Casual Civilians

"I know it's been a hard few days, but hopefully it gets easier from here." Kaylee said, smiling at Love as she helped her lug her luggage into Kaylee's house.

Love smiled sadly, pushing the bottom part of her suitcase up. "I hope so. And, hey thanks for letting me stay here while I sort this shit out."

"No problem!" Kaylee huffed as she shoved the suitcase inside her house. She smiled at Love, gesturing her into the small home. "Any former narcotic in need going to receive help from me, the narcotic master."

Love laughed slightly. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm not that much fun to hang out with for a bit, this is taking the piss out of me."

Kaylee grabbed Love's arm, looking synthetically into Love's tired chocolate eyes. "Babe, you just lost your grandmother. Well, adopted mother. Well, actually more of a- whoever she was to you, she meant a lot, and you're going through a lot dealing with this. You can take as much time as you need, dinner is at eight every night."

"What?"

Kaylee laughed. "Sorry, I was trying to work some of our rules into there. Well, not really rules, but-"

"Just tell me what they are, Kay."

"Alright, sorry. Anyways, we have dinner at eight, there is no set lunch or breakfast times, but our fridge is always open. Your bedroom is the one directly through that hallways" here she pointed the room out "right by Kylee's room."

"Your twin sister lives here?"

Kaylee jerked back, looking regretful. "Oh god, did I not mention that? Fuck, man I'm so sorry I must have completely forgotten about that." She threw her hands up. "Ugh, I feel so bad, I hope this doesn't ruin your healing process it all. Anyways, I'm sorry, and in conclusion, your room is over there."

Love spent almost five months in her bed. Of course, it wasn't technically her bed, and she did get up in the middle of the night to shower occasionally and eat when she knew she had to (which was a little sparse for the normal human diet), but she liked to think of it as her own house, as Kaylee had so lovingly let her live in. That didn't come without restrictions, like the constant stream of requests for Love to go to multiple different places ('Coffee shop, let's go!' 'Party at our new neighbor's house, you in?' or on one particular occasion- 'Underground nude rave, if you're not going I'm going solo!'), and all of those horrible questions about whether Love was doing okay or not, but it was still a good place to live. Alone, in solitude, except of course for the intruding Kaylee and the ghost of the sister.

Love did not meet Kylee until three weeks into her stay at the Kraft home, at one am. In the shower.

---

"Is there someone there?" Love heard a nervous voice call out, as the previously off bathroom light was turned on.

Love froze, silence falling on the bathroom beside the constant stream of water. "Ummm... Yes?"

There was a moment of silence as the drops continued to fall. Finally, the voice spoke again. "Kaylee?"

"No?"

"Ummmm... Alright then." The voice said, before seemingly leaving and closing the door.

"Wait!" Love yelled after the person.

"Yeah?"

"Could you maybe... Turn off the lights again?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." The voice turned off the light, before leaving Love in the dark alone again.

---

The next afternoon, Love was awoken to Kaylee barging in like every other day, but this time with a different question.

"Do you shower at night?"

Love groggily sat up, moving masses of curls outside of her face. "Um, okay freak. Maybe give me a few seconds before springing your crazy on me?"

"Just answer the question, ass."

"I have. Why?"

Kaylee laughed boisterously. "Well, that's good to hear. So contrary to popular belief, a thief did not break into our home last night around 2 am to take a shower in the dark. That's a relief."

"Popular belief? Do you mean whoever was in the bathroom last night turning on lights willy-nilly?" Love protested, flinging the remaining hair out of her face.

"Calm down dude, that was just Kylee. It's not like you guys have never met before!"

"Yeah... totally!" Love muttered, looking away.

Kaylee jerked back. "Holy shit! You still haven't met Kylee? Dude, she lives in the same house as you!"

"I'd prefer to think I'm just living in this room." Love groaned, throwing the covers back over her head. "Besides, does it really matter if we know each other? I'm grieving and I'm sure she's got things going on as well."

"She's basically as introverted as you are." Kaylee snorted, rolling her eyes. "When we don't get asked to play shows, she's either at work or in her room."

"At least she has a job." Love mumbled.

"Yeah, and talks to like three people a day." Kaylee groaned, sitting on Love's bed. "When she got that job at Guitar Center, I thought that she'd maybe come out of her shell more. Apparently, people like here recluse personality. No one thinks it's a problem!"

"Just because people aren't like you doesn't mean they're wrong, Kaylee."

"Yeah but she's super not like me! That's got to count for something!"

"Yeah, well" Love sighed. "Costumbre adquirida en la mocedad, se deja muy mal en la vejez"

"What does that mean?"

"Old habits die hard, roughly translated. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to bed." Love shoved her head back into the covers. "Also," her voice was muffled "being attacked in the middle of the night by someone who goes around turning on lights is pretty traumatic so I think I'll need a few weeks to recover."

Kaylee sighed, removing herself from the bed. "I just don't understand. when someone you love dies, does it really effect you that much?"

