"alright, you ready?" carl asked, picking up rylee's bag for her. she nodded, but he didn't move.
"what are we waiting for?" she asked
"i love you." carl said quickly.
"yeah carl, i love you too." she laughed.
"no," he sighed, "like, i'm.. i'm in love with you."
"oh, wow."
"oh shit, sorry." he panicked that he has said it too soon and scared her.
"no it's cool." she said quickly, "i love you too."
"you don't have to say it just because i did-"
"no i mean it." she said. smiling.
he grinned widely and kissed her quickly, "let's go catch the bus."
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they sat on the bus, rylee leaning her head on carl's shoulder. she leaned up, yawning.
"how much longer?" she asked.
"about an hour." he said, laughing when groaned, "you tired?"
rylee nodded, leaning back onto his
shoulder.
"you can lay down if you want, there's barely anybody on here." he said, so rylee put her legs up on the seat and laid her head in his lap.
carl let her sleep the remainder of the ride, until they got close, so he lightly shook her awake, "hey babe, it's almost the stop."
rylee yawned, sitting up and stretching a bit. when their stop came, they got out and began walking to the area that lip told them to wait at. as they were walking there, they passed by a man who quickly turned around to follow close behind them mumbling something about how hot "that little girl" is.
carl quickly turned around, "hey fuck off, you fucking creepy ass old man."
luckily for them, the man wasn't very tough and carl had actually intimidated him, causing him to quickly walk in the opposite direction.
"carl you could have gotten yourself killed," rylee laughed lightly, "he was so much bigger than you.
"i was just sticking up for my favorite girl." he said, swinging an arm around her shoulders.
"you have two sisters." rylee laughed.
"hey guys!" their conversation was interrupted when they heard lip from behind them.
they turned around and lip quickly decided to get them out of the crowded train station, "let's go back to the dorms."
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the two of them got to the dorms on a thursday night, and planned to go back home together on sunday night. on friday afternoon, rylee suddenly said that she had to head back home to help her mother with something. carl was confused, but brought her to the train nonetheless. he offered to go back with her, but she declined, telling him that he should spend quality time with his brother.
the next day carl called rylee, because he missed her and he hadn't talked to her since she left.
"hey carl."
"hey ry, you get home safe?"
"yep."
"what are you doing today?"
"oh i'm helping my mom with some stuff."
"how are things there?"
"things are fine carl." she sighed.
"are you okay?" he asked, "you're being kind of short with me."
"yeah everything's fine." she reassured, "i gotta go, i'll talk to you later."
"oh okay," carl mumbled, "i love you."
"yep you too, bye."
carl set down the phone, confused as to what was going on. he didn't know if he had done something to upset her that made her leave early but he couldn't figure it out, and he knew he wouldn't get through on anything through the phone.
"hey lip," he said as he walked into the main room, "dude i really want to stay and chill with you but rylee is acting really weird and i think i need to go back if that-"
"it's cool carl don't worry dude," lip said quickly, "i'll take you to the bus."
carl sat for a couple hours on the bus, thinking about what could possibly be happening. he tried not to jump to conclusions, though, because he knew that he was overthinking. the bus finally came to his stop in their neighborhood, and carl stepped out into the cold air.
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(oo cliffhanger)
