actions speak louder than words {karlnap}

chapter 16

(Nick POV)

I call Karl the moment I get upstairs. 

He picks up immediately. 

"KARL."

He jumps. "Jesus. Hi."

He's leaning against a bookshelf, obviously back in the library.

"I'll give you three guesses to tell me what my mom just told me," I say.

He pauses. And chews his cheeks. "Uh, she's pregnant."

I bark out a laugh. "Thankfully not."

He tries again. "You're adopted."

"No."

"Uh... she's got a boyfriend."

"SO CLOSE," I exclaim. 

He jumps again. "Okay, you can stop yelling," he says.

I give him an apologetic look. "Sorry."

He smiles. "It's okay," he says. "You're clearly worked up."

I scoff. "For good reason."

"Okay, so she has a boyfriend, but doesn't?"

I shift in bed. "Yes," I reply. "I was walking home after basketball, right? And I saw Cherry leave the house."

His nose curls. "Cherry?"

I nod. "Yeah. So of course I ask her about it, and she sits me down and tells me about my dad. Apparently he's some asshat who ran off as soon as he got her pregnant at 17."

Karl's eyes widen. "Why did it never click that she had a teen preganancy?" he mumbles to himself. "She's literally only 35."

I laugh. "Right? It never clicked for me either, somehow. She never talks about it. Anyways, she tells me about how she had a support team, gave birth at 18, still graduated, still went to college, et cetera. She moved here at 20, where I assume she finished her law degree-"

"Wait, she's a lawyer?" Karl asks.

I nearly bust a gut laughing. "You didn't know that?"

He shakes his head. "You never told me! You just said she travels all over the world for work."

"Yeah, I'm still not sure why she does that," I admit. "She has her own law firm though."

"I'll have to bring that up with Alex."

There's something in his eyes when he mentions Alex. It's familiar, but still foreign. I can't quite put my finger on it. 

"Oh yeah, he wants to be a lawyer, right?"

He nods. "Yeah."

I nod too. "Cool. Anyways, she then told me -- you'll never believe it -- she met her first girlfriend when she moved. Girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Karl exclaims. 

"Girlfriend!"

"Holy shit," he mutters. 

"Yeah. Turns out she's panseuxal. Anyways, apparently this girlfriend loved me, and my mom figured they'd stay together, but then they moved back home and they lost contact."

Karl's face falls. "Oh, that's sad."

"Yeah. But, you'll never guess what she said after that."

He glares at me. "You're right. I won't."

"She found them 14 years later. This past February."

He pauses. Then he glances away and frowns. "February," he mumbles to himself. "Wait... that's when Kendall was arrested. That's when Cherry had to come over there. Wait, is it-"