A Poet and A Ruler

1 - There Will Come a Poet

"Kara, wake up!" Nia yelled towards her roommate for the second time this morning. The blonde jerked awake at the noise, sending a glare at the younger woman.

"You don't have to shout," she grumbled, burying her face back into her pillow. Nia sighed, despising mornings like these; mornings where Kara had been out late with either her sister or on a date, leaving her exhausted and grumpy even when she wakes up.

She was under no obligation to get her roommate up, in fact was ridiculed for it by her own sister, Maeve. But Kara is her best friend, her mentor, a bonus big sister. Kara looks out for Nia, so Nia does the same in return.

Which includes making sure she wakes up to be a good employee that goes to her job, no matter how much it sucked. Doing exactly as Eliza had done in Kara's younger years, Nia grabbed the bottom of blanket and pulled it from the sleeping blonde.

"Nia, it's cold," Kara whined.

"Quit moping and get up, Kar," Nia said, laughing at her petulance. "I'm going to put on a pot of coffee.

Kara curled up, attempting to warm herself up enough to fall back asleep. She huffed when she realized it wouldn't work, glaring at the alarm clock on her bedside table as if it was to blame for her being required to get up. Even after years, 6:45 felt inhumanly early to wake up for an 8 am job.

She pulled herself out of her bed, picking up her revoked blanket from the floor and draping it over her shoulders. Slumping over and shuffling her feet to show her distaste, she made her way to the kitchen to join her roommate.

Nia's back was turned to her as she neared the island, supposedly watching the dark liquid brew into the glass pot. She spun around on her heels excitedly when she heard Kara sigh, eager to show her what she found. Wordlessly, she held up a scrap of paper.

Kara's eyes widened, memories of the previous night flooding back, hitting her like a wave. "Nia, what're you doing with that?" she asked, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. Nia offered her a reassuring smile.

"It's good, Kara, I was just reading it," Nia responded. "I was cleaning the counter off and had to make sure it wasn't important before I threw it away. If you didn't want me to read it in the first place, you shouldn't have left it out last night."

Kara grumbled, attempting to snatch the paper from the girl. It was held just a touch out of her reach, Kara losing the battle as she always had growing up when her sister pulled the same stunt.

"Who's it about?" Nia asked with a smirk.

"Just some girl I saw at the bar last night, it's not like I met her."

"Well, you obviously wanted to. 'With a laugh that sounds like an angel's voice and hair almost as dark as the night, the beauty suffocated me without my name being uttered or my presence acknowledged. I-'"

"Yea, I know what I wrote, Nia," Kara rolled her eyes.

"This might be your best work yet, she must really be something."

"What she IS is taken. She had a guy with her."

"Just because she had a guy with her doesn't mean they're together," Nia pointed out. "Could've been her brother or her best friend."

"He was practically on top of her all night, N. There's no denying what it was."

"You noticed that and still wrote about her? Ah, falling for the forbidden fruit, I see," Nia smirked. Kara huffed, downing her entire cup coffee in two large drinks before standing up.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, wash last night off," she said as a goodbye.

"Probably a good idea, you smell like a dive bar," Nia called at her teasingly as Kara closed the door to the bathroom. Kara sighed as she leaned against the wood, covering her flushed cheeks with her hands.