┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

KIKI AND NELLS

NELLY SEQUOIA WASN'T FEELING LIKE HERSELF LATELY.

The night of the bonfire had been an absolute disaster, and despite her grandmother assuring her that it was no big deal, it sure as hell felt like a big deal. The minute she stepped through the threshold of her room after much coaxing by the elderly woman was the minute she felt the anger evaporate from her being.

She slept for a whopping twelve hours, wishing to sleep in even more until her mother woke her up with a cup of soup. Yeah, based on the flush on her cheeks and the achy feeling she had that coursed through her body, she definitely caught whatever sickness Tate had.

The youngest Sequoia sibling seemed to bounce back after a week of bed rest, returning back to his lively self in what felt like the blink of an eye. It was Nelly who was know being helped under their grandmother's watchful eye, but even despite the woman's miraculous home remedies, Nelly was not getting better.

It took eleven days. Eleven days of rotting away in her room, nursing her every ache and ailment and congested airway with a now practiced ease. Her phone was left on silent, tucked away in her bedside table, and she hoped that her grandmother made it clear that she wasn't taking any visitors to those who came by the most.

So far, it was Kim showing up the most, sometimes accompanied by the Cameron boy, and there was even once occasion where Nelly heard Sam Uley's voice through her closed bedroom door.

Akira showed up when she could, sending goodies along with Brady whenever the boy came over to see the newly healed Tate. The Fuller girl was really the only person Nelly could stomach seeing, given her lack of affiliation with those who were also at the bonfire; meaning that when the time came to start receiving visitors, Nelly made sure Akira was the first one through the door.

And she was glad she did so, too, because the Fuller girl was quite literally a breath of fresh air.

"Kiki's home, baby!"

She'd made her grand entrance with a single-handed motion of jazz hands, the other holding onto what she deemed was a recovery basket. From her place on the couch, Nelly rolled her eyes and merely opened her arms wide. Thankfully Akira got the memo, as she put down her things and launched herself onto the couch beside Nelly.

"How are you?" Nelly asked, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"I should be asking how you are, my sickly little cucumber," she teased, blowing a raspberry at the deadpan look Nelly gave her. "Is Kim coming to hang today too?"

At the mere mention of the Connweller girl's name, Nelly felt heat crawl up her spine. It must've shown on her face, because Akira was looking at her with confusion.

"We aren't talking right now," she offered up, and it was more like a half-truth because Kim had been blowing up her phone while she was sick— it was Nelly who wasn't doing any talking. "She pissed me off."

"Don't tell me she's still on the whole Embry's sorry please forgive him motion?" she asked, bafflement in her tone. At Nelly's nod, she groaned. "You're joking. I literally told her to knock it off, dude."

"You did?" Nelly asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

It was Akira's turn to roll her eyes. "It was making you upset; of course I told her to chill the hell out," she stated matter-of-factly, and her statement made Nelly warm for an entirely different reason.

It was nice to have someone in her corner, but Nelly quickly thought of the repercussions among the two girls. "I don't want things to be weird between you and her," she mumbled, "I just– I just need a few days to think."

Akira didn't even know the full story of what happened at the bonfire, nor did Nelly think she needed to know. Would she point and laugh and call her insane? Or would she sympathize with her because Nelly had never had an outburst like that?

"Be for real; I love Kimmy, but she's in the wrong," Akira responded dismissively. "I think it's all that time spent with Jared. We barely saw each other when you were gone because she's constantly with him."

Nelly's frown deepened. "Weird," she responded, because although she knew how close she and Jared were as of late, she had no clue that it had actually been worse throughout her time back in Lummi.

Akira sprung from her place beside her and clapped her hands. "Right, no more Kim talk," she declared, going to pull her friend up from the couch with a large smile, "it's a Kiki and Nells kind of day— let's go to the beach!"

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

The girls ended up at the beach in record time, and despite it being a so-called Kiki and Nells kind of day, they had two stragglers tag along with them. 

From their place on the warm sand, both girls watched as their brothers tossed a football around while wading in the water. It was officially the middle of summer, the sun barely peaking out through the array of clouds overhead, but Nelly found she didn't care too much.

"I'm so happy they have each other," Akira said with a small little smile, eagerly watching the boys who'd been best friends for years.

"Me too," Nelly agreed. Something about Brady and Tate being friends just worked, and she had to thank the universe for letting it happen— especially because their friendship resulted in hers with the eldest Fuller sibling. "They're taking best friends forever in its most literal sense."

"Oh yeah; heavy on the forever part," Akira laughed, reclining back on her elbows and pointing her face towards Nelly's. "Just like two other girls I happen to know."

Nelly's eyebrow quirked up. "Oh really?" she played along, disguising her laugh behind a deliberate cough. "And, pray tell, who might these two girls be?"

"One of them is the cutest, most thoughtful person I've ever met," she detailed happily, "and the other is Penelope Sequoia."

"You bitch!" Nelly cackled, throwing some sand onto the girl's stomach in mock anger.

Akira fell onto her back with a cacophony of her own laughs, and it only made Nelly laugh even harder than she already was. Her stomach began to tense due to her uncontrolled spats of giggles, and the girls had been so loud that they garnered the attention of their brothers. The two boys merely shook their heads at their antics before Tate tossed the football back to his friend.

Yeah, this was what summer was supposed to be all about.

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

i feel so bad for akira and nelly because they don't even know why the others are acting like that and it's ruining friendships.... OH WELL LOL

yall are not ready for what happens tho... im about to mess everyone up just for the #angst... BUT hurt/comfort awaits for a special duo ;)

thanks for 7K you absolute cuties xx