Silver&Teal

The first sign that something was going to go wrong was just how uneventful everything was leading up to the wedding.

When Aria had invited you to her wedding, you certainly weren’t expecting to be a Maid of Honour. In the months leading up to the wedding, you’d been to all her dress fittings for her gorgeous gown, helped her pick out venues and even helped decorate on the day of.

The flowers were perfect, the venue was surprisingly lenient and gave you decorations for free (when did they start charging for those?!), and Aria was looking absolutely fabulous.

So you should’ve immediately assumed something would go wrong.

On the day of September 4th, at exactly 15:00, you walked down the aisle as Aria’s Maid of Honour. All you had to do was look gorgeous all evening, successfully say your speech, not get too drunk and not break anything!

The rules were simple, right?

When you stood waiting for Aria, you looked out at the blue water and the grassy mountains surrounding Riva Del Garda. It truly was breathtaking. The aisle was littered with flowers, a white carpet and some greenery sprinkled throughout.

The guests all sat on some wicker chairs and then at the altar. The flowery arch with the scenery around to complement.

This was truly the most gorgeous wedding of your entire life.

The next bridesmaid and groomsman walked down the aisle. You could recognise him from a mile away; it was Kimi.

Kimi was the Best Man of the groom and was also your mutual friend. You obviously knew of Kimi; he was basically there every time you went to hang out with Aria. Her fiancée (husband, not yet?) and Kimi were best mates from school. They saw each other all the time, doing God knows what.

They were always fixing Aria’s fixer-upper she had bought (you told her this was a terrible financial decision), installing the latest thing Aria had made for the house, playing FIFA on the PlayStation, cooking. You’d say they’re conjoined twins by this point.

Truth be told, he looked a little nervous. He too was giving a speech today, and also just had to not get too drunk before doing the speech.

Then it was the man of the hour. Lowell. Aria and Lowell were about to get married. All the months spent planning this wedding, seeing the wedding come together piece by piece. It was finally here! The big moment!

You were admiring the scenery of Lake Garda when something cracked beneath you.

You immediately knew what it was.

Your heel was breaking. You knew this pair was too old. You try to stand on the tips of your toes so they can at least survive the ceremony, but the aches in your calves and the pain in your feet are just too much. Aria is walking down the aisle. Just a bit longer… oh, god, look beautiful! Don’t forget about the cameras!

You stand back on the heel of your shoe, and it seems fine, but you’re not sure; you try to put as little pressure as possible on them, leaving your legs burning.

You make it successfully through the entire ceremony by staying as still as a statue and just smiling. Your calves were going to be so defined after this.

The two newlyweds share their famous moment, their first kiss as a married couple. You have to shuffle out of the way when your heels crack again. Once they’re walking down the aisle, you take a moment to inspect the damage, a straight crack through the entire heel. You needed to change soon, but there were still photos, and you could probably only change them at the reception.

Kimi catches you as you walk down the aisle. “What’s wrong?” He asks, looking down at your weird walk.

“My heel is breaking, and we still have to do the damn pictures!” You whisper-shout so as not to alert anyone, especially not Aria, who was not someone to worry about today. She just needed to enjoy her day.

By the time they start calling everybody up for pictures, that’s when your heel finally gives out. Walking on the grass by some flower pots, bang. The entire heel cracks in two and sends you flying forward.

You grab onto a flower pot, luckily not ripping your dress or getting it dirty.

Kimi sends you a sly look as everybody looks at your broken heel.

You take them off and walk barefoot. You only put them on for photos and throw them in the bin when you see one.

Luckily, another friend had kept your bag. You knew something like this would happen. It’s just you had a feeling. There was a spare pair of heels inside it and-

“I haven’t actually seen your bag in ages, uh-“

Great. Now you’re barefoot. Should’ve not thrown those in the bin.

You walk up to where they’re packing away the ceremony. Everybody - literally everybody is at the reception; only the crew from the venue are around

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen a black bag?” You ask, a stressed tone evident.

“Eh, no signora…Maybe check, ehhh, the reception; look for Maria; maybe she will know.” The gentleman does not speak great English, his Italian tone evident. You thank him quickly before picking up the satin from your dress off the floor and walking to the reception hall.

You bump into Maria just as you walk in. She’s a tall, black-haired lady who has a bob and red lipstick. You can’t miss her.

“OhmygodMaria- Mybaghaveyouseenit?” You speak too quickly.

“Eh?!”

