BRIGHT! ━ K. JACOBS.

seven.

    Deadlines were a personal hell for Sage. In middle and high school, she tended to turn in most of her assignments late, and the only thing that kept her from suffering because of those decisions was the fact that all of her teachers actually liked her and would be lenient if she begged. But now that she was newly in college and just meeting her professors, she actually had to do her assignments, right, the first time.

Which is why she now currently sat buried in the blankets of Karl's bed, her legs crossed and her laptop balanced expertly on her knees while her fingers moved over the keys, although mostly slamming down on the backspace. Her brow furrowed in frustration, lip pulling up as she focused on the dimmed screen in front of her. No matter what she seemed to type, it all seemed wrong. Worded wrong, spelt wrong, all wrong.

With a grunt, she leaned her head back against the wall, with admittedly a bit too much force. To her luck, Karl walked in before she could continue smashing her skull against the hard surface, his eyebrows raising. "Everything okay?" He moved towards the bed, sitting criss-crossed next to her, just close enough so their knees were touching, yet not close enough.

She moved her eyes to glance at him, his eyes slightly wider in curiosity, his full attention on her. Even his body language said all he wanted to do was listen to her, his body angled to face her and his eyes not even flickering away from her for a second, not even when the silence between them stretched longer than normal. It wasn't awkward, but comfortable.

That's how everything was with Karl. Comfortable.

"I can't do this. I'm starting to question if I should even be a writer. I swear, ever since I got into college, I've done nothing but forget how to write. Which is the complete opposite of what's supposed to happen in college. But, in all fairness, I'm technically supposed to be in a sorority and partying in a frat house, and yet I spend most of my time with this bozo," she joked, tipping her head towards the brunette.

Karl rolled his eyes playfully, using his hand to push at her knee, his hand lingering for just a second before he moved it back into his lap. The girl stared at the place his skin had touched hers, her heart pumping harder as she thought more about it before he spoke and broke the moment that was in her head. "Thanks for calling me lamer than a frat boy, although I'm sure you know that isn't true. But really, Sage, I think you're overthinking yourself into the rut. Nobody gets into UNC without being good, and there's no way you paid them off," he joked, continuing the playful trope of finishing their arguments with teasing.

Setting her laptop to the side, the girl pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them tightly. "I don't know. What if I do end up writing anything and it sucks? There's no point putting so much effort into my assignments just to fail and pay so much in debt. It's dumb. I hate college. Hey, if I drop out, does Jimmy have any job openings?" She sat forward as if hopeful, her eyebrows raising as she reached over to nudge his arm. "I could pay my college debt off in a second and make a good income without a degree. You did it."

He scoffed, grabbing the wrist of the hand she had used to nudge him to pull her closer, his other hand reaching out to poke at her ribs, causing her to squeal and attempt to move away, only to be unable to because of his grip on her wrist. "I did it because I'm funny and people like me!" The words came out teasing, giggles leaving his own lips at the girl's now much louder laughs. "And not talented. You're actually talented, you goof! Keep your college education, get your degree, or I swear to God I will never stop this!" With that, he kept poking at her ribs, still keeping a tight grip on her wrist, although not enough to hurt her.

Sage cried out in a mixture of pain and laughter, her cheeks aching at how hard she was smiling, both at the ticklish feeling and the butterflies in her stomach at his touch, both on her wrist and her ribcage, even if the latter was a bit more aggressive. "Karl! Enough! Please!" Each word was braced with laughs in the middle, and she wriggled to get out of his grip, even getting up on her knees to try and escape, but he just simply sat up straighter, his height obviously an advantage. "Okay! I surrender, let me go."

The boy laughed, ending his tickling rampage, but not letting go of her wrist. Instead, he used his grip to pull it around his neck, pulling himself closer to her and letting his head rest against the crook of her stomach and her thighs. Her knees were propped up in an upside-down 'V,' and she was slightly slouched against the wall now, exhausted from her struggling. Sage let her fingers mess with the collar of his sweater, her pointer finger rubbing circles near his collar bone. His own hand moved from her wrist to trace shapes on the back of your hand.

And just like that, the air became serene again.

"I really do think you shouldn't give up, though," he murmured, as if speaking too loud would possibly break the comfortable atmosphere now created. "You've never let me read anything of yours, but anything that stems from you is always great, whether it be thoughts, words, or even paragraphs you don't let me read." His eyes flickered over the part of arm that was over his chest, before he tilted up his chin to glance up at her. "Don't hold yourself back from being great just because you're worried."

Sage rubbed her lips together as she glanced back down at him, her thumb brushing against the small patch of skin exposed by his sweater. She stayed quiet for a few extra moments, letting his words sink in before smiling softly. "You're great, you know that?" Her brain hummed, clouding all of her thoughts and actual sense, and she let her finger trail up his neck, over his jawline and across his cheekbones. Gentle touches, just enough to tickle - which she assumed they did, as his lip twitched ever-so-slightly, but he definitely didn't try to move away. Instead, he just stared back up at her, a small smile pulling at his lips.

"Yeah, I know. But guess what?" He raised his eyebrow, before gently grabbing her wrist, moving her arm off of his chest so that he could turn over and prop himself up on his hands. "I only hang out with people as cool as I am." Karl held eye contact for a second before he smiled, hopping off of the bed and holding out a hand. "Come on. Let's go play Mario Kart, you deserve a break."

She laughed loudly, pointing at her laptop. "We were literally just talking about how I can't get any work done, and playing Mario Kart is your solution?"

The fluffy-haired brunette simply nodded, keeping his hand held out to her and giving the best puppy eyes he could, which wasn't hard, as his eyes were naturally built for it. With a defeated sigh, Sage held out her own hand, grabbing onto his fingers gently. With his newfound grip on her hand, he pulled her out of bed, simply laughing when she stumbled into his chest and moving his hold on her to her shoulders to steady her. "You okay?"

With a breathy laugh at their close proximity, she looked up at him before chuckling. "Yeah, I'm good. C'mon," she beckoned, stepping out of his hold and starting to walk out of his room, calling at him over her shoulder.

"I call Toad!"