of all the stars

c29

Ki woke up to a semi-normal sounding alarm.

What, no mainstream pop this morning?

As Ki turned to tell Lyra to shut her phone off, she realized the bed beside her was empty.

"Lyra?" She whispered, surprised the other girl would be up this early.

"Oh sorry." Lyra called from the bathroom. "You can shut it off, my phone's on the table."

"Oh." Ki said, noting the dull mannerism of her roommates voice.

What's got her in a sad mood?

Then the wave of realization hit her. Everything from last night was still unresolved.

When Ki came in last night after talking with Shori, Lyra was already asleep... or at least pretending to be asleep. Honestly, that's would Ki would've done too.

But that meant now Lyra was being awkward and cautious, and Ki didn't like that.

As Ki was picking up Lyra's phone to shut the alarm off, she came out of the bathroom.

She gave a really weak, fake ass smile as she looked at Ki.

Ki stuck out her phone towards her, maybe thinking that Lyra wanted it. Lyra hesitated and then grabbed it, nodding with a "thanks."

She slid the phone into the back pocket of her jeans and then knelt down to get something out of her bag.

She was being way too quiet.

Ki hated it with a burning passion.

"Lyra?"

She looked up.

"Are you okay?" Ki whispered, knowing very well that she was the reason she wasn't.

Lyra looked at her with a blank expression, almost as if saying 'you rejected me' through just her look alone.

She didn't respond. It's almost as if she thought it was a rhetorical question.

"Lyra... look I think we should talk..." Ki sat up on the bed.

"I don't think we should. Let's just forget about it okay? I don't want to freaking lose the closest friend I have over an accident." Lyra mumbled, standing up.

"Was it an accident?"

Lyra stopped in her tracks. She stared at Ki with a pained confusion. It's as if she was contemplating whether to admit it wasn't, or for the sake of their friendship lie and say that it was. It was an impossible decision. Lyra couldn't make it... so they ended up in silence.

"Lyra, I'm so sorry I reacted the way I did." She frowned. "I just... sometimes I get caught up in a situation and I get overwhelmed. You should know my brain doesn't exactly work to my advantage sometimes."

Lyra gave a soft smile and then looked back down at the bed, turning her face back into a frown.

"Doesn't change the fact that I overstepped... I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable." She mumbled.

"No, see that's the thing Lyra, you didn't make me uncomfortable." Ki sighed, staring into her lap.

"Oh... good? I guess we're cool then?" Lyra said, extremely confused as she brushed off the situation.

"Um..."

This wasn't where Ki wanted this conversation to end, but she didn't know what to say next. She didn't want things to be just friends between them, but she didn't know how to introduce the fact that she actually like Lyra. It had taken a lot for her to admit it to herself, and now she had to admit it right to Lyra's face! Ki struggled to find the words she needed. She didn't know how to say what she wanted.