trying to save us

x. second thoughts

let's just say this one's the longest chapter thus far lol had to make it up to you guys somehow!! hope you enjoy <3 ____

Kaycee woke up feeling a lot more chipper than she had been the past few months of her recovery. No one knew what was causing the usually moody girl to smile from ear to ear, but her family knew better than to ask and ruin the mood.

Well, everyone but Kylie who made it her job to butt into every little detail of her baby sister's life.

"So, what is it that's got you so giddy? Did you win the lottery or something," the older sister joked as she watched Kaycee playfully roll her eyes, something she hasn't done in months.

"Win the lottery? Definitely not but," she dragged out the word, "I may or may not have scored a date with a cute boy from Thousand Oaks. His name is Brandon and we're actually headed to BOA tonight."

Kylie couldn't believe what she heard. She knew her younger sister had hopped onto dating apps to get her mind off this hard time of her life, but she didn't think she was actually serious about getting into a relationship.

Kaycee took the other girl's silence as an opportunity to speak up, "Look I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not going to throw myself into a serious relationship just yet, we all know I'm far from stable enough to do that, but I think talking to other people besides the same nine people will really help me move on with my life."

Kylie took the younger girl's words into consideration and she had to admit she had a point even if she did hope deep down inside that Sean would be the one Kaycee ended up with. But it was clear that she was ready to move on, at least for now, and the last thing she wanted to do was try to make her feel guilty for wanting some change in her life.

"Well, I hope you two have fun and please stay safe. I know you don't really want mom or dad or Devon to know about it but please at least let your friends know in case something goes wrong and I can't be there for you," Kylie reminds her hoping Kaycee won't take it the wrong way.

"Of, course I was actually planning on asking them to all come over, well almost all of them, and let them know since the date isn't until 8pm," she replies as she looks down at her phone creating a new group chat consisting of all of her friends except for one.

It didn't take long for the group of four to arrive at the Rice residence, where they met a freshly showered Kaycee sitting in the living room.

"Hey Ricey, so what's up with the last minute group meeting," Josh asked while plopping down next to Lulu on the couch.

"Yeah and why'd you make a new group chat excluding Sean," Bailey chimed in, suspiciously eyeing the girl.

"For starters, I felt like what I'm about to announce to you is something that I couldn't just tell you over the phone, and yes, Sean isn't here but you guys will understand why," Kaycee explained as she watched her friends listen intently.

"The reason why I asked you all to come over and specifically excluded Sean was because," she looked down afraid of their reactions, "I'm going on a date tonight."

"You're doing what now?" Tahani yelled as she jumped up to her feet.

"See this is exactly why I needed to tell you guys in person. Look, for the past few weeks I've been on Tinder, mainly to distract myself from everything else going on in my life, but for the last three days I started talking to this guy, Brandon, and we honestly just hit off."

She scanned her eyes over all of their faces, unable to read exactly what any of them thought of her big announcement.

"I know you guys might think this is all too soon, but I promise was never actually looking for someone to go out with. Heck, I'm definitely not ready for a serious relationship but I feel like this would be good for me you know? Broaden my horizons," she explained hoping they would understand where she was coming from.