Hey dudes, here we are again. I'm really happy with the way things are turning out so far with this, and it makes me happy looking back at it's crappy predecessor and seeing that compared to this, it really is just that. I'm glad it isn't the same song and dance, I definitely am taking it in different directions and it'll keep that way :) Happy reading dudes, see you at the bottom.
Things between the cat and the specter were kept casual to say the least, and that day had been nothing more than a trial and error of emotions for Gumball. But who the heck knew what Carrie thought of that day.
Pacing his room once more like he seemed to be doing so many times these past few nights, he couldn't get out of his mind that burning question. What was Carrie's stance? Of course he didn't expect her to think anything of the day other than just a hangout, because that's all it was made to be. Still, a little insight would be fantastic.
"Okay, Gumball," the boy said to himself. "Just think. The day was okay, nothing big happened, it was nice. I'm sure she had a great time. Girls are easy like that." Gumball stopped in his tracks.
No they were not. He let out a groan and buried his face in his hands to give himself a nice dark place to think. The moonlight had provided light enough to taunt him as he walked in his infinite little loop, but not so much that his brother couldn't sleep soundly. Gumball's eyes looked over him with green lenses, envious of the relaxation the fish could feel at a time like this when Gumball's whole world was on the verge of collapse.
But his problems weren't Darwin's to handle. They were his own, unfortunately.
He looked over at the window, finally facing the moonlight head on. As daunting as it seemed, it was comforting. With something so big in his life, his burdens somehow felt smaller. He walked over to the window, double checked to make sure Darwin was still sleeping soundly, and opened it swiftly and quietly. He stepped out onto the room and sat in the cool night air.
He never really did this often, but it felt nice to be out there; the city was turned off, the streets were empty, and it was definitely more freeing than the confines of his room which, lately, had become something of a hovel for him. He was becoming a hermit and wasn't digging it.
He took a deep, refreshing breath and felt the coolness hit his lungs, chilling his burning body throughout. With an exhale, he let him mind settle before trying to make more sense.
"How did you feel about the day, Gumball?" He muttered to himself. He thought back to today, nothing special but still a magical experience.
Fresh out of detention he walked over to Carrie and sat down by her to she what she was doing to occupy her time.
"Hey, sorry to make you wait like that." Gumball apologized, but the time she had spent waiting on him had left her unfazed.
"It's no big deal, I didn't have much to do anyway." She said, throwing in a small smile to reassure him. This took a bit of weight off of the boy, but gosh did it almost lift him to his feet. The smile, the unusual warmth in her tone, her calming voice, it all hatched butterflies in his stomach. Those butterflies would stay with him throughout their time together.
"You take the lead then." Carrie said, catching him a little off guard. "Where are we going? You said you had a thing you wanted help with, right?"
"Oh, right," Gumball said with a slight chuckle. "I was thinking we could use my computer at home."
"Sure, take the lead." She said as they both stood up to begin their walk. Gumball had it mapped so that they could take a somewhat longer way to his house than he would normally take considering that the act of getting to his house would be pointless because nothing would actually happen there, seeing as he had fabricated this need for her help.
So a longer way they went, walking and talking down the sidewalk as they got to know each other a little better. He was cracking jokes, some of them made her laugh, others at least earned a chuckle. As confident as he was making himself out to look, he definitely was a mess under his skin, but a happy mess.
"I want to get some water, let's stop at the park." He said eventually. Although he had chosen to take this path, he hadn't taken into account dehydration, or fatigue. Walking into the park and stopping at the fountain, he took a long drink and let himself become cool. He let out a long, content sigh.
"Man, nothing better than a nice, cool drink of water after a bit of a walk, don't you think?" He let out with a smile. He opened his eyes and saw that Carrie's smile had faltered slightly. He raised his eyebrow a little in confusion, trying to think of why it had happened, and then it hit him. His eyes widened a little bit and immediately he had started an apology for flaunting his ability to feel these things in front of her.
"It's okay, Gumball. I know you didn't mean anything by it. It just sucks sometimes, you know? Not being able to do some simple things like taking a drink of water and feeling tired after a long walk." She said in her more familiar depressive tone.
Take a bag of bricks and throw each one individually at Gumball's stupid head, that's what he felt he deserved. He didn't mean to be stupid, it just sort of happened sometimes. His ears lowered a little bit, feeling kind of heavy with guilt.
"Hey, don't sweat it man. I'm used to it by now, let's just get going." Her face had returned to it's smile and he caught the hint to move on from this little blunder. There were bigger things in the world to worry about than a little moment of shame. His smile returned and they talked like nothing had happened.
A few more streets, a few more laughs shared between them, a few more happy memories made for Gumball later and they were finally at his house. The sky had now fully sunk to it's comfortable resting position giving off it's yellow looking color, which couldn't have been more fitting for the golden warmth that Gumball felt inside of him right now.
They walked up the porch and he led her inside.
"Gumball! There you are," he had heard immediately upon entering the door. "Care to explain why you had after school detention?" It was his mother, and she didn't look very happy. He opened his mouth to speak, but he saw her eyes dart passed him and her face softened upon seeing that he had company.
"Oh, who is this?" She asked. Gumball stepped aside so that she could better see his guest.
