𝚂𝚔𝚢𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 - 𝙷𝚘𝚋𝚒𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗

Ch. 4: Just friends

August 24th
Brooklyn New York, Earth - 905

"Everybody needs help sometimes, Peter."

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Hobie was just a friend. Kiara knew that Hobie knew that everyone knew that. So why did Kiara suddenly start getting anxious around him? She never was before, and the only logical explanation she had was that she caught feelings for the boy. I mean, who could blame her?

She decided to avoid him as much as possible to give her time to let her feelings die down. It was just a silly little crush, after all. So, for the past two or so weeks, Kiara has successfully avoided him. She asked Miguel for more missions, which he happily complied with, and in the meantime, picked up more shifts at her job.

She had tried her best to keep him off her mind, and so far, it was working. The part that wasn't working, however, was her feelings toward the man. She decided to just avoid him until the feelings went away. That was until she walked into her room after an 8 hour shift and saw him sprawled out on her bed.

"Uh, Hobie? What are you doing here?" She asked him, cautiously walking into the room. "Someone seems to be avoiding me." He glanced over at her with a small frown. Shit. The last thing Kiara meant to do was upset him.

"I'm not avoiding you, Hobie. I have just been thinking about my brother lately and needed a distraction." She lied smoothly. Well, it wasn't all a lie. She was thinking about her brother. She always thought about her brother, though.

"Then why did Miguel call me into his office to tell me that we needed to get over whatever we were going through so he could send us on more duo missions?" He sat up, looking at the girl in front of him. "What did I do, Love?" He asked her.

She sighed. She was busted, for sure. Stupid Miguel, always opening his blabbering mouth. Kiara sat down next to Hobie, resting her head on his shoulder. "You didn't do anything, Hobie. I'm sorry. My brain has just been confusing, and my emotions are all mixed up. I'll sort it out, don't worry."

She told him, closing her eyes. She felt like crying. She didn't even think about what this would do to him. She was his best friend, after all. "You don't have to do this all on your own, you know?" He told her, nudging her shoulder a bit. He wasn't sure what she meant by her words, but he wasn't going to push it right now.

"I know, Hobie, I'm sorry." She smiled a bit, looking up at him. Her eyes glanced over his face, wandering from his eyes to his facial peircings. She looked away just as quick, standing up before turning around. "I need to shower, I worked 8 hours today." She told him as she grabbed her towel and a change of clothes.

"Okay, but before I go, you have to promise you're not going to avoid me anymore." He said, grabbing her arm to stop her briefly. She nodded at him. "I promise Hobie." That was a lie. She knew it, and the thought made her want to puke. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then?" He asked, standing up and punching a couple of things into his watch.

The portal opened, and he stood up, turning around to face her before he left. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, Hobie. Goodnight." She told him, smiling a small sad smile. "Goodnight, Kiara." He said, looking at her for a brief second before he turned away and walked through the portal. Shit shit shit, Kiara was down bad, and she didn't know what to do.

——————

The stress of everything was eating Kiara alive, literally. She had probably puked at least twice since she talked to Hobie last, just because the guilt was too much to bear. Miguel seemed to take notice of her sudden illness, forcing her to go see the medic.

"Kiara, if you're sick, you can't do your best job. You need to go to the medic." He lectured her, sighing deeply. "Miguel, seriously, I'm fine." She rolled her eyes. Underneath them laid large and dark eye bags. "I'm not asking anymore." He told her. He was genuinely getting worried. "No more missions until you get better." He decided on, turning away to continue his work on the computer.

"No, Miguel. Ugh, you don't listen." She grumbled, sitting down in one of the swivel chairs and resting her head in her hands. "Kiara, do you need me to call Hobie?" The thought made her nauseous. "No. Don't call Hobie, please." She pleaded, pinching her eyes shut.

"Then go to the medic. I will see you later when you tell me what he says." He said, waving her off as a cue for her to leave. She let out a long and dramatic sigh, standing up and walking out the doors. Stupid Miguel didn't know what he was talking about.

She made the short trip to the medical wing, walking slowly with her hands in her pockets. When she got there, she talked with the receptionist, telling her why she was there. She then was forced to wait like 5 years for the doctor to come out and call her in.

——————

Kiara's plan was failing. She was put off missions for a week, being told she needed lots of fluid and rest. Now she had no way to distract her, other than her work, but she was told she needed to call off. So it was either work like crazy and ignore the doctors warning, or do what the doctor said so she could get back to being busy.

She opted for the second option. If Miguel found out she ignored the medical advice, he would have a fit. So there laid Kiara, sleeping for the 13th hour in a row. She will admit, she was exhausted. All the work and stress made it hard for her to sleep, so her body needed to catch up.

She was woken up by a bright light in her room, multiple items in her room floating before the light disappeared, and the items fell. She opened her eyes, glancing around tiredly.

"Kiara, you lied to me."