Chapter Text
Himbo No. 5
22:15
How’d it go?
22:39
You didn’t chicken out right?
00:02
Cait?
Need me to come over?
08:57
Caitlyn Kiramman check your god damn phone
THE WORLD NEEDS ANSWERS
08:59
FINE
I NEED ANSWERS
09:06
???????
IS THIS A ‘I FELL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH CAUSE I’M BUSY BEING GAY’ KINDA SILENCE?
OR IS THIS A MAYDAY MAYDAY MY DUVET HAS SWALLOWED ME WHOLE AND I HAVE EMBRACED THE DARKNESS?
10:47
Fuck it, I’m coming over
Caitlyn sighed, hit the power button, and set her phone back on the nightstand. Rolling onto her side, she winced at the bright mid-morning light that slanted through a gap in the curtains. Cautiously reopening her eyes, she took in the evidence stretched out before her that something had changed.
No longer was the other side of the bed unruffled and untouched, the pillow perfectly fluffed and the far bedside table barren except for a lone table lamp that was rarely ever used.
No, this morning there were subtle signs of something different, something altogether new. Change manifested itself in the disturbance of the bottom sheet, the indents in the pillow and the stray strands of pink that stood stark against the white linens.
As her gaze drifted further, she took in other little shifts. The pair of gold earrings cast aside on the bedside table, the cracked screen on an upturned phone that reflected a distorted picture of the ceiling. A bunch of keys spraying out from the carabiner they were looped onto while a spider man figurine lay awkwardly against the base of the table lamp.
Sitting herself up slightly, Caitlyn tugged the duvet further up to keep the cool morning air at bay as she continued her investigation. Her gaze roved across the room, lingering on every small change, every small indication and confirmation that last night had not been some sort of dream.
Reality spoke for itself, from the black shirt haphazardly thrown over the back of her desk chair, to a pair of ankle socks discarded in the middle of the floor, to the open bedroom door which allowed the soft murmur of the radio to drift in from the hallway.
Accompanied by the smell of cooking bacon.
Caitlyn smiled. Tried to bite it down. Gave up almost immediately.
Because all evidence pointed to one significant and entirely thrilling conclusion.
Yesterday was not a feverish dream due to running halfway across the city in the pouring rain.
It was reality.
Her reality.
Well, hers and Vi’s.
The grin that egregiously tugged at her lips and dimpled her cheeks was unrefined, goofy and, in her mother’s immortal words, unbecoming. But it fit the feelings that in themselves almost felt like a surreal rebellion, emotions that had never been meant for her but that had somehow sneaked their way into her life nonetheless.
A happiness that she had spent so long telling herself she couldn’t have without ever questioning why.
So, for once, instead of fighting the feelings as they rose, instead of becoming suspicious or anxious in their presence, she let them bloom unchecked and unrefined. Allowed her chest to fill until almost bursting with fluttering warmth, let her veins thrum with giddy excitement. Caitlyn tugged at the duvet, pulling it up to try and stifle the childlike laughter that bubbled forth, unbridled joy spilling over as she replayed everything that had happened the night before.
She had been nothing more than herself. She hadn’t over extended or over promised, hadn’t tried to contort herself into something more palatable or acceptable.
Instead, she had just existed as she was.
Been open, honest, and vulnerable.
And through some small miracle, it had been enough.
With the same unrefined grin as before, she slipped out from the covers, hastily throwing a baggy sweatshirt over her camisole and slipping her phone into the pocket of her shorts. Then she padded towards the open door, following the mouth-watering smell of frying bacon down the hallway. As she neared the kitchen, faint snippets of singing broke through the scrape of pans jostled atop the hobs and the clatter of utensils against cast iron. Rounding the corner of the wall she paused, leaning against the cold paint and wrapping her arms around herself as she took in the sight in front of her.
Vi was stood facing the stove, bare foot absently tapping tile while she worked. She wore the same black jeans as yesterday, the same grey tank top hugging her figure and revealing some of the tanned and freckle-dusted skin of her shoulders and upper arms. Her hair was sleep mussed, reddy-pink strands standing out at odd angles, any attempt to sweep them over to one side having been in vain.
