The three friends' mouths hang wide open as they stand inside the same cafe that they found the day of Kait's return. Only now have they just been told the shocking news as Kait smiles nervously, a cup of water in hand as her friends look at her as if she lost her mind.
"You're joking right? This is just some big joke to try to cheer Andrea up, because I can't see any reason as to why you would buy this place..." Maddie, finally finding her voice, looks around the bright cafe, her voice hesitant as she tries to be supportive but also realistic about this situation. Kait's posture sinks slightly, her anxiety palpable at this point as Maddie voices her displeasure of her friend's latest splurge.
"I think this is better than what she bought last time." Kait flushes as she is reminded of her last stress buy, it wasn't her fault that the tiger cub was so cheap, who knew it was illegal to have one as a pet.
"Hey, Delta was cute, it's not Kait's fault that our stupid state doesn't allow us to have tigers as pets." Maddie looks at her three friends, unable to believe that she's the youngest as Andrea and Znhyia congratulate Kait on her purchase. Kait smiles and looks towards Maddie and her friends, quickly she explains how she had found the cafe a week before she had left, the owners just happened to be in there and recognized Kait. Their granddaughter being a huge fan of her books they had asked for an autograph, after talking for a while it was brought up that they had bought the cafe but decided that it was just too much work for them.
"So, that's when I asked how much they wanted for it, they said a price and I agreed, I just finished signing the papers when the hospital called." Maddie sighs, looking around the cafe she can't help but feel as if she's being watched but as quick as the feeling came it disappeared. Shaking it off she quickly returns to the topic at hand, still unsure if she should condone this latest purchase, no doubt a stress buy. Kait has a habit of making purchases whenever she's stressed, which thankfully is only when she's close to her deadline.
"I'm still a little unsure about this but if you're happy with it then I guess that's all that matters... Just please change the color scheme." Everyone laughs and the mood lights drastically as they discuss paint colors while the staff look on with content as their new boss and friends enjoy the cool air conditioned cafe.
"So, are we going to talk about it?" Andrea fidgets as the girls walk up to their front door, Znhyia leading them as she reaches in her pocket for the keys. Kait shoots Znhyia a look silencing her immediately before glancing towards their nosy neighbors window.
"Not outside no, what needs to be addressed will be addressed inside." Znhyia sighs, knowing Kait is right she remains quiet, while she grabs the door handle. Just as she is about to unlock it the handle surprisingly turns with ease, shocked by this Znhyia looks back at her friends.
"Did you come home yesterday?" Kait shakes her head. "No, I went to the store. Remember, I didn't see the point of coming home as we were only there for a day and a half." Znhyia furrows her eyebrows but just shakes it off as her forgetting to lock the door due to her and Maddie's worry. After assessing everything the girls deem it safe, the house feels empty and yet full at the same time as Eclipse, Celeste and Gemini meow for attention.
Kait wastes no time in plucking Eclipse off the ground and bringing her to the couch, with Celeste and Gemini of course on her heels. "Sol will be dropped off in a hour or two then we'll be complete!" Kait coo's softly to her pets while Maddie heads to the kitchen in search of some drinks while Znhyia steers Andrea to the couch, finally unable to hold back the questions she's had on her mind since the first night in the hospital.
"Andrea...what happened exactly?" Kait sighs but doesn't say anything as her phone rings, she rolls her eyes and excuses herself heading towards the stairs. Maddie shakes her head as she reappears, four bottles of water in hand, humming happily to herself, that is until she sees the situation.
"You couldn't wait for me whore?" Znhyia shrugs and rolls her eyes upward. "Just like Laura couldn't wait two days, but that's besides the point. Right now we're discussing how the fuck Andrea ended up at the pier." Andrea looks down at her hands, clearly uncomfortable while Maddie and Znhyia continue to bicker back and forth, thankfully Gemini tunes into the thickening atmosphere and gracefully strolls over to lay on Andrea's lap, although Gemini is shy he likes Andrea, of course he still has his moments and can often be found hiding in Kaits room sometimes he'll venture into Andrea's room and relax with her. Purring softly Gemini relaxes with Andrea which calms Andrea down almost instantly as she begins to run her fingers through his soft fur.
"I can't explain everything, at least not right now. All I'll say is that I'm done being controlled by him." Maddie and Znhyia look from each other to Andrea before both breaking into a smile, grabbing Andrea as well as sending Gemini running up the stairs the three girls hug one another and after a few seconds Kait comes down the stairs, without saying anything she joins the group and they all stay like that, for seconds, minutes maybe even hours but to them it was as if time stopped moving and all was okay with the world.
The rest of the day is filled with a mixture of movies and snacks, surprisingly there were no interruptions besides Sol being returned to her rightful place in Kait's office. The girls finished the night with all of them deciding on working on their next comic chapter. The four friends have their very own comic series that depict all sorts of short stories, with Maddie and Andrea being the artists while Znhyia and Kait work together on the plotlines. The group is well known but only as their screen name, The Four Leaf Clovers. They have five finished comics, with another two new storylines underdevelopment, they gained popularity with their horror/action comic ASYLUM having reached over seven million views and since then have created two other popular long running comics as well as three short stories.
