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Thursday rolled around quickly. Ellie's parents had taken the roll of picking her up from the airport so the friend group could finish setting up Ellie's "surprise" that she'd already known about.
Melina rushed around the room with a handful of streamers held tightly in her grip. She'd been the last to get to her own house since she'd had lunch with her mom. So while everyone took their lunch break, she frantically ran around setting up the stuff on her to-do list.
With one final heave, Melina tried to tack a streamer high on the wall. After about a dozen tries and many laughs from her friends she gives up. "You all suck." She grumbles, "no help whatsoever."
Kimi, finally feeling nice, stands up to help the girl. He makes it halfway when Melina stops him with her stare, "what?"
"I don't need your help." She mumbles, searching around for a stool. "You guys will all burn in hell one day! And beautiful, innocent, me, will be laughing at the pearly gates."
"You've never been religious in your life. How are you making it to heaven?" Nadia laughs, earning a middle finger from Melina.
"That's not important." She huffs, grabbing the nearest step stool, she carries it to the wall with her tack and streamer in hand. Climbing on top of it, she frowns. It still wasn't high enough.
Finally caving, Melina turns to face Kimi with a frown. Sensing her defeat he walks to her, "use your words." He teases, only further adding to her annoyance.
"Help me.." She trails off. Kimi shakes his head and points to his ear, "help me."
"Help you what?" His smirk grows wider, and Melina has to fight the urge to pinch him.
"Help me get the streamer up high. Please." She finishes through a light mumble.
Deciding he'd teased her enough, the boy sighs, "okay!" With a cheer from Melina she turns around and lifts her arms up. Kimi grabs hold of her waist with his hands gripping each side tightly, he lifts her as high as he can. Initially, Melina had tensed at the touch on her bare skin, but grew comfortable with it quickly. Although her heart began to pound in her chest, she desperately tried to ignore it.
Once she'd successfully tacked the streamer to the wall, Kimi set her back down, his hands lingering on her bare skin for a bit longer before he pulled them off.
At the loss of contact, Melina had to force a smile to stay on her face, "okay! Everything's perfect!" She shuffles away from Kimi quickly, sharing a look with Nadia, whose own face is lit up with amusement.
"Ellie should be here soon." Ollie says, glancing down at his phone. He'd had her location pulled up and watched it move through the city.
Making some final touches, the teens impatiently sit in the living room. They'd all been staring at the decorations, which Melina starts to realize they might've gone overboard with, when a knock on the door makes them all jump.