"It fucking kills you." Love replied.

---

Kaylee left Love alone for two weeks after that, and if Love was being honest with herself, she kind of missed her. After two weeks of moping and sleeping, Love finally mustered up the courage to message Kaylee.

Coffee today?

Instantly, Love heard Kaylee yell from the room beside her. "Holy fuck!!" A few minutes later, she got a response.

Sure, whatever. I don't

really care so it's like

whatever

Love smiled.

We can go in five?

"Holy shit Kylee, it's actually happening!" Kaylee screeched.

Mind if I bring Ky?

That's fine. Make it

fifteen, I haven't dressed

in a while.

---

"So what kind of coffee do you want?" Kaylee asked Love, as they stood in line.

Love squinted at the menu. "Um... I can't really see the menu."

"Yeah Kay, you really should've picked an indoors coffee shop," Kylee muttered in a deep voice, flicking her hair out of her face as she adjusted her sunglasses.

Kaylee groaned. "The sun is good for the soul, idiot, You know what, I'll order for you guys, go pick a place for us to sit. And make sure it's in the sun!" She yelled after them.

Kylee seemed to smile slightly, before sitting down across from Love. "She can be a bit much."

Love shrugged. "I've gotten used to it. Do you have an extra pair of sunglasses?" Kylee shook her head as Love continued to squint in her direction, only seeing rays of sun. "Wow. I probably should have stayed inside my house."

"I can feel that." The sunshine muttered.

They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity as Love tried not to obviously glare in Kylee's direction, feeling as if Kylee was a Judge and Love the victim, before Kaylee finally slammed down three drinks.

"Alright so we've got a plain iced coffee for Kylee, dark mocha frappe for Love, and a double twisted sister frappe with raspberry and extra whip and sprinkles for me!" She sat down next to Kylee. "So what did you guys talk about?" Silence. "Oh shit, you guys still don't even know each other, do you? God, I'm the worst."

"I mean, we kind of met." Love said. "Sorry I scared you."

"Sorry I accused you of burgling our house." The judge replied.

"Love, this is Kylee, my sister. Kylee, this is Love, my best friend."

"I'm sorry about your mother," Kylee said this time her face visible.

She had such piercing blue eyes, Love thought to herself as she nodded. They almost looked like glass in their clear blue stature. "It's okay. We knew it was coming. It was just fucking painful."

"I remember that feeling." Kylee murmured, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and matches. Raising and eyebrow, she looked at Love. "Want one?"

"God yes."

Kylee smiled slightly, standing up. "We should go stand over there, I don't want to bug Kaylee."

"Good thinking," Kaylee replied, not looking up from her phone.

Following Kaylee, Love walked towards the edge, lighting her cigarette. Again, she turned to Kylee, who seemed to be in deep thought about something. Her short light blonde hair contrasted the all black ensemble in an attractive way that made Love shake her head slightly. She was in grief, that's why she was checking out her best friend's sister. No other reasons.

"Hey." Kylee's voice broke through Love's confused inner monolog, as Love jerked up to meet her gaze. "Look, I know what you're going through."

"You do?"

"My dad died when I was fifteen."

"Really? Kaylee's never talked about her dad before, I... I had no idea." Love stammered, looking down at her flickering cigarette.

"She didn't know him. In fact, my dad and I didn't even know she existed until after my dad died."

"Holy fuck, really?"

"Yeah. Our mom found out she gave birth to twins, and didn't want two so she just put Kay in foster care." Kylee took a drag of her cigarette. "I met her a month after my dad died."

"Jesus... That's horrible. I mean Abuela had two actual children before me and they turned out to be horrible people who stole and lied to her 24/7 but I couldn't imagine being on your side of life."

"My main point is that I know how hard it is to lose someone. It fucking eats you up. I know you'll probably hear this a lot in the next few months but I'm here if you want to talk."

Love chuckled darkly, blowing out smoke. "Y'know, Kaylee said you didn't talk this much."

"I don't. But I know what you're going through, and I know how bad my sister is at all of that stuff."

"She's not the greatest. Her solution to everything is weed and bad music."

Kylee smiled slightly - a sight that gave Love chills - and put out her cigarette. "Take your time. I'm always somewhere around the house." She replied, before sauntering away.

---

After that day, Kaylee became increasingly annoying with her attempts to get Love "over" the death of Abuela, messaging Love every day 10x times to check up and get her moving.

U up?

It's 12 lol

U should be up

anyways wanna go to a pub?

tonight?

W/ us?

beer ;)

I could pick out your outfit

Kylee might come

you could do makeup!

beer ;)

Luckily, since it was over messages, Love learned to turn off her phone. Unluckily, that meant Kaylee was back to coming into the room every day.

"Dinner at Olive Garden? There's a really cute waiter you'd be into!"

"Taco Bell? I can spike the soda."

"Wanna get stoned tonight?"

Occasionally, Love would say yes to the tamest of ideas, such as dinner. And occasionally, Kylee would join them.

