𝖻𝗂𝗍𝖼𝗁 | 𝖺𝖼𝗄𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝖽𝗀𝖾

viii

karma saw from up the road as missy and nas rounded the corner to lean against the wall by their houses and she sped up, lightly jogging to catch up with them.

karma breathlessly approached them, standing on the other side of nas, catching her breath as they stood in silence.

'seen cory staring at alya and that. think he's got a thing for hijabis. so, if you like him..'

missy trailed off, nudging nas.

'i don't want cory. i don't want a boy.'

'okay!'

karma's eyebrows shot up as she thought she got what nas was trying to say, leaning forward to look at her friend. nas glanced at karma, the girl giving her an encouraging nod.

'what, like a proper boyfriend that your mum-'

'no, i don't want a boy.'

karma smiled, taking nas' hand and giving it a squeeze to show she understood, but allowed the girl time to catch missy up.

'fine.'

nas turned to glance at karma, who smiled at her.

'i get it.'

the girl spoke lowly, gently, to give her some kind of support with making missy understand. the two turned to the blonde, not quite being able to tell whether she was getting it.

'do you.. do you see what i'm saying?'

'yeah!'

'i don't want a boy, missy.'

nas hesitated, and karma rubbed her thumb along the back of her hand, the reassuring action spurring nas to continue before she chickened out.

'ever.'

'what, you some big hairy lezzer now?'

missy snorted, and karma's jaw dropped slightly at the tactless joke. she tightened her hold on nas, a silent message. whatever you want to do, i'm doing it with you.

nas' face dropped, her hold on karma tightening.

and suddenly, nas turned, walking away from missy and towards her house, karma next to her, their hands interlocked.

'nas? nas? karm? it's a joke. this is a joke, right?'

karma knew that missy probably regretted the comment, but she also knew that it was stupid, and insensitive, and definitely did not help nas feel as though she could tell missy what she had wanted to.

as they got to the doorstep of nas' house, karma pulled her into a hug.

'i understand, and i love you the same. i'm so happy you felt like you could tell us, tell me. it was so brave. and whatever you decide to do going forward in regards to.. that, i'll stand by you no matter what.'

nas squeezed the girl tighter, happy for her childhood friend and her open-mindedness.

'thank you. so much. i love you.'

as karma pulled away, she gave nas' hand one last squeeze before retreating, walking a few yards away to her house up the road, unlocking the door and heading straight to the kitchen to make a quick, hopefully silent pot noodle, before heading up to her room to eat before crashing, hard. 

karma went to nas' early the next morning, her parents were getting on her nerves and she was really trying to avoid being rude to them, and mrs paracha always let her in, and shoved at least three different meals in her face.

so, when the two left for college, discussing karma's favourite book that she had lent nas the week before after insisting the girl had to read it, the walked right past missy together.