delicate [1] | TAYLOR SWIFT

22

"Dude, you have got to stay down there with them at all times," Kaia told him, eyes wide.

"Are you kidding me? I'll die!" He cried out dramatically. "I know you said they hated each other, but I didn't know it'd be that awkward!"

"They don't hate each other," Kaia muttered with a roll of her eyes. Mica gave her a pointed look and she shrugged. "Okay, Taylor doesn't hate her. She's too nice. But I did kind of tell her that Andy hates her so that might make things worse."

"Oh, no, she already knew that," Mica waved his hand dismissively. "But, dude, they're both gonna start pissing everywhere trying to mark their territories so here's what we need to do—"

"What are you going on about? Mica," Kaia laughed, shaking her head at him. "They're adults, first of all. Second of all, there's no territory to mark. Third of all, you'll be there to make sure neither one of them spends too much time in the same room as the other one!"

Mica crossed his arms over his chest and held his chin with his hand, nodding along. "Okay, okay, okay, I hear you. But how about this? Just focus on yourself today. Be with your family. Ignore them. Like you said, they're adults. They'll behave."

Kaia nodded. "I—" she cut herself off and shook her head. Mica was probably right. Kaia stood up and pulled the shower curtain back to turn on the water and wait for it to heat up.

"What?"

"Nothing," Kaia mumbled, watching the water come crashing down against the tub. "I just— I need Taylor to be with me. She's— she helps me calm down."

Kaia didn't want to meet Mica's gaze, feeling flustered.

"I'm sure she'll refuse to leave your side anyway," he told her. "She has called me at least five times in the past two days and has been texting me constantly to check up on you."

Kaia's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Mica nodded, a little smile she couldn't quite decipher playing on his lips. "I'm going to head down and play host till you're done. Be quick, please!"

Kaia spent quite a long time in her bedroom sitting in nothing but her towel and staring at her dress until her vision started to blur and she was on the brink of zoning out when a knock came at her door.

Layla poked her head in and offered her baby sister a tired smile. Her eyes were red even with the small amount of make-up she had used to try and hide it as best as she could.

"Coucou. Can I come in?"

Kaia nodded, blinking her eyes repeatedly.

"You're not dressed yet," Layla pointed out the obvious.

"I don't want to," Kaia huffed, throwing herself back against her bed.

"Well, you don't want mum digging herself out of her grave to murder you when you show up in a towel and embarrass her even in the afterlife," Layla replied in a casual tone, though her voice was scratchy from her earlier crying.

Kaia couldn't help but laugh. It was too soon to make these jokes, but clearly, the horrible sense of humour to cope with horrible situations ran in the family.

"Maybe I do," Kaia shot back, forcing herself to get up and walk to her dresser to start with a pair of underwear.

"Zombie-mama? Nah, she'd be worse than Hitler when it would come to chores," Layla said with a breathy chuckle.

When Kaia had successfully managed to put on a set of black undergarments, Layla turned around and handed her the dress. She helped zip it up from the back and then gently eased Kaia into the chair by the vanity.