She Never Left

who's that?

Kevin, Lani, and Alina all met up at eight in the morning. They were sitting outside on a park bench, drinking their coffee. Alina and Lani sat very close together, while Kevin gave himself a little elbow room.

"So, you guys are friends now, huh?" Kevin asked, then took a sip of his drink.

Lani was about to speak, but Alina decided to respond. "A little more than that."

Lani nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's uh..."

"Your girlfriend?" Kevin smiled.

"Yeah." Lani responded, and Alina giggled with her.

"Nice." Kevin said. He really didn't mind that the two were together, but, he wished that Laury was there with all of them. Physically. He looked around at the scenery and spaced out. The park had a lot of large trees, and the sun had risen about two hours ago, making it pretty bright. The park was empty, however. Nobody really came in the morning on a Thursday. Kevin was interrupted by a voice.

"Kevin," Lani said. "You okay?"

Kevin turned and looked at Lani. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You look worried about something. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm all good. Really," Kevin said, making eye contact with Lani. He changed his focus to Alina. "So, tell me about yourself, Alina."

She nodded. "Well, I'm originally from the United Kingdom, but I moved here six years ago because I have a lot of family living here. It's just stayed like that, and I really like it here," Alina thought for a moment. "I'm turning seventeen next month."

Kevin nodded. "So your birthday is pretty close to Lani's, then?"

Lani didn't know her birthday, but Alina nodded. "I guess so."

"Laury and I were always looking forward to ours. Hers is always a week after school gets out, and mine's a week after..." Kevin stopped talking.

"I take it that you guys were really close?" Alina asked.

"Yeah. We were," Kevin said, with a hard tone. "I just wish I could have said something earlier. She was in pain when she woke up that day. And I just ignored it."

"Kev..." Lani said.

"I just need to stop being the way I am! I'm too shy and nerdy. And this is what I get."

"Kevin!" Lani interrupted. "This isn't your fault, at all. It was unexpected, and we're all sad that it happened. But I hate when people beat themselves up for it. You're fine, Kev! We're all fine!"

There was a long silence. Lani was right, and Kevin knew it. "I'm sorry, Lani. You're right."

Lani nodded and sighed. "Can we talk about happy things now?"

Kevin let out a huge smile. "Yeah. What did you two do last night?"

Alina giggled. "Oh, Lord. Do you really want to know?"

Kevin looked serious now. "Do I?"

"Let's just say..." Lani continued, "...the night ended with me having to escape out of Alina's window."

"Oh?" Kevin's phone buzzed. He checked the time. "Damn it, I gotta run. I'll catch you girls later." Kevin threw away his cup in the trash can next to him, and began to leave.

"See you, Kev." Lani said. Kevin waved and left.

"How long have you guys been friends?" Alina asked.

"Since fifth grade. We didn't really start to hang out until seventh grade. That's when I got to know Laury better."

Alina nodded. "I still can't believe we didn't get caught last night," She laughed, along with Lani. "We need to do that again sometime." Alina put her head in Lani's lap and laid down.