Even with their popularity they still like to remain anonymous, Maddie suggested it when they first started, at first the account was just for the friends to create little comics about themselves in different situations, but soon people started to enjoy the friends' works. Thus The Four Leaf Clovers became a well known account. This would sometimes create problems for the three friends still in college as it took up quite a bit of time, so much time in fact that Kait had renovated the basement into an entire office space for the four of them to work in.
"We're ahead of schedule now, if we keep this up we'll have this comic finished by halloween." Maddie sighs and stretches, her back pops causing the others to laugh. Kait smile's, her eyes twinkle with excitement while Znhyia stares into the computer reading the latest chapter over again. Andrea taps her stylist against her temple as she looks between the rough draft sketches to what's on her screen.
"You have classes tomorrow right? It's almost midnight, Y'all should head to bed." Andrea, Znhyia and Maddie smile as Kait goes into mama mode, they quickly pack up and clean their desks as Kait closes her laptop. The friends climb the stairs up and are greeted by the cats, who are no longer allowed into the basement after completely destroying the girls desks a few weeks back.
"Everyone get some rest, and Andrea if you need me I'll be in my office." Andrea smiles and nods while Kait remains on the second floor, where the girls' rooms are located, hovering on the stairway leading to the third floor. "I mean it, if you need me just come up alright." The girls smile and wish each other sweet dreams before making their way to their respected room, their doors shut and yet Kaitlyn doesn't move, her eyes move from each door as she listens quietly to each of them get ready for bed.
One by one their lights turn off and then finally she makes her way up the stairs, Eclipse and Celeste hot on her tail. She makes a beeline right for her office leaving the door open. She turns on the light and heads towards Sol, giving her a treat and a scratch before she lays the black out cover over the cage. She heads to her desk and takes a seat, opening her laptop and watches Eclipse and Celeste make themselves comfortable on their cat tower. Taking a sip of water she stares at the words on her screen for a few seconds before putting her earbuds in and beginning the next chapter of her novel.
Downstairs is quiet, the only sound is soft music coming from Andrea's room as she draws, her bedside table light Illuminating her pages as she sketches her friends, her mind empty besides thoughts of shading and colors. She quietly hums to herself as her pencil glides against the paper. Gemini meows softly from his claimed corner of her pale pink bed. Andrea smiles as her drawing slowly comes together as minutes turn to hours.
"Kaitlyn, you love me right?" Maddie looks hopefully towards Kait who just appeared from her office. "If I say yes, how much is it going to cost me exactly?" Znhyia smiles as she sets a plate of pancakes in front of Kait who smiles happily as she picks up a slice of bacon.
"Znhyia doesn't have any classes today and she doesn't want to bring me to school, and I don't want to drive by myself...So could you come with me please. I promise all you have to do is just drop me off, I'll have one of my friends bring me home."
"Wait, you have other friends, since when?" As if on cue Andrea walks into the kitchen taking a seat next to Kait and stealing a piece of bacon from her plate. Znhyia laughs, as she flips another pancake onto the stack, congratulating Andrea for beating her to the punch. Maddie rolls her eyes but instead of starting a debate she keeps up with the puppy eyed begging, knowing that Kait will most likely go along with it.
"Why don't you just have your friend come and get you instead. I'm not dressed to go out, besides I have a phone meeting in roughly an hour." Maddie sinks down in her chair, as she scoops a fork full of eggs into her mouth.
"Fine, let me get changed but as a trade off, on your way home bring me some chocolate snacks." Maddie jumps out of her chair as Kait makes her way out of the kitchen and up to her room to quickly change.
"She spoils the shit out of us, and all we have to do is bring her chocolate." Andrea and Maddie smile as Znhyia shakes her head before finishing up with breakfast. "I'll do the dishes when I get back Tae." Kait, now dressed in a pale pink sundress says as she grabs her phone off of the kitchen island, she motions for Maddie to get going before blowing a kiss to Andrea and Znhyia.
"Laters, my little sugar cubes. Don't change the drapes while I'm gone!"
"It was one fucking time, damn just let it go already! I said I was sorry!" Everyone erupts into laughter before Maddie and Kait head out the front door, leaving Andrea and Znhyia alone. Neither say anything for a few seconds, the only sound being Eclipse meowing for a piece of bacon.
"So two options. One we go upstairs and look at Kait's latest book, or two we head downstairs and finish up our portion of the next chapter..." Znhyia thinks for a few seconds before pointing to the basement. "We're ahead now might as well keep it that way, besides Kait usually gives us updates every few weeks, if we're patient we might get to read an entire chapter." Andrea nods before finishing up her food, setting her cleared plate in the sink as she and Znhyia make their way down to the group's office studio, each taking a seat at their desks. They begin to work on the next chapter as they wait for Kaitlyn and Maddie to return.
"Don't you think Kaitlyn has been acting a little weird? Since when does she have phone meetings? I mean she hates doing anything over the phone, especially talking to people." Andrea glances up from her sketch as Znhyia looks over the last few sentences she wrote. "Laura had said something about an opportunity a few days ago, remember, maybe Kait agreed to it?" Znhyia shrugs. "Maybe, I don't know, Kaitlyn has always been more introverted than the rest of us. Sometimes I wish she'd tell us what's going on up there in that brain of hers."
