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The air was stuffed in Florida and she was in pain because of it. The sun was bright, the skies were bluer. If staring at it wouldn't blind her then she probably would be looking at it until she gets tired of craning her neck as she gazes upwards. Not like that would stop her though. She decided against it... for now. Besides, the heat was making her feel lazier than ever.

She always gets like this whenever it's too hot. She'd be too sun-sleepy that she wouldn't be able to continue and finish discarded work the whole day.

The same cycle. Complain about the heat, eat, sleep and repeat.

On top of that, she hadn't been streaming or have been active on social media like she usually was.

If someone's twitch and twitter account could gather dust, hers would have a thick layer of it. Maybe throw in some dust-webs that people would often mistook as a long-legged insect's home. Most do not dare to sweep it with a broom in fear that a defensive spider would jump out of nowhere and attack them. It's not spiderwebs though, it's dust and it needs to be swooped.

It's obvious too, spiderwebs would have these distinct, clean and sharp-shaped look while dust-webs are like cotton balls that have been stretched so much that you can almost see through it. It just shows that people don't look and observe and just immediately react.

Matty sat on her bed, feeling the sweat and annoying heat escaping her body. It made her uncomfortable but she wasn't in the mood to get out of her bed. Her phone rang loudly beside her and it pissed her off to an extent where she'd rather waste the bottled water that was on top of her nightstand and drown the damned thing instead of keeping the water to herself and drinking it to cool her down. Yeah, crazy what terrible weather can do to one's mood.

She stayed on her bed, debating whether she should pick it up or what.

Just let it ring, her mind said.

But it must be important, the other part of her brain argued.

You know damned well that no one's going to call you at this hour.

It's nighttime for your friends.

What if it's an emergency?

What if something happened to Charlie?

Or Orson?

Matty sat up on her bed and was ready to grab her overheated phone at the thought of her friends being in such situation.

They're grown-ups, Matty.

She agreed with this one but it's her best friends. They were practically siblings. She shut down her thoughts and grabbed her phone, eyes widening at the white letter staring back at her. She was certain her breathing halted for a moment.

Karl.

So in short, she stressed for nothing. Well, it wasn't really nothing because why was he suddenly calling her?

It had been two weeks since she last gave him her number and they never really did anything but play 8-ball. Surprising but not uncommon. Two people who don't know how to communicate suddenly communicating with each other? It's practically better to slip on a banana peel than be put in that situation.

Matty let it be that way because what were they gonna do? Say hey to each other then what? Awkward silence? No thank you.

She looked at her phone again and decided she'll just let it ring. "He'll get tired of hearing that ringtone, he'd stop soon." She told herself reassuringly as she set it down back... but no. The man just wasn't getting tired.

She picked up and impulsively swiped her thumb across the screen and prepared herself to get yelled at. She was waiting for a sharp, cold tone that she was used to, bracing herself from loud yelling and curses and low names she knew all too well but instead she was met with a soft one. "Hello? Matty?" It said. No not it, .

Matty felt confused but most of all on edge because of the idea that Karl may only be keeping a facade, that he was actually irritated with her. Why the fuck isn't he yelling? Usually there was until Matty reminded herself that this wasn't her ex. She always went into this mode where she categorizes anybody new to be as bad as Andrew. That they were all the same but Karl, he was different. Right?

Matty calmed herself down and let out a breath, "Hey! Sorry I took too long to pick up. I was cleaning the house. What's up?" She said. A small stutter in her voice. She cleared her throat and prayed to the gods he didn't notice. She absentmindedly pulled her knees closer to her chest and laid her chin on it, fiddling with the loose red string on her pajama pants.

"It's alright, no worries. I just called in for a favor... it's alright if you don't want to accept it though because this is all so sudden and I know that we aren't you know... we just started talking and all."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Well... Actually, never mind. Let's pretend this call never happened." Karl rushed, already in the process of hanging up until Matty cut him off with a yell, "Karl! What is it?" She laughed.

Karl sighed, "I... I'm about to fly out to Florida to do some business for Jimmy and I already asked Dream and Sapnap if I could stay at their apartment but there's no space and I'm not comfortable staying at a hotel right now because of what's happening and I know that you also live in Florida so, I kinda, maybe was hoping that you can help me out and if I could stay for a bit, but now that I'm saying this out loud it feels like I sound like an ass. I swear it sounded better in my head—"

"Yeah, sure sure! You're welcome to stay." Matty rushed to say. She wasn't great when it comes to these situations. One asking her for a favor and just rushing because they're either scared or hesitant or god-knows-what. She just doesn't want to hear them beg, it made her feel bad.

There was a pause on the other line and Matty's brain short-circuited. What the fuck did I just say. What—

"What? Wait. Really?" Karl asked again incase he misheard.

Yes, I can't even believe I said that myself, Matty thought. Her cheeks burning a vibrant red.

She inwardly yelled at herself and went through the five stages of grief while doing so. Grieving for her brain that decided to flee the scene and leaving her there, brainless and dumb. The gods are testing her today.

Matty nodded and cleared her throat, "Totally." Not really. "How long are you going to be here?"

"Well I'm going to fly out on Saturday... and I'll be there for two weeks."

"This Saturday?"

"Yeah, this Saturday."

Matty gulped and suddenly the phone placed on her ear felt searing hot and she desperately wanted to get away from it, "Oh, ok! I'll make sure to clean the house then." She said.

"Ok... I'll see you soon?" Karl said.

"Yes. See you soon, Jacobs."

There was a pause and neither were ending the call. Matty was about to press the red button when Karl spoke up once again, "Are you 100% sure? I can always just book a hotel room..."

I'm 50% percent sure.

"Yes, totally! Don't worry about it. Just... tell me if you're allergic to anything. Scents, food, soaps or anything. I can't have the Karl Jacobs die in my home." She joked. Karl laughed through the phone, sounding like was stopping himself from laughing too loud.

"Ok, ok. I'll send you a list."

"A list?! Damn, you're more precious than I thought."

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Karl's face was burning on the other line. She didn't mean it that way. God, get a grip.

He laughs again because he didn't know what he was supposed to say. Was she flirting? Was he supposed to say 'no you'? Everyone knows that would sound better over text. But with calls? How the fuck?

"Well, I'll see you soon, 'kay? Try not to die this week. The meet-up has to happen." He jokingly said. Ok, that sounded bad.. It sounded better in his head.

The joke landed though, unlike most. Matty laughed and Karl took pride in that. A grin was now plastered on his face and his jaw started to hurt from how stupidly smile-y he got.

"Ok, Karl. I'll see you soon."

And then the call ended.

Karl was stuck with a look on his face, he knew this feeling all too well. He was fucking screwed. He laid on his couch, the armrest digging on his neck as he lazily sprawled himself on it at the start of the call. The pain was begging for him to just properly sit up but his mind had other plans the whole duration of the call.

Alex was right. He was down for someone and that someone just had to be the one he was asking for a favor.

A favor that will last for two weeks. A favor he asked from her.

"Fuck."

Karl went still as it finally dawned up to him. He was going to see her in two days and was staying with her for two weeks. He hastily sat up, a sudden jab in his neck that he rudely didn't pay attention to as he laid on the couch's arm rest that wasn't softly cushioned like the rest of the couch. The discomfort he didn't notice before welcomed itself, berating him for not even thinking that it would hurt afterwards.

His eyes were wide as he placed a hand on his pained neck, "Oh, fuck."

Oh fuck, indeed.

ayo 😳😳