Chapter One – The Cantina

The whole concept was a bit weird, in its own way. It wasn't as if Keira had never known people at bars, been cat called to at other places, been kissed or asked out. It was just when you put all four together, it got to be a bit overwhelming. But that was only in her subconscious. To the part of her head that she was aware of, this place was one hundred percent awesome. Silently, she thanked Meli for bringing her along to the local cantina.

So far, she'd had more than one obscure Corellian mixture, a least a dozen shots of whiskey, and Sith knows what else. Of course, there was also the small thought of her brothers to be considered, as both of them had been hounding on her shields before she'd cut herself off from them. Besides, why not come with Meli to the cantina? It was fun. Almost too fun.

Meli was across the room, sitting happily on some pilot's lap, a bright smile on her face as she downed the rest of his drink. The man, who might've been older than thirty, was not exactly being mindful of where he put his hands, either. But then again, Meli did this quite a lot, so the only time she took her lightsaber out at this stage in the game was if the person didn't listen to a 'no'.

A smirk on her face, Keira looked away from Meli and her boyfriend-of-the-hour and instead surveyed the room once more. She finished her drink- more Corellian whiskey- and put the small glass on the counter, then stood up from her seat, almost catlike in the way she hopped to the ground. A smirking figure caught her eye, just as she'd obviously caught his. The pilot, he must've been 19 or 20 at the oldest, was staring at her, and probably had been staring at her for the past ten or so minutes in which she hadn't been sitting in some other male's lap.

Keira raised an eyebrow at the light-haired pilot even as his face broke into a slight grin. He nodded his head to the seat next to him, an almost invitation but more like an order. She raised the other eyebrow, wondering if she should forgive the command which she normally never followed over the fact that he was extremely cute. Deciding to award him his one fault point at that second, she walked purposely yet slowly over, pausing to talk to the two or three people who said something to her and also to break the wrist of the one idiot who grabbed her forearm as she passed.

It didn't take her long to end up in the pilot's- T.J's- lap; not that it usually did anyway. It must've been 0300, but she was still wide-awake, probably due to the mixed effect of alcohol and the numerous spices she'd been offered and had actually tried. She put her drink back on the table, grinning due to the part alcohol-induced giddiness, part because she was too strung out to be anything but happy. Across the room, Meli was standing up from the older pilot's lap, giving him a quick kiss as she did so. Before the entirety of the scene was over, Keira had tugged herself loose from T.J.'s grip, a smile still on her face.

"Wait," he said as she began to walk away. Keira saw that Meli was walking over to her, but shrugged off that she should probably meet the older girl half way. Instead, she turned back to the pilot, her smile upturned in her mother's classic Solo smirk.

"Yeah?" She questioned him, head tilted ever so slightly in a look of cute confusion.

The pilot smiled giddily at her, then glanced over her shoulder, obviously seeing Meli approaching. "Where d'you fly?"

Laughing inwardly that he had figured out she was a pilot, Keira rolled her eyes at him. "Try the Twin Suns, hotshot," she finally answered. Then, before more comments could be made, she turned and walked the remainder of the way to her older friend.

* * * * *

Keira had spent the night at Wraith, which was hardly unusual after being out until 0400, or whatever it was. So the fact that she was drinking caf mixed with rather a lot of alcohol the next morning with Meli came as no surprise to many of the people at Wraith. Or it shouldn't have, at least. That didn't mean Kavin was your average Wraith, either.

He'd been at the same cantina Meli and Keira were at last night, having followed Meli merely because he thought it would be good to go and see what the kriff she was doing 'sneaking' out so frequently. He'd not liked what he'd found out, not one bit. And it wasn't because of what Meli ended up doing, but because of who her companion was. Sure, he'd thought Keira was pretty and such, but he'd never actually thought he'd get so upset with seeing her kiss someone or sitting in someone's lap as if she belonged there if that someone wasn't him.

And it was not just one person though, but over a dozen in the course of three hours. That alone got him annoyed enough to want to hit something. Keira was too good for that in his eyes, even though he'd never tell her as much. Besides, she probably already had a boyfriend. Or at least, he thought she did. She'd had one in years previous, so he shouldn't even bother thinking she'd be free just because she was 16 and a half. Not like he was counting the months or anything.

Loud to the point of annoyance, Koyi Afyon walked into the room, pleasantly saying good morning to everyone but Meli and Keira. Kavin watched as the pilot walked over quietly, obviously knowing they had severe headaches. However, if Kavin knew Koyi like he thought he did, she wouldn't be perfectly kind and wonderful to them. Not in the least. When Koyi was standing nearly right behind them, she grinned at the rest of the room, which seemed to be holding it's breath. Suddenly she yelled, "Good mor-ning!"

Meli grabbed her temples as soon as Koyi was done, palms flat to the side of her face, obviously trying to stop some sort of intense pain coming to her. Keira didn't even bother with that; she just stood up, turned the remainder of her caf and alcohol mix over Koyi's head and pushed past the Jedi to leave the room, fingers moving in slow circles over her temples as she walked down the hall. In spite of how funny Koyi looked, and Keira's obvious attitude towards Koyi, and what Kavin had seen last night... Well, all of that didn't change how he felt about Keira. Including that she didn't look bad from any angle you looked at her. Of course, he wasn't about to say that; it wouldn't end up too good, especially if her brothers were around.