A Grey Past

Face-To-Face

Eric woke up the next morning, extremely warm and abnormally comfortable. He opened his eyes a bit and smiled when he saw kiki in his arms, the memories from last night coming back like a boomerang returning to its thrower.
He was careful not to wake kiki when he moved to stand. His arm had somehow made its way across her body to the other side of her waist -not that either of the minded- while his other arm had managed to snake its way under her shoulders. He slipped his arms away from her, she squirmed a little but her eyes stayed shut.
After getting his arms untangled, Eric lifted himself off the couch and upright.
He quietly walked to the kitchen, or at least what he would assume was the kitchen.
In the corner was Serra cracking some eggs into a tin bowl.
"So, you're the one who finally got kiki to live again?" She asked.
"Yeah. . . I uh, I figured her having fun wouldn't be a bad thing. With what she's been through and all." Eric said as he sat down on one of the leather-bound high stools.
"I'm probably to young to be the one to ask this, but. . . Are you planning on marrying her?" Serra asked nervously.
Eric's eyes shot open and he choked on air for a moment. "Where did that come from?" He whisper-shouted, trying not to wake Johnny and Kiki.
Serra shrugged. "We're like sisters. The three of us. We all have pasts we'd rather not talk about and we all car for eachother." She cracked another egg, it breaking perfectly leaving no splinters of the shell in the batter. "And I guess knowing if I'm going to have a brother-in-law anytime soon would qualify as important."
His heart was beating fast; he wasn't sure how to answer the question. He loved kiki -no doubt, he loved her more than he ever loved anyone- but marrying someone was a bit stretched for dating only a few weeks. Especially in college. But he loved her and he would be willing to marry her if it meant he got to see her every day.
"I'm not sure how to answer that without giving you -or the one in the doorway, behind me- the wrong idea." Eric finally answered.
The person behind him scoffed. "How does everyone know when I'm near? I don't make much noise, do I?"
He smirked. "Well, maybe it's us. Maybe it's because we can sense when you grace us with your presence." Eric turned around and pulled her down to kiss her.
She put her finger to his lips before they touched hers. "We both just woke up. No"
"Yeah, no." Serra said, mortified.
"How about you get back to making whatever you were mixing, Tiny." Eric remarked.
"What I'm making is your breakfast mister. In my apartment." Serra retorted.
"You guys are really amusing in the morning. . ." A groggy voice came from the staircase on the other side of the wall from Serra.
". . . And loud."
"Sorry Johnny, but hey! It's breakfast. So perfect timing." Serra said.
"Thank you Serra, as for you two. . ." Johnny said. "I'll kill you later."
"Got it." Eric said as Kiki sat down on the stool next to him.
Serra served kiki first, setting a plate, a fork and a knife in front of her.
"And by the way, I. . ." Kiki whispered to him. "I'd probably say yes. I'd trust that you'd ask at the right time."
He'd thought that conversation had passed, he was wrong. She was talking about if he proposed.
"That would be amazing. But I think right now. . ." He whispered back. ". . . Would be rushing things a bit. It's only been a few weeks. Plus It'd probably be easier after graduation."
"And that is why I said I'd trust you would pick the right time." She smiled as she took a bite.
Eric turned to his plate and smiled to himself.
Well, that's. . . Good to know. He thought.

°•|~★~|•°

Kiki opened the blurred-glass door and found Cora half asleep on the stainless mattress.
"Kiki! How've you. . . " She trailed off as she eyed Eric. "Who's this?"
"Cora, this is Eric." She pressed her side against his torso, his arms coming to wrap around her waist.
Cora raised a dark brow teasingly. Then her composure fell as she watched Johnny lean against the door frame in his black leather jacket.
Cora stood up and ran to him, pushing past Eric and Kiki to embrace him.
Cora was met with little to no resistance, Johnny had her in his arms in seconds, holding her tight against his chest.
"Oh god, if you ever do that again, I'll kill you myself." Kiki heard Cora murmur.
"Oh, so it's my fault that I was taken by a physc-" Johnny stopped what he was saying, again realizing that it was Kiki's father. He looked to kiki ". . . Uhm, sorry."
Cora looked up into his eyes, "yes, it is."
"Sure." Johnny rolled his eyes.
Cora released Johnny, only to narrow her eyes on kiki.
"You have got alot of explaining to do. But first, I'm going to kill your father." She spat the title as if it were venom.
"And I'm going to join you. But i need to know more about what happened that night." Kiki said as she sat on the mattress with Eric beside her.
"Well, like I said on the phone, we were walking back home from a date and then your father was just. . . Standing there, holding a gun." Her gaze turned to the floor. "While I was still shook, Johnny hit the ground, pretty hard at that. And then. . . Well, your father grabbed me and as he was drugging me, the other guy was yelling at him." She looked back up to meet everyone's gaze.
Johnny came up behind Cora, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on her head.
"Do you remember what they said?" Johnny asked her.
"It may have been a dream, but I think the other guy didn't want to hurt me. But your father said he couldn't risk me listening? I'm not sure. But the guy with the stand ended up belting your father, then that's where it stopped, I passed out. I think" Cora scrunched her nose in distaste of the memories.
Kiki thought for a moment, before she spoke to Serra.
"I need to talk to you, we can give these two a chance to talk privately." Kiki said.
Serra nodded as she walked to the door.
Eric was still sitting on the bed while kiki made to follow Serra. She nodded to him and he stood up, following her out the door.
Serra came to a stop a few feet away from the door.
"This is important, promise me you two won't tell Cora, at least not yet." Kiki pleaded.
"Don't have to ask me, I don't even know what's happening right now." Eric shrugged his shoulders.
"I promise."
"Good, Because if I'm right, we have have to hurry."
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