how could a heart like yours, ever love a heart like mine?

stay strong, stay gold

When the plane landed, the three friends made it to a taxi in record time. They gave the driver their destination and then sat in quiet anticipation. Kie was grasping onto everything; the boys hands, her bag, her knees, the boys knees, the seat. She had so much energy and she was so excited she could barely contain herself. Pope was bouncing his leg and JJ was tapping out a beat on his thighs.

Eventually, the taxi pulled down a side street and up to a small one story house. The three friends got out very slowly and got their bags out of the trunk. The taxi drove away, and they were left standing at the bottom of the driveway, but only for a moment, because at the next second, the front door swung open to reveal a blonde haired girl staring at them.

"Oh my god." Kie breathed.

The emotions she had felt hearing her friends voices over the phone multiplied by 10 and she dropped her bags and ran towards Sarah, who met her halfway down the driveway. The two girls clung to each other for dear life, as if the other would disappear if they let go. Through her tears, Kiara saw JJ and Pope embracing a dark haired John B and over Sarah's whispers in her ears she good hear the boys laughing. Eventually, they switched and Kie took a running leap at John B, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Nice to see you too, Kie," he laughed.

"Oh you have no idea," she replied chokingly as she slid off of him and took his face between her hands.

The other three bulldozed them and they became a mixture of limbs and there was a lot of kissing of cheeks and drying of eyes.

They did make their way inside, made some food, and spent the rest of the day talking and eating.

When the sun set, they started a bonfire in the backyard, and there they sat, circled around it, laughing and drinking. The positions were reminiscent of The Chateau, the girls lying on the hammock, the boys in lawn chairs, and for a while it felt like no time had passed. Eventually the laughter turned to silence as everyone processed the days events and sat in their feelings, watching the stars.

JJ stayed looking up until his neck hurt. Pope was snoring beside him and Sarah had gotten up from the hammock and seated herself in John B's lap. JJ glanced over at Kie, now lonely in the hammock, and he was met with something he hadn't seen in a while.

She was sleeping.

Deeply sleeping.

No shallow breaths, no fluttering eyelids, but real, slow, deep breaths and a look of peace on her face. Closest to him were her feet so her face was in clear view as it was lit up by the dying bonfire. It brought a soft glow to her caramel skin and made her dark locks shine as they crowded her head. Her features looked soft in sleep as opposed to her usually striking eyes and sharp expressions.

She was breathtaking.

Or you know, something like that. JJ's not the type to use such words, much too sappy. He especially would not use those words to describe his BEST FRIEND Kiara.

"Snap out of it JJ," he thought

"Maybe we should move inside," is what he said, directing the words to the couple on the chair across from him.

"Yeah alright," John B replied.

JJ kicked the lawn chair beside him and shook Pope by the shoulder, effectively waking him up with a grunt.

"We're gonna move inside."

"Maybe I should wake Kie," Sarah said getting up.

Unexpectedly, fear rose in JJ chest. He jumped up with his hand outstretched to stop Sarah as she made her way over.

"No, wait."

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Kie hasn't been sleeping so well, I don't think we should wake her."

"What are we gonna do leave her out here?", Sarah questioned.

"No," JJ said uncertainly.

"Well then how to propose we get her inside?"

"I hadn't thought that far ahead."

"He'll have to carry her," John B cut in.

He was just trying to stir shit up, wasn't he?

"Uhm."

"Yeah I guess he will," Sarah said with a smirk.

JJ swallowed and then looked between Kie and the couple multiple times.

"Uh, alright," he said with false confidence as he wiped he hands on his cargo shorts.

Sarah went to help Pope and John B went to get the door, leaving JJ standing over a sleeping Kiara.

How am I supposed to go about doing this?

He had lifted a person before but this required a delicateness he did not possess. After a few more seconds of deliberation he decided to pick up her top half first and rest her head on his shoulder and then lift her legs with the other arm. He probably looked like an idiot lifting her but once she was up, he thought he must actually look pretty cool. Except for the look of concern on his face.

Kie stirred a little and mumbled.

"It's alright. I'm just taking you to your bed," JJ said quietly.

He could feel Sarah and John B's eyes on him as they tried to get Pope off the couch he had plunked onto, and into his room.

JJ made it to Kie's room and laid her down on the bed.

"We got Pope down but he's sounds like a lawnmower. You might want to stay here or take the couch," John B whispered, poking his head in.

JJ nodded at him and the first boy retreated from the doorway once again.

JJ looked down at Kie.

What now?

He removed her flip-flops and pulled the covers out from under her (which made her stir again) and laid them on top of her. She was wearing jogging shorts and a t-shirt so he figured she wouldn't overheat. Satisfied with his work, he began to tiptoe out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

JJ spun around and nearly hit the ceiling.

Kie looked like she was trying to open her eyes and look at him but exhaustion was causing her to fail.

"The couch. Pope's snoring."

"I heard," she began haltingly, "you can't sleep on a couch, you've been sleeping in a restaurant booth for months. Just stay here."

Somehow, even when half asleep, she managed to look at him scoldingly.

JJ paused.

"Alright," he finally said.

He was really quite tired himself and the idea of sleeping on the couch and likely being able to still hear Pope's snoring was not appealing. Plus, he figured even when she was basically sleep talking, Kie would win an argument. So he took off his shoes and crawled under the covers.

Kie let out a deep sigh and cozied down into the blankets as JJ laid down to face her.

Her eyes remained closed and she eventually fell back into a deep sleep, her scowl giving way to the peaceful expression once again.

JJ watched her as he drifted away himself.