wait; karl jacobs ✓

seven

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"babe, your phone is ringing." max yelled, scrolling through his own phone.

talia let out a slight huff, trying not to sound too annoyed that he didn't just grab it for her.

incoming call
alex quackity
accept | decline

"alex?" talia answered confused, max raised an eyebrow at her.

"hey talia! whats up?" alex answered, very nonchalantly.

"um, what do you need?" she didn't mean to sound rude, but it was pretty out of the ordinary for him to call her. they only ever spoke over karl's discord.

"oh yeah," he said, remembering why he called. "i was just on the phone with karl and he sounds really, really sick. apparently he told jimmy he couldn't make it in for a video today. i was wondering if you could maybe check on him? he said he was fine but doesn't sound like it."

"yeah, sure. i'll head over there now. bye alex."

"bye tal!"

talia got up and started getting her keys and wallet together. she was a bit worried, due to the fact that karl never got sick.

"where are you going?" max asked, already knowing the answer.

"karl's friend called saying he's sick and wants me to check on him." talia really didn't want to deal with anymore confrontation.

"he's grown. why do you need to check on him?"

"because he's my best friend and i'd hope he would check on me." talia grabbed her things and left before another argument could start.

she was getting so tired of it. any time that karl was brought up, max found a way to start a fight. it was getting to the point where talia just didn't talk much at home. she didn't have the energy for a fight.

and max was getting weird.

he was a lot more stand-off-ish. he wasn't always telling her when he would leave the house and was spending more and more weekends at his parents. and less and less invites were given to talia to join.

"karl?" talia asked, trying not to be too loud as she entered his home.

karl peaked out of the kitchen, with a shocked look on his face. his under eyes were dark and his nose was red.

"what are you doing here? i'm sick and don't want you getting sick as well." he backed up a few steps.

"i know, alex called me," she got closer, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. "you're burning up. there's no way you don't have a fever."

talia instantly went into caregiver mode. she usher him to come to the couch as she covered him with blankets. she got an ice pack for his forehead, which she kept having to remind him to keep on. she sorted through his medicine cabinet until she could find some sort of cold medicine to give him.

"you really didn't have to do this, tally." karl voiced sound almost a whole octave deeper due to how stopped up his nose was.

"i wanted to." she smiled.

they both sat on the couch together, watching all of karl's comfort, animated movies. despite karl being the one that didn't feel good, talia laid her head on his shoulder as they watched.

karl kept nodding off, due to the drowsy effects of the medicine, but was doing his best to try and stay awake. he was finding it to be a difficult task.

"tally?" he asked, making her heartbreak at how sick he sounded.

"yeah, whatcha need?"

"i think i have vapor rub in the medicine cabinet. would you mind checking?"

talia nodded, watching karl slump over a bit and close his eyes as she got up. she went a rummaged through his cabinets until she found the little blue jar.

when talia entered back into the living room, she saw her friend laying on his back, completely asleep. she touched his shoulder, whispering "kar?", but got no response. she was just thankful he was getting some rest. and just as she was about to just place the jar on his coffee table, she watched him snore and show a bit of discomfort in the fact he couldn't breathe through his nose.

she didn't want to just leave him uncomfortable.

talia placed her hand onto his chest. karl was wearing a soft, button up shirt. after thinking and arguing with herself in her mind about it, she unbutton four of the top buttons. she carefully pulled the top of the shirt open, exposing his pale chest. talia picked up enough of the vapor rub to spread across his chest. she ever so carefully let her hand glide across his chest, not believing how soft his skin felt.

before even thinking, talia closed the jar and found herself scooting into place to lay on top of him. her head ever so gently laid on the lower half of his torso that was still covered by his shirt. she didn't know why she was doing it, she just wanted to feel the comfort of being close to him. when karl moved his hand in his sleep to rest on the back of her head, talia closed her eyes to take in the moment completely.

part of talia was panicking. why was she doing this? karl would think this is so weird. max would be so mad.

part of talia was enjoying every second of it. why did she like it so much? something in her told
her this was natural. she felt safe.

talia always felt safe with karl. since they were in high school she always went to him when she needed any sort of comfort. she was naturally pulled to him when things were going wrong and she wanted to feel the slightest bit of sanity.

in high school, she always secretly hoped that
karl liked her. she had quiet the crush on him, but he never engaged with any of her signs she gave. after so many had fallen flat, she gave up on the idea of ever being romantically involved with him, letting him settle into the spot of best friend.

talia quickly jumped up when her phone started ringing. it was max. she silenced it, turning to make sure karl was still asleep, and because of the medicine he took, he didn't budge.

she laid back down, telling herself that she could daydream for five more minutes. she didn't know what she was daydreaming of, but her mind wandered quickly to a reality where karl was her comfort and she was his.