There's Always A Plot Twist | Wattys 2023 ✓

12| The Caterpillar

Kenna walks over to the sofa with a bag of peanuts in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. "You enjoying the party?" she asks, sliding into the space next to Lain.

"I've been to worse." he confesses, straightening his posture. "Five years back, some girl threw up all over the place."

Kenna squints her eyes. "Isn't that, like, common practice?"

"Not when it starts a domino effect of projectile vomit in a hot and sweaty basement...if I close my eyes I can still smell it..." he adds, shuddering at the memory.

Kenna places her glass down on the table, eager to counter with a worse experience. "My cousin accidentally severed her leg at my quinceañera, got blood all up my dress."

"Oh, whoa-"

"-No, she's fine." Kenna adds, popping a salty peanut into her mouth. "Unfortunately she'll never let me live it down."

Lain chuckles, pushing his frames higher on the bridge of his nose. "For a second I thought you were going to say it's unfortunate that she survived."

"Maybe that too, kinda depends on the day and how I'm feeling." When Lain doesn't laugh, Kenna clarifies. "That was a joke but I guess I'll leave the dark humour to Amara."

Together they turn to watch Riley gracefully coming down the long flight of stairs, the amber lights bouncing off her exposed collar bone. 

Lain coolly shrugs off Kenna's amused smile when she catches him gawking. "What's with the smile?"

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone." Kenna teases, lightly bumping into his shoulder with her own. "It's only natural that you'd like her."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the shine."

"The shine?" he echoes.

"The shine." she repeats for the second time, reaching for another peanut. "It's kinda like main character energy, everyone just seems to be drawn to people who have the shine because, well, they're shiny."

"Is this one of those astrology things?"

Kenna clicks her tongue, leaning into the armrest of the sofa to create space between them. "Now I know for sure you're a Gemini."

Lain mumbles under his breath, tilting his head away from her so that she can't see his tiny smile. "Lucky guess."

"I'm Kenna, Kenna Martinez, if you were wondering."

"The best friend." Lain offers her his hand. "Lain Adler."

"I know." Kenna smiles knowingly, her phone sitting in her back pocket like a smoking gun. "I mean, nice to meet you."

Their heads turn to the stairs once more when Arlo's heavy footsteps rattle against the metal steps. 

Kenna notices that his cheeks, although usually rosy on his tanned complexion, are a deep rouge. She watches him sulk back to his seat next to Amber, unable to lose the colour kissing his high cheek bones.

Lain leans back into the soft sofa cushions, tapping his fingers on his knee as he looks across the room to Riley chatting with Bjorn and Amara. "She did warn me things were complicated."

Kenna quickly clears her throat. "They have a history, and I only know the half of it, but their story is dark and twisty."

"Grey's reference?"

"Nothing gets past you does it?" Kenna hums, the back of her neck feeling hot after being caught. "Here's the situation, Riley's Meredith, Amara's Christina, and...Arlo's Derek."

Lain raises a brow. "Which would make you?"

"Is it not obvious? I'm Izzy!" Kenna elaborates when Lain's expression remains the same. "Fun, loveable, a little reckless for no damn reason."

"The first two sure but you don't seem deranged."

Kenna chuckles darkly. "You'll see the crazy if you hang around long enough, trust me."

Lain chuckles quietly as Kenna gulps down her orange juice in a wine glass. "I'll take your word for it."

Meanwhile, Kaizen returns to the party after having to step out to get more snacks followed in by Freddie whom disappeared without telling anyone where he was going or if he was returning.

"So you knew Kai and the others, right?" Kenna inquires.

"Me, Arlo, Kaizen and the others used to hang out with a bunch of guys we knew when school let out but obviously I didn't go to the same high school as them so they were a lot closer."

"Naturally." Kenna's eye flicker over to Kaizen, seeing him wearing the matching bracelet to the one on her wrist. "So was Kaizen, like, always so perfect or did he go through an ugly faze?"

"He seems pretty much the same to me, a little taller maybe, but he's always been cool."

"I was kinda hoping you didn't say that..." she jokes, attempting a smile that falls flat once she looks at her feet.

"I bet Kaizen's excited about the baby."

"What makes you think I'm pregnant?" Kenna asks, challenging him with a playful smile and an unwavering gaze.

"Like you said, nothing gets past me."

"Oh really?" Kenna laughs, not having expected her own words to be used against her. "But what do you mean about Kaizen being excited?"

"Kaizen always talked about having a little girl when he got older, practically wouldn't shut up about it."

"Kenna." Riley hollers, waving to get her attention.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back so don't go anywhere." Kenna says politely, taking her now empty glass with her.

"Could you get Riley to come over here, feels like she's avoiding me." he hollers, brushing his wispy hair out of his face.

"I'll talk to my client and see what I can do." she laughs, approaching the kitchen area, the smile on her face turning into a frown.

Riley takes her friend by the shoulders, noticing Kenna's change in mood immediately. "Okay, what's going on, why do you look so upset?"

"Lain just told me Kai always wanted kids."

Bjorn throws up a peace sign, pushing off the counter to escape whatever fresh batch of drama this is. "I'm outie."

"He said that?" Riley inquires.

"Yep." Kenna sighs, rolling her eyes to the back of her head, wanting to physically leap out of her own body. "I mean...what do I do with that? Why do I always have to feel like everything I do needs to be justified because some girl way before my time hurt him?"

"I understand."

"No! No you don't understand Riley because you're the girl that some other girls boyfriend can't get over!"

Amara interjects herself between the two, damping the growing tension. "Remember she's on your side girl."

"I'm sorry...I'm just..." Kenna stops herself, fresh tears springing to her eyes as her stomach starts doing flips. "I'm just so fucking tired of this situation."

"It's okay." Riley replies, sneaking a guilty look over at Amber. "I get it, I mean, I think I know where you're coming from."

Kenna expression softens as she takes Riley's hands into hers. "I'm going to get a check up tomorrow."

"Why? Is everything okay with the baby?"

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling earlier and I called my mom and you know how she is...always telling me about some tragic story a friend of a friend went through."

"You want me to come with?"

"Only if you don't mind." Kenna mutters.

"Of course, forever and always." Riley replies, placing a soft kiss on the back of Kenna's hand.

"Forever and Always."