Surviving The Borderlands

Chapter Twenty-Five:

"Did you two take something?" Chishiya asked looking down on the two drunk girls who could barely contain their laughter. They took one look at him and burst out in another fit of laughter pointing at him and playfully hitting each other. He rolled his eyes.

"Bed time ladies" he said pulling them both to their feet, it was hard considering they were both drunk and Kuina was taller than him. He got Kuina to her feet steading her against the wall before pulling Rose up.

"Noooo" she squealed through laughter. Eventually he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her up, she giggled when she was pressed up against him – he could smell the alcohol on her and decided to get her to bed before she did anything stupid.

He grabbed Kuina's wrist pulling her along as well.

"You're so bossy Chishiya" Kuina wined as he dragged her, eventually they reached her room. He leaned her against the wall still keeping an arm around Rose and opened the door.

"You stay right here" He said to Rose leaning her against the door, she nodded even though her eyes were glazed over. He waited for a moment making sure she was ok to stand and then got Kuina.

Kuina forced him to stop, as she leaned in and whispered something to Rose which had them both giggling again. Chishiya sighed in annoyance pulling Kuina again,

"Get in the bed" he told her, she laughed crashing in the bed, it wasn't the first time he had put a drunk Kuina to bed. He went to the bathroom grabbing her a glass of water and putting it on the bedside table.

"You gonna be ok?" she nodded slowly getting comfortable.

"You two can stay if you want" she said with closed eyes, Chishiya squeezed her arm affectionately and walked away. Rose was smiling watching Kuina from the doorway.

"Your turn, time for bed" she looked at him with wide eyes, she looked vulnerable and the urge to protect her became stronger.

"I can carry you if you want?" she shook her head and started walking, stumbling every few steps as she tried to act like she wasn't drunk.

"How much did you have?" he tried again; she didn't seem to want to talk to him but he wasn't giving up just yet.

"Last drink I had was ...... I don't know" she yawned, it was hitting her now, she didn't usually get this drunk and she didn't think she'd drunk that much but she'd been enjoying her time with the girls and hadn't eaten since she'd left the beach for her last game. She just lost count of how many cocktails she'd thrown back.

"You need to be more careful you know, keep your eyes on your drinks" she turned to him with a suspicious look,

"I didn't leave my drinks at any time" she said somewhat annoyed, she wasn't stupid. He held up his hands in surrender before stopping in front of a door.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, she didn't want to be around him but she couldn't bring herself to walk away from him.

"Well, this is your room isn't it?" he had that smug look on his face and she couldn't tell if she wanted to hit him or kiss him. She looked at the number on the door and realised it was in fact her room.

"Well then, thank you for being a gentleman and walking me back but I'm safe now" she leaned against the door and he leaned against the wall staring at each other. She was reminded of the first night they met, where they had stood just like this and Chishiya invited her back to the beach. She gave him a smile opening the door, looking at him was making her remember all the kissing, touches and looks they had exchanged. She knew that if she didn't walk away she would be inviting him inside.

"Wait," he stopped the door with his hand, she looked to him in surprise.

"I need you to know, I'm sorry I didn't stay the other day – I should have",

"Yeah, you should have" she said closing the door, she didn't want to but she knew she needed too. She needed to separate herself from Chishiya and Niragi. She slid to the floor, silent tears falling down her face, she didn't really know why she was crying – she knew that her chest hurt. For the first time she accepted the fact that she had strong feelings for those boys even though she knew they weren't good people, they were the kind of people she had always vowed to stay away from. She couldn't bring herself to say the L word, she'd never felt it but then again she'd never felt like this before.

Her brain decided then and made a deal with her heart. She could cry tonight for them for these foreign feelings and what might have been, then she would never cry for them again. With a new resolve her tears stopped falling, a numbness settling over her. The door in her mind was opened and her feelings were shoved back with everything else behind the wall.