Turning to the side slightly, Vi grabbed a silver mixing bowl and began ladling out three portions of batter, bopping gently to the music as she did so. As the hiss of the liquid meeting the hot pan receded, Caitlyn could hear the soft, low humming that had joined the melody of the radio.
Unable to resist any longer, Caitlyn pushed off the wall and walked into the room. She took no more than a few steps before Vi turned to look over her shoulder, a smudge of flour on her left cheek creasing as her lips hooked up into an easy grin.
“Hey,” she breathed, the corners of her eyes wrinkling as her smile continued to grow.
Caitlyn’s feet moved instinctively to close the distance, her arms moving of their own accord to snake their way around Vi’s waist, her chin naturally coming to rest over Vi’s shoulder. As if they had done this a million times before, as if waking up to Vi like this was the most natural thing in the world.
“Hey yourself,” she murmured, nuzzling affectionately against Vi’s neck. “Smells good”.
She felt the laughter rumbling through her own chest as Vi shook her head and turned back to the stove.
“And here I was thinking you were here for me”.
“Oh, you poor naïve thing,” Caitlyn cooed, darting a hand forward to reach for the pile of fried bacon resting on a side plate. The spatula lightly rapped her knuckles before her fingers could claim her prize and Vi turned with an eyebrow raised and the spatula held aloft in warning.
With a light shrug, Caitlyn leant in to set a kiss against Vi’s cheek before nuzzling down again into the crook of her neck. She enjoyed the light dusting of pink that rose quickly from Vi’s collar bone, the slightly flustered expression that disappeared almost quickly as it had come. But more rewarding was the way that Vi slowly relaxed into her hold, the way she could feel her unwind with their proximity. The way Caitlyn could feel the low hum as Vi began to absently join in with the melody of the radio, turning her focus back to the stove. Contentment bloomed, bid Caitlyn to wrap her arms just a little tighter, to shuffle just a little closer, to press herself further against the strong form in front of her until all space between them had been eradicated.
And who was she to say no?
She felt a kiss settle against her temple before a contented sigh drew any remaining tension from Vi. She rested her head down against Caitlyn’s, took her left hand from the stove to settle her palm against Caitlyn’s forearm and lazily drift her fingers across Caitlyn’s skin.
Everything about it just felt so natural, so easy. Like this was exactly how they were meant to be, that they were both finally in the right place at the right time.
Caitlyn hid her smile in the crook of Vi’s neck and for a while they remained in that position, Caitlyn absently watching as Vi flipped pancakes, listening as she continued to hum along to the songs on the radio.
The ding of her message alert tone broke the peace and Caitlyn sighed as she pulled back slightly to look up at Vi.
“I don’t suppose you have enough batter for one more person, do you?”
Vi paused, suspicion drawing her eyebrows together.
“Why? Are we expecting company?”
The resulting groan had Caitlyn slumping against Vi’s back, her arms wrapping tighter against Vi’s waist so that the fabric of her tank top wrinkled under the movement. She rested her forehead against Vi’s shoulder blade to hide the heat she could feel trying to rise to her cheeks.
“I have at least ten unanswered texts from Jayce. I'm somewhat assuming he'll burst through the wall like the Kool-Aid man any second now,” she mumbled against the fabric.
A chuckle rumbled through Vi’s chest and Caitlyn glanced back up as she felt Vi reach over for the spatula.
“Yeah, that checks out.”
Resting her chin back over Vi’s shoulder, Caitlyn watched as Vi slid the finished pancakes onto a waiting plate before dropping a knob of butter into the pan and swirling it around. It was quiet as the butter melted against the pan, just the background murmur of the radio and a contented sigh that had Vi resting her head down against Caitlyn’s again as she continued to tilt the pan. Caitlyn could feel the combined thrum of their heart beats, the flex of Vi’s muscles as she set the pan down and reached across to pour out three more portions of batter.
