"carl!" he was woken up by a loud pounding on the door, "carl i swear to god if you're asleep-"
"what do you want?" he groaned, recognizing debbie's voice.
"we have plans, carl." she scolded, "a half hour ago."
"shit." he whispered, jumping out of bed and hopping into a pair of jeans.
"i know that debbie," he yelled, "i'm just running a little late cause i didn't... like my... socks?"
carl opened the door and smiled at her, "all ready." he said, debbie just rolled her eyes at him as they walked down the stairs.
They walked past the kitchen to the door before fiona stopped them, "hey hey where are you guys goin?"
"lunch." debbie said.
"with who?" fiona questioned.
"each other." carl answered, opening the door for his sister.
they walked out the door as fiona gushed about how excited she is that they're spending time together. they decided to go to the diner so they could use Carl's employee discount.
"is the french toast any good here?" debbie asked once they were seated in the restaurant.
carl shook his head, and mumbled "soggy" with a mouth full of milkshake.
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"jesus christ i'm so bloated." carl groaned, slouching into the seat.
debbie laughed, then stopped when she heard the kitchen door open. "is that rylee?" she asked.
carl turned around, "yep," he replied, waving at rylee, "she works today i guess."
rylee walked over to their table, carl scooted over in the booth so she could take a seat.
"whoa what happened?" he asked quickly after noticing the big black eye rylee had.
"oh uh, a bowl fell from the rack yesterday during dinner rush." she lied, deciding to not tell carl about her interaction with lamar, "how are you?" she quickly diverted the attention to debbie, who replied with a quick "good."
"how's your day going?" he asked.
rylee shrugged, "slow"
"oh you guys are talking again?" debbie asked, they both nodded, a bit uncomfortable.
"what even happened?"
"oh um, she uh, kind of cheated on me." carl said, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
"oh I didn't know you guys were like officially together." debbie said, oblivious to how uncomfortable they both were with the conversation.
"well we aren't but-"
"oh, so she didn't technically.. cheat?" debbie asked, annoying carl.
"well.. i mean-" carl started to defend, but rylee cut him off.
"oh shit she right." she whispered, mostly to herself."
"what." carl snapped.
"what?" rylee asked.
"are you kidding?" carl sat up
"carl, i'm just saying she's right," rylee said, " we weren't dating. we still aren't, not that i would do it again but-"
"so you think that makes it better?" carl's eyebrows knit together in frustration.
"no carl but i didn't cheat."
"i told you i was in love with you." he said, enunciating each word.
"carl-"
"i can't fucking believe this." he sighed, pushing his plate away from him for no reason other than that he wanted to make an angry gesture.
Rylee knew that nothing she would say right now would help things, and she didn't want to sit in the uncomfortable environment any longer, so she told them that she had to get back to work, and returned to the kitchen. carl sat, staring out the window trying to be less pissed off.
"sorry i didn't mean to cause an argument i was just trying to... understand the situation." debbie said.
"it's fine debs." carl sighed, "listen, i'm gonna take off. i'll see you later." he stood up, setting a crumpled pile of cash on the table on the table and walking out of the diner, walking aimlessly down the streets to clear his head.
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"ry, open up." carl yelled, knocking on her front door for the fourth time. it had been a few hours since their argument at the diner, and carl decided to go to rylee's house to sort things out.
"i'm not good at this." carl said immediately when rylee opened the door, and stepped out onto the porch.
"carl, i-"
"i'm fucking jealous rylee." carl yelled, "and i know i can't be because we're not dating or whatever, but i don't like that you were hooking up with that guy."
Rylee just stood there, not knowing what to say, so carl continued.
"i don't know what to do because you obviously don't get why this matters to me-"
"it matters to me too carl," rylee cut him off, "you've been my best friend since-"
"this isn't a best friend thing, rylee." he snapped.
"then we can be more than friends if that's what this is about." she retaliated.
"i- what? we can?" he asked, caught off guard.
rylee nodded, "we can be whatever you want to be." she said softly.
"we can?"
she nodded again. he grinned widely, nodding as well.
"come on, it's cold out here." rylee said, taking carl's hand and walking into the house.
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(FUCK donald trump. he is NOT MY PRESIDENT)
