Clickbait, baby (david dobrik)

chapter one;

"Carlie?" Gabbie asks, drawing me out of my music. I pull my ear bud out and look over at her as she drives.

"Yeah?"

"Are you good?" She asked.

I nodded quickly, "yeah, of course. Why?"

She smiled and said, "Well, I know you. I know that you're thinking about every possible little thing that could go wrong when we get there."

I sighed and rested my head on the window and groaned. "I know, I know. I should just 'not worry'. But you know, it's not easy. I can't just tell myself not to worry and make it go away.."

Gabby smiled at me sympathetically and reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know, baby. Now, my friends are very outgoing. But you know what, so are you! You just psych yourself out and then you don't know how to act like yourself because all you think about is what other people may think."

I nodded and looked straight out of the windshield at the road. I took a deep breath. I felt this ache of dread in my chest. "I'm tired of feeling like this." I whispered.

"I know," she said, grabbing my hand to hold it. "But maybe this is what you need. My friends are crazy, like really, they are insane. But they're also the most amazing people I've ever met. I'm so happy that I met them. I also love you, so why shouldn't you get along?"

"What you're saying makes sense.. I just freeze up in these situations."

"Maybe this can be your first step in getting better about this." She said, trying to lighten up the situation.

I swallowed and looked out the window. "Maybe.."

Gabbie looked over at me sadly, before turning back to the road. "I hate that that asshole made you feel like this." She muttered angrily.

I close my eyes as I feel the lump in my throat. Flashbacks run through my mind of Ryan. "I hate it too.." I mutter back.

Gabbie squeezed my hand and I smile at her before it gets quiet again.

A few minutes later, we pull into a driveway and my heart starts racing. I'm about to meet like 10 people. I have enough trouble with 1.

"Ready?" Gabbie says with a smile.

"I guess so," I say, giving her a small smile. I get out and look up to the house. "Well, here goes nothing." I say.

— 6 months earlier —

"Carlie?" Gabbie asks as she looks at me. My vision is blurry but I can tell it's her. "Carlie!" She yells leaning down to me on the ground. "Are you okay? What happened?"

I tried to focus my eyes on her, but they just wouldn't focus. All I could hear was the music pounding from the party in the house. "I don't know.." I mumbled. "I was with Ryan.. he said some things to me.. he always says things to me that hurt my feelings."

She furrowed her eyebrows, but she recovered her face. "C'mon, lets get you home." She said, helping me up.

Gabbie helped me home that night. She went in Ryan's apartment and got all my stuff while I laid down in the backseat of her car. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Why did you get my stuff?" I asked.

"Because you're coming to live with me." She said as she drove out of the driveway.

— Present —
Ever since that day, Gabbie has been my rock. Ryan was my boyfriend, but he always said things to tear me down and it worked. My self-confidence is very low. Which explains how I feel right now. It's really hard for me to open up to people.