The next time Kylee and Love had an actual conversation would be three weeks after their shared cigarette conversation, at 1 am.

Love groggily stumbled into the kitchen, looking for a drink, before seeing Kylee eating an omelet at the breakfast bar. She yelped slightly, causing Kylee to look up startled.

"Love?" Kylee asked, her mouth full of omelet.

"Uh.. yeah." Love's face was growing redder every second. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in here. I'll go."

"It's fine. Were you getting some food?"

Nervously, Love hid her bottom half behind the other side of the bar, "Yeah... this was a mistake."

"Why?" Kylee looked almost hurt as she furrowed her eyebrows giving Love a guilty pang in her chest.

"I... Um... I'm not wearing pants." Love blurted out, cringing at herself.

Kylee raised her eyes. "What?"

"Um, yeah. I didn't think anyone would be up, so I didn't put anything on other than a shirt and some underwear."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"We always meet like this."

"Yeah."

There were a few minutes of awkward silence, as Kylee looked everywhere but Love and Love stared off into one black place contemplating the next move as her face grew hotter.

Love sighed, finally breaking the silence. "Well.... I'm going to curl up and die now so-"

"Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Kylee cut Love off.

"What? It's almost 2 am and I'm not wearing pants." Love sputtered, wondering how Kylee could stay so calm.

"Well go put some pants on and I'll get the keys to Kaylee's car. Karly's Cream is open all night."

Smiling for the first time in weeks, Love nodded and turned around.

As she left, Love could have sworn Kylee's eyes were on her ass.

---

"How did you learn about this place?" Love asked, eating her vanilla sundae as the calming elevator music of the shop played in the background.

Kylee shrugged, slurping her vanilla shake. "Apparently, Kaylee sobers up when she gets ice cream in her system." She smiled at as the owner, as small, adorable girl with brown hair and glasses passed them again. "And the Karly who possess all of the cream (that cute lady who just walked by us) is super nice and gives us discounts so it's a win-win."

Love smiled again- something she'd been doing frequently around Kylee. "It's really cute. A 50's aesthetic without the racism."

"Agreed. By the way, I like the afro."

"Thanks. I haven't gone this long in natural hair in forever." Love smiled grimly. "Abuela used to do my hair in braids so tight they'd hurt my scalp whenever she could. When I told her I thought I was getting a little too old for them, she told me she might be getting a little too old to have a daughter." She laughed. "Her humour was darker than mine."

"My dad would have killed me if he had seen me dying my hair. You know how when Edward leaves Bella in Twilight and she does all that crazy shit to try and see him again?" Love nodded. "Yeah, I did that with hair bleach." She shook her head as she took a sip of her shake. "Didn't work, but the look stuck."

"Wait, can we back up? You, the punk rock one who wears all black and smokes reds and totally scared the shit out of me the first time I met you, have seen Twilight?"

Kylee's entire face broke out into a smile that lit up the building. "Kaylee made me watch the entire series. And I may have watched it a few times after that as well. And briefly fallen in love with Kristen Stewart."

Love began to laugh, quietly. "You like Twilight, didn't you?"

Kylee blushed, covering her face. "Well, not anymore."

The once quiet laugh turned into a full blown laugh as Love wiped tears away from her eyes.

"I just can't imagine you watching Twilight!"

Kylee laughed along, her nose crinkling, as she watched Love laugh. "I was vulnerable, okay?"

Love sighed, wiping away the last tears. "After my mom died, I sat in an empty room for two days with her ashes and a needle full of drugs."

"Oh."

"I didn't take them, I just kind of... stared at them. I found them when I was cleaning out the house and then I froze up I guess. I don't know why, but I couldn't take my eyes off of them until Kaylee found me and made me move in with you guys."

"It must have taken a lot of self-control to do that," Kylee replied, watching as Love tore up her napkin.

"Yeah but a person with more self-control wouldn't have done it at all. So where does that leave me?"

Kylee shrugged. "Happy medium?"

"Maybe." Love wiped away another tear. "Or maybe it just makes me dumb."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You lost someone you loved. That would ruin anyone. It sure as hell ruined me."

"You seem fine enough."

Kylee rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that's what Kaylee told you."

"She worries too much."

"She worries the correct amount. We're desensitized. I don't talk unless I have to, and you stay in your room unless you have to."

"Then why do you talk to me?"

"Because I like you. And I know what you're going through."

I like you

Love smiled sadly. "This seems a little depressing."

"Yeah. Life gets that way sometimes."

"At least we've made it this far, kid." Love said, smiling with mirth.

"You ready to go?"

"Let's get out of here."

On their way out to the car, Love tripped over a rock and badly scraped a knee.

Smiling kindle, Kylee helped her up, wrapping her sweatshirt over the bleeding parts. "At least we know you're alive."

"What?" Love gasped through tears.

"Something my dad used to say. Sometimes you're gotta bleed to know that you're alive and have a soul."

"Ah." Love groaned, throwing herself in the car. "Well, it takes someone to come around and show you how to do it, Thanks for trying to make my blood look poetic."

