"no, you can't do that."
carl woke up to the sound of rylee's voice. he looked over to see her sitting at the end of his bed on the phone, barely seeing her as the only light illuminating the room was coming from an alarm clock on his table, which read 3:42AM.
"look, i know i fucked up but you can't just-"
"rylee?" carl called out in a quiet, groggy voice, "babe what's going on?"
rylee looked over her shoulder to see that carl was awake.
"i have to go," she spoke into the phone, "alright just... wait, okay?"
carl sat up on his elbows as she hung up the phone and got next to him once again.
"what was that about?" he asked.
"let's go to bed." she whispered, ignoring his question.
"ry, you can tell me." carl whispered, "can't you?"
"don't worry about it."
"that's kind of hard to do when you're having a sketchy ass phone call in the middle of the night." carl said, no longer whispering.
"i'm tired." she replied after a moment, keeping her voice at a whisper.
"tomorrow then." he said, as if it were no question. she didn't reply.
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"alright i've got a BLT, and a burger for the lady," a tall scrawny man said in a dull voice, setting down plates on the table, "is there anything else i can get for you?"
"no thanks." carl replied. he and rylee were sat at a diner he drove them to that took a bit too long to drive to. the inside was dim, mostly lit by neon signs placed around. rylee sat across from carl in a booth, shaking her legs and tapping her fingers on the table.
"you alright?" carl asked.
rylee nodded, picking up her burger and taking a bite.
"so uh, when are you going to tell me what happened last night?" he asked after a few minutes of silent eating.
"some things are just better kept to yourself, you know?"
"we're out of town, rylee, if that's the issue. nobody's going to hear." he said, but she didn't respond, "look, ry, if something's going on, if you're in trouble, i can help you, we can figure some-"
"you just need to leave it alone, carl." rylee cut him off.
he just looked at her for a moment before speaking, "okay."
"okay, but if something comes up and you change your mind, i'll help you," he said softly, "you know that, right?"
"yeah," she replied quickly, "i know."
"how's the burger?" carl asked, putting a positive twist on the conversation.
"it's good." she smiled with a mouth full of food, knocking over the salt shaker as she reached for her soda.
"alright mumbles, you better hurry up if you want us to get to work on time." carl chuckled, gathering up the loose salt from the table into a napkin.
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"This is stressful," carl set down dishes next to rylee as she rinsed off the ones currently in front of her.
"yeah it's pretty busy tonight," rylee laughed.
"i'm trying to get really drunk tonight, you in?" carl laughed, but rylee could tell that he wasn't finding any part of his stressful night at work humerus.
"oh uh.. i actually have to go do something tonight," rylee said, "with my mom you know"
"with your mom?" carl asked, "at 11 at night?"
"yeah, but uh, i'll stop by after if that's cool." she replied, not looking up from the sink.
"oh yeah but what-"
"gallagher, let's go!" someone yelled from the noisy kitchen.
"yeah just come by when you're done." carl said quickly before returning to the kitchen.
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rylee walked into the gallagher house, past Ian and Mickey in the kitchen, headed straight to carl's room.
"rylee what the fuck." carl said right when she walked in.
"whoa, you drunk already?" she laughed, but he didn't so much as crack a smile.
"i saw you."
"what are you talking about?"
"i fucking saw you, rylee behind that fence a half hour ago." he said sharply, "what the fuck was that rylee what are you-"
"you followed me?!" she yelled at him.
"you really need to tell me what's going on." he said, "right now, rylee."
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(ooooo a mystery. anyway how was ur day what did u do how do u feel??
hope ur all drinking lots of water and getting good sleep and listening to good music and having a good time)
