Touch ; Karl Jacobs

Thirteen

A few days had passed since Tommy had made plans for me to go to the UK along with Karl. I already told my brother about it and he encouraged me to go and have fun while he took care of the house. He seemed way happier now that we were talking again, he even gave me a small hug before I left for the airport. That single action brought tears to my face. 

On the other hand, my mother was not thrilled about my little trip and she had a whole breakdown in the middle of the kitchen while I tried to calm her down. In the end, she screamed and shouted before storming off somewhere. She hadn't returned home before I left and I hope she made it home safe. 

Walking towards our gate with Karl trailing beside me with his phone in one hand and the other dragging his suitcase. I never felt more nervous than ever, I rode the plane a few times but it scares still me a little every single time. The turbulence scares me to death sometimes. I had to ride the plane to meet family over the country and driving wasn't an option at all. Quackity jokes about it all the time. 

"Hey Jen, have you watched Over the Garden Wall? It's a cartoon network show and I really like it and I was hoping we could watch it on the plane ride?" Karl asked as he bumped me softly with his shoulder mine. I looked over at him and gently nodded.

"Yeah, sure! I was hoping for a distraction since I don't like flying a lot." I rubbed my neck awkwardly and he seemed to find that funny since he covered his face with his hands and his body shook with giggles.

I rolled my eyes jokingly before tugging on his sleeve and making us walk a little faster toward the check-in area. We got our luggage weighed and went through all of the security checks before boarding the plane. Tommy was nice enough to offer to pay for First Class so we took the opportunity. Karl grabbed my luggage before I even tried to protest and ushered me to our seats. 

I sat down and moved around to get comfortable. We had a choice to either sit separately or together and we chose the together option. For my sake, this is good.

I sighed as I closed my eyes and gently breathed in through my nose and tried to steady my breathing knowing that my getting anxious will just make things go worse. Karl had noticed my behavior before he scooted closer to me and our shoulders were basically smushed together as he awkwardly coughed into his fist and laid his hand on our shared armrest. 

His palm facing upwards with his fingers spread out. 

I felt my face flush lightly before I stared at his face and looked at him gently smiling at me. 

I took a small breath before placing my hand onto his own and intertwining our fingers. I smiled sheepishly before giggling quietly. 

"Dork," I said gently. 

"Nerd."

"Hey! What the honk man?" I quietly exclaimed as I looked at him with a fake shocked expression. He shot me a small smirk and softly bit his lip before responding. 

"Oh, so now you're stealing my lingo? What the freak?"

"...Shut up." I looked away feeling a warm feeling come back. 

"So, you don't wanna watch the show with me?"

I looked at him and rolled my eyes at him jokingly, I can't believe this guy.

"Of course, I do, nerd."

"Good, because I was gonna force you anyway," he chuckled before taking out his phone and pulling out his earphones, and connecting them to his phone. He gently squeezed his hand with mine and I felt my breath hitch slightly before calming down. He propped up the phone between us and made sure the closed captioning was on.