HELLO QUEENS THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! Recently I went to the Shameless houses in South Side! I took pics on the steps of the Gallagher house and Kev and V's house and it was super cool 11/10 would recommend ;) Anyway. I have outlined the next few chapters already so they will be published a lot quicker than the other ones! Thank you for reading! ily ily ily :)

Carl's arms encompassed Kacey. Her cries came out in muffled chokes; she sounded like she was in a great deal of physical pain. Carl's hold around her tightened. They had been standing like that for a while, maybe a few minutes.

Stop it.

She sniffled with force.

Right now.

Her head was near crook of Carl's neck, somewhat buried in his chest. His fingers brushed the small of her back in a slow, soothing way.

She started to pull back. Her display of vulnerability was frightening her.

Relax.

Releasing herself from Carl's hold, Kacey wiped her tears and tried to collect herself as Carl remained quiet.

Minutes passed.

"Let me take you home," she managed to croak out at Carl after regaining stability in her voice.

He directed a gentle smile at her and nodded. Kacey appreciated that. She knew that he understood her. She knew that he was aware of Kacey's nervousness in exposing her true self to people. And it made Kacey like him even more.

Get a fucking grip.

Kacey opened the front door and Carl stepped in front of her and leaned against the doorway, his eyes filled with concern.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked quietly.

Why is he perfect?!

Kacey cleared her throat and smiled genuinely at his caring demeanor.

"Yeah. I will."

He smiled back at her, leaning against the doorframe as he spoke.

"So...when can I see you again?" He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes, failing to ignore the familiar tug at the corner of her lips.

"Soon," she replied.

"That's a pretty vague answer."

"You'll just have to wait and see."

"I'm very persistent."

"I've noticed."

Carl laughed out loud at her response.

He's so cute.

"Now come on," Kacey playfully ordered, gaining more strength in her voice. "I don't want to hit traffic."

"Okay but for real, are you okay?" Carl asked before he opened the car door to get out.

asdfghjkl stoppp.

"Yes. I am." She grinned at him. "Thank you."

"Of course," Carl responded.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, then Carl got a mischievous look on his face. He slowly took her hand in his, placing his lips on the back of her palm. "Until next time," he murmured seductively, kissing her hand. He raised one eyebrow and she rolled her eyes, ripping her hand away in fake disgust. Meanwhile, butterflies danced around in her stomach, making her feel warm.

His lips are so soft…

"Now there won't be a next time."

Carl snorted. "Hell yes there will."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"You have to see me at school."

"I'll just ignore you."

"I'm pretty hard to ignore."

"Touché."

Carl grinned and stepped out of the car, leaning against the doorframe.

HE'S SO HOT.

"See you tomorrow?"

"If you're lucky," Kacey responded sassily.

"I've been feeling pretty lucky lately," Carl replied.

That night Kacey struggled to focus. Her thoughts kept turning back to Carl.

Stop thinking about him!

She still battled with herself over the feelings she possessed towards him, even though it was pretty obvious to not only herself, but to her friends, that she liked him.

Her dad was home a little earlier than usual, putting Kacey in a bad mood. She liked being alone and having the house to herself.

"So," her dad started to say as she was heading up to her room (to solely get away from him).

He was tipsy. Per usual.

"Yes?" Kacey asked with a little edge in her voice.

Her dad narrowed his eyes at her. "Watch your tone."

Kacey's stomach flipped. She never really fought with her dad. It just wasn't worth it in her eyes. But when they did fight, Kacey always felt awful after. Her dad could be incredibly mean.

He took a deep breath and continued on.

"I hear you are now friends with Carl Gallagher."

How does he know that?

"So?" Kacey retorted, avoiding eye contact.

She could feel him getting annoyed.

"Well, he doesn't sound like the best kid. He's been in juvie already."

Kacey felt a stab of defensiveness. "He's changed. He's not who he used to be."

And Kacey meant that. Carl was completely different. In fact, he was a perfect gentleman. Nothing like his father or most guys at their school. His reputation couldn't be further from the truth: Carl was not at all like the scary, drug-pushing delinquent people assumed he was.

"I doubt that's true," her father replied scathingly.

Anger rose in Kacey's stomach.

"What do you even have against him?! He's the son of your best fucking friend!"

Oh god. Too far.

He gritted his teeth and a vein in his neck popped out, the blue contrasting with the red of his neck.

"Go to your room. Now," he stated waspishly.

Gladly.

Kacey felt empty inside. She felt like crying but couldn't muster up any tears. She lay down on her bed and sighed heavily, thinking of the events of the day, embracing the warmth her bed provided. Her thoughts drifted to Carl. He had shown a sensitivity and maturity that she would have never expected from him.

People really underestimate him. Including me.

She replayed the hug over and over in her mind. It had felt so good to be held by someone. She couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged her like that — or even hugged her in general.

As Kacey lay there, alone and upset, she wished that the same pair of arms that were around her earlier were around her now, encasing her in a circle of warmth, and helping her drift off to a long, peaceful sleep.

The next day Kacey groggily rose from bed, her eyes still shut as she desperately attempted to wake herself up for school. She had woken up unacceptably early after falling asleep on her bed while thinking about Carl, then fell back asleep a long while later.