When Vi reached across to set the ladle back in its bowl, Caitlyn saw her opening and loosed her hold slightly. But just as she was about to lunge towards the bacon, she found her wrist in a firm grasp and gasped as Vi quickly spun her round until they were face to face. Her wide eyes met sparkling grey, the victorious smirk on Vi’s face enough to have her heart skip a beat.
But two could play at that game.
Shuffling forward until they were almost pressed flush against each other, until her vision blurred slightly, and the feel of Vi’s breath came hot against her cheek, Caitlyn brought up her free hand and gently brushed back a few stray strands of hair from Vi’s eyes. While maintaining eye contact, she allowed her fingers to continue their exploration through the short hairs of Vi’s undercut, slowly trailing them down to the soft skin behind her ear. Goosepimples rose along Vi’s skin as Caitlyn’s fingers traced their way down to the base of her neck before she brought her palm up to cup Vi’s jaw and lightly run her thumb across the freckles adorning Vi’s cheek.
She felt as series of shivers rippled through Vi, watched with smug satisfaction as her pupils blew wide and her lips parted under shaky breaths. Keeping her eyes locked onto ever shrinking grey irises, Caitlyn slowly leaned forward until their breaths comingled, until their noses brushed against each other, until she felt the tug of Vi’s fingers at her waist bidding her to close the remaining gap.
Until she had her exactly where she wanted her to be.
With a wry smile, Caitlyn glanced down at Vi’s lips, allowing her gaze to linger for a drawn-out moment before slowly trailing her way back up to meet liquid silver. And then Vi’s eyes were fluttering closed, the fingers at Caitlyn’s waist tugging her more insistently towards where Vi was leaning in.
Just as their lips were about to brush, as Vi’s entire world had narrowed down to their existence, Caitlyn pivoted.
Capitalising on Vi’s shock and confusion she twisted in her grip. Contorting her torso to take advantage of her height, she reached around Vi and towards the plate that was tantalisingly close.
But just as her fingers ghosted the glazed porcelain, she was yanked away, her hand grasping nothing but thin air. Strong arms replaced the hands at her waist, snaking around into a firm grip before starting to lift her up. Caitlyn let out a high-pitched yelp as she scrabbled to retain contact with the floor, squirming furiously as she was lifted clean into the air.
Vi’s laughter rang out as the world blurred; Caitlyn’s body being spun until all of a sudden, she found herself staring at the far wall. Any hopes of being set back down were shattered as Vi took a shuffling step forward, awkwardly but determinedly marching her out of the kitchen. Caitlyn did her best to fight the hold, to squirm and wriggle her way out of it but Vi held her firm, the only response to her protests being a tightening of the grip around her.
“Put me down this instant!” Caitlyn grumbled, playfully slapping at Vi’s forearms.
Vi stilled. And for the briefest of moments, Caitlyn thought it had worked.
But, as with an ever-growing list of things of late, her initial deduction was very, very wrong.
“Well if you insist.”
Caitlyn barely had time to register the danger she was in until she felt herself leaving Vi’s hold. Until she felt herself falling and unceremoniously crashing into the couch cushions in a clatter of long limbs and a tangle of sleep mussed hair.
For a moment she glared at the ceiling, unmoving as incandescent fury flared under her skin and drew her features into an ever-deepening scowl. Then she was throwing herself forward, propping herself up onto her elbows and furiously huffing at the strands of hair spilling across her face so that Vi could feel the full force of her glare. The sort of icy stare that would have Jayce giving hurried apologies, that would bore holes into lawyers across the courtroom until they began to sweat and shuffle uncomfortably in their seats.
It was a stare passed down through generations of Kiramman women, one that had been refined through time and practice until the impact could only be described as devastating.
Which made it all the more infuriating when Vi remained immune.
Rather than abject fear, or at the very least a respectable level of concern for her life, Vi merely held Caitlyn’s gaze with a shit eating grin, smugness radiating from every stupidly sculpted muscle.
