-
"You and Nick on this side, Lani and Z on that side. Okay?" Edwin directed towards Rhea.
Edwin insisted they all worked out what had just went on a couple of hours ago. He hated seeing his friends fight.
"Alright." Rhea rolled her eyes at how commanding Edwin was being, though she knew a talk between the four was very much needed. She pulled out a chair as they all sat around the kitchen island.
Rhea faced Zion, in what felt like the first time in months. The boy avoided eye contact, purposely fidgeting with his dreads.
"Do you promise to let each other explain?" Edwin questioned in a patronising manner. It seemed, despite the circumstances, he was enjoying taking control.
There was a short silence before they all replied, "Yes."
"And no arguments or fighting this time?"
"Yes" the four replied in chorus, slightly irritated by Edwin's presence.
"And-"
"Ed, silencio. Let us get on with it." Lani demanded.
He threw his arms up in defence, "Now...You guys talk this out." Edwin spoke as he overlooked from the kitchen door.
Lani offered a strange glance at him, "I'm just...observing" He nodded to himself, arms crossed as he leant against the refrigerator.
A short span of silence pondered over the room.
"Nick and I were talking whilst the party went on, I was was waiting on Zion to get back from the airport so I could be here when he comes home." Rhea spoke nervously, she wasn't quite sure who she was speaking to. It felt like everyone. Though, Zion ignored the small voices in his head telling him to make eye contact with his girlfriend.
Zion averted his attention up for a brief moment, his lips and eyebrow still as bloody, considering a short half hour after everything had gone down, Austin found Zion sat on the sidewalk at the end of their street. Begging for him to come back inside and figure out what went on, Zion complied.
"Yeah, Rhea was ju- ouch.." Nick jolted back suddenly as he adjusted his head leaning against his hand. It held a large frozen bag of peas; in attempt to stop the swelling of Nick's bruise on the side of his head.
Zion fought the urge to go get some ice or something to help ease the pain on his jaw. He refused to look vulnerable at such a time. Especially when he had done the most damage.
"Rhea was just sat there bored out of her mind, plus, I wasn't gonna leave her alone. Especially with people drinking and smoking- it's not fair. She was only there because she was waiting on you." Nick admitted, speaking directly to Zion towards the end.
"And then...?" Lani questioned, she didn't seem as irritated as you'd expect one to be hearing the news (although it was incorrect) that her best friend and boyfriend slept together.
"And then we went to go find somewhere quieter, the music was mad loud- I could barely make conversation. I opened the door to Zions room and we just chilled in there, I guess I'd fallen asleep whilst we were talking?" Rhea added, rummaging through her mind to remember every necessary detail.
"Nah cuz how Nick gon be in there with you all snuggled up?" Zion laughed to himself in disbelief, "Don't make no type of sense."
"Aye!" Edwin interrupted from the corner of the room, "Let them finish explaining."
" I was so slumped in the day, I guess I fell asleep whilst talking to Rhea. In the middle of the night I must've accidentally started cuddling her, assuming it was Lani. I'm sorry, I know what it looks like to y'all but I don't know what else to say other than nothing happened. I swear, we would never do that to either of you." Nick explained, glancing at Lani and Zion every few minutes in search of forgiveness.
