Back in the Saddle

Back to Reality's Problems

Nick's POV:

Karl isn't at work. I tried to go see him at the concession stand, but Hannah said he wasn't there. Clay literally refuses to talk to me and has been doing so for the entire day. That means that I'm entirely in the dark.

I haven't seen Alex at all today, so I can't find out if he has heard anything that I haven't. If I thought I was worried before, I'm frantic now, and I'm going a little nuts without knowing. I decide that I'm going to try Clay one more time, and if he won't tell me anything, then I'm not really sure what I'll do.

Almost on cue, he walks into the barn, where I just so happen to be waiting while brushing Cinnamon. I quickly hop over the door to her stall, jogging to get over to him. He takes one look at me and turns around, nearly spilling the pales of food he's carrying.

"Clay," I say once I've reached him. "Please talk to me. How am I supposed to fix this if you won't let me?"

He stops dead in his tracks and turns to glare at me. He aggressively sets down the pales and for a moment I'm scared he's about to hit me or something, but instead, he just says, "You have five minutes."

"Okay okay, I'm really sorry for what I did to Karl. And- don't say anything, let me finish, dick. I know I need to tell that to Karl himself, and I am planning on it, but it's kind of hard to tell someone something when you have no way of getting in contact with them. Now, please get over your self righteous self for one minute and tell me if Karl is okay."

He doesn't say anything for a solid thirty seconds, just staring at me. "You know, as far as apologies go, that was pretty shit." As I go to say something, he holds up a finger to stop me. "But, I appreciate how adamant you are about this. Karl is fine: he's with his cousins at their lakehouse and he'll be back tomorrow. Now, take it back. I'm not self-righteous."

"Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself. Are we good?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Wanna go get food?"

"Yes please, I'm starving. By the way, have you seen Alex today? I wanna tell him Karl's okay but I don't think I ever saw him come in."

"I haven't but to be honest I still don't wanna see him. I can't believe he did that to Karl; I thought he cared about him more than that. Actually, I'm surprised you're not angrier with him for what he did."

"Oh trust me, I was mad. But, I was with him all night on Saturday and pretty much all day Sunday, and I could tell he felt horrible. Plus, I saw his hangover, and I know that he was very, very drunk, and you know as well as I do that he is an emotional drunk."

"That's true. I still don't forgive him, though. At least not until Karl does. Now, can we please get food?"

"Yes yes, let's go."

===

Karl's POV:

We got home at three p.m., my least favorite time of day, and I immediately took a nap after unpacking. We spent all morning on the water, and Wilbur forced me to drive on the way back so he could sleep before the test he needed to take upon getting home, meaning now I'm exhausted.

I wanted to shower in order to remove this sunscreen and nasty water that's caked all over my skin, but I was honestly just too tired, hence why I passed out as soon as we got back.

But George, like a little shit, decided to wake me up for dinner. I said I didn't want any, and he said he didn't care and threatened to tell Kristen that I hate her food if I didn't come down. Obviously I couldn't have that, so I forced myself to get out of bed and head downstairs where the whole family was waiting for me. And when I say waiting, I mean staring, all of them, as if they know something I don't.