5.0 | Devil's Tango

"YOU'RE PULLING MY BRAINS OUT," Ms. Crumble told Angelica as the ten year old girl attempted to brush the woman's hair.

Angelica sighed, "Stop squirming and I'll give you a quarter to ride the mechanical rocket in the indoor playground."

Ms. Crumble nodded, allowing Angelica to continue her hair brushing attempt.

"Dude, if you wanna get those dreads out, you need to use conditioner." Eli called from the gate, Kai watching in amusement from beside him.

Angelica gave him a confused look before grabbing the first bottle she saw.

"That's finishing spray."

She the proceeded to grab a curling iron.

"That's a curling iron."

Angelica then grabbed a container and held it up, as if to ask if that was it.

"That's bikini wax for rhinestone-encrusted ba-shine-a." Eli stated in a weird voice. Angelica made a face of disgust before dropping the container to the floor.

"You're disrupting my experiments." Angelica called.

Eli raised his brows, "Well, this looks as much as like a science experiment as me jacking off looks like modern interpretive dance." He stated before weirdly dancing while moving his hand in a masturbating motion.

Kai scrunched up her face in disgust, "Ew, Eli, no."

"Crumble isn't as crazy as you think," Angelica stated, ignoring Eli's statement and dance.

The woman looked to Eli, "I'm baked in secret herbs and spices."

Eli laughed at Ms. Crumble's statement, and Kai let a smirk come to her face.

"Her old self is in there, and she wants to get out." Angelica continued, "Maybe if she looked more like a person, instead of-"

"A sentient hairball?" Eli asked, causing Ms. Crumble to fire back.

"A pizza-stealing rat!"

"Belly button fuzz!"

"A moldy peach that grew more mold."

"King Kong's sweaty taint."

"Steve Harvey's mustache!"

Angelica interrupted the two, "If she looked more like herself, her personality might re-emerge."

"Didn't your mom teach you how to brush your hair or how to apply moisturizer to protect your alabaster skin?" Eli asked, earning a flick in the neck from Kai.

Angelica looked like she wanted to say something completely different than what had come out of her mouth, "Not exactly a girly girl."

"Okay," Eli began, "give me the brush." He stated, putting his hand through the gate.

Angelica scoffed, "Oh, yeah right. You just wanna shiv us so you can take the mall back."

"Why would I wanna do that? I know that if you and Fists leave, Kai's gonna go with you." He stated, "I just wanna help, okay?"

Angelica sighed before throwing down the brush and opening the gate. Eli smirked at the girl, then grabbed Kai's hand. He couldn't even take three steps before the ten year old held a taser to his neck.

"Fuck with me, little man, and I will fry your pubes with five thousand volts." Eli held his free hand up in surrender, causing Angelica to smirk. "Move."

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Once Angelica and Ms. Crumble were done getting fixed up by Eli, the boy smiled at Kai. "What, you want me to do your hair and makeup, too?" He jokingly questioned her.

Kai shook her head, "Nope. But I do wanna spend time with you. I love Angelica and Ms. Crumble, but they kinda drive me crazy after a while." She chuckled.

Eli thought for a moment, then an idea came to his head. "I have an idea. Meet me in the mattress store in like thirty minutes. Okay?"

Kai nodded, "See ya there."

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The blonde was seated on the most comfortable mattress, in the back corner of the store. She decided to draw, something she hadn't done in a while.

Her drawing was of the people she cared about, gathering around for a group selfie. She was in the center, Eli on her right, Sam on her left, Angelica in front of her, Josh behind her, Wesley on Josh's right, and Sophia on Josh's left.

"You must miss her, huh?" Angelica asked, startling the older blonde.

"Hm? Who?" She asked, quickly.

The younger girl sighed, "Sophia. I don't get why she ditched you for the Jocks."

"I do." Kai hummed, causing Angelica's brows to furrow. "She and I enjoyed each other's presence, but it got suffocating at times. We were all each other had for the first five months of the apocalypse, so we couldn't escape each other in fear that we'd die alone. We got into an argument because she wanted to convince me to join the Jocks. I started to think about it, but I said no when I found out the real reason she wanted me to join."

