actions speak louder than words {karlnap}

chapter 32

CW// slight angst

(Karl POV)

For the rest of our trip, Alex avoids talking to me directly. His eyes purposefully never meet mine. He doesn't complain when I head to Nick's room for bed. He's sad or angry or emotionless for the rest of the trip.

At the airport, he hugs everyone goodbye, but he avoids Nick like the plague. Nick seems a bit upset, but doesn't care that much. Guess he's still jealous. 

When Nick pulls me down to kiss me goodbye, when we hug tighter than we did when we landed, he scoffs and begins to head the other way. I notice Dream and George giving him a nasty glare, and sign my last goodbyes before rushing off after him. He continues the silent treatment all through security and everything, and on the plane, he takes the window seat and puts his bag next to him, forcing me to take the aisle seat. 

I've decided to give him the same treatment. 

We're quiet on the whole flight, the whole Uber ride back to campus, the whole time. No words. We silently unpack our bags, and he leaves immediately after. Probably to hang out with the friends he wasn't able to see since he was apparently having the worst time ever back home. 

Ugh. I don't know what's up with him anymore. Clearly kissing me again was a bad idea, though. 

I pull out my phone and FaceTime Nick. He picks up on the first ring.

"Hey," he says, smiling. "How was the flight? Did you get home okay?"

I smile. "Not home, but yeah," I say. "Everything went fine."

He blinks, and his eyebrows dip down. His smile falls, and he sighs. "But...?"

I shift on my mattress, now unfamiliar. "Alex is still acting weird," I mutter.

He gives me a sympathetic smile, but his eyes flash with danger. I know that if Alex dares hurt me in any way, it probably won't end well. Nick's always been protective like that. "How so?" he asks.

I shrug, moving to lay on my stomach, elbows pressed into my pillow. "Cold," I say. "Distant. Closed off. He's not talking to me, so I'm not talking to him. He left immediately after unpacking, and we spent literally the entire time getting here avoiding eye contact. Also, on the plane, he put his bag in the free seat so I couldn't sit next to him. Like, what the fuck, man?"

Nick frowns. "Karl, if you want me to come talk some sense into him-"

"Nick, we both know 'talk some sense into him' means 'I'll fight him'," I say. "Remember last year? After I told you about Keith, you said you just wanted to talk to him, and you ended up in the middle of a fight circle and with a black eye."

He smirks. "Yeah, but we matched."

I roll my eyes, but there's no denying the rising heat in my cheeks. "Yeah, yeah," I mutter. "Whatever."

He giggles.

We fall silent. We just sit there, staring at each other through a phone screen. 

FaceTime doesn't really do him justice. I can't see his freckles or his very faint 5 o' clock shadow that he swears he'll grow out when he actually gets any facial hair. He's ridiculously pixelated because the WiFi here suuuuucks. His hair isn't as fluffy, and his eyes aren't as... whatever adjective you can use to describe an eye.

He smiles. "What?" he asks. 

I blink, and I'm brought back to reality. "What?" I ask. 

He giggles. "You're staring at me," he says.