There's Always A Plot Twist | Wattys 2023 ✓

35| The Emergence

Riley's heart sinks as they drive past yet another row of cars after searching for ten minutes to find a place where they could park up.

They'd been driving in circles, visiting almost every available car park, and continuously being faced with disappointment at every turn.

Riley sits in the front seat of Kaizen's car whilst he drives with a heavy basket on her lap and a bag filled with random oddities laying on top of her feet. "What about that guy? Is he pulling out?"

"No, I think he's parking up." Kaizen replies with squinting eyes, his tapping on the steering wheel getting incessantly more aggressive with each passing minute. "Why is he so slow. Are you going in or out bro? Hurry up."

Riley soon gets her answers as the car in front of them starts backing into the space. "Oh, no, he's parking up."

"Fuck, okay." Kaizen doesn't bother waiting for him to properly reverse into the space, swerving the car around the vehicle and turning the corner sharply, forcing his passengers to grab onto anything solid for their dear lives.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Amara yells, pushing against Arlo's weight as he slides into her, accidentally squishing Asanti on the other side of the backseat.

"Ow, okay, personal space." he grunts, pushing Arlo back towards Amara to get some breathing room.

This goes on for a while, with Arlo being pushed back and forth like a human sized ping pong ball.

When Riley steals a glance into the rear-view mirror to see what all the commotion is about, she giggles at Arlo's unimpressed death-stare as he doesn't even bother to ask them stop or fight back.

"Okay, guys, cut it out. He's had enough."

Clearly Asanti doesn't agree because he gives him one last whack before pulling out his phone.

"What's your beef?" Arlo hisses, grimacing as he rubs the outside of his right arm

"The others already found a place to park." Asanti states, furiously texting Bjorn back. "I knew we should have left earlier."

"We got here on time." Kaizen utters lowly, majority of his concentration remaining focused on finding a place to park.

Asanti leans forward in his seat, the seatbelt partially cutting off his circulation. "Do you not know the rules? Early is on time-"

"-on time is late-" Amara adds, winding down her window to let the cool air blow over her glossy face, smelling strongly of cocoa butter cream and strawberry fragrance mist.

"-and late means game over." Asanti concludes, snapping his fingers.

"If you're going to continue being a brat, I'll let you walk the rest of the way." Kaizen warns.

"Alright, let me out."

"You can't be serious?" Riley asks, laughing until she realises neither party is joking.

"Okay." Kaizen hums, slowing the car down to a halt. "Now you're free to bitch all you want."

"We need the extra hands. Do you know how much I bought with me?" Riley tries, failing at diffusing the situation.

"Careful, his Royal Highness is in a mood." Asanti growls, still shutting the car door carefully behind him which lets Riley know he isn't as mad about the situation as he's pretending to be.

Kaizen, on the other hand, stares straight ahead, eyes on the road but mind somewhere else, holding the steering wheel with a death grip.

"What's up with you?" she inquires, wanting to get to them bottom of all of this. "And don't say it's because we can't find a place to park."