Together

112. Kook followed me on instagram

And I didn't want these feelings, when I brought 'em
But I know you know exactly when I caught 'em
And I'm trying not to think about it often, but, oh
Cause all I do is jump
-Julia Michaels and Trippie Redd

After school the Pogues decide to tag along with Kie to the Wreck for her shift. The good news is Mike is out of the office so to speak, deciding he needed complete silence to plan for the expansion of the Wreck. The bad news is Anna is the one running the ship. And boy does she like it tight.

"Kie, no." Anna shakes her head, watching the four other Pogues enter the Wreck, taking up one of the only booths they have. "This isn't hang out time."

Kie is tying her apron, looking over at her friends. JJ has his arm slung over the back of the booth, Pope sitting next to him. John B and Sarah are across from them, talking and laughing softly. Only JJ meets her eye, confusion marking his features when she just turns to her mother with a tight lipped smile.

"This is a part of holding up your end, Kiara," Anna reminds, head cocking to the side, hand on her hip.

"Mom, come on," she pleads. "Is it really that big a deal that they sit and chill for a minute?"

She was willing to tangle to do what her mother wanted, but she couldn't say that she was going to abandon her friends. That wasn't the deal. She had to go to kook events, put on a good family show. She wasn't going to kick her friends out of the restaurant for whatever god awful reason Anna thought up.

Anna huffed, looking over to the group, most of whom's members hadn't been paying attention to the tense exchange and attempted compromises between the Carrera women. She saw JJ though, could read his expression a mile away.

"They have to order something, and they have to pay," Anna instructs with a raised finger for seriousness. Kiara smiles, relief washing over her face. "I mean it, Kie. They pay or you're kicking them out," she's warned. Anna takes one last glance over the group before disappearing to the back office.

Kie makes her way over, her once relieved face morphing into dread as she gets closer with every forced step. They all great her cheerily, but it's JJ who catches her less than enthused expression and puts a hand to her forearm.

"What's up?"

"You guys gotta pay for something or my mom is going to make me kick you out," she says bluntly.

Everyone's eyebrows raise and mouths drop. It's not actually that surprising when thought about. Mike had always had a hard time tolerating the Pogues greedy hands and stomachs. Even went as far as to accuse them of taking advantage of Kie's kindness and believed they were only using her. Was it really a stretch to think that Anna felt the same way? She had even less affections for them at times.

"I'm sorry," she says, feeling guilty.

JJ looks over Kie's shoulder and glances to the entrance of the back of the restaurant where Anna made her disappearance. "That's fine, baby," he says, pulling out his wallet to show he was a paying customer.

It was somewhat embarrassing to him all the times that he had taken Kie's handouts for a meal. Definitely not something he wanted to be construed as ungrateful for or even worse, manipulative. If he had to pay for meals he would. No skin off his back.

The rest of the Pogues followed his lead, agreeing that it wasn't a big deal and ordering what they wanted. Albeit they were a little surprised by it all. Most of the time Kie was able to smooth over her parents demands and irritation. Clearly that wasn't the case this time.

Towards the end of said meal, Kie had some time to visit. Wasn't a particularly busy day and she had just finished cashing out most of the tabs in the restaurant, including her table of friends.