kotlc oneshots!

streets pt 2

Keefe laid out their assets before them.

"So. We've got seventy-five dollars cash, and probably about two-three hundred on our cards. And you picked up a nice dress and some regular clothes on the way out, right?" He was affirmed with a nod. "Good. So did I. I mean—" he blushed "—a suit, of course."

Sophie laughed. "Okay, but why don't I hate that idea? We could go to West Hollywood— oh my God, Keefe, you could be a drag performer!"

He couldn't help but laugh. "Well, you're not wrong. I could see it happening." Sophie responded with a playful slap to his arm.

The sun was setting over the horizon, peeking behind the Los Angeles skyline and almost out of sight. They were parked in a nice neighborhood in Beverly Hills, saying that they were attending Lisa Brown's soirée in order to get through the gates. (They didn't know any Lisa Browns but it sounded like it could belong to a rich person. And they were correct.)

"Do you think, like, the Kardashians live here?" Sophie asked absentmindedly, changing the subject as she munched on some chips.

"No," he responded. "This place isn't nice enough for them to live in. We got in too easily— this is like a C-lister neighborhood. I bet the Sharknado cast or something lives here."

Sophie snorted, almost spitting up her Lay's. "Stop," she said, smiling. Their eyes met and a surge of warmth traveled up and down Keefe's body. For just a moment, he forgot about their dire circumstances and let himself drown in her lovestruck gaze.

She took his hand, and, readjusting herself for comfort, laid her head on his shoulder. A smile played across his features for a moment, and he wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her back in small circles. She sighed and melted into his body, her long eyelashes fluttering shut.

Keefe let his gaze travel upward, and he stared off into the distance through the smudged dashboard of his car. He could only long for the   days when he and Sophie could pay for a house like one of these— almost daily he imagined their fair-haired children darting around a nice colonial-style house like little puppies. He even anxiously awaited the days when his daughter would slam the door on him angrily, and he and Sophie would look at each other humorously, knowing she'd knock herself out of it soon enough.

But they were already in their mid twenties. The couples they'd been friends with back before they lived in Los Angeles two months prior were beginning to get married, settle down, and have kids. Keefe hated the fact that they couldn't do this— he'd discussed the issue with Sophie a few times in a warm, late-night haze; yes, they loved each other and were going to devote themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, they simply didn't have the utilities and weren't in the right place of their lives to settle down. Too young, she had said.

And he supposed she was right. They had, in fact, just been evicted from their 200 dollar rent house, so Keefe highly doubted they were prepared for a child. And then, that brought him back to the fact that he didn't pay the damn rent— he chided himself for probably the tenth time that day, feeling his anger and self-resentment build up again. Sophie must have felt him tense up.

"Don't worry. We're going to be okay— we're gonna be good. Don't... beat yourself up for anything," she finished, choosing each word with precision, knowing that despite his carefree facade Keefe was upholding, he was about to break and shatter.

He pressed his lips together and gave out a long sigh that seemed to stretch out for minutes, filling the car with a strange tension. "I'm scared," he said, his voice small and unsure.

She closed her eyes and nodded. "I know. I know. This isn't the 1700s though. Don't feel like you have some chivalric duty to keep me safe and provide for me. I know you think like that. Just— believe me, getting evicted was my fault, too. I'm an idiot for not getting a job."