Fire Meet Gasoline || Karl Jacobs

fourteen

"So you dropped your classes, Maeve?" Their mother asked, cutting into her chicken.

"Just one, it was a bit too much to handle." Maeve said. Karl could see the fork shake slightly in her hands.

"Well, at least you're not Nadia who dropped out completely." Her mother said with an eye roll accompanied by a fake smile.

"Ma-" Octavia tried to intervene but got cut off abruptly.

"Why did you drop your classes, hm?"

"We've had this conversation, mama." Nadia said quietly, pushing the peas on her plate around with her fork.

"Speak up when you talk to your mother." Her father said before taking a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"Was it because of the boy next to you?" She accused, pointing fork at Karl in an angry manner.

"What?! No! I didn't even know him then!" Nadia defended. Karl let his hand drop below the table and fall onto her knee, squeezing it gently to offer some comfort. He hadn't really known why, it was as if it was pure instinct. He was doing a lot of things off of instinct tonight.

"Well, how would we know? You've been lying about him for months!" Her mother yelled.

"Mom, I think that's quite enough." Lorenzo spoke up for the first time since they said grace. He hadn't touched his food,

"You're one to speak up?"

"I'm just saying, Ma. I think she's heard enough about dropping out." Lorenzo defended again.

"Don't speak to your mother like that, son." His father said.

"She didn't want to do school. I think she's brave for that. She didn't know what the outcome would be and she did it anyway because she wanted to."

"That's not bravery, Lorenzo, that's carelessness and stupidity." Her mother spat. "You don't just do what you want in life."

"I think that's actually what you do to be happy, Ma." Lorenzo spoke again. Karl noticed how angry their mother seemed to be getting.

"No! It doesn't matter if you're happy! At least not in this damn family! You need to be successful!"

"She's pretty damn successful." Lorenzo laughed, looking over at Nadia and winking. Karl tried to hide his smile at the fact, but it didn't cheer Nadia up in the slightest.

"You don't ever use that language with me!" Their mother said, slapping the back of Lorenzo's head. Everyone abruptly stopped talking. Nobody ate. Silence was all that was left at this dinner and Karl felt overwhelmingly upset for Nadia and her siblings.

"You are all disappointing and I'm not sure how I got such unsuccessful and ungrateful children. Maybe I was a poor mother." The woman said, pushing out her chair as it scraped loudly on the concrete. She walked inside, slamming the door behind her as she left.

"You couldn't just sit through one damn dinner!" their father yelled. "She raised you all! You all have disrespected her while she raised you your whole lives! You should feel ashamed!"

Their father followed suit, slamming the door shut as he stormed inside.

"Welcome to the family." Octavia whispered, looking at Karl with glazed over eyes,

"We won't be staying long." Nadia whispered, pushing around the food on her plate. It was obvious she didn't eat a single bite. Karl never ceased the movement on her leg, trying to wordlessly be there for her.

"I'm sorry. I tried to defend you." Lorenzo said with a sad smile.

"It doesn't work anytime you do it. Just let her go to fucking town." Nadia said, her walls coming up as quickly as she let them down in the car.

"I think we might be late for those plans we had, right, Nadia?" Karl asked, looking down at the brunette. She looked up and met his eyes, tears shining on her water line.

"Yeah, yeah we are. We should get going, I'm sorry I ruined dinner again." Nadia said, pushing out her chair and standing up. "Until next time."

"It was lovely to meet you Karl." Maeve said with a smile. It was only a half smile, but a smile no less. As the pair walked inside, her mother started yelling at her as if everything was her fault. She was yelling insults and cussing her out up and down. Karl was unsure of how much longer he could just sit by and say nothing.

worthless

stupid

waste of my time

disappointment

Every word was another stab at Nadia and every word broke her a bit more. He could see it. He could see every word hit her like a boulder.

"I'm very sorry to cut this short, but we really do have to run. It was lovely to meet you guys." Karl said, walking up to Nadia and resting a hand on her lower back. He guided her out of the house without another word. They walked to the car and he opened the door for her once again. After he shut it, he noticed the skin around her nail was a deep red.

"Why don't you pick music and I'll find a place to eat." Karl said, handing his phone to her while he started the car.

"You can drop the act now, Karl." She sneered, snatching his phone from his hand and going to his apple music.

"There's no act, Nadia. There are actually nice people in the world, even if you're not surrounded by it." Karl said, pulling out onto the road and driving around the area to find some food.

"They don't hate content creators, by the way. They adore Alex and support everything he does. They watch his youtube videos, his streams. It's just me." Nadia said softly, scrolling through his playlists.

"Why though?"

"They hold me to higher standards. I'm their kid, Alex isn't. Alex is making smart financial moves because of what he does. I work twice as hard, i get just as much, im the disappointment who never finished college because of some stupid dream. I'll never be good enough for them, Karl."

"Oh, wow." Karl muttered under his breath, shock ripping through him as his name rolled off of her tongue. She doesn't use his name unless in a condescending way, and it shocked him to his core.

"What?"

"Nothing." He said, tightening his grip on the steering wheel as he looked straight ahead. Silence fell upon them and neither knew what to say.

"I don't believe people can be nice." Nadia spoke quietly, staring out at the street lamps starting to turn on.

"How come?"

"You just saw how my parents berated me, Karl. Plus, people who are nice always are hiding how rude and abusive they truly are."

"What kind of people are you around, Nadia?" Karl asked, looking over at the girl fascinated by the world moving around the car.

"Nobody who treats me right, i guess."