“Maria, my bag. I have no shoes. They broke.”

“Ah, okay. Er…I will call somebody. MARIO!!!” She shouts from across the hall. A man with a tray full of champagne walks up to you. He’s carrying a tray with about 20 glasses of champagne on it, all bubbling and looking extremely inviting.

“For you, signora?” He offers you a glass of champagne. You accept without much thought.

Maria waffles to him in Italian, their words mixing together in your head until she turns to speak to you. “Mario will go look at the bride’s suite for you. Just find your spot.” She orders you, as you look around; there’s not a single open seat.

What?

It was one long table, exquisitely decorated with flowers hanging over, candles running down the table, a light colour scheme and everyone sitting down.

“Maria!” You call out. She’s gone. There’s not a single seat for you.

Now you have to find a spot; you can’t just be standing like an idiot at the head of the table. You see every chair occupied (obviously not the bride and groom’s, but you definitely can’t take those!) You quickly walk up to Kimi; maybe he would know what to do.

“Did you find shoes?”

“No! I’m going to have to go barefoot. They’re going to look in Aria’s room.” You speak quickly; he looks a little confused before just nodding.

“Calm down, girl, I’ve never seen you so stressed,” Kimi says. He’s way too relaxed right now!

“Kimi! I’m going to have to do my speech without shoes! In front of everybody!” You seem to be looking stressed, as other people are glaring at you.

“Having a good time?” You ask sweetly, changing your tone.

They just nod and look away. Kimi stands up and leads you two outside.

“Come on, man, it’s not that serious; besides, I don’t think anybody is going to notice.” He tries to reassure you.

“Oh my god, and there’s not even a seat at the table; there’s got to be a mix-up- I mean, this can’t be happening. I made sure to count five times before sending the number to the venue! How could I forget to add myself?!”

“Take a breath for-“ He stops himself as he raises his voice.

“It is going to be fine, now behave and come sit down at the table.” He speaks calmly, before turning around and beckoning you to follow. You bite the inside of your cheek as you walk behind him. He holds out his hand.

You take his hand, walking back in together. It was warm and comforting, maybe like a guiding light.

Everyone is looking at you two as you return to the table hand-in-hand. They’re all staring at you and Kimi like you had something important to say to everybody. The room had gone silent.

You both share a look. Do you say something?

“Take my seat, now.” He whispers.

“But Kimi-“

“Now.”

He pushes you down into his seat and leans on the top bar of the chair. It was more forceful than you’d like to admit; he pushed you down like this was an average day in paradise.

About 5 minutes later, after Kimi had tried to distract you from whatever was clouding your head with Formula 1 talk, Mario returns.

“Miss, I have found you some shoes.” Mario has brought you a pair of white flats. Anything will do.

“Ah, thank you so much, you’re wonderful…Can you get me some more champagne?” You ask him, slipping into the shoes that were way too small for you. You could feel them pushing in on all sides of your feet, but it was better than letting everybody see your toes.

Mario obviously must’ve heard wrong, as he brings the entire unopened bottle to you and, as he uncorks it, it explodes all over you, Mario and Kimi.

And when it exploded, you got drenched.

“Oh my god!” Kimi says, looking down at his suit, covered in champagne. It looked like an expensive suit as well, one of those fancy fitted ones you pay £1000 for at a special shop down Savile Row.

“Ah- I am so sorry, please, let me get you, ehh, a napkin!”

Who needs TV anymore? We’ve got it right here at the table!

As you’re busy looking at your soaked dress, the bride and groom start to do their grand entrance. It’s a fun dance around the table; thank god everybody is watching that instead of you trying to ensure your makeup still looks good.

Kimi smells like a bottle of Prosecco, is literally breathing down your neck, and those shoes are three sizes too small.

You could feel your little hairs standing up on your neck as Kimi’s breath tickles them. Did he realise he was so close? When you look up to check, he straightens up and has a slight flush on his cheek, before Maria quickly appears again and gives him a chair next to you.

You had about an hour, which was finally uneventful; Aria’s 23-minute speech (yes, you timed it; yes, you also told her to make it shorter) temporarily distracted the entire room from your champagne mishap.

However, it was time for your speeches. Kimi was up first, who did not address why half his suit was damp and merely teased the ever-living daylight out of Lowell and Aria. Nobody seemed to notice, at least. For you, the soft baby pink satin clearly had a mark on it.

Then it was your turn.

