Love is Love, Friendship is Friendship, and I am Who I am (Irby/Kuffy)

- Didn't Sign Up For This -

Buffy's POV 

You have got to be freaking kidding me. 

"Sorry for being late, friends of my friend's brother." she said like an actually nice person, "I wanted to be on time, but then I got distracted by being told that I was supposed to be here today. Wait a minute..."

"KIRA?!" 

"Oh my god! Slayer, how are you?" Kira inquired with a smirk on her face. 

"I'm fine, Kira, how's your bruised face?" I snapped with an expression matching her own. 

"What-" 

"Okay! Do we have everybody?" Amber asked, irritated. 

"Yeah, but I think that we should have left her behind," I huffed, glaring at Kira. 

"Oh really? Because for a second, you seemed happy to see me." 

"Well, maybe that was because I thought you were someone else." 

"Like who, your boyfriend?" 

"No, my friend. So, why the hell are you here, Kira?" 

"Why do you think, Buffy? I was invited... or something... honestly, it's confusing-" 

"You know what, if it weren't for my friends being here, I probably wouldn't have even agreed to be here myself." That was...sort of a lie. I would have shown up anyway because it seemed kind of fun. But there was no way I was going to let Kira know that. 

"Everybody, could we please just forget our worries and conflicts and just go?" Iris questioned, clearly not wanting us to keep throwing negative sentences at each other anymore. 

"Fine," Kira and I answered at the same time. 

When I got into Amber's van, Andi decided to sit beside me. I put my backpack in the seat between us, having not wanted to put it in the back in case I wanted a snack or something. 

"So," Andi started, "I don't think any of us expected that. Wanna make some necklaces or anything?" 

I sighed. "No, that would get things everywhere." 

"Do you want to look through our meme collections on our phones then?" 

"Sure. I need to text Marty first, though." 

"Okay." 

Me: Hey. 

Me: So something unexpected happened. 

Marty: hey. like what? 

Me: My mortal enemy is your sister's friend and she's here now. 

Marty: oh...yea that sounds like a problem 

Me: It is. 

.... 

Kira's POV 

"We're going on a what?" 

"Just you, Kira. A road trip," Marissah had said, smiling like everything was going to be fine. 

"Wait, why can't you come with me?" 

"I have a dance thing to get to, remember?" 

So I'll be on a road trip with a bunch of strangers? Great... 

I opened my mouth to object, but was swiftly cut off. 

"And don't you try to get out of this one," her face melted into one of concern. "Kira, you only ever seem to hang out with your cousin lately... you need to get out there, connect with other people. Try new things." 

"Fine... but can't Walker at least come with me?" I pleaded. 

"Ah, um, no. It's a girls trip. But you'll have fun, I promise!" 

Girl. 

Something suddenly felt off. 

...You know what?  I don't have time for this, I need to focus on being upset that my friend is forcing me to go on a road trip without at least one emotional support person. Or even just the fact that I'm being forced into anything at all. 

"Hey, you might even know some of the people there." 

"Yeah, sure..." 

.... 

"'You'll have fun,' she said, 'You might know some people there.'" I mumbled as my stuff was loaded into the van. 

I think I know everybody here. 

I grabbed my phone and air pods and found the farthest seat from Buffy that I could, opening up the only music streaming app I dared to have on my phone. Someone with strawberry blonde hair sat beside me. 

Okay, so maybe I don't know everyone. Still, this sucks. 

I found a playlist that fit my mood, and pressed play.