affection

nineteen

thursday

kai wakes up to white, the sun beaming onto his skin from his window, he had forgotten to pull his curtains. he's happy though, he loves the sun now and he's excited for the day. he gets ready and strolls downstairs, his bag slumped over one shoulder. he sits at the table after making himself some toast, and takes a few bites.

"nice to see you're not eating mine anymore." layla teases, coming into the kitchen and sitting at the island.

he laughs, but his mind becomes pre-occupied as he remembers something, he's not sure if it's worth bringing up. he watches eric hurriedly grab his work bag and leaves after a short, "good morning."

he's on his way to a meeting with the school, kai doesn't care what it's about. in all of the commotion of eric dropping things, and trying to rush away, kai stares at his mother who has been leaning against the counter waiting for her coffee. as eric leaves, his mother takes her cup and disappears into the living room, he follows quietly while layla complains about the heat, distracted with her phone.

he stands in the doorway, and says nothing as he watches her go into that same cabinet he found last night, pouring some of the liquid from the clear bottle into her cup before putting it back. kai briefly closes his eyes, fuck.

he turns away and shouts that he's off now, "you coning, idiot?"

"on your stupid roadtrip?"

"you already packed, didn't you?"

layla laughs, "no."

"well too bad, we reserved a seat for you."

"dude, i don't wanna be stuck sitting next to your loser friend the whole day."

kai slings his own bag over his shoulder, the strap tightening over his skin with the weight, and lifts his skateboard off the ground. "you'll be in back, the only person you'll be sitting next to is me."

"sounds like hell" layla pulls a disgusted face at kai, who laughs at her.

"perfect for you." his fingers graze over the sharp bumps of his torn griptape, he reminds himself to get himself some more as his own is so scuffed. he would give up and buy a whole new deck but he had broken his only a couple of weeks ago, while trying to learn something new at the skatepark with some strangers he'd met.

kai and these guys he'd befriended spent the next few hours, smoking and teaching each other different tricks, until kai had jumped on his board in a fit of laughter and frustration. they messed around with the broken board for a while, before following kai to his favourite shop. he had known the owners since he'd started skating in his early teenage years, he did prefer building his own but for now, he bought a complete for a lot less than anybody else.

layla grabs her bag she'd already packed, as kai had predicted, and leave as cooper's car pulls into their driveway. they could hear his bass of the music he was listening to, and they get in. elliot smiles as kai squeezes in the middle, and as they roll into conversation, he agrees that he should sit in the middle next time.

"first stop, guys, can you shut up?" cooper sighs dramatically, "get excited we're getting gas!"

kai huffs, "dude, why do you need gas already it's been twenty minutes."

"i forgot? is that allowed?"

"not really." he grumbles at the driver, who pulls into a gas station not long after. cooper spends the next five minutes talking to a truck driver, who had told him his first car was the same as his, and they talked about cars until bee leaned over and whacked the centre of his steering wheel, making everybody jump. cooper paid, and the journey began once more.