You stood up to begin your speech. If you were going to redeem yourself, it was now.

You first opened a piece of paper and blew the dust off. So Aria and Lowell knew how long you’d been waiting to say this speech. It earned a couple of giggles from everyone.

You got through most of your speech well. There were a couple lines you felt you could’ve delivered better, but overall, the weeks of prep beforehand gave you a room full of laughter and smiles.

You walked back to your seat, finally feeling like something had gone your way.

Now the fun really starts.

After all the speeches, you had begun doing shooters, shots, and drinking any and all alcohol you could get your hands on.

All the girls gathered behind Aria for the infamous bouquet toss on the dance floor, including you. You’d been single all your life; you’d silently accepted that marriage, well, that wasn’t on your path. Were you too old now, maybe? I mean, mid-20s is a normal age to get married; it’s not like you’re late or anything.

The bouquet heads straight for you, and you didn’t even try to catch it! You just grasped it. It flew over a girl who was clearly trying too hard to catch the bouquet - you recognised it as Kaylee. Her boyfriend of 7 years still hasn’t proposed. Well, not that catching a bouquet was going to do anything to encourage him.

“Me?!” You look at Aria’s bouquet. The white roses, baby’s breath and hibiscus flowers stared back at you. Then you looked up; the first person you locked eyes with was Kimi.

He smiles a little as you smile back; maybe you were destined to catch the bouquet after all.

-

Your phone dies mid-way through taking a video of the beautiful decorations of the venue. Well, it is now as useful as a paperweight. You sigh and put your phone back in your bag. Really, it couldn’t keep getting worse, can it?

Kimi is now sitting next to you, and you’re finally getting to eat something.

After eating the mediocre food, you watch as Aria and Lowell have their first dance together. Again, tooth-rottingly sweet as everything they do tonight is.

You speak a bit with some people you hadn’t met before at the table. You can’t really remember what they were saying, the alcohol’s effects slowly taking over. The woozy feeling only got worse as Kimi continued bringing you red wine. By the time everyone was dancing, you were much smilier and friendlier.

“Come on!! We should go-“

You accidentally spilt red wine all over yourself. Now this was really the cherry on top of this day.

“We are not going dancing; you just sit right here.” Kimi sits you back down on the chair as you look up at him. He hands you a couple of napkins, and you start cleaning up the mess all over your chest.

“Why does everything keep going wrong!?” You whine drunkenly, through your eyes, everyone could probably tell you needed to stop drinking.

“First it was the shoes, and my phone, and the champagne and-“ You sigh. “Really, why today?”

“It’s okay.” He drapes his jacket over your shoulders to hide the spill of red wine over your dress. It still smelled like prosecco, cologne and Kimi.

Kimi walks off to go grab more serviettes, leaving you sitting alone at the table. Someone from the opposite side of the table speaks to you, obviously noticing it was a sore moment.

“Weren’t you the one who caught the bouquet?” It seems to be an old lady, maybe Lowell’s grandma?

“Uhm, yeah, it was me.” You nod, feeling like the upset was sobering you up a little.

“Just between you and me, I think you’re going to be just fine. That young man’s been looking at you all night.” She smiles a little.

“Kimi? Oh, I- I didn’t notice.”

“Well, I mean, he hasn’t sat still all night, dear, who was always there for you when something went wrong tonight?” She smiles a little.

You smile a little, because she was right.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” You nod, looking down and flushing a little.

Kimi comes back, handing you some serviettes. “Thanks, Kimi.” You smile a little at him, looking at the faint blush on his cheeks from all the alcohol he’s been drinking too.

He sits down next to you, taking your purse and grabbing your phone, putting it on charge with his.

The old lady just winked at you when you looked up at her again.

-

“I can’t help but feel like this night has been a disaster. I mean, everything has been going wrong…” You mutter. Kimi and you are on the dance floor, your head on his shoulder. Sure, you got proper dancing with one another too, but you’ve hit the sad stage of drinking alcohol.

“Well, you could at least say you had some fun, right?” Kimi looks down at you; you pout a little.

“Yeah…”

“Come on, admit it, you did have a little fun during the speeches and catching the bouquet…” He smiles a little; it’s contagious. You start smiling a little too.

“And for the record, I don’t think anyone thinks you’re a disaster. You’re funny, and kind and thoughtful. I mean, you’ve been planning this wedding for months, even forgot to save yourself a seat. Aria should be glad to have you.” He says, and it makes your heart contract a little.