"Mom, this is Carrie. She's helping me with something for a project. Carrie, this is my mom." He introduced the two. Carrie had said hello, his mom had said it was very nice to meet her, and that she insisted she call her Nicole. She brought Gumball into the kitchen to continue their talk and allowed Carrie to take a seat in the living room.
"A girl, huh? Is she your-" Nicole had gotten this motherly smile on her face that said she was just trying to embarrass her son. "Girlfriend?" It seemed to wonders, because the boy had turned from blue to red in a split second.
"No! She's just a friend! Who... happens to be a girl, but that's beside the point." He replied rather flustered. Nicole chuckled a little, for this had given a clue into his true thoughts on the girl. Boys, especially little ones, were so easy to read and it was wonderful. Her little Gummy-puss was showing interest in another girl. She loved how complex her little man was becoming.
"Okay, sweetie. I'll make you a little deal. Since I didn't count on you having company, I'll put our little talk off until later. Go hang out with your little friend, just know that we will be discussing some things afterwards. Okay?" This seemed reasonable to the boy. He smiled at his mom and gave her a hug. He walked back into the living room and led Carrie upstairs. "Make sure to keep your door open!" Nicole called up after them. The two stopped and looked at each other confused, shrugged, and kept going.
Darwin and Anais were off doing something with dad, which meant that the room would just be for the two to hang out in. It was a good thing he was relatively neat with how he kept his room, because he was not ashamed to let her walk in and scan it.
"So, this is where you sleep." She said, looking at the bunk beds and around at everything else around. "A little plain, though, don't ya think?" She said with a smirk, jabbing at Gumball a little. He laughed in response.
"I think you mean, 'clean'." He said back, dropping his backpack off into his closet. The ghost had chuckled back, still snooping over everything she could see.
"So what's this thing you wanted me to help you with?" She asked looking finally at him. He had prepared for just a question. For once today, he didn't feel caught off guard by her.
"I had a lot of time to think in detention, and I decided that it doesn't really matter. It was stressing me out, but I let it go." He answered, though she seemed to just smirk at him.
"Yeah? Time in detention really let you grow, huh?" She teased.
"Yup, did hard time, now I'm a changed man. You're looking at a new and improved Gumball Watterson." Striking a pose, the ghost started cackling. Coming down from her laughing fit, she settled at the chair in front of the computer, as he had just sat on the ground leaning against his bed.
"I'm starting to think there wasn't a problem in the first place." She said jokingly, though this almost made Gumball soil himself. Was he that easy to figure out? Was it all really that obvious?
"Uh... Why would you think that?" He nervously asked, trying to find his way to recover from the situation.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you just wanted to spend some alone time with moi!" She said, striking a pose similar to his from seconds before. He relaxed, seeing that it was just a joke. Nothing but harmless flirting.
...
Wait. Flirting? Was she flirting with him? His insides caught fire and sent a boiling sensation all throughout his skin. It was casual, but he definitely picked up flirtatious undertones to what she was saying. Oh gosh, no need to panic, this was just a very critical juncture. Maybe it was nothing but joking, but if it was flirting, he'd have to come back with something.
"Yeah, alright, you caught me. My evil plan was foiled again," He managed against all odds to say coolly. "The real reason I brought you here was so I could sell you a time share in a cottage in the east. I only ask for a few minutes." This seemed to get Carrie off his back, for after yet another bit of laughter, the two just sat and talked.
Eventually it had gotten dark, and Carrie had to go home. Gumball and his mom had their little talk in which he was ultimately told to try not to let it happen again. and afterwards they each had a cookie and talked about Carrie a bit. He didn't let her in on too much, just enough to satisfy her questions.
Which takes us to the present. Gumball was still on his roof, now with a smile on his face. His head was clear and his heart was warm. Eyes to the stars, he felt comfortably small and content with his place in his life now. That day had been awesome, and even if Carrie didn't have a totally good time, he had had the time of his life.
He crawled back inside, closed his windows and fell into a comfortable sleep. He had given his best effort and would definitely try to make it happen again.
Carrie had had a similar experience.
At her home in her room, she was awake as she was every other night, but tonight had been the happiest one in a long long time. Gumball had shown her a great day today, and it gave her a feeling of normalcy that she had been looking to achieve at all costs. This boy had brought a joy to her life that she didn't know she was capable of and for that, she was grateful.
She had been watching the same moon as he had, and in that way, they were connected. Unbeknownst to both of them that either had any feelings for the other. For Carrie, it was sort of newfound and scary. It was strangely sudden and seemed to be fortified by today, something she wasn't sure Gumball would understand. The casual way he talked gave off the vibe that he might not see her as much more than just a friend.
Though, she did notice the undertones of casual flirting going on between them. Flirting was normal, though. Right? Whatever it was, it had definitely won her over in a sense, and though it might make things awkward tomorrow, tonight was a safety net for smiling and reveling in this feeling that wasn't dread.
And just like that, the chapter is done. A nice little fluff, a feel good piece. The power I have is insane. I could have made this really sad. I could have made them hate each other, who knows, maybe I'll kill gumball in the next chapter? I know I won't, but you don't know that. I've done it before, lol.
Please please please review, you know I love hearing feedback. Tell me what was wrong, tell me what was good, etc. Till next time all.