“This,” Caitlyn stabbed at a cushion with her index finger. “This is war.”
She held Vi’s gaze for a moment longer before launching herself from the sofa, throwing herself forward as Vi calmly side stepped the attack. Caitlyn growled, spinning on her heel and shifting her balance to try again just as several loud knocks came from the front door. She froze, internally cursing the gods that had decided her morning wasn’t complete with having to deal with just one infuriating house guest.
No.
This morning apparently called for two.
Balling her fists, Caitlyn took a few deep breaths before snapping her head round to glare again at Vi. Without blinking, she stalked over, pulling herself up to her full height to loom over the other woman.
“This is not over,” she growled as another set of knocks reverberated through the front door, somehow louder and more insistent than the first.
“Oh yeah? What you gunna do? Pin me up against the wall like last time?” Vi crooned, taking a small step forward and jutting out her chin.
The following frown was instantaneous, as was the small backstep Caitlyn took.
“What?”
“Well last time someone knocked on your door while I made breakfast-”
“Last time I thought someone was breaking into the apartment!”
Vi gave a shrug, catching her lopsided smile with an incisor as she tilted her head slightly.
“I was trying to-”, Caitlyn paused, narrowing her eyes as she thought until recognition dawned and they blew wide. “Hang on you thought-”
“I mean, at least I would have died happy?”
“What- We barely knew each other!”
“Says the woman who was very insistent I stayed the night”.
Caitlyn stared down at her hands, watching as her fingers tensed and began to curl.
“I didn’t mean it like that, it was late and I-”
A hand reaching forward had her glancing back up to catch the fond smile reflecting back at her and grey eyes that had softened and were now watching her carefully. Meanwhile calloused fingers gently encouraged her hands to unfurl, softly unravelling the tension with their patient persistence. With a few more deep breaths Caitlyn’s shoulders lowered, the pressure receding from her chest as she turned her gaze down to their hands. Slowly, she weaved their fingers together, her frown dissolving to be replaced by the vaguest hint of a smile.
Another series of heavy knocks echoed through the door and Caitlyn didn’t even try to contain the full chested groan that rose in response. A light squeeze to her hands had her meeting Vi’s gaze, noting the amused smile and the tilt of her head towards the door. Taking a step back and reluctantly letting go, Caitlyn took a deep breath and spun around. As she reached the corner of the wall, she paused to look over her shoulder, watching as Vi retook her place at the stove, once again dipping her head to the music as she shook one of the pans.
Fighting down the stupidly insistent smile trying to break free, Caitlyn strode down the hallway, fingers tugging down the ends of her sweatshirt and brushing back loose strands of hair behind her ears before grasping the brass handle of the door.
Pulling herself upright, she unhooked the chain, flipped back the lock and yanked open the door to stare pointedly at Jayce.
He was poised with one fist raised, his letterman-style jacket rising with the movement and exposing a section of tanned skin between his form fitting V-neck and his jeans. His other hand clutched the handles of a green plastic bag weighed down with something suspiciously resembling tubs of ice cream.
“Really? You couldn’t wait more than 12 hours?” Caitlyn huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
Rolling his eyes, Jayce pushed past and into the flat, toeing off his shoes by the coat rack before spinning around dramatically, the plastic bag rustling with the movement.
“Well maybe if someone had actually bothered to reply to my texts rather than just leaving me on read, I wouldn’t have needed to just turn up on their doorstep”.
Caitlyn pushed the door closed with her foot, holding Jayce’s stare for a few moments while his haughty expression melted into that of an excited school boy, a conspiratorial grin scrunching up his features.
“So? How’d it go?” he asked, shrugging off his jacket.
With a sigh Caitlyn moved passed him, leading him down the hallway and round the corner before sweeping her arm out in a pointed gesture at Vi. A gasp from Jayce had Vi looking over her shoulder, jutting her chin out in greeting before turning back to the stove with a poorly hidden smirk.
“So- you talked out- you told her everything? So- so does this mean? Are you two?”
