deja vu | sapnap

19

Shay had a problem. The only people that she knew in Florida had been Sapnap and Dream, and she sure as hell was not going back there. There was only one thing she could do, so she picked up the phone and rang the only person she knew on the East Coast.

"Karl," she breathes, relieved that he picked up despite it being incredibly late.

"Hi!" He giggles. "What's up?" Karl had been expecting this call for the past few hours.

"You will not believe what happened. I am incredibly distraught and I have no idea what to do."

"Hmm. Tell me about it. What happened?"

"Dream told me he loves me. Like in love with me."

"Uh huh. Interesting. That sure is surprising!"

"Karl, this is not a joke! Why would he say that when he knows I still love Nick? I did not see this coming at all. Like at all. I'm so confused how this happened. And Nick! How could he do that to him? They're best friends, and George-- did he know about this?"

"Hey, I know this is a lot to take in okay? What are you doing right now?"

"I'm driving. But I don't know where to go. I packed up all my stuff and it's just in the trunk of my car, I don't know where to go, Karl. I don't have a home or-- or any family I could stay with right now, and I don't want to go back to Texas. I can't go back to Texas."

Karl paused on his side of the call, feeling guilt set in. There might have been a chance that his plan had gone a little too far... It wasn't his fault that Dream was apparently an amazing actor. He had hoped that Sapnap and Shay would reconcile on their own terms, but he figured they needed a bit of a push.

When Karl proposed his idea to Dream, he was tentative to agree. Dream saw that Sapnap and Shay were slowly becoming more familiar with the idea of spending time together, and he didn't want to rush the meticulous process of healing that he knew that they needed. He'd also made Dream promise that he wouldn't tell anyone-- not even George.

"Hello? Karl?"

He cursed himself. He created this problem, and it would only be fair that he'd fix it."Come to North Carolina. Come stay with me for as long as you'd like and we'll figure out what to do, yeah? Would that be good?"

"Yes," Shay sniffles, wiping her nose. She hadn't realized that she had been crying ever since she called Karl. "I can be there by morning. Thank you, Karl. You're a lifesaver and my best friend and the best person ever."

"Keep it coming. Haha. Want me to keep you company on your roadtrip?"

"Don't say that word, Karl."

--

When she hung up on Karl to use the bathroom at the nearest gas station, Shay did not expect to have 20 missed calls from Sapnap.

Why was he even calling her in the first place? Despite their early morning rendezvous, she was pretty sure that he still wanted nothing to do with her. It had to be a fluke, it must have been.

Sap
shay
dream told me what happened
Delivered 09:38pm

are you okay?
Delivered 10:01pm

where are you?
Delivered 10:48pm

i'm worried, call me.

Delivered 11:20pm

Shay
I'm fine
Read 4:12am

Sap
holy shit
thank god

where did you go?

Shay
I'm going to north carolina

Staying with karl

I don't know what happened i'm
at a loss for words i need
time to process Sap

it's all too much

Sap
i'm flying up

Shay
You don't have to do that

Sap
i want to
i need to make sure you're okay

Oh. Okay. That's new. Since when was that his responsibility? Shay knew she had two options. The first was to tell him off for suddenly acting like her boyfriend after he basically ignored her for weeks, or to accept his newfound affection and care for her. She decided on a something neutral.

Shay
Okay