Familiar | Kajemac

Chapter 7

Part 2

Mac's POV

The December wind chills my hands, painting them pink as the sunset just beginning behind the trees. The park is quiet at this time of evening, and the ground is damp from the recent snow dusting we got. Because of that, mud smears my jeans on the knees, yellow grass sticking to the soles of my boots. I'm sitting on the driest spot I could find as I wait for my friends to arrive. The first to show is KJ who pushes her bike is a rush. 

She gives me a smile before dropping it down on the grass and coming over to sit with me. Criss-cross, her knees touch mine as I lean back on my hands. She doesn't have her usual neat ponytail. Instead, her hair springs out in curls from a disheveled braid. Still, she looks beautiful as ever, her deep eyes complimented by the forest colours that frame her. 

"What's up with your hair?" I tease. 

She pulls the braid over her shoulder, examining it from the edge of her sightline. 

"Oh. I made the mistake of brushing it this morning, which made it all puffy, so I had to braid it, but I can't actually french braid my hair on my own without it being all lumpy. Does it look bad?"

"If you're going for homeless guy, then no," I joke. 

At that, she rolls her eyes and tugs her elastic out of her hair, letting it all burst in a frizzy brown waterfall. 

"Can you re-braid it for me?" she asks, holding out the elastic. 

"You think I know how to braid?" I scoff. 

"You never learned?"

"Only girly girls who do ballet and shit know how to braid."

She tilts her head, pressing her eyes into mine. "And girls with girlfriends who need their hair braided."

Feeling a butterfly at the reminder that she's my girlfriend, I hide my giddiness with a sigh, saying, "Fine. I'll give it a try. You're lucky I like you."

She raises her brows at me, a smug grin on her face. "Oh, I'm lucky?"

A smile pokes through as I mutter, "I'm pretty lucky too." 

KJ turns around and scoots in, not afraid of getting close to me. I take her hair and split it into 3 sections. After that, I realize I don't know what to do from here. 

"Uh, KJ..."

"You gotta start at the top and take just a tiny bit of hair and split it into 3 pieces. Then bring the right section over the middle. Then the left over the middle."

I do as instructed, and she keeps guiding me all the way down, until I've completed and tied something that looks vaguely like a french braid. Pieces are doubled up, with some looking more like twists, and others going under rather than over. 

"KJ, I think I fucked up somewhere. It doesn't look like I've seen braids look."

She reaches back and runs her hand along it to feel. "Well, it's not in my face anymore, so close enough."

She spins around and shifts forward on her knees, leaning in to kiss me. It catches me in pleasant surprise, leaving me smiling when she backs away and positions herself criss-cross again. 

"Now I'm gonna expect that every time I braid your hair for you," I remark. 

"Hmm, I'm okay with those terms."

She grins and leans in again, this time letting her lips linger on mine a little longer, simmering in the sparks between us.

Soon, the sound of footsteps and bike wheels spinning gives us warning to split apart, and we do just time.