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A few days after the movie night, Flynn comes to the awful realisation she likes Carrie. Yes, Carrie is caustic and has a sharp tongue, but she’s funny—the kind of funny that Flynn herself gets when others might be offended.
Now that they’re actually talking, it’s shockingly easy to get along with Carrie too. There are a few missteps, by both of them, but… Well, it surprises Flynn how willing Carrie is to apologise and try again. Because Carrie seems like the person who would keep a grudge.
“I do,” Carrie agrees when Flynn brings the topic up. “But Nick taught me otherwise, I suppose. It… wasn’t exactly easy, but I got used to apologising. To speaking up.” She shrugs.
“Who’s Nick?” Flynn asks. She knows a few of Carrie’s friends, though she hasn’t met any of them. There’s Kayla and other members of the Dirty Candy, Carrie’s music group who dance and sing, but she hasn’t heard any mention of Nick—not until now.
Carrie ducks her head a little. “He’s my best friend,” she says. “But we’d dated, once. We met in high school and it kind of seemed like the natural thing to do? He was sweet and cute and, well, I liked him.” For a second Flynn’s heart falls, but then she remembers the hoody—and how it had resembled the bi flag. “We broke up because it wasn’t working. Well, I wasn’t exactly nice and Nick realised he deserved better. We grew up and moved on and fell back together.”
“He sounds like a good guy,” Flynn offers when Carrie pauses, and when Carrie smiles, it lightens up her face and Flynn’s traitorous heart skips a beat.
“He is,” Carri says. “He’s like… the best person I know. I never deserved him.”
“Kind of sounds like he’s your Julie,” Flynn says.
“You dated Julie?”
Flynn glances at Carrie, tries to detangle her voice—was that disgust? Confusion? Worry?
“That’s what you got from that?” Flynn says, laughing, then shakes her head. “No, but she’s the best person I know and I don’t deserve her. But it’s never been about what we deserve.” Carrie hums in response to that, and Flynn spots Julie ahead of them, sitting on a bench, headphones on. “And there she is, come on! She’s been dying to meet you.”
“What have you been telling her?” Carrie asks, but Flynn doesn’t respond.
Julie spots them seconds later, shifting her headphones so they’re hanging around her neck. “Hey,” she says, waving. “It’s good to meet you Carrie, Flynn’s said a lot about you.”
“Good things I hope,” Carrie says, voice tight, and when Flynn chances a look at her, she’s smiling—but it looks practiced, fake.
Thankfully, it’s Julie, so she doesn’t hesitate just says, “If you’ve met Flynn, you know that she has a habit of spilling things unless they’re meant to be secrets. I’m sure you know about that time I ate sand as a kid, and I know that you always look well-dressed in your shared class.”
Carrie’s smile becomes a bit gentler, a bit kinder, less practiced. “She has mentioned this,” and Flynn knocks her shoulder against Carrie’s.
“Well, if Julie didn’t know she now does, couldn’t have kept that for yourself?”
For a second, Carrie looks uncertain, but then she catches sight of Flynn’s smile and Julie begins to laugh. “Flynn, you tell that story to almost everyone you meet. It’s not exactly uncommon. I’m somewhat surprised I’m not called ‘Sand Eater’ around campus.” Then, with a smile, Julie continues, “However, Flynn hasn’t told me what degree you’re studying?”
“Law and music,” Carrie answers with the ease of someone who’s been asked that many times before. “Which is definitely a challenge.”
“I can only imagine,” Julie says. “I struggle with music and education, I can hardly imagine doing law as well.”
“I just die come assessment period,” Carrie says, and Julie laughs again and Flynn grins, pleased to see her friends getting along. Then Carrie glances at her watch and gets to her feet. “I’ve got to go to class,” she says apologetically. “It was nice meeting you Julie!” Turning to Flynn, she adds, “I’ll see you soon?”
“I’ll text you!” Flynn agrees, and then Carrie is hurrying away towards class.
Julie turns to Flynn, raising an eyebrow. “Girl, you are in deep.”
Scratching the back of her head, Flynn laughs. “In deep what?” She asks.
In response, Julie raises an eyebrow and stares at her. For a minute, there is silence, and then Flynn gives in. “I’m in so deep,” she complains. “How did you know?”
“It wasn’t exactly hard to pick up,” Julie replies, smiling and nudging Flynn’s shoulder. “I’ve known you for so long and seen you go through many, many crushes. This one just took a slightly different route.”
“My very own enemies to lovers,” Flynn says, then muffles laughter behind her hand. Still, as her laughter fades away, she thinks about how much she likes Carrie—because she does, she really does. Yeah, they didn’t get off on the right foot, but…
Well, it’s Carrie and Flynn and perhaps that says enough. Suddenly groaning, Flynn collapses against Julie, who only laughs in response. “How do I ask her out?”
“How do you ask anyone out? With words,” Julie says helpfully. And really, Flynn should find a new best friend because her currently one is hopeless.
“Julieeee.”
“Flynnn.” Pausing for a second, Julie then continues, words soft, “I’m serious though. You go about this the way you go about anything, by being you. You have this, however you want to do it. If you want to go ask her out with flowers, do that. If you want to sing a song, do that. If you want to text her to meet up and clarify it’s a date, do that. You are Flynn and my best friend. There’s nothing you can’t do.”
Nodding to herself, Flynn says, “Right. I’ve got this.” She pulls out her phone and unlocks it, opening to her latest message to Carrie. She stares at the screen for one minute. Then another. Then another.
“I don’t have this.”
Julie rolls her eyes. “Yes, you do,” she says. “C’mon, it’s you. I know you have something in mind.”
With Julie’s belief in her, it feels slightly easier to type a message out. For a second, she hesitates, then adds a pink heart on the end and tilts her screen so Julie can see. Julie reads it, eyes slightly squinted, and then taps something on the screen. Flynn lets her, assuming she’s fixing something, but when she glances down it turns out that Julie’s sent the message.
“Julie!”
“Well, now we’re good to go,” Julie says cheerfully, linking their arms. “Let’s go to that new cute café that opened up.
“I hate you,” Flynn replies, locking her phone. It buzzes in her hand seconds later, and she quickly opens it to see Carrie’s response. “She said yes!”
Julie cheers, and Flynn wraps her up in a hug, spinning them around, uncaring what those around them think. “I love you,” Flynn says seriously. “You are the best friend I could ever ask for.”
“Hell yeah I am,” Julie says, smile easy. “Now let’s go get lunch and celebrate your date. It’s on me this time.”