i love you » carl gallagher

10 - humiliation

noel

(flashback)

"One more, then we gotta go," Angelo yelled over the blasting music that played as we sat in his friend's kitchen, taking as many shots as we thought we could handle.

"Mm but I wanna stay and party," I slurred, taking my shot glass and handing it to whoever was filling it.

"We can party some other time, it's getting late, El," Liana, the most sober out of the three of us, hollered.

"Ugh, fine," I groaned as I took one last shot, slamming the shot glass onto the table infront of me. I got up, not able to catch my balance as I grabbed onto Angelo's arm. We both burst out laughing just before exiting the house party and stepping into Angelo's car.

"I'm driving," Liana said, taking the keys out of Angelo's pocket.

"Don't you crash my car," he warned her, trying to stay serious but failing miserably as he looked at me and started cracking up. I couldn't help but laugh as well.

Liana finally put the keys into the ignition and drove off and before she was even halfway down the road, Angleo and I were already into a deep make out session.

"Angelo, it's okay if we stay at your place, right," Liana asked him from the front seat. He didn't answer, but she knew it was still okay anyways. Angelo's house wasn't that far and by the time we got there, things were getting pretty heated. "Can you guys not?"

Liana had pulled Angelo off of me and out of the car. She then grabbed my hand and helped me out as well. I couldn't walk, at all, and I couldn't see anything straight, everything around me was blurred by my vision.

"You can sleep in my sister's room," Angelo told Liana, grabbing three bottles of water out of the fridge. He handed one to Liana and the other two were for him and me. He picked me up and started carrying me up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Don't do anything stupid," Liana called to us. "Remember you're both drunk!" He both ignored her and once we got to his room, he shut the door and we were already half naked by the time we were on top of his bed.

-

I was now pacing around the hospital waiting room as everyone else (my dad, most of the Gallagher's, Kev and Vee, Tucker, and Blake) sat nervously.

"El, can you please sit down," my dad asked me. I stopped the intense chewing on my fingernail and went to sit down when someone ran into the hospital. Carl.

Our eyes met and we both froze right where we were. It looked like he had been crying, and I honestly couldn't blame him. He dropped all eye contact and made his way to the seat next to Blake, the farthest away from me. I sat down in my seat between Lip and my dad and continued the intense chewing on my fingernail.

I wanted so bad just to talk to Carl and explain to him the whole situation with Angelo. I wanted to apologize to him for making him feel like the bad guy everytime we fought, for giving him shit when I should've giving myself that shit. What I did was wrong, and it's even more wrong that I didn't tell him about. I wasn't honest with him and that was one of the things we promised to be.

But right now I can't think about that. My mom is laying in a hospital room and no one knows anything else besides that yet. It kills me knowing that my mom was hurt while doing something for me. Everything that went wrong today is my fault. Everything. This is a birthday I will never forget.

"Lincoln," my dad and I both jumped up from our seats once we heard my mom's doctor call our last name. We quickly made our way up to him. "Belle's car was hit my a drunk driver, who is now in custody. Belle suffered no serious injuries, though her neck is strained and she recieved 32 stitches from a deep cut on her left leg."

"Oh thank God," my dad pulled me into him as we both let out a breath of relief. "When will she be able to come back home."

"Can we go see her," I asked the doctor before he could get the chance to answer my dad's question.

"She's unconcious and heavily sedated at the moment it's better to just let her rest, but she will be able to go home first thing in the morning," the doctor told us, sending us a soft smile.

"Thank you so much," my dad shook the doctor's hand and the doctor left us alone.

"How is she, is she going to be okay," Fiona asked, quickly standing up and making her way over to us.

"Yeah, she'll be back home in the morning. I think right now we all just need to get some rest," my dad said to everyone. They all sat up from their seats and began making their way out of the hospital.

"I'll give you guys a ride," Kev said, leading us out of the hospital. Vee made her way over to me and wrapped her arm around my small body.

"You know what you did was stupid," Vee said to me once my dad and Kev were far too ahead of us to hear.

"I know," I told her. "And now everyone knows."

"I'm gonna be real with you, it's hard to be honest about something like that," she started. "Getting really drunk and sleeping with someone. Trust me, I've been there plenty of time before Kev and I got together. At first it just seems like a dream, you're not really sure that you actually did what you did. But you did it."

"I just kept thinking, 'it doesn't matter', you know? 'What happens in Florida, stays in Florida'," I said. "But once I saw Liana walk through that door and Angelo walk in right behind her, I just knew that wasn't the case anymore."

"I know what you mean," she nodded her head just as we had reached the truck. "But you need to make things right with Carl before it's too late." I nodded my head, agreeing with her as we both hopped into the truck.

-

We finally got back to the house and I plopped myself down on the couch, looking around the house and seeing all of the party balloons and drinks and the big "happy birthday noel" banner that I didn't deserve.

My dad sat down next to me on the couch, handing me a cold coke bottle fresh out of the fridge.

"I can't believe Liana came in here like that," my dad said as he took a sip of his coke.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the drinking or sleeping with Angelo. I shouldn't have done any of it in the first place," I said honestly.

"I already knew, sweetheart," he said, catching me completely offguard.

"What," I asked him, turning my body towards him. "How did you know?"

"When Angelo dropped you off he cracked and told your mother and me everything," he told me.

"Why didn't you say anything? You just let me get away with what I did? Aren't you supposed to punish me," I asked him, feeling nothing but confusion.

"We wanted you to tell us yourself," he told me. "But then you never did and we've never had to punish you before so we had no idea what to do."

"How about ground me? Never let me walk out of the house again," I said, crossing my arms.

"I think that's a little overboard, don't you," he asked, patting my knee.

"It's just so embarrassing," I admitted, feeling the tears well in my eyes. "They just walked in here infront of all my friends and family and humiliated me. I can't believe Liana would do that to me. Especially on my birthday."

"I know, honey," he wrapped his arm around me and pulled my close as I rested my head on his shoulder. "You live and you learn... and I think you've already been punished enough so, no TV for a month." I chuckled to myself as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

-

a/n: filler chapter because i don't know where i'm going from here lol