"I'm a songwriter. It's what we do." Kylee shut the car door as she got into the driver's side.

Love smiled groggily as the hum of the car began. She slowly closed her eyes, burrowing her head in the car seat. "I think I'm going to fall asleep." Love mumbled.

"That's fine," Kylee replied softly.

As they drove home, Love could hear Kylee swear the government out for all of the potholes.

---

The next night when Kylee came out to eat, she found a note.

Thanks for being the first person to listen to me - L

--- /a/n/ this part may be potentially triggering/

After that, the Kraft household fell into a routine. Love would go out once a week with Kaylee to appease her, and once a week at around 1 am with Kylee. Soon after, Love started to accompany Kylee to work, watching her play and talking with customers until one day, she had a job there as well which made Kaylee ecstatic. This routine worked out perfectly until

"Four months!" Kaylee yelled directly at Love, as Love made herself breakfast.

"Kay, what are you talking about?" Kylee asked, smiling at Love as she drank her morning cup of coffee.

"It's been four months since Love moved in with us!" Kaylee yelled, jumping up and down.

"It doesn't feel like that long." Love replied to a bouncing Kaylee, blushing as she felt Kylee's gaze on her. Over the last few weeks, she had developed a small crush on Kylee.

Just a small one.

Nothing big.

(It was sorta big.)

Which was sort of a problem seeing as they lived together and they spent almost every day together. But that shouldn't be that big of a problem.

Expect it was kind of proving to be kind of a big problem.

Whenever Kylee got too close, Love's face heated up, and she would start to stutter which contrasted Kylee's cool personality in the ugliest way possible. Love sighed as she thought about how many times she had embarrassed herself in front on Kylee.

At least she got to spend work with her. Except for today.

"Love!" Kylee and Love's boss, Parker, called for her. "I want you to take the day off. It's been slow today, and we've got a new person coming in anyways that I want to train."

Kylee grimaced, and mouthed 'sorry' at Love, as Love tried to decide what she would do that day. "I guess I could finally finish getting my things from my old house." Love said, removing her uniform hat.

"That's the spirit," Kylee replied, smiling as the new trainee came in, a muscular man with a colorful Mohawk.

"Hey Josh, back here," Parker yelled to the new guy, before whispering to Love. "He's fucking adorable. If Kylee doesn't date him I sure as hell will."

"You think Kylee would date him?" Love replied, her heart sinking into her stomach as she eyed him up.

"Of course, would you look at them?" Parker pointed at the two, as they were both looking at drumsticks, talking. "They'll hit it off right away."

"Motherfucker."

"What?"

"I said have a nice day boss!" Love said loudly causing Kylee and Josh to both look up as she bolted from the store.

Fumbling for the keys, Love shakily jammed them into her car, before starting it. Through dry tears, Love pulled out of the driveway and got moving. Shaking her head furiously, she began her route to her old house. She tried to turn on the car radio in her battered car before realizing that it was broken. Great. More time to think.

Why did she freak out so much? Kylee wasn't Love's to have or freak out over. They weren't dating.

But she could be dating Josh.

Love blinked furiously, gripping her steering wheel as she mulled over everything. She didn't even know if Kylee was gay, why was she killing herself like this?

Killing herself.

Finally, she was at her old house. She closed her eyes as she passed the room with ashes and drugs, before rushing up to her room.

It was if she had never left. The posters were still hanging above her bed, her clothes still strewn about, her bed unmade. Choking up again, she began to grab everything she could and threw it in a spare suitcase, lingering tears in her eyes. After a few minutes of hurling various memories in her bag, she couldn't take it anymore. Sitting down on her bed, she began to sob, holding an old teddy bear close to her. Stroking the teddy's hair, she tried to recall the good things that had happened in this room, not just the bad. But every time she got anywhere close to a good memory, visions of Abuela's dead body clouded over them. She remembered how painful it had been to live dependent on drugs, killing her mother with sadness and disappointment. Suddenly, Love stood up. Grabbing the suitcase and teddy bear, she closed her old door behind her, before advancing to her Abuela's room.

It was completely empty. Her son of a bitch children must have stolen everything the second Love left. Love screamed in agony, punching a hole in the wall, not fully feeling the pain as her hand began to bleed.

Storming down the stairs, she grabbed the cocaine, injecting it forcefully into her arm and bloodstream as tears continued to come down her face. Slamming the final door behind as the high came over her, Love stumbled back to the car, throwing the suitcase and teddy bear into the back seat, not noting the steady stream of blood coming out of her hand as she got in. Shaking, she turned on the radio, before silently screaming as she realized her car radio still wasn't working. She sobbed, hitting her head against the horn, not caring or hearing the beeping. This was the last straw.

Taking the car out of park, she speedily brought the car to 95 as she aimed it at the nearest street lamp.

The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital.

---

The first thing she saw was Kylee, nervously tapping on her phone as she sat across from her hospital bed.

