Yes Please || c.g. {complete}

"Awake?"

41

.Carl.

"Why are we awake right now?" I whined as I sat on the edge of the bed rubbing my eyes. "It's still dark out!"

Layla sighed as she brushed her hair. "We need to get on the road before rush hour starts."

"And rush hour starts at five AM?" I groaned. Her parents were letting us use one of their cars to drive up to Wisconsin, and her dad was nice enough to bring it down to us as long as we dropped him at work on our way up.

"Carl, it's Chicago; 'rush hour' is a misnomer; it's always 'rush hours.'" She finished putting her hair up in a messy bun. "Are you packed?" she asked, a concerned look on her face.

I stretched my arms. "Yeah." That was done at about eleven o'clock last night.

"Go get ready!" she laughed, pushing me off the bed.

I quickly pulled myself together, and we grabbed a few water bottles and snacks for the nearly-five-hour drive. She got a text from her dad that he was downstairs, so I leashed the dogs, put my backpack on, and slung her bag over my shoulder.

I realized I had no free hand or arm to help her. I looked at myself and then up at her. "You can hold onto the bag strap if you need to," I suggested guiltily.

She laughed. "I will manage. Are you sure you got all that?"

"Not really," I laughed as we began to head downstairs.

When we got out to the street, Layla began looking around for her dad's car. "I thought he said he was here," she sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"There's a car idling right there," I pointed a few cars up.

She shook her head. "That's not one of my parents' cars."

A moment or so, a tall man got out of the driver's seat and turned to face us.

"Dad?" Layla called with a confused grin.

"Hey kiddo! Hey Carl!" he waved.

We walked slowly over to him.

"Dad, what's up with this car?" Layla laughed as her dad came around to hug her. "This isn't yours."

He laughed. "No, it's not."

Layla looked at me and back at him with a confused smirk. "I don't get it. Whose is it?"

Her dad smiled. "Yours." Her dad moved to open the trunk and motioned for me to put the bags in there.

"What?" Layla's eyes got huge and she threw her hands over her mouth. "But, I...how..."

He dad chuckled. "It's for school, mostly."

She threw her arms around him. To be honest, I wanted to do the same.

"Dad, how did you know I couldn't go to school right now?" she asked, her eyes still wide.

"We called your doctor to find out how the follow-up appointment went," her dad explained. "He told us the bad news he gave you, and how crushed you were."

Layla began to cry. "I was. Thank you guys so much!" She looked at me in disbelief and I smiled back in agreement.

Her dad hugged her again before we all got into the car. Since he knew the way to his office, he drove and had her sit in the passenger seat, and I got in the back with the dogs, who were still tired and mopey. They both plopped down immediately. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as Layla's dad began telling her about the car.