old fashioned || karl jacobs x reader

6: humiliation

I laid on the couch facing out to the TV while nothing played. The house was quiet. Karl was gone when I had made it home and hadn't come back yet. I had no strength in me to pull myself from that position. I was so mad at myself for everything. The whole time I laid there, I thought about what I could've done differently to avoid the whole thing. There were so many possibilities that it was nearly impossible to figure out what may have been the right decision. If only I had never dated Jay to begin with them I could've truly been saved from this heartache.

My head was propped up on a throw pillow as I was curled up across the length of the couch. I felt yet my mind was so full. It was going a thousand miles per hour and my body was so exhausted from all the energy it was taking up. Oh, what I would give to sleep, but because of my active mind, I couldn't be pulled. Desperately, as I laid in a pit of hopelessness, I prayed I could sleep.

The front door turned open quietly as Karl finally came home. A grocery bag hung in his left hand as he stood at the door. Immediately, his eyes fell upon me and his eyebrows tied together in mild confusion.

"(Y/n)?" He asked. I wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow. "Are you alright?" Genuinely, he was worried for me. Everything about him gave it away, from his sudden change in posture to approaching me with care and delicacy. All of his attention was placed on me and making my worrisome look vanish. Or not even vanish, but to make my emotions more tolerable.

I breathed out for the first time since I had gotten home. "No," I replied honestly because there was no reason to lie.

Seeing my despair, his compassionate nature stepped in and he sat at the edge of the couch, setting his bag down. "Would you like to talk about it?" His voice now softened incredibly, welcoming me to his care. He sat by my hips, the only room on the couch, staring across at my fragile look as I refused to look back at him.

I could feel myself opening up to him, seeing as he was the only person I spoke to about anything anymore. Carefully, I made my first movement in around thirty minutes and sat up to face Karl. He wore a blue sweatshirt with fine printing in the center of the chest and his staple, black pants. As usual, he wore his rings and various other jewelry which only softened him more. Everything about him was so welcoming and comforting. Suddenly, I felt like I had known him for years. My heart begged for me to just spill my guts, sob in front of him, even tell him things that had been bothering me before that night. I wanted him to take care of me.

Now sitting up, I stared at Karl, debating whether or not to finally announce it or to act against my pleading thoughts. "I broke up with Jay."

His eyes widened at that and pure, genuine, sympathy played on his face. "I'm sorry, (Y/n)," he expressed purely, lip hanging in disbelief.

As I stared at him, I could feel myself overcome with the urge to let everything out. At the same time, though, I wanted nothing but to be comforted. I just wanted to hide from the world again and burrow away until I figured out how to soothe my unhappiness. I settled, though, for the next best thing and stretched my arms out to Karl. Before I could even lean in, his arms enveloped me in a warm, relaxing embrace. My arms, too, folded around his body, and my head buried into his shoulder. Deeply, I inhaled and took in his scent which was far more pleasant right in front of me than stained into a sweatshirt. Honestly, I could've stayed there forever with the faint, floral scent of his shampoo wafting through my nose and his grasp holding me reassuringly. His hand slowly rubbed across my back as I sat there.

We stayed there for ages mostly because I didn't think I could move. Glued together, Karl kept his embrace around me while he asked, "do you want to get a Blizzard?" His throat pressed against my shoulder created vibrations that echoed through my body in another oddly soothing sensation.