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Caitlyn lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. The day had been long, but the night had been even longer. Her phone lay next to her, not having been touched for hours.
The looming knowledge of ignored texts from Vi and Jayce and almost everyone else in her life made her too anxious to want to even pick it up to change the song.
School hadn't been kind to her that day, and neither had her mother.
While she had tried on the calculus test, she just couldn't help but fall asleep right afterward, resulting in her mother getting a call from the school.
Her mother, of course, wasn't pleased hearing that her daughter had fallen asleep.
She could still hear her mother asking how she was supposed to uphold the Kiramman name if she was sleeping during school and making a fool of herself.
Looking over at her digital clock on her bedside, she saw it was nearing 1am. It felt later, but here she was. Not even Lana Del Ray could help her feel a little better tonight.
With a sigh, she moved to the edge of the bed, looking down at her feet just barely touching the floor. What could she do?
It was a Friday- well, technically a Saturday, now. She had already studied just an hour ago. Studying even more would only leave her with a headache and even more useless knowledge in her head.
Maybe she could write? No, that would require sitting down and doing something productive. A book? No, not that, either. Instead, she decided to just move back to the comfort of her bed. It was cold in her room, anyway.
But just as she was about to get under the covers, she heard a loud honk. It was fairly normal, seeing that she lived in Piltover, but it wasn't common to hear this late.
Deciding it was just something she imagined, Caitlyn shook it off, laying down again.
There was another honk. This time, sounding impatient. Caitlyn groaned and moved off the bed, moving to her window to see the idiot honking.
It was a woman on a motorcycle, wearing a black and pink helmet and wearing a red hoodie and gray sweatpants. Her boots were held together by pure will, worn down from years of use. Caitlyn could recognize her immediately, and opened her window.
"Heya!" Vi said, waving at her.
-----Vi-----
Vi didn't know what was going on with Caitlyn these days. It was concerning her, to say the least.
Sending yet another "Hey Cupcake, you okay?" text, she sank deeper into the ratty couch. Caitlyn hadn't answered any of her texts for at least a week now, and seemed to be avoiding Vi in the halls at school.
At first, she'd wondered if she'd done something wrong, but was quickly proven wrong when Jayce Talis even came up to her to ask why Caitlyn was upset at him. Both of them had been left baffled, standing in the middle of the hallway with no clue as to what was going on with Caitlyn.
Vi was pulled out of her thoughts when a familiar voice greeted her. "Hey kid. You alright?" Vander asked, sitting down next to her. Despite being nearly 18, he still called her 'kid' (not that she minded, of course). Vi nodded, her brows furrowed.
"Cait's not answering my texts or Jayce's. I think somethin's up." She said, looking at the older man with a look of concern. He knew that she cared a lot for the Kiramman girl, given how often she visited and even had dinner with them.
Vander hummed in thought "Hm. How long has it been?" He asked, scratching his beard. "A week or so," Vi answered.
The man nodded, deep in thought. After a few minutes, he seemed to come to a conclusion. "Why don't you do something that she'd like? In my experience, good, quality time never hurt." He said, looking at Vi.
She nodded slowly, her face lighting up. "Yeah! That'd work!" She stood up, already forming a plan. Before she could take more than 5 steps, Vander stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"You know the rules," he said, looking at her with a raised brow. "Don't end up dead or on the news. And no drugs." Vi said, nodding.
Vander chuckled, ruffling her hair. "And stay safe. I don't think Powder would take kindly to you messin' up the motorcycle when she just fixed it."
Vi nodded again, moving to the door to pull her boots on. "See you later, Vander!"
"See you soon, kiddo."
-----Caitlyn-----
"Heya!" Vi said, waving at her. Pulling out another helmet, she set it down next to her. It was white and blue, Caitlyn's helmet.
"Come on out!" She yelled, not bothering to be quiet. Caitlyn shook her head, moving back into her room. Her parents would kill her if she left the house this late!
But... what else could she do?
So, after putting on her shoes and grabbing her phone, she clambered out of her window and walked to Vi's bike.
"Why are you out here?" She asked, rolling up her sweater sleeves as she picked up the helmet. Vi flipped the visor up, and she could see a large grin plastered on her face.
