i love you » carl gallagher

12 - project

noel

(3 weeks later)

It's been almost a month. Carl and I aren't together, but we are at the same time. It's like he still claims me as his girlfriend and I still claim him as my boyfriend, but we aren't actually together. We haven't gone on a date since before my birthday, we haven't hugged or kissed or really had an actual real life conversation since we made up... But that's still my Carl and I'm still his Noel.

This week is homecoming week and I still haven't found my dress or made plans or anything. So, i'm supposed to go with my mom to the mall later this week to pick out a dress.

"El," my dad called for me from down stairs.

"Give me a sec," I yelled back as I finished putting my hair into a ponytail. I threw my bookbag over my shoulder, grabbed my phone and ran downstairs. I was caught completely offguard when I saw Carl standing in front of the couch talking to my dad.

"Oh hey," I said, sending Carl an awkward smile as I went into the kitchen and picked up the small bag of grapes my dad had set out for me and then I went back into the living room.

"Alright, I have to head to work. I'll see you later," my dad said to me, planting a soft kiss on my forehead. "Don't be a stranger, Carl." Carl nodded and we both watched my dad leave the house.

"If I would've known you were coming over, I would've looked a little more presentable," I told him, standing there in a pair of his gray sweatpants and a tight, long sleeve, Hollister shirt.

"Don't worry about it. You look beautiful... as always," he said, making my heart skip a beat like I had never heard him talk to me this way before. I blushed, looking away so he wouldn't notice. "I wanted to walk you to school." I looked back at him and nodded my head. He lead me out the front door and we headed off to school.

"We haven't talked in awhile," I said, breaking the awkward silence that had formed.

"We text like all the time," Carl said, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's not the same," I told him. "We text all the time, yeah. But we never talk anymore. We don't even acknowledge each other at school."

"I know..." he wouldn't look me in the eyes, so I took that as a sign that he didn't want to talk and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

Once we had gotten to school, I had so much anger and frustration built up that I couldn't possibly hold it in any longer.

"You know what, Carl," I said, stopping right in front of the school doors and turning to look him right in the eyes. "Maybe we should see other people. I mean, we're kind of just wasting our time, am I right?"

"That's really what you want," he asked, finally making eye contact.

"No, but it's obvious to me that it's what you want," I said, letting out a deep breath. "So it's settled, we're officially broken up." And with that I turned on my heel, walking into the school alone.

-

I was gathering my stuff from my locker for my 3rd period. My eyes fell onto the small mirror I had set up in the back of my locker. I saw the reflection of the necklace with Carl's name on it that set perfectly around my neck. I unhooked the necklace, my heart breaking just a little as I did so, and stuck the necklace into my pocket.