"Kylee?" Love groggily mumbled, sitting up. "What happened?"

Startled by Love's waking up, Kylee shoved her phone in her pocket, rushing to Love's side. "Hey," Kylee said softly, igniting fireworks in Love's stomach. "How are you?"

Love groaned as she realized those fireworks of affection had turned to sharp pains shooting through her body. "Not great."

"I wouldn't think so. You have a broken hand, nose, two broken ribs and seven stitches on you, not including other various scraps and bruises."

"Jesus Christs." Love trailed off, finally realizing where she was as she felt her face. "Jesus Christ."

"Yeah."

"Where's Kaylee?"

"Yeah, that's the other bad piece of news." Kylee grimaced, nodding her head past Love to the next bed.

Cautiously looking, Love saw Kaylee in the bed, hooked up to an IV as she smiled wearily, her fleshed out skin making her appear dead. "Yo." Kaylee said weakly, through chapped lips.

"Jesus Christ Kaylee!" Love yelled.

"Jesus Christ to both of you!" Kylee barked, nervously looking at both of them. "First of all, I need explanations from both of you right now."

"You seem a little stressed, sis." Kaylee replied, fiddling her IV. "What's up?"

"Well, for starters, my sister and my best friend are both in the hospital so I may be a little fucking on edge." Kylee snapped, sitting down.

"Best friend?" Love stuttered.

Kylee froze, her face flustered. "Well, yeah."

"Oh."

"Why'd you try to kill yourself?" Kaylee blurted out at Love, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You relapse into drugs, and then ran your car into a fucking lamppost!"

"I... I guess I wasn't thinking straight." Love sputtered out.

"Well, maybe it was all that coke you fucking took!" Kaylee yelled.

"Hey easy, Ms. I'll Overdose on Adderol the Second Things Get Bad Again!" Kylee yelled in retaliation at Kaylee.

"That's what you did?" Love asked, sitting up, shocked.

"Well.." Kaylee looked around before finally meeting Love's gaze. "Yeah."

"Why?"

Kaylee shrugged, turning her attention back to the monitor. "Dunno."

Kylee shook her head furiously. "That's all I've been getting from her too. It's bullshit."

"I've never seen you mad before." Love breathed out.

"Well get used to it! Because until you two decide to tell me why the hell you decided to ruin yourselves even though we were doing fucking fine, this is the new norm! This is how I'm going to fucking be!" Kylee yelled back, standing up.

"You want to know why I did what I did?" Kaylee blurted out, obviously mad and now uncomfortable. "I can't fucking save anyone!"

"Awww what the hell!" Kylee exclaimed, sitting down.

"It's true!" Kaylee yelled, sitting up in the hospital bed. "When dad died- or should I say when your dad died- I couldn't do fuckin' shit to help! I had to watch my sister grieve for forever!"

"But I'm happy now!" Kylee yelled, glancing at Love.

"And you," Kaylee yelled, looking at Love. "God I want to help you. I want to help you so badly. It eats away at my goddamn soul when I see you slowly dying with nothing left!"

"You're trying to desperately be our mom!" Love replied, brows furrowed as she watched tears come out of Kaylee's eyes. "Why?"

"Because I didn't have one!" Kaylee bellowed, her words shaking them to the core. "You seem to casually forget that while you got a dad and a mom, I got sent to live with two crackheads!"

"I... Never knew." Kylee's voice was softer now.

"Of course you never knew! Because it's not important! It's not important that they spent the money they received for me on drugs! It's not important that I didn't have a real bed until I came back to live with you! It's not important that I knew how to deal drugs from the age of eleven! It doesn't matter that for years after I couldn't sleep at night because I was always so afraid that my foster father would come in and start... touching me again! None of that shit mattered to me because you were in pain and that was so much more important!" Now, she was shaking as she attempted to get out of bed, her IV holding her back. Ripping the needle out of her arm, she began to run for the door.

"Kaylee!" Kylee yelled, trying to grab hold of her as she ran out the room, narrowly missing her. "Kaylee!" Kylee yelled again after her as Kaylee ran out of the hospital.

Three boys, each with bloody noses looked from the disappearing Kaylee to Love and Kylee, as the blonde one spoke.

"Well, that's no good."

"Shit!" Kylee yelled, pacing back and forth, before grabbing her coat. "Alright, we gotta go."

Love nodded fearfully, getting out of her bed before yelling in pain. Gasping, she fell to the floor.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" A doctor asked, coming in.

"Well obviously not!" Love yelled, before screaming out in agony again.

"Well, that is expected when you have broken ribs. I recommend trying not to move for a few days."

"We don't have a few days!" Love yelled, pointing at Kaylee's bed. "Did you not realize that there was another patient in that bed who is now just fucking gone?!"

"Ma'am, I see your concerns, but I'd advise you not to yell or move your head too much, your stitches seem to be coming undone. Actually," The doctor remarked, trying to clean the new blood off of her face as the doctor examined it. "I think we're just going to redo them, so I'll go get someone for that."

