𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐘, k.jacobs²

XVII

"Excuse me, do you work here?" A woman about my mother's age asks as she leans towards me. My eyes quickly search the area around us to see if there is anyone else close by. There is not.

I swear Sapnap and Karl had just been with me. Where did they go?

"No, sorry I-" I explain to the woman but she cuts me off.

"Useless," She snarl and look me up and down, making me feel extremely self-conscious. If this is what Florida had to offer, I don't want it.

I stare at her for a second or so, contemplating wether to walk away or stay and stand up for myself. But do I really have the energy to argue with a lady at the grocery store? She answers the question for me.

"What are you staring at you little shit?" She scowls. My jaw drops instantly.

"Excuse me?" I ask, hoping I heard her wrong.

"Are you deaf too? I said, what are you staring at," She says and I narrow my eyes at her. Is she for real?

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you called me useless for not working here. It doesn't make sense, I don't even live here, I'm here on vacation," I explain once again.

"Oh, you're one of those idiots who go on vacation inside America? What are you, broke?" She snarl and looks unimpressed by my explanation.

"No, we're not," Sapnap says from behind me and I throw a quick glance over my shoulder to see him standing alone a foot or so behind me, walking up to my side. "I think we'll be leaving now," He continues.

The woman scoffs. "And who are you supposed to be? Her boyfriend?" She rolls her eyes.

"Her brother. And I don't like your tone ma'am," He replies calmly.

She widens her eyes. "Oh? You don't like my tone? Well, your sister here was very rude to me," She lies.

"I was not. I just said I didn't work here," I defend myself while furrowing my eyebrows. Does she suffer from dementia or had she not been listening to me earlier? I guess it was the latter.

"Then why are you here?" She snorts and cross her arms.

I squint my eyes at her, wondering if she was for real. "To buy groceries..? What else?" I ask and immediately regret adding the last part, because the second I do she looks even angrier than before.

"Buy groceries? Really?" She scoffs. "Don't you do that at seven eleven? What are you, seventeen?"

"I'm twenty-one. Not that it matters," I hurriedly say because I realise I was being affected by her dark mood.

"Look, she did nothing wrong and we really have to go now, it was nice meeting you," Sapnap smiles politely at the lady and she frown, turning her head to face another direction. She scoffs and I shrug at my brother before walking away.

"She was horrible," Sapnap frowns and I merely nod. "Also, did you see how pissed she got when I was nice to her? Oh my fucking god that was funny," He has a self satisfied grin and I pull a smile. It had been fun to see her get so obviously discomforted by Sapnap.

"It was," I agree and he smiles wider, happy with my answer. Then I see Karl by the exit, waiting for us to pay and leave. I smile and slap Sapnap's arm.

"Over there," I say and point at Karl. He rubs his arm, complaining a bit, but walks with me until we reached Karl.

"Hey guys, where have you been?" Karl asks as soon we are within earshot.

Sapnap and I share a look. "Nowhere," I say at the same time he says; "So we met this lady-" Before cutting himself off, probably because of the look I am giving him.

"Never mind," He sighs and Karl look like a lost kid at the playground, eyes bouncing back and forth between me and Sapnap, trying to figure out what has happened while we were alone.

"Let's just go, I'm sure the others are waiting. And I don't want to miss it when George arrives," I grin and Karl nods.

"Sure," He says and look enthusiastic enough for me to know he isn't upset that we won't tell him what happened. It really is nothing.

~~~

"WE'RE HOME NOW!" Sapnap yells the second we enter through the front door. I grimace but say nothing about it.

"Finally. Do you have the snacks?" Alex asks and have had his eyes locked on the grocery bags in my hands from the moment he appeared in the doorway.

"No," I lie.

He immediately stops staring at the bags. He looked up at me with sad eyes. "What?" He hops on the joke.

"She's lying, we do," Karl says as he walks past Alex. He heads left towards the kitchen and I roll my eyes before following him.

"I was joking," I say as I heave the bags up on the counter, beginning to empty them.

"I know, but did you see poor Quackity's face? It was so sad," Karl defends himself.

A loud gasp can be heard from behind me. "Excuse me? It was not sad and I am not to be referred to as 'poor Quackity',"Alex says. I can't tell if he is genuinely offended or if he is still joking around.

"No, no, of course not," Karl says and look mocking serious.

Alex glare at him for a good few seconds. "I hate you." Then he is gone.

Karl and I stand up in silence staring at each other for a few moments. Then we burst out laughing.

"Hey, what's so funny over there?" Sapnap calls from somewhere in the house. We do not answer him.

~~~

Karl coughs. I ignore it. Then he coughs again. And again. I furrow my eyebrows.

"Karl? Are you okay?" I ask concerned.

He coughs one last time before smiling. "Yeah, I'm fine," He says. I do not believe him in the slightest.

We are sitting on the couch while the other boys were outside in the pool for some reason. I lean forward and touch his forehead.

"You're really hot," I say, narrowing my eyes.

"I know," Karl smirks and I smack his arm, groan and lean back on the couch.

He chuckles and scoots closer, hugging me. I cross my arms and try to turn my back to him, but that just causes him to kiss my neck. I sigh in defeat and turn around to give him a peck on the lips.

"Are you alright though? For real?" I ask him and move a strand of his hair behind his ear.

He smiles and grabs the wrist of the hand I have against the side of his head. He grandly kisses the top of my hand before tightening his grip around my waist. I don't think there will ever be a time where Karl's touch doesn't give me butterflies.

I rest my head on his shoulder which he responds to by resting his head on my head.

"I'm fine. Just a bit of a store throat, that's all," He mumbles against the top of my head.

I don't respond, mainly because I don't know what to say. I don't want to accuse him of being sick, but I won't lie to him either and say that I believe him. I'd rather just stay quiet.

But in my mind I think that it would maybe be for the better to book a test for him, see if it's corona. If it isn't, then I am totally fine with getting a fever or a cold just to hang out with him. I really hope it's not.