Kennedy feels stuck. What better way is there to escape a vicious cycle of tiring herself out, just to fail her classes once again, than to throw herself into a new experience? The universe took things too literally though - soon enough, she finds h...
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You need to come back home. - Lauv
Cold water starts to run over my chest as I turn my hair away from the shower head on the wall. I reach down to the corner of the shower stall where my products are sat and squeez a generous amount of coconut shampoo into my palm, waiting for the scent to fully engulf me while I place my hands on my head to lather up my hair.
Is this what it feels like to be on vacation in a tropical country?
Lord knows I needed it.
Judging by the bloodshot eyes staring back at me through the mirror after I step out of the shower, a lifetime's worth of getaway wouldn't make up for the exhaustion I have been feeling for the past two weeks.
Uni has been eating at my nerves even though exam season is long gone, my side job at a supermarket a few streets over is barely hanging on by a thread and I am slowly losing my will to exist.
The original will to live, well... that I had thrown out the window, what felt like a year ago.
Mellow tunes can be heard in the living room and I lowly hum along to the melodies as I quickly move on to get ready for the day.
The only positive thing going through my mind is the thought of it being Friday. A minuscule smile tugs at the corners of my lips because I remember the events of the night to come.
My roommate and best friend Nikita is to finally come back from her family's one month get together. Throughout one of our frequent FaceTime sessions, we had determined this night as a 'drunk-and-free-for-once' event.
Having the apartment to myself wasn't necessarily a bad thing. This way, I was able to do as I please without getting constant jabs of "Kennedy please stop singing I have to concentrate on this bread" or follow ups like "Kenny I told you not to touch the hecking bread!".
Nevertheless, the more I thought about getting my personal culinary chef back into the house, the more keen I was on not taking her jabs to heart, like I did anyways.
A sharp ringing coming from my phone rips me out of daydreaming and I quickly skip to the shelf to the left of the TV, where I remember laying it down last.
However, just as my luck would have it, the ringing stops just as I grasp the phone in my hand.
Rolling my eyes and letting out a deep sigh, I redial what I found out to be Nikita's number.
"Kennedy, dude, why didn't you pick up", a distressed voice greets me from the other end of the line.
"Good morning to you, too, Keets! What a lovely way to hear from you!"
A low groan escapes her and I chuckle,
"Okay but for real, why the hell are you calling me? Shouldn't you be running to get your train back home or something?"
Another groan can be heard and for ten seconds, the only thing I hear is what seems like a thousand people's voices and shuffling around, which leads me to assume that she indeed is at the train station.
"Frick Ken, you're about to be so mad at me."
The momentary amused smile because of her hatred for swearing is immediately wiped away and replaced with a frown and settles even deeper when she continues speaking.
"There was a huge, like super huge, storm up here. They've currently cancelled all trains because there's a ton of stuff that has to be cleaned off the tracks. So, as smart as I am, I immediately booked the next flight home because you sure as heck believe I can't spend another minute with my family and yes, not even my fear of flying will be able to stop me. But Ken, listen, I booked the wrong flight!", she lets out a strained laugh.
"It was supposed to leave at 2pm so I can be at home at 4:30 tops but my stupid ass...", Nikita whines repeating it, "my stupid ass didn't realise I was booking a flight for tomorrow and since it's non refundable I am stuck here!"
At the end of her explanation, her voice had raised slightly and you clearly could hear the frustration going through her whole body so I refrain from expressing my disappointment. Instead, I opt for the reassuring route, to get some weight of her shoulders.
"Nikita, calm down, you'll be fine staying with them for a little bit more if you survived the whole past month. Just... just try to look forward to seeing my pretty face when you get back tomorrow...?", I almost laugh at my weak attempt of getting her to be more positive.
I know from three years experience that she always dreads going to this one month get together since it has its reasons she moved out and 5 hours away so eagerly after finishing high school.
I quickly promise to text her a lot throughout her extended stay to make things more comfortable and then hang up, having realised I wasted a lot of time on the phone call even though I should have been getting ready for classes.
I sigh for one time too many this morning and run through the apartment trying to get my things together as fast as possible.
I am already starting to sulk about the fallen through plans.
No 'drunk-and-free-for-once' for me, I guess.
........................
A/N
Hi! Vicky speaking. Thank you for reading! I got a sudden urge to whip up some fanfiction material, so here we are!
I'd be extremely grateful if everyone who reads this leaves some feedback on what they liked and what to improve as this is the first elaborate story I'll be writing, I'll need a little bit of time to get into the flow of things but I hope whatever I write with my current skills is also okay 🥳
