Love at First Fight

Chapter 9

Indi and Karmen were standing in line at the coffee shop. There was no logical reason why they were so busy at this ridiculously early hour of the morning. Okay, so maybe there was. After all, it was 6 a.m. on a Monday morning. But that didn't make Indi any less grumpy about it.

"Oh, gosh, I hope they have scones." Karmen moaned, holding her stomach.

"Why are you so hungry this morning?" Indi asked. Karmen had complained the whole way to the coffee shop about her stomach being empty.

Karmen pouted a little. "I didn't get to eat dinner last night."

"What?" Indi drew the word out in kind of a shocked way. "But you love food."

"I know, right?" Karmen said, looking bewildered by her own news. "But I was so busy yesterday with work and homework that by the time I remembered dinner, I was exhausted and I just fell asleep instead of making something."

"Your mom was working, again?" Indi asked her. Karmen's mom was a nurse and her schedule was insane. Her dad was long gone. Out of the picture. It was just Karmen and her mom and they both worked to stay afloat.

Karmen nodded, eyeing the amount of people between her and food.

"Is she still stressed out all the time?" Indi's tone was a little softer as she brought up the sore subject.

Karmen shrugged. "I don't really know. I never see her."

Indi was sad for her friend. Karmen was one of the nicest, happiest people she knew. She knew a measure of that happiness was faked to cover how she was really feeling, and it broke her heart. She wished there was some way she could help her friend.

Indi turned to her friend, opening her mouth to reply when the shop door opened making a little ding-dong sound. Her opened mouth froze when she saw Kai and Aiden enter the shop. It wasn't their presence that shocked her, but the black eye Kai was sporting. The two boys stepped into line behind her and Karmen.

"What happened to your face?" Indi blurted out before she could stop herself.

Karmen turned to see what she was so worked up about and her eyes widened when she saw Kai. Her eyes flicked to Aiden who scratched the back of his neck and looked away awkwardly.

"That's a bit rude." Kai said, frowning down at Indi. Despite the horrible bruise, Indi was surprised to note a glimmer of amusement in his electric eyes.

"You're rude." She quipped back, a knee-jerk insult that just happened to be true. "Seriously, what in the world happened to your face?"

Kai shrugged like it was no big deal. "I got in a fight."

"With someone from your karate class?" Karmen asked, dropping the hand that had been covering her mouth.

Kai furrowed his brows. "How'd you know I do karate?"

"Indi told me." Karmen said, ratting her friend out without hesitation.

Indi looked at Karmen with wide eyes at the same moment Kai's eyebrows rose in surprise. He was more than a little amused at this point. Indi blushed and covered her eyes with her hand for a moment. Then she looked back up at Kai and smiled nervously.

Kai was grinning at her, clearly enjoying himself. "You've been talking about me?"

Indi glared at her friend, who didn't look the least bit apologetic, before answering. "It was just a casual comment."

"Oh, I'm sure." Kai responded, his adorable smile still in place.

Indi blushed again and groaned with frustration. She turned back around to face the front. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Karmen's pleased grin. Grabbing her friend's arm, she turned her to the front also. Karmen dropped her head back and laughed, causing heads to turn at the charming sound. Indi ignored the two imposing bodies behind her until she was able to grab her caffeine and make her escape.

Author's note: Sorry this was a short one, but I was struggling! Thanks for reading and vote if you like it!! 

ALSO! I'd like to dedicate this chapter to @The-Purple-One who gave me some much needed advice and asked for more info on Karmen!!