“Awh, Kimi, that’s too sweet.” You bury your face inside of his shoulder.

“Just the truth.” He nods.

You look up; maybe you really did like Kimi, with his silly, cute brown eyes and his curly hair that he could never tame, and his sweet personality and the way he’s been running around after you.

It just came naturally, the way you wrapped your hand around his neck, teasing the curls at the bottom of his head as your lips connected. Just soft and gentle, not anything demanding, deep or passionate. It felt more like relief.

You could feel the burn intensify on your cheeks. It was tingling from the alcohol all night, but this just made it break out against your skin like wildfire. Kimi’s hand softly cups your cheek, his thumb softly brushing it away.

Your dance was slowly forgotten as you tangled up in each other. Wrapping arms around each other and becoming closer, touching shoulders, necks and each other’s hair.

Once you let go, you couldn’t hide the silly little grin on your face; maybe the old lady was right.

You were going to be just fine.

-

In the morning, you woke up feeling extremely hungover. You wished you hadn’t drunk so much. Your head was pounding as you tried to focus on the room around you. This was why you stopped drinking so much.

You were still in your pyjamas when you heard a knock on the door. You quickly walked up to it and peeked your head around the corner.

It was Kimi, holding a coffee, some pastries and a particular black backpack.

“Heard via a little birdie you were looking for this?” You couldn’t hide the smile that now graced your cheeks.

Everybody knew Kimi Antonelli, at least, where you grew up. The famous karting prodigy, taken under Toto Wolff’s wing, the breakout success story of the Formula world. What everyone didn’t know was why you weren’t friends anymore.

As kids, there was no separating you. Days spent under the summer sun and nights hiding from the cold. Swimming in the pool and getting ice cream, to pranking one another on birthdays and dinners spent at each other’s house.

Kimi had competition in him the day he was born, and he was confident in his abilities to win. He’d always claim he’d win everything easily because “future world champions never lose.” You pushed him into the pool before he could react.

Although he was a little pissed - you laughed about it afterwards.

You hadn’t seen Kimi since he was 12, though. It had been years, five to be precise.

You’d had a big falling out. It was about something stupid, but you remember being all cut up about it. It was more memorable emotionally than for its actual contents.

Something to do with another girl. Something to do with the karting races you were too busy to go to. Something to do with feeling like strangers afterwards.

You could still vaguely remember his face, it was kind of soft, typical Italian boy, messy curls and the braces. He was kind of small too, but you’d wondered if he’d grown up a lot, would you even recognise him?

You peered out your van’s window, you saw his parents. They were good friends of your parents, but then you had noticed Kimi, coming out of the doorway, holding a suitcase and a backpack slouching over his broad shoulders.

His curls were peeking out of his cap, and his skin was much more tanned than you remembered.

Was that Kimi Antonelli?

Kimi?

The same boy who dared you to eat cat food?

You looked forward, to the rearview mirror of the van. Your mom shoots you a glare through it, “Now you two need to be nice to one another.”

Then they’re in the van, unloading their suitcases into the boot and climbing in.

So this holiday was actually happening, huh?

“Ciao, ciao! Oh, my darling, look at how big you’ve gotten!” Kimi’s mom sits next to you, giving you a hug before looking back at your parents. “Really, we haven’t seen your daughter in ages, she’s gorgeous!” You laugh nervously as she showers you in the compliments.

Kimi’s sitting at the end of the seats at the back, mindlessly playing on his phone. His parents start catching up with yours. Laughing and having a good time already.

By the time you’re about thirty minutes into the drive, the airport is inching closer, but you’ve still got a ways to go. Everybody is sitting in silence, the radio hums a song you’ve heard a million times.

“So what’s going on with your boring little life?” Kimi turns to look at you, you look back. The audacity?

“Since when were you so cocky about your beginnings?” You rolled your eyes.

“Since you decided you were too cool for me, and look now, wouldn’t you say I’m cooler?” He does a little sassy taunt with his head, and you could vividly remember the competitions. Oh, the competitions. Who could run and flip into the pool the fastest, who got the highest test score, who could swing the highest (even if it was dangerous), it was exhausting.

“For the record, I didn’t decide I was too cool for you, you asked me to give you space, to let you kart. That’s what I did, now you are offended?”

“You never even came to one of my karting races!” He snaps back. He did have a point. After your giant blowout when you were twelve, you never went to a karting race of his. Just watched on TV.

