"Hey, ry. It's me, again." carl sighed into the phone, "I'd really like a call back. But you're not listening to this message, or the ones before it anyway so it doesn't matter."
Carl rolled his eyes at himself and decided to just hang the phone up before saying anything else. He stood up from his bed and walked down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. He leaned against the counter as he held the cup in his hand, waiting for it to cool down. He wasn't as upset that Rylee didn't answer the phone now as he was a week ago. He had gotten in the habit to calling every day when he woke up and when he went to sleep, but she never answered. Carl jumped slightly as the door suddenly opened, spilling his coffee on himself. He leaned over to wipe it up with a towel next to him, and laughed lightly.
"Jesus, Mickey, you could knock before you barge in so loud." He said before standing up to see Rylee standing in the doorway, a stressed look on her face.
"R-ry?" Carl stammered, "Ry you're here."
Carl walked toward her, but she just shook her head.
"I thought you were working," she explained, "I'm here for Ian."
"Oh, sorry." Carl nodded, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice, "I switched shifts with Jake."
She nodded awkwardly before taking a deep breath, "I'm gonna head upstairs."
"Hey, Ry?" He stopped her before she could leave the room.
"Yeah?" she hesitantly turned around.
"You look good. I'm glad I could see you." He said, trying to sound casual, and failing.
"Yeah, Carl." she nodded, "You, too"
As she walked up the stairs to Ian's room, Carl grabbed the pack of cigarettes from the counter, and his cup of coffee, and walked out to the back yard. He lit a cigarette and relaxed back into the lawn chair. He took a drink of his coffee, then set his cigarette between his lips, leaning back and closing his eyes.
"You good, man?" Mickey asked, laughing as he approached the house.
Carl looked up at him and suddenly Mickey's facial expression changed.
"You're not working?" he asked.
"No." Carl muttered.
"Oh, shit." He laughed nervously, "Uh, just so you know, Rylee is probably going to stop by soon."
Carl chuckled at Mickey's awkward attempt to warn him of something that had already happened.
"I know." Carl said, taking a drag of his cigarette, and leaning back again, "She's up in Ian's room."
"You talk to her?"
"Yep. She just about vomited when she saw me." Carl laughed, even though he didn't find it funny at all.
"Probably just caught off guard." Mickey said in another awkward attempt to somehow comfort Carl.
"You don't have to do this, Mickey, you can just go inside." Carl laughed.
"Thank fucking god." Mickey muttered as he walked up the steps to the door.
________
"Jesus christ" Carl muttered, as he walked past his house and noticed that Rylee was still there. He didn't want to be in there when she was, because it made him sad and uncomfortable, but he couldn't exactly tell her to leave either.
He sighed and continued to walk down the street, before anybody saw him out there. He lit a cigarette and walked to the only other place he could think to go.
"Son? What are you doing here?"
Carl sighed as he sat on the barstool next to Frank.
"Can't go home." He said simply.
"Did they kick you out too?" Frank asked loudly, "Because, I understand how it feels."
"I'm not here to talk to you about my feelings, frank." Carl rolled his eyes, "and I didn't get kicked out."
"Hey, Carl." Kev said, suddenly standing across from him.
"Hey, Kev. What's up?"
"I should be asking you that." Kev laughed, setting a beer in front of Carl, "What are you doing here?"
Carl looked up and sighed, but Kev caught on before he even had to say it.
"Is she at the house?" He asked quietly.
Carl nodded, "With Ian and Mickey."
"Did you break up with little neighbor girl?" Frank asked loudly. Carl nodded, and Frank laughed, "Isn't that just the shits? You've seen each other every day for years and now I bet it's so uncomfortable."
Carl glared over at Frank, who was still laughing.
"Fuck off, Frank." Carl spat, "You've managed to fuck up every relationship in your life, no matter how long."
"I've still got you." Frank said with a smile.
"No, you don't." Carl finished his beer quickly, handing Kev some cash, and deciding to just walk home and go straight to his room. He had nowhere else to go: at the alibi, he had to deal with Frank, and at home, he had to see rylee. Both were bad, but Carl decided that it was better to suffer while laying in his bed.
Carl entered the house as quietly as possible, and took off his shoes before tip toeing up the stairs, into his room. He sighed and sat down on his bed, leaning his head on the pillow and turning on the TV. He didn't watch bobs burgers anymore, because he found that rewatching all of the episodes by himself wasn't so much fun. He had been working on watching every alien documentary on Netflix, and now he was on a random episode of unsealed alien files. He sat still, laying in the same position for a while, until he started feeling tired. He decided to stand up now and tug off his jeans and jacket to put on a t shirt, so he wouldn't have to do it when he was more tired. He turned off his lamp and got under the covers, holding onto the pillow as he continued to watch the TV, trying his best to ignore the muffled sound of rylees voice through the wall that kept grabbing his attention. He was finally getting comfortable and used to the sounds around him, when suddenly the chatter in the house quieted with one last "bye" from Ian. A few seconds passed and Carl was suddenly caught off guard by his door knob rattling.
His first response was to snap his eyes shut, and pretend to be asleep. He heard footsteps slowly come closer to him.
"Carl?" He heard rylee's soft voice, and had to fight the urge to pop up right then, incase she was going to tell him that she wanted to get back together. But he knew that wouldn't happen, so he kept his eyes closed.
"Carl, you awake?" She whispered, and he felt a dip in the bed by his feet, and her small hand softly rubbing his leg over his blanket.
"I miss you." Carl heard her whisper. His heart jumped when he heard it, even though she thought that she was talking to an unconscious Carl.
He heard her take a deep breath, then she stood up, leaving a small kiss on his cheek.
"I love you."
________________
(short but sweet
???
not very sweet at all actually
idk why i said that.
idk where this is going
are u still sad? is this confusing? am i making any sense? is this story even still good? aaaaaaaaahhh
anyway love u bye )
