Back To You

Friends

Hiraeth Davenport

I ate a fry and refrained from looking at the girl beside me. Malakai was in the passenger's seat crying once again. I would have hugged her but she told me not to this time.

I was truly worried about her. When we were friends Malakai never cried. Not when her grandmother got sick, or her father moved away, or even when her mom flushed her goldfish down the toilet as a punishment.

I knew she got sad at times, but I figured it was never enough to make her shed a tear. The first time I saw her cry was when...

I stopped myself from thinking about the night our friendship ended. Instead, I continued digging into my bag of French fries, but I felt incredibly guilty still. I needed to take us somewhere private so I could hold her and console her. Maybe she would let me if we weren't in a public parking lot.

Malakai didn't even bother asking me where we were going. I wondered if she even realized I was just taking her somewhere. "We're going to my house, is that okay?"

"Yeah." She sniffled. The rest of the ride was silent except for Malakai's occasional sobs. I desperately wanted to pull over but I figured that the faster we got to my house, the faster I could get her to calm down. Luckily the ride to my house wasn't long at all.

"You don't have cameras right?" She wiped her tears and opened the passenger's door.

"No," I told her.

The second we went into my house, I dragged Malakai to my room. No one was home and they wouldn't have been for a while. Even if they came home early, I would just create a lie.

Malakai looked around my room. It had changed since the last time she was in it. I wondered if being in here brought up painful memories for her. She didn't speak, she just sat on a tiny corner of my bed.

"Your room looks nice." She said.

I set the Jack in the Box on my desk. Malakai hadn't eaten the food I got her because she said she was feeling nauseous. I wasn't going to shove it down her throat, so I assured her that she could eat anytime she wanted.

"Get comfortable." I shrugged. "I don't mind if you take a nap or anything. Would you like some water? Grapes?"

Malakai laughed. "No thank you."

"Is that a no to getting comfortable or the grapes?" I played with the ends of my dress. It was a little nerve-wracking having Malakai in my room again. I didn't want to do something wrong and scare her off.

"I have food, I don't need any grapes." She looked at the food on my dresser. "And you don't like it when people lay in your bed with clothes they've been outside in."

I smiled. "You remembered?"

"After all the times you yelled at me? Yeah, I did." She laughed.

"I have some pajamas if you want them?" I offered.

Malakai bit her lip and winced. "If I get comfortable we're not going back to school."

"That's fine by me." I went into my closet to get two sets of pajamas. One for me and one for her.

Malakai jumped off my bed and started stripping. My eyes combed over her body. She definitely had changed since we were friends. She was more developed. Her boobs were-

I forced myself to turn away from her and started getting dressed on my own. I slightly wished that I wore a matching underwear set.

"Hiraeth?"

I slipped on a shirt and turned around to face Malakai. "Yeah?"

"Could you unclip my bra?" Malakai asked. I walked over to her and did as she asked. She turned around without a warning and my head shot up to the ceiling automatically.