library; carl gallagher // on hold

4

Crimson's POV

I was lacing up my rollerblades as I saw him enter through the glass doors. His bright eyes were scanning the room. Happiness overtook me and before I knew it I was up off the bench and skating as fast as a pro to him. I weaved through the crowd, hopefully not running over toes.

On my last stride I jumped onto his tall lanky figure, wrapping my legs around his body and my arms hugging him as close to me as possible. His arms supported my body. I cradled my face into his neck, smelling his dark hair in the process. Coconuts and palm trees.

I retreated my head to face him, moving my hands to the sides of his neck. "Sebby, what are you doing here?" I couldn't contain my smile. I was as ecstatic as a kid in candy shop. 

"Ariel and I planned this a few months ago to surprise you." He informed, smiling down at me. The smile I saw millions of times over video chat. But this time there was no screen separating us. Eyebrows slightly raised, eyes wrinkled and teeth sparkling.

"I have the best friends."  It was so surreal to see my internet best friend right here, in the same room as me. We've discussed breaking the distance multiple times but I wasn't expecting us to so soon. I motioned for him to put me down as he was mostly holding me up now. "I didn't know you knew how to skate." I stated once my little feet reached the carpet.

I smoothed down my hair as he said "You're right, I don't know how to skate." I engulfed him in my arms for one more hug which he greatly returned. "This won't be the last hug of the night." he whispered in my ear.

I ended the hug (sadly) to look at him. "Good. And I'll guide you in skating. Although I'm not that great myself, I can just get by. Let's go get your skates." I grabbed his right hand and began to skate to the roller-skate rental desk. Ariel appeared in my peripheral so we took a detour. "Thank you so much girlie." I give Ariel a hug as tight as the one I gave Sebby, releasing his hand in the process. 

"Of course. I love you so much." she rubbed her hand up and down my back. I honestly don't know what I did to deserve a friend like Ariel. I am so lucky to have a friendship as strong as this. I wish for everyone to have a friendship like the one I possess with Ariel. Everyone could use an Ariel.

"I love you too," I muffle into her long straightened hair. "Well we have to get Sebastian some skates so see you afterwards." I inform her and begin to walk away with him by my side. When we reached the skate rental desk there was a line of about twelve ahead of us. Service here was either really fast or really slow. It was a hit or miss. 

"Aye Crimson!" A familiar voice shouted over the loud bass-boosted hip hop the DJ was playing. I couldn't decipher exactly where the noise was coming from, so it was a minute before I spotted Carl. At first I wasn't sure it was Carl because of his hair braided into corn rows but as he approached us I recognized his face. I don't know who told that boy that he looked good with his hair like that but I'll let him live. I'm sure his friends already roasted him before they got here.

"Hey Crimson." he greeted me and went for a hug, which I accepted out of reflex. His cologne smelled excellent and it gave the impression that it wasn't cheap. 

"Hey Carl. I'm glad you could make it." I cut the hug short to face him. As I moved up with the line alongside Sebby, Carl became aware of his existence. A look of confusion crossed the blonde's face which is when I decided to start the introduction. 

"Carl, this is my internet best friend, Sebastian. Sebastian this is Carl, whom I met in the library." I say, purposely leaving out the public masturbation. They exchange a 'bro hug' which was awkward due to their height difference. My IBF was around 6'3 and Carl is pretty short. 

"Sebastian." Carl gave him a slight nod of respect or approval. Something was in his eyes that I couldn't exactly read.

"Nice to meet you Carl." Sebastian offered him a light friendly smile. Although I could tell from his eyes that Carl's cornrows amused him. Sebby is just too kindhearted to say so. 

"So you guys meet on the internet?" he raised an eyebrow, following us forward in the line. 

I beat my friend to the punch. "We met on GTA online," I smiled, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over me. "We were playing a bunker game, Kill Quota, we just smoked everyone! We won all three rounds. We had our mics connected and just kept playing game after game with each other." 

"Pretty much. And before we knew it we pulled an all-nighter together unintentionally." Seb added, laying an arm around my shoulder for a hot second. 

"That's righteous," a halfhearted smile was tautly plastered on Carl's face. We finally reached the counter where my two boys asked for skates in their size. A redheaded boy with teal braces was working the counter. His name tag read "Jace". His halfway tucked in uniform shirt and exhausted look on his face lead me to believe that he is working overtime. I gave him a dazzling smile which caused him to perk up on a small scale. 

We moved to the nearest bench after they received their skates. I sat down in between the pair. Carl's thigh was touching mine while Sebby's was an inch of two away. Carl's skates looked like baby skates compared to Sebastian's, which was sort of adorable in a way. We all stood up after their shoes were situated and laced. Altogether we advanced to the rink where I saw my friends scattered. The rink was busier than usual tonight. 

We linked arms together, entering the rink as Carl said "Let's get this night started."

A/N

Word Count: 1052

I'm not that proud of this chapter but I just really wanted to get something out there for you guys. I had some of you wanting an update and that encouraged me to get started on a chapter :) I start school next week, I'll have volleyball starting up next month as well. I just need to schedule writing+publishing in my agenda. I just need to be organized and motivated. I am hoping I will be once school starts. I currently have two works that I am focusing on. Maybe I will update each every other week. So like one week I will update this story and then the next week I will update the other story. Ahh I am not sure what I want to do. It's currently 2 in the morning and I still have a few things to do before I sleep. Well that's about it. Please hang in there with me and as always thank you so much for your time xxx