corruption

seven ੈ✩‧₊

Lacie's pov: (time skip a few months -february 2021-)

Im finally moving out of my parents house, the sun was beginning to set, casting a golden hue over the skyline, and I could feel the warmth of the evening through the large windows of our new apartment. Our new apartment. Those words still didn't feel real. I looked around at the stacks of boxes scattered around the living room, half-open, with random bits of our lives spilling out—books, old picture frames, a couple of lamps we hadn't figured out where to put yet. Nina was kneeling by one, carefully pulling out a tangled mess of fairy lights we both insisted on bringing from our childhood bedrooms.

"This is such a mess mate fuck this," she said with her annoyed tone, shaking her head at the string of lights.

I grinned, wiping the sweat from my forehead and sinking onto the couch. Our new couch. Brand new, actually, a soft gray that still smelled like fresh fabric and furniture polish. I could already tell it was going to be my favorite spot. Cuddly white blankets and pillows, it's great.

We'd been slowly unpacking all day, moving boxes back and forth from our old homes in the town we grew up in, barely an hour away. But this felt different. This wasn't just moving stuff from one place to another. This was us, finally, on our own. Our apartment in LA. I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

"God, I'm starving. Want to just leave it all for today, chill, and Postmates something?" I asked, tossing the tape gun onto the coffee table and leaning back into the cushions.

"Taco Bell?" I suggested with a smirk, already pulling out her phone.

"You know me too well."

While we waited for the food, I glanced around at the room, the pieces of us slowly starting to come together. We'd bought a new TV—bigger than either of us had growing up, definitely bigger than anything in our parents' houses. It still sat on the floor, waiting to be mounted on the wall, but at least it worked.

"Wanna throw on something?" I asked.

Nina smirked, because she already knew what I was talking about. "Compilations?"

"Of course."

Within minutes, the screen was filled with familiar faces—old 5SOS clips, those chaotic moments we used to laugh at together back in high school, quoting every line like we'd written them ourselves. As one video played of the guys goofing off in some interview, I felt a burst of nostalgia hit me. We'd spent so many nights in one of our bedrooms, huddled on the bed with snacks, watching these same clips and dreaming about our future. Back then, we'd talked about how cool it would be to live together, have our own place. And now, here we were.

"Remember that one?" Nina asked, pointing at the screen as Michael shouted in some interview.

"'IM MICHAEL,'" I quoted perfectly, laughing. We both burst into giggles, just like we used to, our Taco Bell arriving in the middle of the moment. Nina walks to the door and gives a thanks to the guy and takes the food bags and closes the door with her foot.

We tore into the bags, throwing wrappers and sauce packets all over the coffee table as we devoured tacos and burritos, sinking deeper into the couch. The video still played in the background, but now it was more of a comfort than something we were really paying attention to.

Nina stretched and stood up after we finished eating, starting to clear away some of the trash. I was still sprawled on the couch, my mind wandering. This was it. This was real.

"I can't believe we actually did this you know," I said quietly after a minute, watching her stack the trash neatly on the table.

She glanced over at me, that knowing look in her eyes. "I know. We've been talking about it forever, and now it's really happening. Like bro, we graduated...what the hell. You know what i mean?"