You hated he had that smirk, he knew he backed you into a corner. A small competition itself, actually.

“Well- Well, you know what you did! Why would I come to the karting race of someone who bullied me everyday for 2 years straight?”

He huffs, starting to get annoyed. His eyes narrow, and you can see him knot his fingers together.

“I did not bully you, you were just sensitive!” He snaps.

“I was not sensitive! You told the whole school that I liked you, which was not true, and then proceeded to fake ask me out, which I said yes to because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings if you actually did like me, and then you humiliated me!”

“You did like me! Admit it!”

“No!”

“Stop lying!”

“I’m not Kimi! I swear! I never liked you! You are always mean to me, always trying to make yourself better than me, you always push me down, I can’t like that!” You say a little too passionately, you’re huffing for breath, your cheeks are red in anger, your stomach was curling.

Wait, why did your stomach feel like that?

“Fine! I’m not speaking to you for the rest of the holiday!” He says defiantly, crossing his arms and looking out the window.

A moment passes, before his mom cuts in with her sweet voice. She was always calming, and soothing.

“So how is school going?” She asks kindly, and you tell her the usual. Exams are difficult, school is boring, your teachers are not good, bla bla bla…

He sits and stares, his cocky persona seeming to die down a bit. In his eyes, there was a feint glint of nostalgia. School.

He had forgotten all about school in pursuit of his Formula 1 dreams. At school, he also didn’t like you much. It was a known fact. It was the stupid pranks he’d pull, the rumours he spread, the days where he stared at you like you’d done something wrong.

You were mean back. You also started rumours about him, and whispered in the girl’s ears that he liked, and that you would constantly bicker and argue in class.

And then it all stopped.

He became a racing driver, he stopped coming to school. You didn’t message, didn’t talk, it all seemed so distant and far away now that you both were becoming adults. You were graduating, and he was going to Formula 1 next year, to Mercedes.

The silence was still thick with tension, especially so after your argument. His mom probably wanted to distract you.

“So like, do you actually have friends?” He asks out of the blue.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“What do you mean do I have friends? Of course I do!” You responded a little too quickly, before even thinking. Kimi knew you struggled with social situations all your life. In school, you maybe had one or two friends, he always had girlfriends and a group of people he was friends with.

He was popular.

You weren’t. He wouldn’t even be seen with you, unless it was to bully you.

“Why do you care? I thought you said you’re not speaking to me for the rest of the holiday?”

He hadn’t expected you to call him out on his own rule, and his face flushes a little as he tries to come up with an excuse. “‘Cause I want to,” He pauses, before looking down, “And also, I’m bored.”

The silence returns, and you just look down. Why does he care about what friends you have?

“Come on, can you even name one person you’re friends with?” He teases, you can hear his cocky attitude slowly seeping into his voice.

“Yeah, June.”

“Oh, my god. Is she still around?” He rolls his eyes.

“Don’t forget you dated her.” You snap back.

“Don’t remind me, but like, why? She’s so mean.” He asks curiously.

“She’s actually nice, you just don’t like her because she always called you out on all your bullshit.” You snap, he frowns.

“She is mean!”

“She is not!”

He huffs again. “You’re like arguing with the wall.”

“You too.” You just roll your eyes and look out the window. Why was he being so curious? He wasn’t going to speak to you, right? Right?

The airport quickly came into view, and you mentally prepared yourself for about 16 hours worth of flying to your destination.

Mauritius.

-

Going through the airport was standard, check in the bags, going through security (Kimi always beeped the metal detectors for some reason, always) and you were peacefully sitting by your gate when you begin arguing again.

“Are you seriously sitting next to me on the plane?”

You glance down at your ticket. 24E. Then you look at his, 24F. Indeed, you are sitting next to him.

“Listen, I didn’t determine the seating-“

“Oh come on! Can’t you like sit somewhere else?” He rolls his eyes.

“Should’ve barked orders at your mom while you still could’ve.” You giggle mischievously, and you can see its pushing his buttons, as he huffs.

“Seriously. This is just my luck, and sitting next to you? Ugh.” He scoffs.

“What did I do?” You plead innocently, and he just glares at you, you could feel his gaze trying to shoot through you. You could feel a hint of a smile coming onto your lips, you try to push it down though.

“Don’t start smiling now.”

“I’m not smiling.” You reply, trying to ensure the most deadpanned face you could.

“You always smile when you’re doing something mischievous.” He comments.