"Alright, you know what?" Love yelled, pushing the doctor out of the way. "This is misguided anger, but fuck off." She nodded at Kylee. "Let's go."

As soon as Love tried to get up again, she fell to the ground in pain. "Kylee?" She asked, fending off the doctor and the new nurses who had run in. Kylee nodded, before picking her up and cradling her.

"I'm going to carry you to the car. Do you trust me?" Kylee whispered, her lips brushing against Love's ear.

And Love responded "Yes."

---

"Where do you think Kaylee is?"

"I don't think. I know she's at home."

---

Kylee was right. Kaylee was sprawled on their dining room floor, her dreads lying around her, as she had cut them off. "Hey, guys!" Kaylee said, sitting up tiredly. "I shaved my head."

"I see that," Kylee remarked. "Kaylee, you really scared us there."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"No. You shouldn't be apologizing to us. Ever. I don't want you to ever think we would hate you for picking to keep yourself safe."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Not really."

"I'm so fucking sorry all of that happened to you, sis," Kylee whispered, tears in her eyes as she held Kaylee close.

"It's not your fault," Kaylee responded, standing up with them.

"It's not your's either." Love injected, hugging the two.

"Kaylee," Kylee murmured through the group hug. "You need to get help."

Kaylee nodded tears in her eyes. "I know."

"Don't ever put us in front of you. I know you love us but you matter more."

Kaylee nodded again, emotion in the air as Love felt woozy with affection.

"Nope." Love gasped out. "That's just pain." That was the last thing she was able to say before passing out.

She was in her bed next.

"Hey," Kylee said, looking down at her.

"This seems oddly familiar." Love chuckled.

Kylee smiled. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah. I think I'll be fine."

Kylee nodded, wiping her eyes tiredly.

"What about you?" Love asked.

"I don't really know. I mean, Jesus, I've seen so much shit today, and I learned all of that stuff about Kaylee and-"

"Where is Kaylee?" Love questioned, jerking up, grimacing in pain.

"In bed. She's had a long day."

"So have you."

"Yeah... But." Kylee shrugged. "I don't want to be alone. I'm worried about you two and I guess about myself?"

"Do you... want to sleep in here?" Love asked.

"What?"

Love blushed. "I mean, like, not like sleep with me, but like-"

"I would love that," Kylee responded, crawling into bed next to Love, slightly nuzzling into her. After a few minutes of comfortable silence as Love silently screamed at the thought of Kylee's body so close to Love's. "Hey, Love?" Kylee groggily asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you do what you did?"

"Because... my car radio wasn't working."

---

When Love woke up in the morning, her bandages had been changed and Kylee's spot in her bed was empty, as a pang went through her heart.

---

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Love asked worriedly, a few days later, helping Kaylee pack.

Kaylee nodded. "Hell yeah man." She replied, throwing her drug rug into the suitcase. "A five-day counseling retreat where you get to smoke weed? I'll fit right in."

Kylee smiled from the door. "I'm sure we can hold down the fort while you're gone, right?"

Love blushed as she nodded. "We've got this."

A few hours later, and they were shooing Kaylee out the door as Kaylee excitedly she loved them.

Shutting the door behind them, Kylee smiled. "So, business as usual?"

It wasn't.

On the first day, Love made a homecooked meal to impress Kylee before both of them got called into work, resulting in cold chimichangas at two am and tired 'good nights.

On the second day, both girls had the day off, leaving them to both to sleep in until around twelve.

"So what do you want to do today?" Love asked Kylee as they sat at Karly's Cream for brunch.

"I need to go shopping for food today," Kylee noted, pushing around her eggs. "As much as I love Karly and her cream, I should probably get us more food."

Love nodded. "Well, that seems kinda boring to me so forgive me for not tagging along."

Kylee laughed, a sound that still graced Love's ears. "Alright. Maybe clean the house a little?"

"Are you implying that I'm messy?"

"I'm implying you're good at cleaning, babe."

Babe. Kylee seemed to realize what she had said as well, as she quickly finished her drink. "Well." She started in a more cold monotone voice, hurting Love. "We should get going."

Love nodded quickly. "Sure."

---

Love watched from her house window as Kylee sped off in the car, still thinking about her.

Babe.

She called her babe.

Love smiled furiously, cleaning as thoughts of Kylee spun through her head. Humming, she picked up items to put away before seeing a calendar, eyeing the day and gasping. "I know what we'll do tonight."

---

A few hours later, and Kylee came home with bags of groceries to quite a scene.

"Happy Dia de los Muertos!" Love exclaimed, as the lights were dimmed and she lit candles.

Kylee smiled suspiciously. "I'm sorry, what?"

"October 31st to November 2nd is the Day of the Dead, we honor our dead with parties and food!" Love set some wine glasses down, pouring wine in. "Drink up."

"I've got to say," Kylee remarked, putting the groceries down and taking her coat off as she eyed the coffee table. "This is quite a setup."

