Chapter Twelve
CHAPTER TWELVE
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QUINN: What on earth is going on in your comments section?!
KYA: Is this why you joined the group? To scroll my comments at night?
QUINN: What are they going on about? Who’s this Lexy person?
KYA: A troll. Now we both have one. We’re twinning!
QUINN: She’s called you a liar.
KYA: I’m over it, and who cares what people think? Right?
QUINN: Wrong! This is not some random man on Reddit! This woman is casting aspersions on your character.
KYA: Casting what???
QUINN: I’m serious! You can’t let this slide.
KYA: I made a video response on TikTok.
QUINN: TikTok? That’s my wheelhouse. I’ll check it out. Hold on …
QUINN: Found you! Kya, love, you’ve only three followers! Hugo, Adrian, and a bot!
KYA: I just signed up a minute ago!
QUINN: This video is 15 seconds long. Is there a part two ?
KYA: It’s direct, succinct!
QUINN: Okay. Watching now.
QUINN: Okay, done.
KYA: What do you think?
QUINN: Honestly? I don’t think you went hard enough. It’s too tame for a clap back.
KYA: I wasn’t clapping back, just setting the record straight.
QUINN: We need to do more.
KYA: Track her down? Confront her?
QUINN: I’m up for it.
KYA: Hugo and Adrian won’t let me. I’m in protective custody. ?
QUINN: I’m free tonight. I’ll break you out of lockdown. We’ll go somewhere and talk.
KYA: No.
QUINN: No?
KYA: No. I don’t want to talk. I’m done talking. I don’t want to talk about that stupid job, losing it, losing sleep over it, debating whether I lied about it, all of it!
QUINN: …
QUINN: Go change into a swimsuit. We’re going to the pool. It’s nice and quiet at night.
KYA: Your community pool? It’s also closed at night, or have the rules changed?
QUINN: You’re such a good girl. I bet you’ve never crashed a party.
KYA: Does an office party count?
QUINN: Grab a bikini. I’m coming to get you.
POOL HOURS: SUNUP TO SUNDOWN.
The sign was clear. However, the gate swung open freely when Quinn twisted the handle. Just as she’d promised, it was nice and quiet. They stripped off T-shirts, pushed down shorts, kicked off sandals, and dove into the waiting pool. The water was silky and warm. Kya swam a few laps. When finally she stopped for a breath, the knot in her chest had loosened.
Kya searched for Quinn and joined her at the deep end. Quinn was content to float about while keeping a tight grip on the pool’s edge. Her bikini was copper. Moonlight turned her wet skin silver.
‘Feeling good?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Kya replied. ‘Thanks for breaking me out of protective custody.’
‘Anytime.’ She released the edge and glided over. ‘Speaking of time, how long are you here for?’
‘I fly out on Saturday,’ Kya answered. ‘Adrian wants me to stay longer, or at least until his next houseguest arrives. Their new house is Miami’s hottest Airbnb.’
‘Will you take him up on the offer?’ she asked.
‘I don’t think so.’ Adrian was worried for her mental health, but if she didn’t get back to her routines, her own gym, her bed, her favourite coffee shop, she might lose it. ‘I miss home. Don’t you ever miss the UK?’
‘All the time,’ Quinn said. ‘I’m planning a trip home for Christmas. Miami in December cannot compare to London, but summer in Miami is special. You should stay. At least until the Summer Solstice Music Festival.’
‘That’s not likely,’ Kya said. ‘The houseguests would be here by then, and I’ll have been evicted from the guestroom.’
A flicker of disappointment in Quinn’s eyes nearly made Kya reconsider. Did Quinn want her to stay? Was that where this was headed?
‘That’s too bad,’ she said, drifting away.
‘Any gigs this week?’ Kya asked. She wasn’t one for FOMO, the fear of missing out on something truly special, but it had its claws in her now.
‘Just two,’ she said. ‘I’m pacing myself before things get wild.’
‘I’ll come out,’ Kya said. ‘Just tell me when and where. I’ll show up.’
Quinn splashed water her way. ‘Kya’s coming out to party? Voluntarily? No force required?’
‘For you, I will.’
Suddenly, there was nothing else to say. They fell into a static silence while Kya’s emotions howled inside her. She recalled what Ivy had said about Quinn preferring her to Nick. Even if that were the case, what difference would it make? They were too different, she and Quinn, and they lived in different worlds. Was there really any room for a partner in Quinn’s glitter-filled snow globe?
‘It’s getting chilly,’ Quinn said. ‘Let’s head up, dry off and get warm. I’ve got wine.’
When they were dry and warm, and wine was poured in mismatched glasses, Quinn selected a newly issued vinyl of an old Corinne Bailey Rae album and opened a bag of caramel-coated popcorn.
Later, they moved to the balcony. Quinn proposed they play a game called ‘Favourite Song, Favourite Line’. ‘Let’s start with your favourite song to sing in the shower.’
Kya had one condition. ‘Not if you judge my choices!’
‘I’m in no position to judge!’ she cried. ‘My favourite song to sing in the shower is Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”. It’s all just vibes.’
‘That song is a classic, and Kylie is queen.’
‘I agree,’ Quinn said. ‘Now what’s yours?’
‘Lady Gaga. “Bad Romance”.’
‘A fine choice,’ she said. ‘And your favourite line?’
‘The one about friendship.’
‘About not wanting it?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Sounds personal, Kya,’ Quinn said. ‘Who would trade your love for friendship? Is there a story behind that?’
‘There used to be,’ she said. ‘It’s over.’
‘Bitter ending?’ she asked.
‘Bittersweet,’ Kya admitted. ‘Like most college girls, I fell stupidly in love my freshman year.’
‘I didn’t attend uni, so I escaped that fate,’ Quinn said.
‘Good for you. It’s brutal.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘Her name is Rosana. We met in Stats 101. We got along so well, same interests, same hobbies, same taste in clothes, even the same class schedule. We joined the same boxing club off campus. I thought we were perfect. Maybe a little too perfect, a little too comfortable. There were no highs and lows, no drama.’
‘No excitement?’
‘In the early days, yes,’ Kya admitted. ‘But it fizzled out. After graduation, I left for the West Coast. It should have ended there. We dragged it out with a long-distance thing. It was torture.’
‘You wanted drama!’ she exclaimed. ‘You got it in spades.’
‘I don’t want drama,’ Kya said, quietly. ‘I want my heart to race when I hear her laugh, or her voice in another room. I want to meet her eyes in a crowd and know we have a connection. I want to matter to someone.’
Like Hugo mattered to Adrian. She did not have to be the star of a relationship. She’d be content to orbit the sun, as withdrawn and quiet as the moon.
Quinn stared at her. ‘Kya … does anyone know how deeply you feel things?’
Kya laughed, wondering if she’d put too much of herself out there. ‘You do, obviously.’
‘I do now,’ she said.
They kept the game going until, later still, they fell into Quinn’s large bed.