"alright next." carl calls from the bathroom stall as another kid steps in.
"what do you want?"
"uh.. AK47?" the kid says, unsure.
"ak47? are you fucking kidding me? get out of here." carl barks, and the kid scurries off.
"next!"
carl looks up to see rylee standing at the door of the bathroom stall. he stares up at her with a blank expression. "what do you want?"
"i want to know what you're doing." she snaps, "carl you already had to get yourself out of this shi-"
"no. i mean what gun do you want?" he interrupts.
"what? i don't want a gun, i-"
"then you need to leave." he says quickly, "i've got a business to run."
"carl please." she says quietly, "you don't need to do this."
"you don't even know what's going on with me anymore rylee, so why don't you just leave."
she sighed, and gave up for now, walking out of the bathroom.
"next!"
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carl sat on his bed, counting the cash that he had been making the past week from his bathroom stall business (not nearly as sexual as it sounds) when rylee walks in.
"listen, i know you don't care what i have to say right now, but i'm just worried about you, carl," she began, "it was so hard for you to get away from this shit before and-"
"yeah whatever i've got enough now so i'm not selling anymore anyway." he said quickly.
"okay.. good. can we please talk?" she asked, but he stayed silent.
"i want to work things out." she said in a pleading voice, "please, carl. i fucked up okay. and i know that. and i understand if you don't love me anymore but.. i can't lose my best friend."
"you hurt me, rylee." he said after a moment, still not making eye contact.
"i know." she said, tears brimming at her eyes, "i know and i'm so so sorry. i never wanted to hurt you. and i'm sorry i yelled at you at work earlier, i just want things back to normal."
"you can't get mad that it's hard to trust you after what happened." he told her, "i need some time."
"okay."
"okay."
rylee stands up and heads toward the door, but carl stopped her.
"you don't have to leave."
she nods and walks over to sit beside him on the bed.
he looks at her and smiles lightly before looking back down to pick up all the money on his bed. "i'll be right back." he told her.
he walked down into the kitchen where fiona was standing.
"hey carl what's up?" she asks.
"ian and lip are still gone and i can't fix liam's fever, but you don't need to worry about the money anymore." he said quickly, setting the money on the counter in front of her.
her eyes widened, "carl how did you-"
"please don't worry about it." he cut her off softly.
"thank you." she whispered, pulling him into a hug. "stay safe."
"always." he smiled into the hug. "don't let frank get his hands on that."
"oh i won't." she assured him, putting the money in a new jar behind the fridge, "we've got a new hiding place now."
he laughed as she walked back into the living room to take care of liam, and carl walked back upstairs to his room.
he shut off the lights and climbed in bed with rylee. he wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his head on the pillow above hers.
he was about to fall asleep when rylee sat up, coughing loudly.
"you good?" he asked. she nodded still coughing.
"hold on." she choked between coughs, leaving the room and coming back moments later with a glass of water.
she drank little sips until she stopped coughing. she laid down, and immediately started coughing again. she rolled her eyes and sat back up, drinking more water.
"what's going on?" carl laughed.
"bronchitis."
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rylee woke up the next morning in carl's bed after he had gone in to work early. She sat up after a moment, jumping a bit as she saw a man sitting across the room, staring at her.
"you carl's girl?" he asked her.
"who the fuck are you?" she asked, confused and slightly scared, noting that the man had a gun in his hand.
"you didn't answer my question." he stood up and walked toward the bed.
"no." she whispered, because she felt that that was the safest answer to go with.
"no, what?" he asked harshly.
"no i'm not carls girl." she said quietly.
"why are you lying to me?" he yelled, slapping her face with his free hand, causing her to fall back into the bed.
"i'm sorry" she said in a shakey voice, looking back at him.
"where is he?" he asked, still yelling.
"at work." she replied quickly.
"working for who?" he pressed.
"a.. a diner" she said, confused.
"who else is he working for?" she man asked, clearly agitated.
"nobody!" she said quickly.
"that's not what i've been hearing around." he said angered, "so either you're lying to me, or your little boyfriend is lying to you."
rylee shook her head. she knew carl wasn't keeping anything from her, she sees him every single day.
"he's not working for anybody else." she said.
"well if nobody can tell me anything," he began, looking at the gun in his hand, "i'll be back real soon, and this whole family will have to deal with carl's shit."
Rylee gasped as he turned to walk out the door.
"wait." she said quickly, "i have proof."
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( oooo ok that's all i got for a lil but lmao i wrote like the last 8 chapters in one night. pls praise me.)
(also this is the worst end of a chapter but i felt the need to put it in somewhere bc i mentioned bronchitis earlier oop)
