Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

Best Friend Things

Kaya rang the doorbell because she didn't yet know the code. 

The door flew open as if they had been waiting. Lina and Jade both stared back at Kaya, wide-eyed. 

"Where were you?"

"We thought you died or something."

"Did something happen?"

"Are you in trouble?" 

"What happened?" 

Their questions tumbled over each other, one after another. 

Kaya sighed as she walked between them. They would never let her off with a cop-out answer, but she didn't know if she had the words to explain everything that happened. 

Lina slammed the door closed. Both she and Jade trailed Kaya into the living area. 

"Are you hungry?" Lina redirected toward the kitchen. "I'll make food." 

"I ate," Kaya assured her. 

Jade narrowed her eyes, out of suspicion or a side effect of deep thinking, Kaya didn't know. "Were you with Ransom?" 

She shouldn't try to keep it a secret. Kaya nodded her head. 

"You were with Ransom?" Lina dashed back in and jumped onto the couch. "Details. How do the rich-and-slightly-famous date?" 

"He just took me to deliver the papers." 

"That was hours ago," Jade stressed. 

"Yeah, it doesn't take that long to deliver papers." Lina clapped her hands over her mouth. "What did you do for all those hours?"

"Stop making up imaginary scenarios." Kaya nestled into the corner of the couch and tucked her knees up to her chest. "He took me for tea. That's the only extra thing we did." 

"Mm, is it really though?" Lina folded her arms. "You'd better give us a report, young lady." 

"Stop harassing her, Lina." Jade settled on the front edge of a chair. "I'd rather not know the details of my cousin's personal life. Just tell us one thing. Was he a gentleman to you?" 

A gentleman?

He held doors. Made sure she was okay. Escorted her inside. Left without even the mention of anything Kaya might feel uncomfortable with. 

Kaya nodded again. "He was a gentleman." 

"I knew it." Jade's grin fell somewhere between mischievous and all-knowing. Kaya wondered, briefly, what went on in Jade's odd mind. 

Lina huffed. "Look, you may not want to know about your cousin's personal life, but I would like to know about my best friend's personal life. So... close your ears or something." 

"There's nothing to tell." Kaya rose to her feet. "I'm going to sleep." 

Better to put an end to it all by leaving before Lina could drag tales out of her. 

Lina jumped to her feet, as well. "What? That's it? You didn't even exchange sweet nothings?" 

"Good night, Lina." 

"No! Don't go! Tell me more so I can live vicariously through you!" 

Kaya shut her friend's rant out by using the bedroom door. Ransom was right. She should go to bed early, rest well while she could. Tomorrow would start a battle that Kaya wasn't prepared for. 

Besides the crazy fan club, she had her own issues. Those wouldn't come to haunt her, would they? Surely, the ill intentions of the past couldn't break through to the present now. 

Kaya changed into pajamas and crawled under the covers. For tonight, she would like to imagine that her life could turn out better than it had so far. 

She drifted to sleep on the memory of strong fingers grazing against her back.