Caitlyn gave a slight nod and watched as Jayce’s expression morphed from shock into delight, the plastic bag he was holding being dumped unceremoniously onto the counter top before he lunged forward and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug.
“Fucking yes, Kiramman!” he crowed, pulling back slightly and shaking her by her shoulders a few times when her own enthusiasm failed to match his own.
“You are insufferable”.
“Aw thanks,” he crooned, finally letting go and immediately sauntering over to lean against the counter next to where Vi was still cooking. “So, I’m guessing you didn’t spend the night on the couch this time?”
Caitlyn reluctantly watched as Vi tried to fight down her smile, sliding a questioning gaze Caitlyn’s way with an eyebrow raised. She managed a brief nod of confirmation before heat rose to her cheeks and she sunk her head into her hands to save herself the mortification of whatever was about to come next.
“I'll take that as a no,” she heard Jayce snidely remark.
Caitlyn let out an exasperated groan, the sound vibrating around her clasped hands. Cautiously she slid her fingers apart enough to peek through, regretting it as soon as she saw Jayce’s shit eating grin.
“Behave. Please”.
“Yeah Jayce, be cool,” Vi added, elbowing him playfully in the ribs.
“Fine, fine”. Jayce held up his hands in defeat, although his grin was still far too full of mirth for Caitlyn’s liking. Reluctantly she lowered her hands, watching as his expression slowly morphed into the worst attempt at puppy dog eyes she had potentially ever seen, followed by an overdramatic pout.
“What?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Well, the pancakes and bacon smell really good and its basically midday so…”, Jayce trailed off, looking expectantly between Vi and Caitlyn.
With a dramatic sigh, Caitlyn turned to look at Vi.
“What do you think?”
“Well, I apparently owe the guy for giving you a pep talk and sending you back over here yesterday so...” Vi replied, shrugging slightly before tipping the last of the pancakes onto a plate.
With a broad grin, Jayce patted Vi on the shoulder.
It hadn’t taken them long to get settled at the small table and for their plates to become loaded with towers of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup in various states of disarray. Caitlyn finally got to spear a crispy rasher on the end of her fork, running it through some of the syrup pooled at the base of her pancakes before giving a happy hum as salt and sweet meet her tongue. She caught the way Vi preened in response at the other end of the table, before she leant over her own plate to stuff an ungodly large bite into her mouth.
Jayce meanwhile hadn’t touched his, instead merely pushing around the contents of his plate while occasionally glancing around the table. Eventually he leant back against his chair, dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter causing both Vi and Caitlyn to look up.
“So I have a confession,” he announced, a slightly sheepish expression joining the waver in his voice. “I didn’t actually come here just to check you guys were all good. I might have some news of my own”.
Caitlyn’s fork halted its trajectory so that the perfect stack of syrup-soaked pancake and crispy bacon slowly slid back down onto her plate.
“Oh?”
“Well, I figured if you were going to pour your heart out and put everything on the line, then maybe I should take my own advice and do the same”.
The blush that coloured his cheeks had Caitlyn leaning forward, all thoughts of breakfast set aside. Jayce briefly met her gaze before his eyes darted back to his plate and the pancake that he was now absently tearing into small fragments by the nervous jabs of his fork.
“Well as you know I’ve had that ring burning a hole in my pocket for a while now. And I guess telling you to chase your own happiness and to be honest about your feelings meant I felt it was time I did the same. So, last night I finally popped the question”.
He glanced back up, meeting Caitlyn’s broad grin with a shy smile of his own.
“And? You don't look like shit, so I'm guessing she said yes?” Vi was leant forward, grey eyes sparkling, and cheeks pouched with an unfinished bite.
Jayce’s uncontrolled grin broke the surprise, Vi reaching across the table to slap him on the shoulders before he could even answer the question. Even all her jostling wasn’t enough to disrupt the goofy, lovesick smile that seemed etched into his features.
“Well, what would you know, I’m not the only one capable of putting up with your antics,” Caitlyn mused.