Carl.

Butterflies erupted at the thought of him.

Wait what the hell? When did I get this soft?!

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and gradually got herself together, putting on clothes, grabbing her backpack, and throwing together a makeshift breakfast, trying to avoid the eagerness she felt for seeing a certain someone.

Shutting her locker door shut, Kacey turned only to find herself face to face with Phia and Blake.

"WHERE have you BEEN?" Phia exclaimed, clearly not at all worried about how loud she was being.

"What do you mean?" Kacey asked, feigning innocence. She knew damn well she had been absent, and she felt really bad about it too.

"You're practically AWOL. And you just disappeared yesterday," Blake interjected.

Kacey bit her lip, debating how much to tell them.

"Well? Are you gonna fill us in or what?" Phia said as she crossed her arms.

Kacey decided that they deserve the whole of it.

"Okay, so here's what's been going on…"

She told them pretty much everything. However, she did leave out the hug, just to make it a little less dramatic. And truth be told she wanted to keep that part to herself. It was personal and something that her and Carl had shared just between them two. Plus, vulnerability wasn't exactly Kacey's strong point. And she would bet money that it wasn't Carl's, either.

After she had finished they both beamed at her.

"What?" Kacey asked, a quizzical look on her face.

Blake wiggled his eyebrows.

"Shut up," Kacey retorted as she rolled her eyes.

They both laughed and Phia jumped up and down.

"You love him oh my GOD!"

"Stop I do NOT love him! We barely know each other!"

Lie.

Compared to others, Kacey knew him pretty damn well. And, to tell the truth, he knew her almost as well as Phia and Blake did. Probably even more, considering the fact that he had actually witnessed a breakdown of hers, which no one had ever seen before. Plus, he knew about her dad. They hadn't talked about it but she could sense that he knew.

"Yes you do!" Phia exclaimed. "You've never even paid attention to any guy before and now—"

Phia froze in her spot as her eyes lit up. Grabbing Kacey's arm, she whisper-shouted: "Look, it's him!"

Blake and Kacey followed Phia's line of sight and saw Carl at the end of the hallway piling books into his locker.

"So?" Kacey spat, pretending to be completely unfazed. She couldn't ignore the flip-flop feeling in her stomach or the sudden thumping of her heart, but acted like he was just another guy.

He was wearing a simple white t-shirt with a red and white checkered flannel, paired with black shorts. His hair was messy and he looked tired, a cute pout on his face as he tried to figure out which books he needed. He scrunched his nose in confusion.

Lord help me.

Kacey quickly glanced away and acted like she wasn't just devouring him with her eyes; her friends saw right through her charade.

"Casual eye sex. Okay, Kacey. I see you," Blake uttered with a knowing glance.

Kacey whirled around and slapped his arm as Phia burst out laughing.

Right as Kacey was going to say something back, the bell rang and a throng of people started making their way to first period.

"I'll see you guys later," Kacey mumbled to them, feigning annoyance.

"Say hi to you boy for me!" Blake shouted back at her.

They never quit, Kacey thought, hearing the forceful pitch of Phia's laugh as the hallway emptied.

Kacey noticed Carl still at the end of the hallway and decided to say hi. He was on his phone and seemed not to notice the nearly-empty space, or that Kacey was a few feet in front of him. Kacey smiled at the sight of him: she couldn't help it. Carl brought her a calm she had never known. Being around him just made her happy, which was hard for her to admit.

She was now standing in front of him. He was still looking down at his phone.

"Carl," she called out softy.

He glanced up and his expression softened when he noticed her, then seemed to somewhat harden.

What?

"Oh. Hey, Kacey." He smiled weakly.

Kacey's stomach dropped a little and her grin faltered.

Maybe he's just having a bad morning.

"What's up?" She asked, her voice a little shaky.

Carl ran his fingers through his hair and shrugged, avoiding eye contact. The silence that followed pervaded every inch of the hallway. It seemed to continue on forever.

Kacey could tell something was off. Really off.

Nausea immediately filled her senses and anxiety clouded her thoughts. "What's wrong?" She inquired gently.

What did I do?

She started to think of everything she had said to him and done in the last 24 hours, desperately trying to reassure herself that it was all okay between them, that he was just in a bad mood.

"Nothing," he stated monotonously, still not looking at her.

Maybe something happened at home?

"Did something happen with your dad?"

He bit his lip and leaned against the locker next to him, fidgeting with his backpack.

"Kacey I…"

His words left him and his eyes fluttered as he tried to meet hers.

Why does he seem afraid of me?

Carl's blue eyes met her gaze and Kacey thought she saw a sadness in them.

Carl took a deep breath as Kacey waited patiently for him to say something.

"I can't…" He muttered.

"You can't what?" Kacey interjected, genuinely afraid of what he would say.

"I can't hang out with you anymore. I'm sorry."

And with that, Carl pressed up off the locker and went out through the front doors, completely ditching first period.

The doors closed with force and Kacey stood in his wake for a few seconds, feeling utterly confused.

And then, the heartbreak hit.