Little Did I Know

Chapter fourteen

Jakob

"Jakob! Jakob! Jakob!"

The shouting was followed up by an incredibly loud obnoxious banging against my bedroom door. Or was it actually a banging against my head? I couldn't really tell. And I didn't care.

My body ached and was sore all over. My mouth was dry as the desert sand of Sahara. It was like somebody had dumped a shit ton of sand in my mouth and said, 'job well done!'

I had no real recollection of what had gone down the last, should we say 24 hours or so.

The banging continued outside my door, so my guess would be that someone would enlighten me soon. But I didn't give a shit.

"Rise and shine, asshole!"

It sounded a lot like Brock, but I couldn't be sure in my current state. I tried cracking my eyelid open. Nope, not gonna do that.

"Go away!" I yelled back. Poor decision making, dude. Now my head throbbed even more.

"If you're not up in 10 seconds, we're not accountable for the actions brought upon you, dipshit!"

Was Karl also a part of this crusade against poor me now? My irritation grew by the second as well as the churning in my stomach.

Next thing I knew, a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over me while I was still lying in my bed. I had never in my life jumped so fast or so high out of bed. It was chilling to the bone. The sweat that had previously occupied my skin was now replaced by goosebumps.

"What the actual fuck!? What was that for?" I seethed as I tried getting the wet clothes off my body, which was no easy feat considering it was sticking to me like a second pair of skin.

Karl looked at me like a disappointed parent while saying, "reality check, dude! We know you're torn up about the whole Emma-thing..."

"I told you not to say her name!" I fumed. I threw my clothes across the floor in rage. Why couldn't they just leave me alone?

"Chill, bro, chill," Brock tried placating me standing in the middle of the room. Which was a bit of a mess to be honest. "We've given you time and space, but this isn't you. We can't recognise you anymore."

"What he's trying to say is," Karl took over. What the fuck? Did they plan this shit or what? "This has got to stop. All you've ever done since Barcelona is go to the gym, work out, too hard might I add, and go home and drink yourself into oblivion. That isn't you, man."

I was trying to get a word in, but Karl stopped me with a motion of his hand. "We all love you and respect your choices. To a certain point. But this isn't healthy. You used to love doing content for social media. Now you practically do the bare minimum. And people have started to notice."

"So what?" I said resigned, my eyes solely focused on the floor. Anywhere but either of them. I knew they were right. I just didn't know how to get out of this slump I was currently finding myself in. All over a girl. Who would've ever thought that day would come?

"So, this isn't like you. It's fine if you don't want to do it anymore, but I still think you do. We all think, actually. But what's more important is that the drinking has got to stop," Brock said decisively coming over to me and placing a firm hand on my shoulder. "We all want what's best for you and this isn't it."

I slowly slid down against the wall ending up on the floor with my legs folded up in front of me. The boys took a place on either side of me sitting in silence.

I had been downright miserable since the shit show that was the end of the Barcelona trip had happened. I wasn't even sure how long ago it was now. A week? A month? Who was even counting anymore? I had really tried not letting it get to me too much and letting it affect the boys, but I guess I failed in that department. Just like I failed with Emma.

Urgh! It hurt just to think about her name or the smallest things about her. If this was what it felt like losing someone you liked, I did not want to know how it would feel like losing someone you loved. Because surely, I didn't feel that way about her, I mused to myself.

Karl cleared his throat beside me, and I lifted my head just in time to see him and Brock exchanging glances. What now?

"Out with it," I sighed. They booth looked unsure at each other.

"It can't get much worse than this intervention thing with you guys pouring buckets of ice water over me. Come on now."

Brock nodded his head letting his brown curls bob around. Karl cleared his throat again. Okay, this better be good.

"So, since you've been a bit off the grid the last couple of weeks, you haven't seen what's been going on. Obviously," Karl said tensely. "But there are rumours and talks going around that you might have a girlfriend and that that girlfriend is the one who-shall-not-be-named."

"WHAT!?" I shouted and banged my head hard against the wall in the process. Ouch, that hurt like a motherfucker!

"It's a mixture of her being caught in a couple of TikToks and Reels while in Barcelona, nothing major, coupled with the fact that you've been a bit M.I.A. lately. It's made the followers wonder and they've started asking questions. And no, we haven't answered," Karl hurriedly added.

"Well, if she didn't want to kill me before, she definitely will now," I groaned. I rubbed the back of my head viciously. The pain just didn't want to go away. Physically and mentally.

"Do you guys know if she knows?"

God, I sounded like a teenager now.

"No," Brock said silently. "But she probably should."

Resigned, I let my head fall between my knees.

"There's something else, I wanted to let you know, Jakob," Karl said hesitantly.

I carefully tipped my head to the side to look at him. He didn't look too sure of himself.

"Do you remember that night in Barcelona at that restaurant, where you came up to me when I was hugging Emma?"

I nodded slowly for him to continue. Where was he going with this? A dread settled in my stomach. If what I was thinking he was about to say, I didn't think I could handle it.

"She wasn't particular in a good mood, and I caught her drinking some vodka shots. Gotta say, Jakob, that woman can drink!" He visibly shivered at the thought.

"Get on the point, Karl," I growled.

"I properly shouldn't be saying this in the first place, but I figured what's the harm now?"

He took a deep breath before continuing, "she said she had some big commitments back home. Ones she couldn't or wouldn't leave or compromise. And that she didn't really want anyone to know."

My heart practically stopped for a moment. I remembered coming up to them at the end of their conversation and hearing that. And I remembered that I had a weird feeling about the whole thing, but I had quickly cast it aside tossing it up to me being jealous of the two of them hugging tightly.

What did that mean? I could feel my jaw clench tight. I was lucky if my teeth didn't get damaged in the process.

"Why the hell did she tell you, then?" I grinded out.

"Well, she didn't really tell me exactly what it was, so..." Karl trailed off. "But I just think she needed to tell someone something, and I just happened to be there."

"Do you have any idea what she's referring to?" Brock piped in from my other side looking pretty uncomfortable.

"No fucking clue. She didn't really tell me anything about her personal life. You know, for real. It was honestly mostly just surface level stuff now that I think about it."

I didn't know what else to say. I guessed, there wasn't really much to say. I shrugged my shoulders in defeat.

"Doesn't really matter now, I suppose," I breathed out. "But I somehow gotta tell her about the social media stuff."

I didn't really want to. But it would be the right thing to do.

"Yep," Karl said. "Now, up you go. First things first, though. You stink! So go take a shower. And please shave that ridiculous beard off, will ya?"