“I know right? And you know what this means?”
Vi jabbed her fork in Jayce’s direction. “That you’re officially property of Clan Medarda”.
“Har har. Says the woman at the beck and call of a Kiramman”.
Vi balked slightly at the accusation, indignation scrunching up her features as her eyes narrowed and she used her fork again to punctuate her point.
“Hey, there's a big difference!”
With an amused scoff, Jayce pulled out his phone and began tapping at the screen with a knowing smile.
“Oh really?”
He spun the screen around to face the group before turning up the volume and pressing play. The speakers crackled for a moment before the thump of a strong bass kicked in, mixed with the sound of a crowd and the occasional clinking of glasses.
And then Vi’s voice came over the speakers, drowning out the rest of the noise despite being slurred from drink and barely coherent.
“Iuno man, she's just, like, incredible y’know? Like she's, she’s the one, she's just- oh fuck.” Jayce spun the phone round, just in time to show Caitlyn a brief glimpse of Vi grappling with her stool before disappearing from view. With a smug grin he paused the video just as the blur of drunk Vi disappeared into the bottom corner before rounding on the very real Vi at the other end of the table.
She had frozen in place, eyes wide and cheeks delightfully pink as she continued to blankly stare at where the phone had been. Slowly she thawed enough to sweep her gaze up to Caitlyn’s, her cheeks turning a deeper scarlet while her lips opened and closed a few times before she slammed her jaw shut. Rounding on Jayce, she drummed her fingers against the table a few times before finally finding her voice.
“How exactly do you have that?” she croaked.
“Sarah”.
“Right, right.”
Jayce set his phone down, clapping his hands together and looking between Caitlyn and Vi.
“So, now that we've all agreed that Vi is horrifically whipped,” he paused, grinning as Vi raised her middle finger at him, “we can move on to more important things. Like the hen and stag do.”
Caitlyn’s smile immediately dropped, her eyes narrowing as she fixed him with a hard stare.
“No”.
“But-”
“Absolutely not.”
“You haven't even-”
“No way”
“-considered it yet.”
“I don't need to”.
“Caitlyn”.
“Jayce”.
Vi watched on as Caitlyn and Jayce leant further and further into each other’s space, frowns deepening as they held each other’s stares and as their lips pressed into thin lines. A silence began to draw out, neither conceding as they remained hunched over the table, both trying to glare the other into submission.
Vi meanwhile continued to eat her breakfast, the scrape of her cutlery the only thing to break the deafening silence that had encompassed the room.
As always, it was Jayce who broke first, slumping back against his seat with a loud huff and throwing up his hand.
“C’mon Cait it won't be for ages, you don't have to shoot it down right now”.
“Oh, but you know how much I love to shoot things”.
Sighing, Jayce ran a hand down his face.
“Mel will expect you to be there”.
Caitlyn tilted her head, finally sitting back upright and turning her attention back to her breakfast.
“A great many people have expected a great many things of me. Most have been disappointed.” She sent him a saccharine grin before running a slice of pancake through a pool of syrup and taking a victorious bite.
Jayce scoffed. “Well except Vi. Because she's whipped-”
A balled napkin hitting him squarely in the jaw interrupted his retort and resulted in him spinning in his chair to send an unimpressed stare Vi’s way.
“Excellent shot”, Caitlyn commented, watching as Vi flashed a proud grin.
“Thanks, I had a good teacher.”
With one final shake of his head, Jayce spun back to face Caitlyn.
“You'll at least have to come to the engagement announcement”.
He waited a beat for her to respond, staring pointedly at her while she continued to eat her breakfast.
“I can put you down as having a plus one,” he offered, “It’ll be a good excuse to get Vi in a suit again”.
“She’d wear a suit if I asked, I don't need to go to a soul numbing party for that,” Caitlyn commented not even looking up. Out the corner of her eye she caught Jayce turning towards Vi who just shrugged.
“Please Cait, for me? I just got engaged and you’re my best friend. My sister in all but blood. And also, who’s to say if this would have happened without me, huh?” He gestured between her and Vi with his fork before holding it out between them. “You owe me”.
