Kiara
"Hello? Kiara?" Quin's voice buzzed through the phone.
"You okay?" I let out a slow breath, running my hand across my forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just… there's a lot going on. Seriously, I need to catch you up."
I shot a glance at the dining room, just to make sure Blake wasnt eavesdropping me. "Same here," Quin said.
"I'll see you after work?" She meant her job, not mine. She still believed I was jobless. "I'll try," I said, hedging a little.
"If anything changes, I'll let you know." She hummed, a mix of sass and comfort. "You better. Don't ghost me, okay?"
"I won't." We hung up. I lowered the phone, turning around—and saw Blake standing there. Not right up in my space, but close enough. My heart stuttered, not from fear, just annoyance at being surprised. He glanced down at my phone, then met my eyes.
"Who was that?"
"Huh?" It slipped out before I could stop myself. "Don't you have to go to school?" I shot back, dodging his question on purpose. He cocked his head.
"Answering a question with a question," he said, sounding weirdly amused. "You do that on purpose?"
And there it was—that teenager smirk. Relax, Kiara. He's literally a kid.
I rolled my shoulders back, arms loosely crossing over my chest. "Doing what, exactly?" I kept my tone steady.
He stepped forward, slow and casual. Not pushing closer, just closing space.
"You always pretend you don't understand," he said, all light and teasing. "I seriously don't know what you're talking about," I replied.
"Blake, if this is your mysterious act, congrats, you nailed it. But you forgot to hand me the script." He watched me a bit too long, like he was studying me.
"You really don't know," he repeated.
Not so much a question—more like he was confirming something for himself. "Cute," he muttered, almost to himself. Then he gave his head a small shake—like he found some joke funny—and turned away.
He walked past me, totally unbothered. I just stood there. Cute? Did he really just—? I blinked, replaying it in my head. He didn't raise his voice, didn't say anything totally out of line. But there was something about the way he watched everything so closely, then called me cute at the end. It left me stuck somewhere between irritated and just plain confused.
"He's literally in high school," I mumbled. The front door opened, then closed. I waited. Silence. His footsteps faded away. He was gone, finally. Only then did I realize I'd been holding my breath. I let it out, dropping my phone onto the counter. This house might actually drive me crazy. And it was only day one.