Outside The Storm

Chapter Four

     Kiera woke up at eleven the next day, her face shielded from the sun with her blanket. She didn't want to get up she was hoping that she would fall back asleep but she didn't so she slowly sat up, pulling her blanket from her head. The room was bright, it made her squint and tear up a bit, fuck. When she pushes herself up from the air mattress she tiptoes and lifts her arms, stretching her body while she makes her way to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror she realized her hair was a disaster and her face looked so puffy, as she looks at herself in the mirror she takes a deep breath and bites the inside of her cheek. Kiera grabs a brush and begins brushing through her hair, her eyes burning into the reflection in the mirror, after she brushes her hair she puts it up into a messy bun. She brushed her teeth as well.

     When she walked out of the bathroom she headed to the kitchen where her purse was sitting on the counter, grabbing a cigarette and lighter from it. She wasn't sure what she was gonna do today, but she wasn't think about it much as she lit her cigarette and took a drag from it. Her windows were not covered so most the apartment was bright, she liked it, the sunlight seeping into her living room and kitchen. She probably wouldn't get curtains for a while or at least not for out here. In her bedroom on the other hand waking up to the sun in the mornings is great but it also makes her room too bright. Her feet were quiet as she walked to her room to grab her phone from her dresser, there were a few notifications from Instagram just wanting her to add people, the rest of the notifications being from James. She was surprised he hadn't given up yet, so she opened them and scrolled through a few of the messages 'come back' , 'I'm sorry' , 'I miss you' , 'answer your fucking phone', the last was kinda concerning 'I will find you Kiera, your mine'. She stares at the message frozen, he can't find me, right? She deleted the messages from him and went into Instagram, scrolling through it for a while. She'd followed a few artists, people she liked listening to like peep, and Xxxtentacion. She didn't think much of the app, but she posted a few photos of herself on her page.

     Kiera got away from the social app about thirty minutes later as decided to go and start getting ready, she walked to the bathroom and got up on her counter, her feet in the sink. Music was something Kiera loved so she had music playing while doing her makeup, she mouthed along with the lyrics she knew. Today her makeup was red, she had red lip stick on, her eyeshade was the same color as well, with silver on the inner corner and under her eye. She loved how it looked so she finished her makeup, her lashes being last. Since she'd curled her hair yesterday she decided to tie it up half up half down, but she didn't really like how it looked so she french braided the top half back into pigtails, tightening them before putting to much hair spray in.

     The outfit she decided to wear were black baggy ripped jeans, they were al little loose so she also wore a red belt. Her shirt was more of a red bralette so she tossed a black zip up on as well, since the September weather wasn't as warm as the summer weather and it was obviously a little chilly out. She walked into the bathroom and checked to see how she looked in the mirror, not to bad. As she collected her things to head out to her car she hoped it wouldn't be as busy tonight, it was a Monday so they closed at eleven, before she left the house she ordered a box spring and a mattress. She couldn't sleep on the floor for to long.

     When she walked out of her apartment, she locked it and went down to her car. While she walked down to her car she heard music blasting from the apartment a few floors below hers, weird, she hadn't heard it in her place. Maybe the floors were just thick? While she walked out to her car she hums quietly. When she sat in her car she took a deep breath, this is what she is going to have to get used to. For the next little while at least, the only concern that she had was making her apartment less empty she still had plenty of things she wanted to get, especially because she was living by herself and anything that she wanted to get she was allowed to.

     Through out the next three months Kiera Williams had grown at the Divine Bloom she learned any tip or trick that she would need to, her shifts becoming easier. She loved it there, there ended up being a lot less people on the crew which did cause a lot or drama When Kiera first got there there were ten girls, eleven including her Lynn (Joslynn), Jaz (Jazzy), Haze (Hazel), Ali (Alice), Lulu (Luisa), Ry (Ryan), Jay (Jaylynn), Mak (Makayla), Tay (Tayler), and Joe (Joey). Everyone was really sweet and she loved coming to work, but one day there was a man that was getting super touchy with Kiera so when she went up to the bar she told Jayden 'Code red, table 20' in minutes her was gone but it turns out that man was Jay's fling so Kiera heard all about it for weeks. Joslynn and Jazzy were getting pissed that Jay was being like that so they brought it up to the manager.

     The next thing she knew it was just her, Lynn, Jaz, Ali, Ry, Mak, And Joe. Ali ended up quitting after the others got fired but no one talked about that much. She was still mostly the server, sometimes she was able to go up on stage but it wasn't while there were many people there. She was making good money, which was good, especially when she was on her own. As Leo said she was able to pay for her rent and the things she wanted her apartment had a lot more decoration around. Mostly tapestries, so many, she had a lot wrapped led strip lights around her bedroom, living room and the studio.

     She loved her place it was cozy and it was hers, she got a t.v. for her living room and bedroom, still no curtains for the living room but everywhere else the windows were covers, whether it be a curtain or a tapestry. The living room had upgraded a bit, she got a black rug that was right Infront of the sage green couch and under a glass coffee table that matched the dining room table. Jaz was getting rid of it so she ask if she could have it, also turns out her and Jaz live in the same apartments Jaz was just two floors below her which was amazing, they were close they hung out frequently. Her bedroom was nice as well she got her box spring and mattress still no bed frame though, a black rug that was the same as the one in the living room and even more clothes she would say her style was good lots of blingy clothes she probably got that from the bar, their uniform inventory expanded and they had so many different things to wear. She's gotten a lot of clout from being posted on their Instagram, and from her frequent posts. Everything ranging from her outfits, bits of music that she has been writing and singing in her studio, little vlogs of things she was doing, and her cat.

     While talking to Lola one day on the phone Lola told her that she should get a companion, no one ever went over to Kiera's house beside Jaz. Kiera thought about it for a while before she decided to get a cat, the only thing that she was very specific about was she wanted it to be a brown cat and that is exactly what she got. It took one post for her to get numbers and links of people who were selling brown cats, she had to drive like an hour there and an hour back to get it but she loved him. She named him bear and the cat was a very important part of her life, very spoiled as well. She felt pretty spoiled to, she worked for what she had though, everything.