Producer's Corner

Chapter 26

Thank you, guys, so much for 20k reads! I personally feel like that's a big milestone, so I appreciate everyone who has clicked, read, and voted on my story. Another thing I'm really grateful for is #8 in fanfiction (it literally has more than 1.45mill stories)! That's a huge ranking and I would have never thought to be on that list in the first place (even if it was only for a day).

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Both Lucas and Meg have been worried all morning. When Lucas went to check on Kiki, she wasn't in her room. Which isn't too unusual. She often went on early (yes, that means 2 a.m.) walks; she was a grown adult who knew how to aim for the eyes and genitals.

But that doesn't mean she doesn't have protective friends who like to check in on her to make sure she is still alive and breathing. So when Kiki didn't even read their text messages, they started to panic. Just a little bit.

"Oh my goodness! What if she's dead? What if she was kidnapped?" Lucas pauses his rant, his eyes widening at a realization. "What if she's bleeding out in an alleyway all alone? We would have no idea!" At this point, he was pacing back and forth, trying his best not to walk into the coffee table.

Meg rolls her eyes at his questions. Of course she was worried about Kiki, hence why she was curled in on herself watching Lucas with anxiety-filled eyes, but at the same time, Kiki's phone location was on, and from the looks of it, she wasn't going anywhere unusual.

But she also knew that wasn't very sound reasoning, so she wasn't complaining about Lucas's ranting.

It wasn't until around 6 a.m. that they started to hear footsteps coming down their hallway. Lucas was the first one to jolt up and stand in the hallway leading to their apartment door, with Meg following at a slower pace.

As soon as the sound of the key being put into the lock was made, he quickly put on a stern face, ready to scold Kiki.

The door opened, and "I'm home" sounded out through the small hallway. Sounding eerily quiet and tired.

Kiki didn't notice either of them standing there, too focused on getting to bed.

"Where have you been, Missy?"

Kiki startles at the question. She wasn't expecting them to be right there, ready to question her. In any other situation, she probably would have noticed them; she also wouldn't have minded the question, but right now she feels extra drained and tired. It didn't help that she felt icky from all the crying.

She looks up from her shoes to see both of her friends leaning against the wall. Kiki made eye contact with Meg.

"You look like crap."

She sighs at the statement. She wasn't going to deny that. "I feel like crap."

Megan's eyebrows furrow in worry. "You alright?"

Lucas takes that as his reason to back up from the small hallway, not wanting to crowd Kiki, despite his previous worries.

"I can be doing better at the moment. But last night and this morning were draining."

As Kiki finishes her sentence, Meg backs up as well. Knowing Kiki would break down if she felt suffocated.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucas asks this time. Silently letting her know he was there for support.

All she did was shake her head in disagreement, walking out of the hallway.

"I think I'm going to go take a shower and get some sleep. I pulled an all-nighter again, sorry."

"That's fine; you obviously need a breather. Take your time." Meg reassures.

"Just know we're always going to be here for you." Lucas adds on.