"What was the reason?"

Kai sighed, opening her sketchbook to a page that was from a lined notebook. "Read it."

The girls were unaware that Eli was listening, standing from afar, waiting for the right time to make his presence known.

"Dear Mona Lisa, Kai won't fucking budge. I miss you. I can't wait until I can ditch her so we can be together again. I'll see you on Tuesday, around three. That's when I'll finally ditch this bitch and be where I belong. With the Jocks. With love, Sophia Maria Lopeź." Angelica read, looking into Kai's saddened eyes once she finished. Without hesitation, she pulled the girl into a hug. "I'm sorry, Kai."

Kai chuckled, "It's okay, Angelica. I'm over her, it just hurt a lot when it happened. The only reason I've been trying to find her is because I wanna ask her why she stuck around. I wanna know why she didn't just leave like everyone else had."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're not the only one with negligent parents. When I was five, my parents got a divorce. I was forced to live with my mom, and my twin brother was forced to live with my dad. Chris and I used to be close, but I don't even know where he is. Our parents cut off all contact between us about four years ago. When Sam's parents let her move in with us, my mom treated her like she was her daughter, and just threw me to the wind. The only person that I thought really cared was Sophia." Kai explained with a smile. Anyone with eyes could see the girl's pain if they just looked into her eyes.

"But, now who do you think cares?"

"You, Wes, Josh, Crumble, and Eli," she stated, blankly.

Angelica scrunched up her nose, "I do not understand what the hell you see in Eli."

"Well, he's funny, kind when he actually cares, protective, smart when he wants to be, and one of the few people that's been there for me."

Eli decided to clear his throat, causing the girls to look at him.

"How long have you been standing there and what's in the bag?"

The boy chuckled, "Nothing for you, munchkin. I think Ms. Crumble was looking for you, though."

Angelica began to walk out of the mattress store just as Eli spoke again, "Oh, and make sure you guys stay out of here. I wanna spend time with Kai."

The girl nodded before exiting to find Ms. Crumble.

Kai stood, her brow raised and her arms crossed, "Alright, Cardashyan. What'd you summon me here for?" She asked with a smirk.

"You'll see." He pressed the button to lower the store gate and told Kai to sit back down. Quickly, he set up a small table filled with food and three candles. "Bon appetit, mademoiselle." He said in a surprisingly good French accent.

The blonde chuckled, "What's all this for, Eli?"

He shrugged in response. "I don't know, just felt like doing something special. Do you not like it? We can do something else if you wa-"

"Eli, I love it. Stop rambling."

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"There's no way you won a fight with Turbo," Eli stated in awe. The two had finished their food and were now telling their apocalypse stories.

Kai nodded, "Damn right I did. Before the tribes became a thing, Turbo and I fought over a pack of ramen. I stabbed him and took my ramen."

Eli laughed, "Damn. My girl's a badass."

"Oh, I'm your girl now?"

He became flustered. "I-If you wanna be. If you don't want to be that's totally cool, too."

"Well, the only reason I asked is because I've never been asked out." She shrugged with a small embarrassed smile on her face. In the candlelight, Eli could see her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

He smiled, causing Kai's heart to soar. This guy had one of the most beautiful smiles she had ever seen. "Kaira Dean, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

"Yes." She smiled before tossing a candy wrapper at him.

"Oh," he began, "this means war."

Her eyes widened as he got closer to her, her mind instantly knowing what he was doing.

"Eli, think about what you're doing. It doesn't have to go to this." She said, stepping back. Eli let out a chuckle before causing the girl to fall onto the bed and tickling her.

In a fit of giggles, which was music to Eli's ears, Kai had decided she'd had enough of being tickled. She placed her hand on the back of Eli's neck and hurriedly connected their lips. Instantly, the boy stopped and began to kiss back. They separated and looked at each other, both heavily breathing from laughing so hard.

Once they caught their breath, their lips quickly and hungrily connected once more. This time, however, each person's shirt began to come off, along with the rest of their clothes.

We all know what happened next.