𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘 - kiara carrera

- 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

IT WAS UNNATURALLY silent in the Routledge-Riley household. There were no arguments amongst the parents nor were there any drunken cheers from the children. The parents, whose relationship had been strained over the course of the last three months, were out on a date night, hoping to resolve their issues. Which meant their children had the home to themselves.

And what else were teenagers good for if not throwing a rager while their parents were out?

Over the course of the night, fifteen year olds from the bottom of the island had been making as much noise as possible in the small Chateau. Beer cans had been tossed over, empty bottles of vodka smashed along the floors, buds from rolled joints lost in the grass outside. Mika and JJ started a karaoke competition, which soon became a duet to "party in the USA", John B had gotten lost somewhere in a sea of girls from their grade, and all in all, the party was deemed a huge success.

Now, the home that was only just bursting with noise, was filled with silence; so quiet you could hear the bushes outside rumble with the midnight summer air. Everybody had left, leaving only Mika, John B and their three best friends spread out over the little bungalow, getting to sleep.

In Mika's bedroom, she and Kiara Carrera lay in the wooden twin-sized bed, as they always did. The pink sheets were ruffled and their party clothes were flung on the floor in a drunken rage to get out of the tight dresses and toss on a pair of comfy pyjamas. In the end, Kie managed to find herself a black crop top and some checkered, long bottoms, while Mika ended up in a large blue shirt, which she was pretty sure were John B's, and some elastic booty shorts.

Side by side, they giggled quietly to themselves, thinking of all they got up to tonight. Kie sighed, staring into Mika's wide, adventurous eyes. The drunk haze she was in made the world zoom in so much more. She felt that the bed was spinning in a circle, and that she and Mika were slowly floating into the air.

Sighing, Mika smiled, moving an inch closer towards her best friend. This should be something that felt natural, something that she wouldn't have had to think twice about. But, instead, the tiny movement made her entire body burn.

"That was fun," she whispered.

Kie nodded, frozen in time. "It was," she whispered back.

Moments like this made her feel as though she was being set on fire. When they were with the boys, everything was so normal. So steady. But the second it was just the two of them, all those feelings came rushing into her soul. She thought about everything, prayed that anything she did wouldn't come off a certain way.

Mika yawned, her eyes begging her to shut them, her mind screaming for comfort, her body needing rest. But she suddenly didn't know how to get to sleep. She didn't know what position to place herself in. She didn't know the comfortable spot she was supposed to lie in, despite sleeping in this same bed every night.

So she stayed there: hands under the pillow, knees tucked into her stomach, her head facing Kie, until she eventually fell into a deep slumber.

Kiara did the same.

Both of them longed to get closer, but didn't know how.

"SUP, KIE KIE!" Mika Riley's lips danced in delight as the girl pulled up at the front of the house.

Her skin was glowing under the soft sun and a cold can of cider sat in her left hand. Her long nails were coated in clear varnish, making them shine, and her fingers full of gold rings. On the same hand we're three golden bracelets — one that was gifted by her previous step-father for her thirteenth birthday, which was now now full of charms; one simple metal bang that was baggy over her wrist; and one that looked as though it was made of string with a simple tiara in the middle.