Imani was just supposed to make sure that the lost dog got home safely, come back, and pretend like the mere thought of the owner with doe eyes and an armful of tattoos didn't make her question her entire belief system. Sounds simple enough...right...
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When the sound of the doorbell echoes inside the house a few hours later, Layla's head perks up before Bowie's does.
"Okay, I have the spike and it's just us two at Site B, so make sure y—" Ved gets cut off by Layla scrambling to put the laptop aside on the couch and rushing to get the door even before I have set my palms on the floor to push myself up. "Hey! Hey! Lay—"
"I wanna see Hot Dog Owner!" She calls from the hallway, and I freeze for a second before remembering that her voice won't go through the door. Thank God. "Fuck Valorant."
"Fuck you! I'm reporting you AFK."
"Do it, baby. I know the law."
Well aware that there's no way I'm going to be able to stop whatever Layla is going to do now, I sit back down with a sigh and turn my head to give Juni, who is sitting on the kitchen counter while they drink their coffee, a look. 'Hot Dog Owner' is definitely a set of words that came out of their mouth first.
Their legs stop swinging and they immediately raise a free hand in the air when they notice the expression on my face, mug with World's Okayest Housemate written on it in comic sans, that Layla had gotten them as a joke, stopping mid air. It's ugly. And funny. "I couldn't help myself."
"If we make a quick run to Portillo's, we could be hotdog owners right now," Ved says to me, leaning back on the couch and staring disdainfully at his laptop screen—which I assume now flashes with the message that his team lost—before pulling his headphones down to his neck.
The corners of my lips twitch in amusement despite myself, and I gesture in Sean's direction with my eyes when I see him sitting beside Bowie at the dining table with his chin tucked in his palm, staring blankly at the back of Ved's head.
Ved takes one look at his face and quickly whips his head back to me, letting out a nervous, high-pitched laugh. "But we won't!"
"Healthy eating for a week before gigs," I remind him, finally getting off the floor to check on Layla.
"Healthy eating for a week before gigs," Ved echoes begrudgingly.
I pat his shoulder before turning around to make my way to the door.
Because I had been expecting to see Layla grilling Kaia with questions like she does every time she meets new people, my feet come to a halt in pure surprise when I find her standing with her head hung, back and palms resting flat against the door.
"Lay?"
When she raises her head to meet my eyes, her mouth is parted and her eyes are glossed over with an emotion that I don't see often on her face. But I'm a little too familiar with the feeling to not catch up on it.