Love nodded, glancing at the roses and sugar skulls that adorned the table. "Yep! Our fallen deserve that much."

Kylee smiled, taking one of the cookies. "And you made desert?"

"Pan Dulce. Abuela used to love them." Love smiled, biting into one. "I could eat them all day. I almost used to."

"My dad's favorite food was steak. Pretty basic."

"He seems like a good guy."

Kylee nodded, eating a pan dulce. "He was. My mom was kind of a dick but he would always fend her off of me."

"I'm glad."

"What about Abuela?" Kylee asked, sitting next to Love on the couch. "What was she like?"

"She was my best friend." Love said. "She taught me everything I know, from Spanish, to dancing."

Kylee laughed. "You know, I don 't know how to dance."

Love sat up, ignoring the pain in her side. "You don't know how to dance?!"

Kylee shrugged. "Never seemed like something I needed to know."

"Abuela would have killed me if I had gone to my quinceanera with two left feet!" Love stood up abruptly. "C'mon. I'm going to teach you how."

"What?" Kylee giggled from the couch.

"I'm teaching you how to dance!" Love exclaimed, grabbing Kylee's hand. "No friend of mine will go through this world not being able to dance!"

"Alright." Kylee chuckled, standing up as she raised her eyebrow. "Show me your ways, oh mighty dance god!"

Cha Cha'ing over to her Beats by Dre ™, Love turned on her dance playlist, as Spanish music filled the air. "Ah! Guantanamera! Perfect song to learn the tango to!"

"The tango?"

"Yep!" Love grabbed Kylee, gently pulling her closer, trying to ignore the sparks she got into a playful swing. "Now," She said. "I'm going to dip you on the count of three."

"What?"

"Uno.. dos... tres!" Love dipped Kylee to the ground. Time stopped as she looked into Kylee's piercing blue eyes, before pulling her up again. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She yelled over the music.

"All my blood is in my head!" Kylee yelled back.

They continued to dance, a dip here, a spin there, as Love's affection for Kylee grew and grew by the second. By the end of the song, Kylee was smiling madly, sweating as she held Love. Just then, a new song came on.

"It's that new song by Ed Sheeran." Kylee remarked.

/A/N/ LISTEN TO DIVE AT THIS PART TO FULLY IMMERSE YOURSELF/

"Yeah. It's a bit slow, though." Love responded, blushing as she tried to hide the fact that she had been listening to this song and had been thinking about Kylee a lot lately. "I can change it-" she made a move to change it, but Kylee grabbed her arm.

"You can teach me to slow dance." She said softly, igniting deep feelings in Love.

"Oh... Okay." Love stuttered, as they clasped their bodies together, swaying side to side. Their eyes met, as Kylee stared intently at Love, their foreheads almost touching.

Suddenly, their lips were pressed together, as Love realized what was happening and pulled away in shock.

"Did we just?"

"Yeah."

There was silence for a few minutes, as Love looked at Kylee.

"We're drunk." Love whispered, looking at the wine. "That's why."

"Yeah."

A few more moments went by.

"I didn't drink," Kylee remarked.

"Me neither." Love said, before crashing her lips against Kylee's again, this time more hungrily, wanting something. Kylee kissed back, tongues exchanging as their bodies pressed together.

"Wait." Love said, smiling as she surveyed Kylee's body. "Want to go to my room?"

---

Love woke up the next morning in her bed, naked, next to a sleeping Kylee. Memories came flowing back to her as she gasped. The dancing. The cookies. The cookies.

The sex.

Covering her mouth as to not make any sounds, she slowly got out of bed, grabbing the first shirt she could see. As soon as she was out of the room, she began to audibly panic.

"Holy fuuuuuuuuuuck." She whispered to herself. "What the fuck?!"

Her phone broke her quiet panic, giving her yet another panic attack as she answered the phone.

"He-hello?"

"Heyyy Love it's Kaylee!" Kaylee yelled from the other line.

"Oh.... Hey man." Love stuttered out, profusely sweating as she tried not to give herself away.

"Listen I know it's only been like three days but I just wanted to check in on you guys!"

"Yeah man.. we're just like super casual over here... Nothing out of the ordinary here man, my bro, dude."

"Well, that's good! It's fuckin' lit over here man. The counselor is really cool and-"

Love let out a yelp as she saw Kylee walk into the room, with Love's pajama pants on and no shirt as Kaylee continued to babble on over the phone before cutting herself off as she heard the yelp.

"Dude, what was that?"

"Wh-what was what?" Love stuttered, trying to tear her eyes away from Kylee's naked top as Kylee casually made herself a bowl of cereal.

"You just made the naked lady squeal."

"I didn't make the- I'm sorry, what?"

"Whenever you see a naked lady you make this like yelling noise that you just made."

"Oh... Yeah... I'm uh, watching Game of Thrones."

"Oh, dude that show is great man. Lot's of boobs."

"Y-yeah."

"Hey, is Kylee awake yet? I want to talk to her."

