Because You Are Love (Karlnap)

Chapter 50 - Everything you need is within you

Silverware clanking against ceramic plates, each one glazed a different color. Small talk floated across the table, nothing of value being said. Observations were made about Andrew's abrupt style change and who it seemed to be inspired by, but all Sapnap could focus on was continuing to push around the same few bites of food on his plate.

Sapnap's eyes widened, the conversations that felt far away now coming into full volume, as a hand sliding across his thigh brought him back to reality.

"You feeling okay? You're not eating." Karl said quietly, retracting his hand from Sapnap's leg once he had gained his attention.

"What? Oh, yeah. Everything tastes great, dad." Sapnap said, still in a bit of a daze. His dad accepted the compliment nonetheless, not even noticing that his son had yet to take a bite.

"You didn't even try it." Karl's whisper was almost drowned out by the rising volume of Andrew and Ben trying to talk over each other across the table.

"I've had souvlaki a million times, I know it's good." Sapnap answered, picking up a stray piece of lamb and popping it into his mouth. He gave Karl a small nod towards his own plate, using his fork to poke Karl's food, encouraging him to eat.

"I'm finished, thanks for dinner- great as always!" Andrew said quickly, standing from the table. He grabbed his plate, already heading towards the sink to rinse his dish.

"Now what's the rush? You said the movie doesn't start until 8, it's not even 7." Jen called out, doing her best to keep Ben and Marisol in their seats after they realized Andrew got to leave the table early.

"Cameron lives on the other side of town, it takes a while to get there." Andrew called out over his shoulder, placing his rinsed dishes into the dishwasher.

"Cameron who lives on the other side of town... you don't mean the Baker's daughter, Cammie, do you?" Their dad asked, turning around in his chair to face Andrew. Sapnap furrowed his brows, instantly noticing the way Karl and Andrew's eyes locked from across the room.

Even though it was easily over five years ago at this point, Sapnap couldn't help but think about his own experience with the Baker family. Back in high school, Sapnap actually went out with Cameron's older sister. It was similar to all his other relationships- short, sweet, and painfully one sided. Even so, he always liked the Baker family. Sapnap just hoped that Andrew and Cammie could have a better relationship than he did with Amy.

"I'm driving out to the Baker's farm, yeah." Andrew said a bit reluctantly. Sapnap rose from his seat, ignoring the inquiries about where he was heading.

"Here." Sapnap said while approaching Andrew, grabbing his wallet off the counter.

"Letting me borrow your car is enough, you don't actually need to give me thirty bucks." Andrew said quietly, watching Sapnap sift through his wallet. Sapnap held out a $50 bill, pushing it towards Andrew's hand when he didn't readily accept it.

"Nick-"

"Buy her some popcorn too." Sapnap said with a small smile.

"He doesn't even like popcorn." Andrew muttered under his breath.

"A slushie or something else th-" Sapnap cut himself off mid sentence, his smile faltering. Andrew looked nervously back over to their family at the table, who were all watching, waiting to be let in on the details of their conversation.

"I guess Karl didn't tell you then." Andrew said quietly, taking the money from Sapnap's hand and shoving it into his pocket.

"I'm going to step out with Andrew for a sec. I need to, uh, show him how to plug in the car for when he gets home." Sapnap called out, nudging Andrew before heading out of the kitchen. Andrew followed behind silently, slipping on Sapnap's pair of white high top vans.