“I’m not.”

“You’ve been doing it since I’ve known you, I think I’d know when you’re going to do it.”

You couldn’t hide it, maybe you were smiling, just a little.

-

In seat 24F at 23:46 Kimi Antonelli wished two things. One, that you were not sleeping and nearly drooling onto his shoulder, and two, that he could feel the sandy beaches of Mauritius under his toes and not the warmth from your face radiating onto his shoulder.

Unfortunately, your face seemed closer than Dubai airport at the moment.

After the dinner service, you just seemed to fall asleep so easily. He’s grown accustomed to the Mercedes hospitality and sleeping on their private jet in between races. Now he’s sitting in economy, with his mom in the aisle next to him, you on his shoulder, his left arse cheek feels numb and he hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep.

By the time he’s fallen asleep, you’d nearly curled up onto him, and embarrassingly so. He didn’t know this, because he was asleep, but a picture on the “Mauritius Captured Moments” group his mom added everybody onto had a picture of the two of you, completely passed out.

You now had a 3 hour layover in Dubai before another gruelling flight to Mauritius, but then, it was over. Then you could sleep in a bed, with a nice shower, and some pyjamas…

“Hello. Wake up. Dumbass.” He shakes you awake, the plane has landed. You feel surprisingly well rested, unaware that you’d been snoozing on his shoulder for hours at this point. You grab your phone from your crossbody bag. 01:46

“Have we landed?”

“Yeah.”

Once your eyes refocus, you see the passengers ahead of you grabbing their bags and walking down the aisle. You quickly slide on your shoes and grab your backpack, as Kimi does the same.

The airport’s bright lights are the first things that catch your attention. The second is the wet patch on Kimi’s sleeve. What was that? Where did it come from?

Kimi senses your curious gaze behind him.

“Don’t ask.”

“Ask what?”

“Just don’t.”

“Huh?”

“Exactly.”

-

By the time everyone arrives in Mauritius in one piece, your mom and dad are bickering over the hotel rooms, and you’re listening with half an ear, but you’re too tired to notice. The sun is coming up.

When you arrive at the resort, the first thing you see is the gigantic pool from the reception. The hotel itself looked a little like a giant thatch, with a bunch of sitting areas leading to the pool.

Oh, this was luxurious alright.

Once you walk through the corridors to your room, you couldn’t wait. Even if the sun was coming up, you were so tucking into bed and having a nap.

“So you and Kimi are in one room-“

“WHAT?!” You both manage to turn simultaneously and stop in your tracks.

“Is that how you booked it?”

“Seriously?”

“I can’t believe this.”

“You’re really serious?”

All your comments seemed to blend into one, before your parents stop you.

“It was the cheapest. Deal with it. There’s at least separate beds.” Your mom hands you each a keycard, and walks off.

Oh, here’s the door.

1512.

You both glance curiously at each other, as your parents both walk off to different suites.

When you scan your card and enter inside, the first thing you notice is the air conditioning. It might’ve been 5 in the morning, but it was humid, and hot, and this was a relief.

Then you see the actual suite.

2 queen sized beds with a divider. Thank god. A big bathroom and a space for your luggage.

“I hate to admit this, but it’s kind of nice.” Kimi admits reluctantly.

“Yeah…”

You both drag in your suitcases and let the door close behind you, before you go scrounging. You’re so hungry.

“Do you think the mini fridge is included?” You ask.

“Well, I read somewhere we got an all-inclusive package, so, probably.”

You grab some water and some weird wafer chocolate snacks out of the mini fridge. They were actually delicious, but probably anything is after you’ve had nothing but airplane food for a long time.

Kimi takes a shower while you unpack your suitcase. You were here for a week after all, better make yourself at home.

-

“It’s too cold, can you turn up the AC?” You hear him complain from the bed next to yours. He chose the one right by the sliding door, you chose the one by the bathroom.

“It’s too hot! I want the AC to be cold!” You complain, “Get another blanket if you’re cold!”

“You’re so mean.” He whines, before you hear him stand up and walk to the AC control unit on the wall, you sit up as well, “No, keep it on 17 degrees.”

“It’s a freezer in here!”

“I like it that way!”

“But I don’t!” He changes the temperature to 21 degrees. “That is so hot Kimi! Turn it down! Can we agree on 19 degrees?”

“You and your bargaining.”

“Agree to disagree, okay? 19 degrees, or I change it back to 17.”

“Make me.”