"Ummm..." Love remarked, side-eying the topless Kylee again. "She's a little busy at the moment."

"That's fine, tell her I said hi! They're ringing the bud-bell so I have to go, I'll be home in two days!" Kaylee yelled before hanging up.

Two days. Two days to figure out what the hell this was. Rubbing her eyes groggily as she hung up the phone, she smiled at Kylee nervously. "Morning."

"Morning."

"You're wearing my pants." Love noted.

Kylee smiled. "And you're wearing my shirt."

"Oh shit, really?" Love looked down at it, realizing she was.

"Yeah. Don't worry. You look cute in it."

Love blushed, looking down at the floor, realizing once more she wasn't wearing pants. "I'm not wearing pants."

"I'm not wearing a shirt."

"I noticed."

"It's nothing you didn't see last night."

"Jesus."

Kylee smiled, returning to her cereal.

Love went to go sit by her, looking at Kylee. "So, do you want to talk about us?" She grimaced at the cheesiness in her voice.

Kylee looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... Well.." Love stuttered. "I don't know if you like, feel the same way but, I really fucking like you." She grimaced again, looking down at her hands.

"Hey," Kylee said, putting her hands on Love's face and bringing up to her view. "I really fucking like you too." She kissed Love again, this time much softer, lovingly.

Love smiled into the kiss. "Holy shit." She whispered. "I didn't think this was ever going to happen."

"Me neither. You're a goddamn goddess."

Love smiled again. "Hey, question." She said, looking down from Kylee's face to her chest.

"Yeah?"

"Can we have sex again before we talk about us?"

"Hell yes."

---

"That was awesome." Love breathed out heavily, high-fiving Kylee.

Kylee smiled. "I agree." There was silence for a few minutes besides heavy breathing, before Kylee yelped. "Shit! What time is it?"

"Uhhhhh.. 4.23 pm." Love replied.

"Fuck, I'm late for work." Kylee said, jumping out of bed, hastily getting dressed. "We'll continue when I get home?" She asked the still in bed Love. Love nodded. Kylee smiled at her, going over quickly to the bed, giving her a kiss before leaving.

"Jesus Christ." Love whispered to herself. "I think I may be in love."

---

Kylee didn't get home until after Love had gone to bed. She may have woken Love up when she crawled into bed next to her, but Love didn't mind it. Actually, she loved it.

---

"Do you want to go on a date today?" Love asked Kylee the next morning when they woke up.

"A date?"

"Yeah. I mean, only if you want to."

"Karly's Cream for lunch?"

"Of course."

Love found first dates were a bit harder than expected. First, she had to find a nicer outfit to wear than her normal sweatpants and bare face, and then came makeup. She began to panic as she sat in the bathroom, looking at herself. With shaking hands, she began to apply makeup to one of her eyes nervously.

"Are you okay?" Kylee asked, barging in, making Love jump.

"Did you just decide that you would open the fricking door?" Love exclaimed.

"I guess I was hoping you were in the shower." Kylee chuckled. She sat down by Love. "I'm joking. You weren't playing music so I figured something might be wrong."

"You know me so well." Love sighed, looking at her.

"Wow, you've got one eye down, huh?"

Love groaned. "It's hard. I haven't done makeup in so long so this is like riding a bicycle again."

"Why are you putting on makeup?"

Burying her face in her hands, Love replied. "I don't know, I guess I just wanted this first date to go well? To be honest, I'm really fucking nervous."

"Hey," Kylee said, cupping Love's chin, and fuck, she loved it when she did that. "You don't need to worry. We already had our first date."

"What?"

"One of the first nights we talked, we went to Karly's Cream for the first time and we hung out. That's our first date in my mind."

Love smiled. "That helps."

And they had a great time.

---

On the fifth day, Kaylee came home a little early.

Kylee and Love may have been making out on the couch at the time when Kaylee walked in, talking.

"Okay guys I've been thinking, and we should totally start a band. Like, now that we have Love to sing we can- holy shit!" Kaylee yelled at the sight of Love and Kylee, dropping her bags.

"Kaylee!" Love yelled, falling off the couch. "You're home early!"

"And you're kissing my sister!"

"Yes." Kylee sat up. "Just kissing. Just, y'know, that."

"Oh my God." Kaylee jumped in realization. "That naked lady squeal was about Kylee, wasn't it?! There was no Game of Thrones! There was never any Game of Thrones!"

"Naked lady squeal?" Kylee questioned.

"Disregard everything she's saying." Love groaned.

"So is this what's happening? You guys are dating now?" Kaylee asked.

There was a silence for a moment as Love and Kylee looked at each other. "I mean... Yeah?" Love said, looking at Kylee as Kylee looked down, blushing. "Yeah?"

Kylee nodded.

"Yeah. We are."

"Uhmmmm. Okay then. Dope."

"You're fine with that?" Kylee questioned.

"I mean, as long as it doesn't interfere with the band."

"We're seriously starting a band?"

"Yeah! All we need is a bassist."

/FIN/