Heated Lies (Jiara)

Ticket

"Hey, Kiara?" Nora tapped her shoulder the next day. "Ever been to prom? Kinda wanna know what it's like."

The Carrera sighed, sitting further into her seat in the common area. "I'm a junior and I didn't get to go before coming here."

Her friend sounded disappointed, so Kiara tried to fill in the blank.

"Not prom, but I was supposed to go to this dance in December with my boyfriend."

"The one who got abused...?"

Kiara nodded, rubbing a hand over her face. "Doubt it now, though."

"I'm sorry." She took her glasses off to rub her eyes. "I'm forgetful sometimes. I hate that I keep bringing up topics that might upset you."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. I'm not upset with you, I'm just thinking. What about you, though?"

A security guard was eyeing them, almost like he was eavesdropping on their conversation. Nora turned her back toward him, giving him a full view of the back of her blazer.

"What about me?" She put her glasses back on to even out the blur that was Kiara.

"Do you have a plan once you turn 18? They can't keep you here once you become of age to make your own decision."

She watched the short haired girl think. She'd play with her fingers as she thought, and it reminded the other girl of back home. They all had anxiety, and it wasn't hard to tell.

"Well, I'd imagine I'd try to get a job." Nora bit her lip, nearly tearing the end of her skirt. "I have no fucking experience with the outer world."

Her eyes had become glassy, not quite crying, but it was like she'd zoned out. Kiara didn't like it, quickly pulling the shorter girl into a hug.

"I'm gonna write my number on your hand before I leave.  Then I'll sneak you your phone before I go, okay? I'll help you out of here."

The way Kiara said it had her emotional. She pulled back to put one hand over her mouth like she'd couldn't believe her ears.

"Seriously?" She had to be sure.

"Definitely."

***

When JJ awoke the next morning, there was an ache in his back and sand everywhere else. He sat up, spitting the ruble and searching his bag for a water bottle.

He didn't find one, and he was smart enough to know he couldn't drink salt water. Still, this did him no justice, so he stood to walk back toward civilization.

His throat was as dry as a bone by the time he entered a small convenience store. He slammed a ten dollar bill as well as two water bottles on the counter. The woman was still ringing him up when he discarded the cap onto the floor.

"Thank you." But his voice was hoarse from all the screaming he'd done. He looked homeless, and in all honesty, he was.

Next, he sat on a bench outside to think. He'd actually put his shirt back on by then, he knew better than that. However, he was seriously debating on going back home and forgetting everything else. The only thought that was stopping him... was his supposed girlfriend.

***

"Two thousand dollars?!" John B exclaimed.

"Deposited straight into the account! I didn't even know Luke had that kind of cash!"

"He probably took out a loan he can't pay back." Sarah laughed.

The group got silent as they all realized their primary reason for the flight had vanished.

"We should still go, right?" Pope hesitated. "With or without JJ, it's still Kie. She didn't deserve this. None of us did."

"Dude, we have no clue where JJ even is. He could've OD'd or got alcohol poisoning. He could've gone home. There's no telling. He's reckless. We never should've let him leave." Sarah was speaking the truth, but it was scaring everyone else.

"JJ doesn't do anything besides weed. You can't overdose on weed, can you...?" John B was starting to sweat.

They both sighed in shaky breaths as a response. "Never should've let him leave."

***

Now that Luke had made the deposit, he had to sit back and wait. He didn't expect it to be long, as he'd only seen them the day before.

He didn't know they'd all been separated.  Somehow, the man was proud of himself. Thinking he'd gotten himself out of a tough situation was a great confidence boost, and it led him to get another dumb decision.

Barry.

He hadn't had a fill in a while besides being consistently drunk. So he dialed up the number, hearing a rough and bothered voice on the other end.

"The fuck you want, old man?"

"I can pay you back, alright? Just front me this last time. I swear I can double your reward."

"And how will you do that?"

Luke didn't have a plan, but he was high off the false victory, so he waved off his own moral clock. It might not seem like he'd have one, but Luke did have a voice telling him when he was doing something wrong.

His issue was, he liked to drown that voice out. So when Barry showed up with a bag of white sand, he was grinning stupidly.