two can play at this game | cg

10

we're not dating
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[carl's pov]

"Carl, get the fuck up. You have to leave for school in 10 minutes!" Fiona complained loudly from the doorway, her arms crossed as she leant against the wooden frame. My eyes slowly peeled open and I rolled over to face her before being yanked up from the mattress. She ushered me towards the bathroom and shut the door behind me, disappearing downstairs. I stumbled towards the toilet to take a piss before noticing that my sweats were damp. "Fuck.." I mumbled, realising I'd had another wet dream. After that night with Vanessa, my thoughts had been going wild, imagining future situations that could happen between us.

I was snapped out of my head by the sound pounding at the bathroom door, followed by shouting. "For fuck sake, I'm coming!" I yelled back, pulling off my sweats and swinging open the door. After tossing them in the laundry shoot, I got changed and ran my fingers through my hair, attempting to smooth everything out. On my way out of the house, I stuffed a handful of lucky charms and some milk into my mouth before searching the couch for any coins that could pay for my lunch. "You're so gross.." Debbie rolled her eyes at me as we left for school.

[during school]

As I turned a corner, my eyes rested on Vanessa, her body pressed up against a locker as she talked to some senior. My stomach dropped and a mix of anger and jealousy started suffocating me. After I thought I'd finally gotten her to myself, V's eyes were starting to wonder..

I stormed up to them and pulled V to the side, not caring about interrupting their little chat. "You really need to start learning some manners Gallagher.." She chuckled nervously as she observed my expression. "What the fuck are you doing?" I spat, allowing my emotions to take over. Vanessa looked at me with confusion and fear in her eyes before removing herself from my tight grip. "I was talking to Aaron before you rudely dragged me away. Is there a problem?" My short temper was getting closer and closer to snapping. "A problem? Are you kidding me? Of course there's a fucking problem! You don't get pressed against lockers by random seniors when you're with someone!"

She threw her head back as she laughed and I stared down at her, annoyance clear in my face. "First of all, we kissed like twice and you suddenly think we're dating, which we aren't, and secondly, I was talking to him about fucking art. Get over yourself, Gallagher!" Her eyes rolled as she started walking back to her locker, avoiding eye contact with the many students that had stopped to watch our little argument. My stomach dropped again and I stood there dumb-founded for a moment. How could she stand there and pretend everything that happened the other night didn't mean anything? After a moment of thought, I turned swiftly on my heels and walked off to find Dominique.

If V wanted to play the game then we'd play it, and I wasn't planning on going easy on her.

[vanessa's pov]

Carl didn't wait for me after school so I made my way to his by myself, wanting to collect some clothes I'd left behind from the other night. My mind wandered back to the argument we'd had earlier and I sighed, hoping to apologise and clear everything up once I'd gotten to his. Although he had massively over-reacted, I felt slightly guilty for yelling at him in front of everyone and sending him mixed signals.

Debbie finally answered the door after I'd knocked for at least 5 minutes, a smile plastered on her face. "Hey V, what's up?" She asked, leaning against the doorframe. "I've got some stuff to pick up and I was hoping Carl would be here.. We've got a few things to sort out." I replied immediately before being let into the house. "He should be upstairs." Debs nodded and I thanked her before making my way to his room. Noises were getting louder as I got closer and, once reaching the bedroom door, I lightly knocked before entering.

"Hey Carl, I'm sorry-" I refrained from finishing my sentence as I saw a girl with brown, curly hair straddling him, half-naked. The room became deadly silent as they both looked up at me, wearing expressions similar to a deer in the headlights. I recognised the girl as Dominique from school, one of Carl's pick-me-ups that always gave me dirty looks and wrote bitchy things about me in the bathroom stalls. Without saying a word, I gathered my clothes from the floor and walked out, not forgetting to slam the door behind me.

As soon as my feet hit the sidewalk, I stopped and tried to calm myself down. Jealousy and anger had gathered in the pit of my stomach but I tried to push it all away, knowing that that was what Carl wanted me to feel. There were no sounds of footsteps running after me or someone calling out my name to apologise, just more silence that was slowly starting to eat away at me.

I had been stupid to think that Carl Gallagher had changed his ways and was willing to drop everyone for me. He was still the fuckboy that wanted to play the field and I was a fool to think of him as anything otherwise.

[end of chapter]

hello loves, it's almost summer break so i'll have loads of time to edit this book and maybe upload a new one. stay tuned 💘