Two Worlds

Chapter 2

It's a Saturday afternoon and Sarah and Kiada have just finished a quick skeleton crew half day shoot. Both sit on the floor of the truck, a bottle of wine between them and styrofoam cups from the unit cart discretely filled with the life saving liquid.

They both laugh amongst the racks of clothes as they unwind from the day.

"Thank you for coming in." Sarah sighs, "The other girls all have weekend jobs and I couldn't ask them to put that aside, especially on what they are earning on this." Sarah scoffs and takes a sip from her cup.

Kiada smiles and shakes her head, "Happy to. William had classes all day today, so I would have been home, fretting over what I was going to wear tonight."

"Oh my goodness, yes." Sarah perks up, "What did you decide on?"

"It was between my foster mum's old bridesmaid dress that she gave me, years ago. Or this one I bought from Target." Kiada leans, slightly tipsy, over to her bag tucked in a safe place in the truck. She pulls out a short cut ruffle dress with long sleeves. It's nice, maybe not red carpet level, but a little better than dinner with friends.

Sarah muses over the dress, takes it from her and hangs it up on the steaming rack. "Oh yeah, definitely the Target dress. I don't want to know how old that bridesmaid dress is."

"80's apparently." Kiada pulls a face.

Sarah practically gags as she pulls the steamer off the ironing board where it was cooling down. "Oh god no."

The girls laugh and Kiada finishes her wine. She offers Sarah another and fills both cups. Before she can take a sip, her phone buzzes in her pocket.

"Hey, babe."

"Hey, I'm stuck at work, a class went late and I still have to pack up." William's voice comes through the phone. Sarah side-eyes Kiada as she steams the premier dress. "Is it ok if I meet you there?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm just finishing up at work with Sarah so I'll head straight from here." Kiada takes a sip of her wine and winks at Sarah, who smirks.

"Cool, say hi to her for me." William's voice seems a little distracted.

"Will do." Kiada asks, somethings not right with him and she knows it, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a long day." Kiada isn't convinced, "I'm ok. What time do I need to be there?"

"Red carpet is at seven, movie starts at eight." Kiada trusts him and smiles, getting a little nervous and excited about the night ahead.

"Ok, I will be there. Hey," Kiada smiles to herself as his voice changed slightly, "proud of you."

"I love you, so much." Is all she can muster without falling to pieces at his words.

"I love you more."

"I love you most." Kiada tries not to giggle, checking that her clutch was in the bag as well, the phone still against her ear. She glances up at Sarah, who shows her the wrinkle free dress, "Oh, Sarah has my dress ready. I'll see you there." She blows a kiss into her phone and then hangs up.

William pockets his phone, turning towards Samuel and the other men who hover around a kitchen table in the middle of Samuel's sparse apartment. The curtains are drawn making the relatively empty room dark. Coffee cups steam, holding the corners of a city map upon the hard wood table.

Rodney stands over the map, scanning the lines of streets with a military eye, his face creased with concentration. His dark hair is unkept, which is unusual for him, and dark circles cast deep shadows below his eyes.