Kiera only had a week left of her sentence; seven days and she'd be free, in the restricted way that people like her could be free. Mickey thought she looked sad but then he remembered her face that time she had told hime she was sad and it wasn't the same one he was looking at. She wasn't smoking either, well not like she usually did; her lips barely even touched her cigarette, most of it burning away. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail, a few loose strands coming down over face.

Mickey shifted where he sat. "What's up with you?" he asked, trying to sound casual about it.

Her eyes met his and she smiled wide. "Nothing. I'm excited."

Mickey scoffed. "Yeah, well most people don't do look so damn miserable when they're excited."

She simply shrugged and threw the cigarette butt from her fingers. "It will be so great to finally smoke weed again," she sighed out, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"Fucking pothead," Mickey muttered just loud eneough so she could hear it. He knew she wouldn't say anything back because it had been months since she had tried to convince him that she was simply someone who liked to smoke weed a lot, which Mickey told her was a pothead, and it went on until they agreed to disagree.

"My dad's going to send me money every month and buy me a car just so long as I don't move back in," she stated, her eyes still closed.

For a moment Mickey felt sort of shocked because Kiera had never really spoken all that much about her family. "Why?"

"My pill-popping whore of a step-mom hates me and she seems to love blackmail just as much as I do so she told him to do it and he's going to. I don't care, though. When I was thirteen I survived on the streets for three months before the police found me, I'm sure living in a car will actually be kind of fun."

Mickey frowned and blew smoke out quickly. "You're gonna live in your car?"

She opened her and eyes and nodded, smiling.

Mickey didn't know why, but he suddenly felt protective of Kiera, just like how he often did with Mandy. He felt the need to help her even though she wasn't asking or even hinting that she wanted it because, and he'd never fucking admit this, she had helped him and he certinaly hadn't asked for it or wanted it and never appreciated it. Kiera had helped in ways Mickey didn't quite get and sometimes, he wondered if she even had helped, but then he knew for certain that she had and he'd never thank her because he couldn't thank people for doing things like; he couldn't thank people for being good to him because he didn't deserve it. And he knew a way to say thank you to Kiera without having to say it.

He took a deep breath. "Move into my house," he said, didn't ask, but told her and he wasn't sure what he'd do if she said no.

Kiera leaned forward but instead of cupping his cheek, which was what Mickey had expected, she put her hands on his shoulders and her face mere centimetres from his. "You..." she whispered and Mickey thought she was going to say something else but she didn't.

Was she saying yes? Mickey searched her face for an answer but didn't find one. "What are you sayin'? Yeah?" he asked, their faces still right up close to each other's like they were going to kiss, making him feel pretty fucking uncomfortable.

"If that's okay with your sister, then yes, I would love to."

And Mickey laughed a little because she had said that in the casual manner Mickey always found slightly amusing because it always came out when her tone of voice probably should have been anything but casual.

He shrugged, which felt kind of weird with Kiera's hands on them. "I'll send her a letter, tell her lazy ass to visit and I'll explain. She won't give a shit," he explained because he knew Mandy had always wanted another girl to live with them because even though she wasn't all that feminine, she didn't particularly enjoy living in a house full of men.

So later that day he wrote a shitty letter, more like a note, and it must've arrived at his house pretty quickly because four days later Mickey was sat across from his sister with only glass between them. He was thankful that the visitors were always seated before he and the rest of the jumpsuit crew walked out because he knew that now it was basically summer, Mandy would be wearing a tiny skirt and his fist would've collided with any asshole's face who dared to look at her like she was fucking piece of meat.

"Seriously? You want this "friend" to move in?" Mandy asked once Mickey had explained the situation. She spoke like Mickey had said he was planning on proposing to Kiera or some shit.

Mickey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and what the fuck's with the air quotes?"

Mandy laughed. "Well if you want this girl to move in with you, the two of you must be fucking or something, must be more than friends," she said smugly, raising an eyebrow.

He could have argued with her, but she was half right: Kiera was more than a friend, just not in the way Mandy thought. Plus he wanted this conversation over and done with and for her to say it was okay because Mickey knew she would eventually.

"We're not fucking," he said through gitted teeth. "So is it okay with you?"

Mandy shrugged. "I guess... yeah, whatever, as long as she isn't a psycho who's gonna murder me in my sleep."

Mickey rolled his eyes yet again. "She isn't and she won't."

And so they had went on to arrange for Mandy to meet Kiera when she got out and to take her back to their house.

Mickey knew it was only going to be a few weeks until he would see Kiera again, but fuck was he going to miss her at class. Now that she was gone he knew he would get so bored that he'd probably join in with whatever shitty activity the rest of them were doing.

Richard appeared to be waiting for him outside the door as Mickey was escorted to the class.

"Can you give us a minute?" Richard said to the guard.

The two of them walked a little. "What?" Mickey snapped, frowing at the sight of his straw trilby.

Richard shifted about where he stood, looking more uncomfortable in Mickey's presence than usual. It made Mickey smile. "Listen, Kiera had asked me, well warned me, not to tell you this but she isn't here anymore so I don't suppose she can do anything about it. The anger management class is only a four month programme. Kiera was blackmailing me, not only to let the two of you not take part, but to also let you stay even though you could leave. She said something about needing to help you figure out what to do or somehting like that," Richard explained.

Mickey stared him down, trying to work out if this was a load of bullshit, but when Richard nodded his head, Mickey knew he wasn't lying. "Sly bitch", he whispered to himself, looking down at his feet then back up to Richard. This was such a Kiera thing to do and like most things she did or said, it made Mickey want to punch her because he wasn't mad about it, he was glad. He breathed out a laugh. "Sly bitch."