Estranged [Completed]

Shenanigans

Jenna sat on the edge of the bed, arms animating her words as Josh watched closely from his seat on the opposite mattress. "Then I turned around..." Jenna grinned as Josh leaned in closer. "And smacked her dead in the face! And get this: the bitch falls flat on her ass and rips out the biggest damn fart I ever heard!" The pair burst into laughter.

From where she stood on the other side of the room, Kalei dropped her head back into the wall. Arms crossed, her eyes rolled back beneath closed eyelids. They had been like this for the last three days, ever since Josh woke up. Kalei was at her wit's end; she felt like a chaperone to a pair of middle-schoolers. When Josh started asking questions about whether it was a juicy fart or a loud honker, Kalei opened her eyes, pushed off the wall, and reached for the door handle.

Jenna stopped laughing. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out."

"Hey, you know you can't go out. People will see you."

Kalei picked a paper bag up off the dresser, dumped out its contents of newspaper and gum wrappers, then put it over her head. She poked out two holes for the eyes and demanded, "There! Better?" She didn't wait for a response. She stepped out.

Kalei strode up to the railing where it guarded their second-story walkway from the parking lot. She grabbed it with both hands and looked out at the world beyond their tiny little room. The pavement spread out in deeper, darkened hues and the cars glistened from a recent spurt of rain. A cool breeze hinted of more to come.

She didn't even know why she had bothered to drag Josh out of that office. Perhaps it was just a misplaced sense of concern. Perhaps she just didn't want to be responsible for sending anyone else to solitary. The memory of that place still stuck in the back of her throat like sour milk.

Kalei tried to take in a deep breath of fresh air, but the bag impeded her attempt. In contrast to the cool breeze that played across her exposed arms, the air inside the bag was already humid and warm. It pressed close to her face and kept any of that refreshing relief from coming in. Furious and frustrated, Kalei reached up to pull the bag off, but as her fingers closed around one corner, she noticed a man approaching and let her hand drop.

Tall, dark, and handsome, he smiled as he drew nearer. "Why the bag?"

Kalei didn't so much as shrug as she responded, "Why not?"

The man was just a couple feet away when she replied, and at the sound of her voice, he casually stopped and squinted into her eyeholes. "Your voice sounds familiar... Have we met before?"

Kalei relinquished her hold on the railing and turned to face him. She wanted to scream in his face and tell him to just leave her the fuck alone. All she wanted was a moment's peace! Instead, she said, "How can you tell? If you haven't noticed, there's a freaking bag over my head. Tends to muffle sound, change voices a bit."

His squint deepened, and a handsome crease formed on his brow. "No, I've definitely heard your voice before."

Kalei was pissed that she couldn't even shake a damned stranger, but she knew it wouldn't do them any good if she tossed this man over the balcony and caused a scene. So she stepped past him and reached for the door handle to the room. "See ya."

As she walked by him, the man reached out for her arm.

Kalei snatched her arm away and then pointed her index finger at his face. "Back the fuck off."

She glared at him through the peepholes in her stuffy brown bag. He raised an eyebrow as he raised his arms in surrender, taking a step back as he said, "Okay, sorry."