Stranger

Flynn couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she knew Carrie was gone. It happened so gradually.

She supposed it started with the texts. They slowed down, slow enough that Flynn didn't notice until it was too late.

She didn't notice until the night she got the text:

We're breaking up.

And that was that.

It was sudden after that. Carrie just stopped hanging out with them. At lunch, she would cast a glance at them before flicking her hair and going to sit with the girls in her new pop group, Dirty Candy. After a while, Carrie stopped even glancing at them.

And that was okay, Flynn told herself. Flynn didn't need Carrie.

It was Flynn and Julie's first time back at The Parlor since Carrie started ignoring them a month ago, and those were the thoughts that were running through Flynn's head while she ordered her choc-ripple ice-cream.

(Julie ordered a mint-choc-chip with hot fudge sauce)

They sat down at one of the tables outside, and Flynn did her best to forget about Carrie.

It went well.

Right up until Carrie walked around the corner.

Flynn froze, her spoon halfway to her mouth. Julie paused mid-sentence and glanced around her shoulder.

At the same instant, the two girls leaned closer. "What is she doing here?" Flynn hissed at Julie.

Julie shrugged. "It's a nice ice-cream place," she whispered. "I'm sure she's just in the mood for some ice-cream."

Flynn hummed, unconvinced. Nothing Carrie ever did was 'just' anything. She was always very deliberate. It was one of the things Flynn loved about her.

Used to love, Flynn stubbornly corrected herself. Not anymore.

She leaned back and shoved her ice-cream into her mouth. Julie was right, it was good ice-cream.

Something else registered in Flynn's mind as she swallowed her mouthful. Something blond. Someone male. Someone who Carrie was hanging off of, laughing.

"Nick?" Flynn asked, before she could stop herself.

"Nick?" Julie repeated, her head snapping around. Flynn had a sneaking suspicion that Julie had a crush on Nick, although she hadn't admitted it yet. He was new at Loz Feliz, having only been there since the beginning of the term. Flynn had only really spoken to him during music class. She supposed he was nice enough, but-

-Carrie Wilson was holding hands with Nick Danforth-Evans. Flynn felt like she might throw up. How long had it been since Carrie broke up with her? A little over a month?

How had Carrie moved on so fast?

Nick must have spotted them, because he was now dragging Carrie over to their table. Every muscle in Flynn's body was screaming at her to run, run, get out of there! but she stayed in her seat, watching as Nick and Carrie approached.

"Hey," Nick said when he reached their table, his tone conversational. "Nice to see you, girls."

"Nice to see you too." Flynn forced a smile onto her face.

"Hi," Julie said softly, giving Nick a small wave. Flynn watches as Julie's eyes flick down to Nick and Carrie's joined hands. She wished that she could leap over the table and slam her hand over Julie's mouth to stop her from saying what she says next, but she can't. "How long have you two been together?"

The question is asked in a stiff tone, but Carrie either doesn't notice or chooses not to acknowledge it (Flynn's money is on the latter).

"Two months," she says, brightly.

Flynn stops breathing. She, honest to god, stops breathing. She freezes, her breath caught in her throat. There are tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, and Flynn will forever be grateful that she had the presence of mind to blink them back forcefully.

There's a conversation happening between Carrie, Julie and Nick, but Flynn hears none of it.

There's a revelation hovering right at the forefront of her mind, but she doesn't want to think about it. Flynn wants, more than anything, to not notice it.

Because if Carrie and Flynn broke up a month ago-

If Carrie and Nick had been dating for two months-

Then that meant-

Carrie cheated. Carrie fucking cheated.

Flynn clenched her teeth so hard she was surprised that they didn't crack.

She felt naive, and betrayed, and hurt and angry and a million other things that she didn't have the words to explain. Her eyes burned from the energy of holding back tears, firey and wet all at the same time.

"Carrie," she managed, through gritted teeth. "Can I talk to you?" Although Flynn's tone left no room for argument, she still half expected Carrie to refuse.

"Why?" Flynn asked, the moment they were around the corner, out of both Julie and Nick's eye-line and earshot.

"Why what?" Carrie asked, widening her eyes.

"Don't you dare play innocent with me, Carrie Wilson," Flynn snapped. She was mad, rightfully so, and goddamn it Carrie had no right to make her feel this way. She had no right to do what she did, regardless of whatever excuse she would cook up. "I do not have the patience for it. You know damn fucking well what I'm asking."

"Oh," Carrie said, and she laughed, which only made Flynn angrier. How dare she laugh, as though nothing had happened? "That's easy. You were ignoring me, so I went and found someone who wouldn't."

"That," Flynn said, through gritted teeth, "Is not true. You are the one who stopped answering my texts, and you are the one who stopped hanging out with me. I never ignored you, and you know it." Flynn took a deep breath and straightened her back. "I thought I knew you, Carrie. I guess I was wrong."

"I guess you were."

"I thought," Flynn continued. "When I saw you and Nick, that you were on a stranger's arm. But now I realise that it was Nick with a stranger on his arm. I didn't know you. I don't know you, Carrie Wilson, and I never care to."

Flynn turned on her heel and marched back to Julie. For a moment, a tear slipped past her defenses and ran down her cheek before hitting the pavement. Flynn knew she did the right thing.

The tiny part of Flynn that still loved the illusion Carrie had projected wanted to argue with her, but Flynn pushed it down.

Carrie Wilson was her stranger, turned friend, turned girlfriend, turned stranger. And she would never have power over Flynn again.