Behind Closed Doors

21: Restless Night

The rest of the harvest festival was a dream come true for both Skyler and Kaimi. They walked around holding hands and spent money buying each other things. Eventually they retired to the back of the crowd of the concert until Eva texted Kai that it was time to go. The two didn't hold hands on the way to find Ethan and Eva, because Skyler didn't know how they would react.

Kai knows that they would be supportive, as they already have been. But she wasn't about to tell Skyler that she had blabbed about her crush to them. It took forever to find them because Ethan was underneath Eva's arm to keep him from stumbling.

"Hey! Girls, over here!" Eva calls out, waving her free arm at them. They rush over, laughing at the sight of Ethan.

"Had a little too much to drink?" Skyler asks, snickering.

"Yeah. I was supposed to be monitoring him, but I got distracted by a booth and he ran off. It took me at least ten minutes to find him, but at that point, it was too late," she says. They help Eva get Ethan into the car and then hop back into the backseat. To drown out Ethan's drunken nonsense, Eva starts striking up a conversation, loudly.

"So! How was it? Did you girls have fun?"

"Yeah! I got Skye to try croquette, she loved it!" Kai exclaims.

"The music was good too. It's the kind of stuff I like to listen to," Skyler adds, not able to make their voice as loud as the Brown women.

"That's great! Well, we're going to order a pizza tonight, if that's okay. I can't cook and babysit Ethan at the same time," Eva says.

"Can we get one with white sauce?" Skyler says, trying to raise her voice loud enough that they can be heard over Ethan's vrooming sounds. He's pretending that he's driving the car.

"What?" Eva asks. Of course she hadn't heard them. Every two seconds Ethan yells "vroom vroom mother fucker!" to every car that drives by.,

"I asked if we can get one with white sauce!" Skyler repeats, yelling.

"Oh! Of course hun, we'll get you whatever you want!" Eva says.

By the time the four of them arrive home, Skyler is absolutely exhausted from having to raise their voice. Until the pizza arrives, Kaimi and Skye decide to stay in Kai's room to have some peace and quiet.

"Sorry about him," Kaimi says again, "This doesn't happen very often."

"It's okay, not your fault. He'll calm down in a little while. Meanwhile, it can be us two in here," they say. Kaimi can feel heat rising to her cheeks.

"What do you want to do until the food gets here?" Kaimi asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hmm, I don't know..."

Skyler's voice sounds teasing and promiscuous for a moment, until the next words tumble out of their mouth.

"Want to play minecraft?"

Kaimi bursts out laughing, unable to contain the sudden jolt of emotion. Skyler didn't even know how she sounded, which only made it funnier to Kai.

"What's so funny?" Skyler asks.

"Nothing, nothing, let's play Minecraft," Kaimi says, rolling her eyes.

"Unless you'd rather do something else?" they ask in a playful tone.

"God damnit Skye! I can't tell if you're trying to tease or if you're being yourself!" Kaimi exclaims.

"Teasing you? About what?" Skyler asks, dumbfounded.

"About-" Kai stops herself. "You know what, nevermind. Ignore me, let's play Minecraft."

Skyler is silent as she loads the game on her laptop, sighing.Kaimi crinkles her nose. Why had her mood changed so suddenly?