✓ 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑, 𝘫. 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬 ¹

✓ TWENTY SEVEN.

chapter twenty seven
"midsummers"

"THANKS, KIE, I REALLY NEEDED some girl time."

Lynn collapsed her entire body onto Kie's rather large bed, throwing her arms out behind her. She let out a massive sigh, because she was exhausted from having to just finish explaining the whole story to the brunette girl she calls her best friend. Where John B and her kissed all those days before, how JJ found out and stormed off before Lynn could explain she stopped the kiss instantly because she likes him.

Kie shifted so instead of sitting down in front of the wide and lengthy mirror on her desk, where she was doing her makeup for Midsummer's later on in the day, she would lay beside Lynn on the bed. She knew how much the blonde girl cared for both their best friends, and the absolute last thing she wanted was to start a love triangle.

"I just wish he would've given me time to explain," Lynn continued, and she placed both of her hands on her forehead as she thought. "God, what am I gonna do?"

"Look, John B is ultra confused right now with everything going on in his life. And JJ, I mean, if he likes you he needs to just get over this jealous act and tell you," Kie explained, and Lynn wasn't sure if she was helping or not. "Girl, I can quite literally see the grey hair growing on your roots."

"Oh, great, another thing to worry about," Lynn groaned, pushing Kie's thigh jokingly.

"You should come to Midsummer's with me!"

Lynn cringed up her face at Kie, and the idea of the party generally sounded like a good thing to get her mind off the troubles of her bickering best friends. But then she was reminded that it was a Kook party, and she would be completely out of place.

"I don't know, Kie," Lynn shrugged her shoulders softly — her face pinched together awkwardly. "It's a Kook thing, I'd stick out like a sore thumb."

"And I will too, so it's perfect!" Kie clapped her hands together happily, and Lynn already knew there was no way out of it now. "C'mere, my mom has a shit ton of dresses out for me so we can just get you one too! Oh my God, this is amazing, I was actually gonna kill somebody if I had to go by myself."

Lynn couldn't fight against Kie on this one, knowing once the brunette girl made up her mind that would be the end of that discussion. Plus, she needed to stop being so stressed out, and maybe this party would be helpful to distract her.

"Fine, but only because there's free food."

"It hurts."

Lynn wiggled a bit under Kie's grasp as she was finishing up her eye look. It was just a simple winged look, since she protested against any other wild colors. She had all the regulars of makeup, like foundation and blush, highlighter and mascara, etc. Her blonde locks that were naturally curled, were now straight. She was wearing a headband that had green vines wrapped around it, that would drift off in several areas to swirl in her hair.

"If you would just stop moving," Kie grumbled under her breath, placing a hand on Lynn's chin in hopes of steadying her a bit, which actually didn't help the finicky girl much. "There, done."

Lynn was genuinely surprised when she first looked at herself in the mirror, because the image flashing back looked nothing like the regular Evelynn. The blonde was wearing an emerald green, silky smooth dress that hugged her curves almost perfectly. It had spaghetti straps, and was more low-cut than Kie's. It reached to just above her ankles, but there was a cut that went up her thigh, and Kie said it 'gave her a little bit of a sexier edge', but Lynn didn't know. She had never worn anything that looked this fancy, nor cost as much, so she felt a little off her regular game.

"This is disgusting."

Lynn glanced over her shoulder as she saw Kie also checking out her outfit, but she only looked annoyed instead of the previously entirely pleased Kie that had just finished up her makeup.

"I know, it's just horrible," a voice rang out sarcastically, and Lynn almost flinched because of her not knowing Mrs. C, or Kiara's mother, was now in the room. She was fumbling around with putting in an earring to her left ear, and she looked gorgeous in her yellow dress. "I'm asking you to relax and go to a fun party."

Kie muttered, "I look like a bourgeoisie pig."

"Will you please not worry about socioeconomic injustice for one night?" Mrs. C asked politely, and had finally finished putting in that struggling earring. Her eyes drifted towards Lynn, whom had a polite smile tricked on her lips as she always appeared with parental figures. "Look, isn't it enough that Lynn is going with you now? Oh, and by the way, that dress looks perfect on you."

"Thank you, Mrs. C," Lynn replied, and her smile tugged even more upwards, and was feeling a bit more confident in herself with the compliment. "And for letting me tag along with you guys."

"Of course, honey!" Mrs. C waved off, and Lynn smiled at knowing the woman seemed to like her. "Kie talks about you all the time and my husband said you've been helping out with shifts at The Wreck. This party is going to be fun, that's for sure."

"Mom, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to Midsummers," Kie argued, basically ignoring the comments between Lynn and her mom previously. "That's so tone-deaf."

Lynn stopped listening to Kie and her mother debate about the party, mostly because she felt like she was almost intruding in on their conversation. She continued to stare at herself in the mirror, but this time instead focused on how her bruises had basically disappeared. The cut on her lip was still fairly noticeable, but there wasn't much Kie could do about that, but she was thankful no old, rich people would be staring at her crumbled face all night.

"If Lynn has on her party face why can't you?"

Lynn glanced up at the mention of her name, and motives how Kie was puffing out her chest annoyingly at her mother. She didn't want to be out between the two of them like she was currently being tugged between John B and JJ.

Kie's mother growled threatening towards her daughter as she peeled on her heels, "Kiara, if you wanna live, you'll put on a party face too."