South-Side Renascent || c.g.

Bacon Smiley Face

Carl

The weekend had finally rolled around. I turned onto my right side, sleeping peacefull-

"Carl!" Fiona barked from downstairs. Okay, was sleeping peacefully. I cursed under my breath and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I picked up my phone off of the nightstand and noticed it was dead. Shit, what time was it?

I jumped up and trotted down the stairs, still half asleep. Fiona was in the kitchen making Liam breakfast and Liam was at the table, playing a game. I sat at the end of the table and Fiona's eyes shot up at me.

"Mornin', you alright?" Fiona sat a plate of breakfast in front of Liam and he dug right in. "You're usually blaring that alarm before sunrise."

"Morning. Forgot to plug my phone up, battery's dead."

"You workin' today?" Fiona asked before sipping her coffee.

"Yeah, just a shorter shift, should be off by 2."

"Perfect," she finished her coffee and grabbed Liam's empty plate. "You mind picking Liam up from school?"

"No problem," I ruffled Liam's hair.

"Thanks, Carl. C'mon Liam, don't wanna be late," They left the house and I heard Fiona's car pull off. I got up and went to get ready for the day.

Cailee

"Aubrey!" I called upstairs for the second time. She took her sweet time coming downstairs and plopping onto the couch. "Over here, dumbass." Her head shot in my direction and her eyelids seemed to disappear.

"Carson?! I'm- Where we're you hiding?" Aubrey exclaimed while squeezing the life out of our cousin.

"Mom sent me off to boarding school for a bit, long story..." Carson said.

"Well what brings you over so early? Not that I'm not happy to see you," Aubrey spoke in a rushed tone.

"We were hoping you'd have a girls day with us," I said with puppy eyes. Aubrey rolled her eyes at me and sighed.

"Of course we can. Gonna go get ready. Figure out what you guys wanna do!" Aubrey's voice trailed off as she ascended the staircase. Carson and I looked at each other with a smirk.

_

"I can't believe you two are making me do this..." Aubrey complained. I chuckled and pat her on the back before running behind cover. I got behind a big crate while Carson and Aubrey scattered across the field. The horn sounded, letting us know the round was about to start. I positioned my fingers on the trigger of the gun and the starting horn went off.

Let the paint-balling commence.

I peeked around the corner and spotted one of the other team's members. He was trying his hardest to be sneaky, but I was sneakier. I shot him in the back and slid behind a haystack. Noob. I heard more shots close by and a groan from a girl.

I turned around to see who was hit, and not to my surprise, it was Aubrey. I rolled my eyes and went after my next victim.

_

Paint balling drained all of our energy and the food in our stomachs, so naturally we stopped at Patsy's for lunch.

Sierra greeted us and we sat in a booth by the windows. A pretty Asian girl came over to our booth with her notepad and a smile on her face. Her name tag read 'Ariel.'

"Welcome to Patsy's Pies! What would you ladies like to drink today?" she asked us.

"Pink lemonade!" Carson and Aubrey said at the same time. "Jinx!"

"I'll have a Sprite," I said to the waitress. "And you two are dorks." They both shot me playful glares and I laughed. The waitress told us she'd be back with our drinks in a minute.

"Sooo, what's been up with you Cars?" Aubrey asked while picking up her menu.

"Not much other than working really. Mom's stressing me about moving out... again," Carson nearly whispered the last part. I gave her a sympathetic look and Aubrey grabbed her hand softly.

Carson's home life had been different than ours. Our Aunt Lily treated us like we were her own; she made sure we had everything we needed and that we were looked after. Aunt Heather, on the other hand, was not as kind and caring. She constantly yelled at Carson in drunken rage and threw her out for the smallest of reasons. It had gotten really bad a few years ago.

Carson put on a fake half smile. The waitress came back with her notepad in hand to take our orders. Aubrey spoke up first.

"I'll have the grilled cheese," she looked at Carson. "And a big ass milkshake."

Carl

"Carl, order," Ariel called from behind me. I turned around and grabbed the piece of paper pinned up and read the order.

"Grilled cheese, deluxe burger..." I said aloud while grabbing the ingredients I needed. "Pancake with bacon smiley face?" I laughed at the odd request and prepared the meals. When I had the plates ready I tapped the bell and the waitress made her way over.

"Customer wants you to bring the food to their table," she said.

"What, why?"

"I dunno, seemed important. Some girls by the front window," she shrugged and went to service another table. Well that's fuckin' weird. I furrowed my brows and took my hairnet off before leaving the kitchen. I looked up and my eyes met with Cailee's. Should've known. I smiled and walked over to her, Aubrey, and their cousin.

"Hey worker bee," Aubrey giggled. I rolled my eyes playfully.

"So what's up?" I asked. There was a small pause before Cailee spoke up.

"Carson here needs some cheering up, and we think a party will be just the thing."

"That sounds cool. Where's this party gonna be?" I questioned. All three of the girls stared at me and Cailee gave me puppy eyes. Those damn puppy eyes!

"No, no, absolutely not," I protested, but Cailee just tilted her head slightly. Jesus, I couldn't say no to her. I sighed. "Fine," The girls smiled from ear to ear and Aubrey squealed. "But nextdoor instead of my house. Fiona would be on my head if I let our house get destroyed."

One thing I knew how to do was throw a kick-ass party, and this one wasn't going to be any different.

♡

A/N: A party, what could possibly go wrong?