"Obviously to go out. C'mon, I found this sweet spot." She moved to hold the handles again, waiting for Caitlyn to get on.
With a sigh, Caitlyn got onto the bike, putting the helmet on and wrapping her arms around Vi.
"How'd you know I was up?" She asked as the motorcycle started down the road. "You're Caitlyn Kiramman. You always stay up late." Vi stated, shrugging. She could hear her voice in her ear, the Bluetooth microphone beeping as it turned on.
Caitlyn chuckled at that, shaking her head before resting it against Vi's back. As the city passed them by, Caitlyn watched the lights. Through her visor, they were a little blurry, but it made it look like it had a filter over it.
Several minutes passed, with the city passing them by in all its rich and needlessly loud glory. Her eyes felt heavy, and she could feel herself relaxing. She knew it was a bad idea to get sleepy on a motorcycle, especially when she was clinging onto Vi for dear life, but... man, was she tired.
Suddenly, Vi sped up, causing Caitlyn to clutch onto her tighter. "Vi!" The boxer was only laughing at Caitlyn's dismay, sighing. "Can't have you sleepin Cupcake! You gotta see the spot first, then I'll bring you home!"
Caitlyn blushed furiously at the nickname, glad for the helmet. "You're an insufferable idiot," she said, shaking her head.
"But I'm your insufferable idiot." Vi corrected, patting one of Caitlyn's hands over her middle.
-------------------
When they reached the spot Vi had in mind, Caitlyn was wide awake. Every time she'd gotten a little too relaxed, Vi had made sure to speed up to wake her. The spot that Vi had had in mind was-
"A... bridge?" Caitlyn asked, taking the helmet off. The bridge was small, made for cars to pass over without thought as they drove to Piltover. It was made with wood and brick, looking almost out of place next to the freshly paved road.
Vi chuckled, shaking her pink hair after having the helmet on for so long. "Not just any bridge You'll see." She said, walking away from the bike.
Following Vi, Caitlyn could see there was a glow emitted from under the bridge. It wasn't awfully bright, but it still gave off enough light to illuminate the path.
Vi led her down to under the bridge, leaning against the brick wall. "What do you think?" She asked, grinning at Caitlyn.
Underneath the bridge was a hangout spot, of sorts. Several lamps were lit, and a blanket lay on the ground. A basket was in the middle of it, holding a few waterbottles and a deck of cards. A speaker sat next to it, in case they wanted to listen to music.
"I know you've been feeling down the past few days, so I wanted to make you feel better." Vi said, walking over to the blanket to sit down. Caitlyn stayed quiet, just looking at her partner. Vi had done all of this for her? Even after she'd been ignoring all of her texts?
She suddenly felt tears stinging her eyes, and found she couldn't speak. When Caitlyn didn't respond, Vi turned around, looking at her.
Immediately, she was concerned, walking back to Caitlyn and looking up at her. "Do you not like it? I know it's late, and I just-" Caitlyn cut her off by hugging her, holding the boxer close to her.
"I love it." She said, tears streaming down her face. Vi let out a quiet sigh of relief, hugging her back tightly. "Okay, that's good. I got worried there for a second." Caitlyn let out a quiet laugh, burying her face in Vi's shoulder.
After several moments, she let go, looking down at Vi. She held Caitlyn's face, wiping her tears with her thumb.
"You okay?" Caitlyn nodded, smiling gratefully at Vi. Pulling her hands away, Vi moved back to the blanket with Caitlyn in tow. They sat down, with Vi comfortably wrapping her arms around Caitlyn.
For the next few hours, they played card games and listened to music together. They laughed, cried, and even sat in silence. But they'd done it together.
By the time the sun was beginning to rise, they were up on the bridge together, watching it. Beautiful hues of pinks and oranges filled the sky, the stars slowly fading out as the sun overtook them. The sound of birds chirping and the forest around them waking up accompanied the sunrise, making it all the more beautiful(at least, in Caitlyn's eyes).
"Thank you, darling." Caitlyn said quietly, holding Vi close. Vi nodded, smiling. "Anytime, Cupcake."