared at her best friend as if she had started growing a watermelon on her head from all those seeds she had swallowed. She was convinced that it would happen eventually and Carys never had the heart to correct her.

"Either way, he's looking for you." Angie gently pushed Carys forward. "Go announce your presence like the queen you are."

Carys smiled gratefully at her best friend. She could always count on Angie to make her nerves disappear even though she may have some... out of the ordinary hobbies.

"Hey."

"Ah! Just the girl I was looking for!" Gideon hooked his arm with Carys' limp one enthusiastically. "Come. We have much to discuss."

"Are you taking me away to murder me because I think it's against the law. You'll be charged of first degree murder and I'll be laughing at you from heaven."

Gideon gave her a strange look and Carys looked up at the sky as if praying for her life.

"You talk fast."

"You talk slow."

Plan A had been to pretend to be a sweet, happy-go-lucky girl and Carys was pretty sure her attitude just then didn't fit that criteria. Luckily, there were twenty-six letters in the alphabet and if all hope ran out, there were still ten numbers. Angie made sure Carys had all the options, even if plan Z9 suggested that she would talk in a foreign language and fake hiccups.

"You know..." Gideon stopped walking. "You remind me someone I know."

Carys felt her heart drop. "I do?"

"Yeah. This girl I met a few months ago. She liked to recycle my phrases as well and she had a bit of a flare with theatrics like you. She's in my maths class. She seems to hate social interactions..." He glanced at Carys guiltily. "Not that I'm saying that you do... Her best friend, Angie, has an obsession with garden gnomes. I'm guessing she doesn't really go out much. She's sweet and forgiving but damn, she really knows how to hold a grudge."

"Hold on there, Romeo. You don't really think that I could be this girl right?" Carys paused and she tried to hide the smile that was creeping onto her face.

"Did you just call me Romeo?"

"You seemed like you were looking for someone you lost an amazing bond with."

"If that bond is her identity, then yeah. I did."

Cays laughed. What else could she do? She didn't know what more to say because frankly, Carys was the girl Gideon was talking about and she was bad at lying.

"Well then... I just have one question for you."

"Continue."

"Do you know the muffin man?"

"Again?"

Gideon grinned widely. "Hey Cupid."

And that was when Carys realised that she'd messed up. Badly.

• • • •