"Get in line." Andrea and Znhyia jump at the sound of a small voice, turning themselves they see Laura and Kayla standing at the bottom of the staircase, Laura clearly displeased about something as she looks around the studio. "Where is she? She isn't picking up her phone."
"First off we should be the ones asking the question of how the fuck did you get into our house?" Laura rolls her eyes before pointing a thumb towards Kayla, who holds up a pink spare key, she mouths a quick 'I'm sorry' before casting her gaze back down to the ground.
"She's dropping Maddie off to her morning class, she grabbed her phone before leaving so I'm not sure why she wouldn't be answering you." Laura sighs and asks for one of the girls to call their unreachable friend.
"Yeah no thanks, in the wise words of Sid the sloth, I choose life." Andrea says, a smile playing on her lips before she returns to her sketches. Kayla giggles, getting a glare from Laura while Znhyia sighs and pulls out her phone. "You know, she didn't sleep last night right? She stayed up working on her book, it wouldn't hurt to give her a break." Laura smiles a tense smile clearly something is up, Znhyia sighs one last long heavy sigh before hitting Kait's contact, one, two, three rings and then Kaitlyn's small soft voice is heard.
"City morgue, you kill 'em we grill' em, how may I help you this fine morning?" Znhyia smiles and just as she's about to say something Laura yanks the phone out of her hand. "Kaitlyn it's Laura, I thought we agreed on you talking to..." Laura pauses and glances at the two friends. "These people, and yet when I get here you're nowhere to be found."
The line is silent for a few seconds, Andrea and Znhyia strain to hear Kait as she says something to Laura, making Laura's usual flushed face go white. Laura stammers something before looking at the now black screened phone, signaling that Kait hung up. A few moments go by in an awkward silence before Laura clears her throat and returns the phone.
"My mistake, apparently she was already holding the meeting while I was attempting to call her... Have a nice day ladies." Laura practically runs up the stairs while Kayla shakes her head before apologizing, and giving a small wave before disappearing up the stairs. Znhyia shakes her head as she turns and looks at Andrea, both stay quiet for a while as they resume their work.
"It must have been important to warrant a visit from Laura, add in the fact that Laura's face screamed anxious as she tried to get ahold of her means that it has something to do with the publishing house." Finally finished with the last frame for the chapter Andrea stares up at the ceiling, voicing her thoughts aloud while Znhyia finishes up.
"We can just ask her when she gets home."
"Ask who what?" Andrea looks back towards the stairs where Kait stands, carrying three large cups of boba from their favorite shop. Znhyia leans back in her chair, stretching her arms high above her head as she finally finishes her work. Kait hands each of them their drink before sitting at her desk, as she waits for her laptop to turn on she spins slowly in her chair.
"Lately you've seemed to become quite busy, and weird. Business calls and Laura showing up looking like she's about to puke...is everything alright?" Andrea and Znhyia watch their friend closely as she takes a small sip of her pale pink drink, her eyes alight with excitement.
"Everything's fine, trust me I'd tell you if it wasn't. Currently I can't give too much away but when the time comes I will explain myself. Just be patient with me please." Znhyia and Andrea nod in understanding, both relieved that it's nothing they need to worry about. Kait smiles at her two worried friends as she turns towards her computer, pulling up the shared document for their comic she reads through the latest chapter that Znhyia wrote.
The room soon fills with discussions ranging from the chapter to the event that was dropping Maddie off. "No, because if I would have known that she's so fucking popular I would have told her ass to drive herself. We pulled onto campus and I kid you not like ten freaking people were waiting for her in the parking lot. Like bitch I don't even have five friends and this girl has an entourage. The audacity."
Andrea and Znhyia laugh as Kait sighs, her social battery recharging oh so slowly as she makes a few word changes to the chapter. "This looks good, have Maddie read through it and if she signs off on it then we can hand it over to them. We can start on the Summer special since we're ahead, I don't want to do too much or we might get burned out."
"Sounds good, I'm pretty sure she'll sign off on it, as she usually does since we're geniuses." Kait and Znhyia wink at one another before high fiving, Andrea smiles at them before setting her drawing tablet into its drawer. Her stomach growls, signaling that it's lunch time and getting the girls into motion.
"Lunch ideas?"
"You know I'm terrible at making decisions, hence why I have five different paint colors awaiting me at the cafe."
"Kait's cafe it is, we can help you pick something and Maddie can just meet us there when she's done." Their destination being decided, Andrea and Znhyia quickly head to their rooms to get changed, Andrea dressed in a white button up with short black overalls while Znhyia decided on a baby blue tank top with white shorts.
"My cute little sugar cubes, now you two decide on whose driving because surprise, I'm not." Znhyia smiles and holds her hand out, Kait quickly drops the keys into her hands and turns to slip on her sandals. "Food time bitches let's get going!"
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We hope you enjoyed this chapter, See you next month!! :)
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-The Clover Team