You stand up out of bed. “Andrea Kimi Antonelli,” you watch as he smirks, “Yeah?” he leans tauntingly against the wall. It’s dark inside the room due to the curtains, but you can make out his silhouette from the feint LEDs.

“Turn it down.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Do you want to find out?” You taunt as well. Let’s play those games then, shall we?

“I mean, i’ve never seen you get all taunting and aggressive like this before, it’s kind of, you know…-“

Knock. Knock.

Kimi’s mom calls both your names.

“We’re going to lunch! Find us there if you need us!”

You click your tongue, looking him up and down, cause he got off lightly now, he should thank the stars for that kind of luck. You walk over and open the curtains. It’s a nice, sunny day.

He walks to his side of the room, the light was bright, and his eyes weren’t used to it, but he had to get up at some point, right?

When you grabbed your phone to check the time, it was 12:34. You slept for two and a half hours. Acceptable enough. There was a couple of notifications but one from the Mauritius Captured Moments group, a picture of you two on the plane.

Oh.

You remember something feeling really comfy on the flight, you fell asleep suspiciously quickly.

Then when you got off the plane, you saw his sleeve.

He told you to not ask.

The wet patch on his shoulder was from you.

-

The first time Kimi had seen you in a bikini, he was gaslighting himself that he hadn’t missed out on anything. You lay on your stomach on the sun lounge parked right by the pool, messing around on your phone.

You were not the little girl he remembered. The same girl who pushed him into a pool fully clothed in front of everybody. It was embarrassing, and he remembered being so mad at you. That was the week before your fight.

It had been boiling for a while. The days of pranks and mean set-ups against each other boiled over.

He still thinks about it sometimes. He hadn’t seen you in ages. He doesn’t follow you on social media and you don’t follow him. He had no idea what you looked like until 4pm yesterday.

You looked similar to what you always did. Distinct features he could pick out from a crowd, somehow, you looked like a grown version of yourself and a kid all at once. You were only one year younger than him, but it felt far apart now.

The time spent not speaking to one another left a big hole.

When you got up to get something to drink, he mindlessly looked over at you from where he was sitting.

Well, he didn’t miss out on too much, right? There were other girls here. More attractive, in his opinion.

He first flirted with the blonde on the lounger next to him. She was tall, had extremely bright platinum blonde hair and was reading on her Kindle. She seemed a little interested, but then got up and Kimi never saw her again.

Then there was a brunette at the pool he spoke to next. She was nice, but didn’t seem totally into him, and then he saw her swim up to an older man (maybe about mid-20s) and realised she had a boyfriend.

You however, had slowly hid inside your shell, as always. Sat on the sun lounger and watched as everyone got along. Your parents were getting on like a house on fire, drinking and laughing.

It didn’t help you only got 5 hours of sleep, had no makeup on and you already felt sunburnt. Maybe you should just go back to your room, it might be better there -

Kimi was now adventuring to the beach. You watched as he disappeared under the palm trees and walked away. Wonder where he is going.

You packed up your things and went to lie in your shared room, by the time you emerged for dinner, Kimi was still not back. His mom catches you as you were walking to dinner.

“Have you seen Kimi?” She asks, she doesn’t sound panicked. (yet)

“No, uhm, I saw him go down to the beach, but not after then.” You shrug.

She clicks her tongue and you continue walking to the dinner hall. You got a little concerned about him. It had been hours, it wouldn’t hurt to just go onto the beach and look.

You quickly tell your parents you’re coming back, and walk down to the beach. The sun hadn’t set entirely yet, the sky exploding into golden light. It was gorgeous.

You were too blinded looking by the light, to see Kimi standing next to you too, hand in hand with another girl. The blonde.

“Oh, there you are. We’re going for dinner.”

The blonde cocks her head, looking at you up and down, as if Kimi was your boyfriend. Why did you feel so uncomfortable with your own skin? Why couldn’t you just disintegrate into grains of sand and be kicked around by little children forever?

“We’re coming now.”

He walks off again, hand in hand with her. When they’re far enough away, you gaze at the shining sun and sigh. Why did you feel so upset he was with other people? That is what you wanted in the end, right?

To have him as far away from you as you can?

He looks back at you, he doesn’t know why yet. He sees your silhouette outlined by the comically bright orange sun, and your silly, little girly outfit (the type he’d tease you about years ago) compared to the woman he had just made out with now.

He thought the hole in his heart maybe just became a little bigger.

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