i'm back bitches

not that i was gone, but my motivation was HAHAH

I'll just get something to drink. I say, getting up from the sofa. Does anyone want something?

Cheeto and Lewis shake their heads and a "No, but thanks!" comes from Jayden. I nod and turn around to leave the room.

As I open the door to the kitchen, the first thing I see is the opened fridge. Two legs in platform boots, fishnets and a short, black skirt are sticking out behind its door that is shut before I can even process what I'm seeing right now. There's a person standing there with a slice of cheese in their hand and a she/they pin on their oversized black hoodie. A few pink strands fall out of its hood - i think they have an about shoulder-long mullet, but i can barely see it -, framing a pale face that contrasts the downturned eyeliner surrounding their big brown eyes.

The person seems as startled as I am, and as my thoughts are running through my head, sorting this stranger in several criminal categories, I hear the noise that Cheeto's around ten chains make when it's walking and turn around to it.

"Oh!" It says, its lips forming into a smile. "Hey! Jesse, this is R, Jayden's ex-girlfriend."

His what? Did she break into his house to kill him or what?

As I realize how ridiculous that sounds, Cheeto has already noticed my expression and shakes its head energetically. "No, no, they're friends now. And R still has the keys to this apartment."

"How did you get in here this quietly?" Another voice joins and Jayden pushes past us to get to R and give them a hug. Even with the platform boots, the height difference between the two of them is extreme (which is definitely not just because Jayden is over six feet tall).

The young woman smiles. "I'm just a god."

"Hold on. Is that my hoodie?" Jayden chuckles.

R breaks eye contact for a second. "Uhm. No. What are you talking about?"

"I've been looking for that thing!"

"That's- No, that's my hoodie. I don't know what you mean." R's eyes dart around the room, a small smile on their lips.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. Totally. I don't know how I could assume you just stole my clothes. You've never done that before." Jayden nods.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying! Why aren't you listening to me?"

"I'm so sorry." Jayden grins and raises his hands defensively.

Watching the two of them jokingly bickering is nice, but also somehow new to me. Not that I thought Jayden had no friends, but I also never considered the possibility that he did, and the way he acts with her is different from the Jayden I know, which makes sense considering I barely know him at all, but it's strange to watch somehow, almost like he's an entirely different person.

~

Soon, we're back in the living room, Jayden and R are sitting next to each other on the floor and the rest of us on the sofa. With R around, the topic of discussion moves from being stuck on a tough decision to entirely different things.

An example: "Oh my god, Jayden, remember when you had long hair?"

Jayden laughs at that. "Chopping it off again was one of the best ideas I ever had."

"It looked good!"

"It really did." Cheeto adds with a grin.

"Yeah, you were totally my 'type'." R says, drawing quotation marks into the air with their fingers.

"Aren't you a lesbian?" Jayden raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's literally why we broke up, you fucking genius. But I thought my type in guys was 'long, dark hair'." They bite off a piece from their cheese, which they, for some reason, cut into even more, smaller slices.

Jayden gasps. "Ohh, yeah, I remember now. Okay, a little context for Jesse and Lewis, the household Cheeto and I grew up in- Well, you know how it was. And it left no room for self-expression. So when I moved out, I kind of... experimented a bit. And one of these things was growing my hair out. But then I realized that wasn't really my thing, so..."

"It did look good on you, though." R insists.

"Maybe, but it didn't look like me."

"Yeah, okay, I get that." R nods. "I'm still proud of myself for getting you into the black nail polish cult, though."

"As you should." Lewis next to me says and leans his head on my shoulder. He's been doing that a lot recently, but I'm really not gonna complain.

To be honest, I'm glad R showed up, even though they almost gave me a heart attack. Instead of being stuck on the same topic and not going anywhere because we were only really looking at it one way, we're just... here. Getting our minds off everything. The siblings can think about it in a better, more distanced way later – I hope so, at least – and we can be there for them if they want to. It's a much better atmosphere.

ayo this book is nearing the end?? istg i can't believe i'm actually FINISHING A BOOK

after FOUR YEARS OF WRITING STORIES

i'm actually FINISHING ONE OF THEM?????

god damn it :")

you don't have to say goodbye to the only good thing about it, though (the characters, and also 💞me💞), i'm currently working on the next one! which is not a sequel at all, but a fantasy story that will probably consist of two books and has an entirely different storyline, but (mostly) the same characters. hope to see you there! or not. no pressure <3