Leaning back into her seat with a sigh, Caitlyn briefly caught Vi’s gaze before turning to Jayce.
“Fine.” Before Jayce’s grin could get too gleeful, she raised a hand to silence him. “But the second my mother says something infuriating, I am leaving”.
He immediately deflated.
“Right, so you'll be there for all of five minutes then”.
Caitlyn tilted her head. “Ten, if Mel is as good a host as she claims to be”.
“You owe me Kiramman. I’m putting you on the guestlist whether you like it or not and you’ve got to at least come over and say hi before running off into the night with Romeo over here, ok?”
“I’ll make sure she shows,” Vi commented, a smug grin held down by a rogue incisor.
“Oh? And what makes you so confident you can do that?” Caitlyn asked, resting her elbows on the table and clasping her hands lightly together.
“Because I’m not the only one whose whipped.”
“I think you’ll find the evidence is clearly stacked in my favour. Do you have any proof to support your baseless claims?”
Before Vi could respond Jayce leant forward with a wild grin, his phone once again in his hand. Caitlyn’s blood ran cold as she saw a still of herself from the karaoke bar, her gaze turned to something, or rather someone, off screen.
With an ever-growing smile, Jayce turned to Vi.
“Want to see a video of Caitlyn being incredibly obvious about having feelings for you?”
Vi eyes blew wide.
“Fuck yes”.
Jayce immediately dragged his chair round to Vi’s end of the table, Vi looping her arm around his shoulder as he held the phone between them.
“What exactly is that a video of?” Caitlyn asked, her index finger tapping incessantly at her clasped hands.
“Oh, maybe just you at the karaoke bar getting all jealous and possessive over a certain someone,” Jayce commented before hitting play.
As the sounds of distorted music came through the speaker, Caitlyn dropped her head into her left hand, thumb resting at her temple as she let out an exasperated exhale. She knew exactly what would be on that screen, a video of her watching Vi from across the venue, her emotions likely written in ten mile high letters that everyone but her could see.
She was not proud of being jealous, was positively mortified about it if she was being honest, which she had never planned on being given that would have required her to admit she had been jealous in the first place. But at the time she had apparently been so distracted about watching the other women at the bar flirting with Vi, she hadn’t even noticed Jayce collecting damning evidence of the fact from only a metre away.
“Oh my god, you were down so bad,” Vi exclaimed.
Caitlyn reluctantly drew her gaze up, sliding her hand up to her forehead to peak out from underneath.
“I thought we had established this,” she said weakly, hoping against all odds that it wasn’t as bad as she remembered it to be.
“We had not established you were jealous”.
As she held Vi’s gaze Caitlyn felt her ears heat. Unable to defend herself against such accusations, she did what she always told her clients to do when facing incredible odds.
She slammed her mouth shut and kept quiet.
Vi meanwhile went back to watching the video, eyes sparkling and grin growing with each second of painful footage being shown. Eventually the audio cut out, and Jayce slid his phone back into his pocket before looking up with a smug smile.
“So, we’ve basically ascertained that you are both down horrendous and through some small miracle have finally fucking realised that’s the case. I will be taking partial credit for that, so please remember to cite my intervention when telling people how the violyn origin story went down”.
He was met with an icy blue stare.
“Also, I will continue to be absolutely insufferable about it unless you promise to show up at the engagement party because I may have already promised Mel you would”.
Caitlyn groaned.
“And I might have also promised you’d go to the hen do as well.”
Slumping against her chair back, Caitlyn gave a dejected sigh.
“Fine,” she bit out, resisting the urge to throw something at the victorious smile reflecting back at her. Instead, she settled for a disgruntled stare that had none of the effect she was hoping for.
As she continued to glare down at the opposite end of the table, Caitlyn tried to convince herself she had an absolutely horrible taste in the people she surrounded herself with. But despite everything that had just happened, she somehow couldn’t quite find a way to make herself believe it.