Chapter 42: Morning in Hollywood

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Kim was awake but she couldn’t being herself to open her eyes yet. She could feel the sun on her face but she wanted to stay in bed forever. She was so sleepy and relaxed. She stretched and burrowed herself back down into her silk sheets and comforter. 

She heard the shower running, the sounds of humming floating out from the slightly open door. Why did Kanye always have to get up so early? Hopefully she could convince him to slide back into bed with her when he got out of the shower. The thought woke her up the rest of the way. Why wait? Maybe she should just join him in the shower and get the day started sooner? She missed him so much, missed his voice, missed his body. She felt like it’d been forever since--

Wait. Kanye?

Kim opened her eyes and sat upright. Where was she? How had she gotten here? She remembered the fight with Other Kim and then...nothing. She blinked a few times and the sunlight dissipated enough for the room to come into view. She was home. Not home home, not with Kanye. Not with North. Oh God, North. The memories, the feelings she associated with them, were flooding back, like a storm after an impossibly long dry spell. The earth of her heart almost too cracked and dry to absorb them. 

She was in her condo in Miami. She was still in the game. 

So who was in the shower?

The humming stopped and the water shut off. 

“Umm, hello?” Kim called, afraid of who might answer.

She heard the shower door open, a towel being pulled from the rod. Then a blonde head popped out from behind the door. “Hey, good morning,” Willow smiled. She emerged from the bathroom, her hair still wet. The towel she was wearing did very little to cover her up. She came and sat by Kim, on the edge of the bed. 

“You’re awake! Awesome!”

Kim rubbed her eyes and touched at her hair, wondering what it was doing, exactly. “Hi,” Kim said simply. She was processing too much information in her head and wasn’t even sure where to start. 

Willow read the confused look in Kim’s eyes and helpfully offered a few of the pieces. “You collapsed after your battle with Other Kim at Femme. I brought you here, figured you needed some rest after everything you’ve been through. I was right! You’ve been asleep for like 24 hours. How do you feel?”

Kim breathed and tried to assemble an answer. She felt good, awesome in some unnameable way, but also sad, irrevocably sad. “I guess okay?” Kim ventured. “I’m not sure.”

“Well good morning, A-lister,” Willow said, reaching out to tuck an errant strand of hair behind Kim’s ear. “I hope you don’t mind I used your shower. Was that okay? You’re looking at me weird.”

Kim caught herself staring at Willow. “No! It’s fine! It’s nothing, it’s just--” Was it the light? Or seeing her without her makeup? Or without that same ruffly dress she always wore? Willow looked different. She looked...amazing? “Thank you,” Kim said. “Just thank you, for getting me home. Wait. You called me A-lister.”

Willow nodded and smiled. Kim felt it and knew it to be true. It was not that she felt more powerful, it was that she felt more herself than she had in a very long time. 

Willow crossed her legs, semi-successfully attempting to keep her towel from falling off. “So you’re feeling okay? Do you need anything? We weren’t sure what happened at the end of your battle there, did Other Kim have some kind of spell that she put on you or something?”

“No,” Kim said, looking around the room to keep from staring at Willow. “I’m fine. I’m great. I’m perfect.”

“But what was that emoji that flew into you?”

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