Nia felt as if her legs were going to give out, her normally peach hued complexion had become ghostly pale.
Kid coaxed her to sit next to him while Killer tried to coach her to breathe. Kid tried his best to reassure her that her grandfather was in the hospital, and that he would be alright.
"It's what got Grandma," Nia whispered, so faintly the guys weren't sure they'd heard her correctly at first.
It was Kid who asked, "what do you mean?"
"She had a heart attack and didn't notice. Week later she had another one. That's what took her away," Nia answered, tears pooling in her eyes.
Kid gently rubbed her back while he assured her, "Yeah—but your grandpa was at work, there's paramedics there. They gave him medicine to help stop the heart attack and got him straight to the hospital. He'll be alright."
"His friend'll know, he'll come looking for me," Nia whimpered.
Killer shook his head 'no', "that's why the social worker called me. After what happened yesterday, with you not wanting to go to his friend's—he got a lawyer to come by to notarize a change to his living will. He changed it so that if something were to happen to him and someone called Ms. Nico wasn't available, I'd be your temporary guardian until a permanent placement was found, or Ms. Nico got you."
Nia gasped as her eyes met Killer's, wordlessly asking if he was telling the truth.
"I promise it's true," he added.
"Ms. Nico is my neighbour. She's a flight attendant so she's away a lot for work, but she was on leave from work for a while. I guess that's over or will be soon—I don't know," Nia explained.
Killer nodded as he said, "alright. Well for now, why don't we pack up Cleo's stuff, pack some more things for you and get back over to the apartment? We'll see about getting you to the hospital after to see him."
Nia nodded, taking a few steadying breaths as she agreed, "Ye—yeah, okay."
Kid hugged Nia from the side, letting her bury her face into his shirt. He knew there was nothing he could say, all he could do was hold space for her. He felt his shirt dampen as her tears fell onto the fabric. At least she was able to get it out, not bottle it up like he had.
Killer gently placed his hand on Nia's shoulder while her tears flowed. He didn't want to be too familiar, but he wanted her to know he'd be there for her in any way he could be.
Kid held her wordlessly for several minutes while she cried before he asked, "We were gonna have meatloaf for dinner tonight—or is there something else you'd like?"
"Meatloaf's fine," Nia replied as she wiped her eyes. Cleo sat in the girl's lap, placing her front paws up by Nia's shoulders and gave a small meow.
Nia smiled as she gently rubbed the kitten's ears. She looked to Killer as she asked, "Do you do roast veggies with it?"
He nodded before adding, "and roast potatoes."
Nia smiled a bit more then grabbed the duffle bag and pulled out her phone when it pinged. It was a message from someone who had been in her class last year inviting her to a pool party in a week. Nia bit her lip a little as she read the message. On one hand it would be a distraction from what had happened with her grandfather, but she hadn't gotten along well with a lot of the other students in her class.
She had been on friendly terms with the girl but not to the point that she considered her a real friend. If Nia was being honest with herself she'd bonded more with Kid in one day than with anyone in her class over the month that she attended Junior High in this city.
Kid observed Nia, but didn't ask, he waited for her to speak up.
"It's a girl from one of my classes—she's inviting me to a pool party next week," Nia stated.
"Hey that sounds like fun," Kid encouraged. He noticed that she wasn't smiling and even looked a little concerned as she thought it over.
"I guess—except she's not exactly a friend. We worked on a school project together once—didn't really hang out after it was over. Also she's one of the popular girls," Nia revealed.
"So you're worried about something not so genuine going on," Killer surmised.
Nia nodded her head a little. Kid was quiet for a moment before suggesting, "Ask her if you can bring someone. Don't say who."
The blonde girl bit her lip as she typed out a reply on her phone then read out, "Hey Ava, can I bring someone to the party?"
Killer gave a faint smile while Kid's expression didn't change. Soon a reply came through and Nia's shoulders sagged a little as she read it out loud, "Sure. Didn't think you had any other friends. That'll be cool to meet her."
Kid felt a vein in the side of his temple throb a little at the 'meet her' comment while thinking to himself, 'Geez, are guys my age so bad that people think we're incapable of being just friends with girls?'
Nia seemed to notice his distress and gently patted his shoulder while she replied one handed as she narrated what she was typing, "actually, he's a guy—and yeah I do have other local friends."
Her phone pinged again and Nia read the message, "Oh, my bad! Sorry! Any allergies or special diet needs?"
Kid shook his head 'no', and added that he wasn't big on curry. He watched as his friend typed out another reply before putting her phone back into the duffle bag and stood up, "Well… Cleo's litter box is in the laundry room, along with the box of litter. You know where her food is. I'm gonna go grab a week's worth of clothes and hopefully that'll be enough until Grandpa's home."
The guys nodded in agreement, then Kid asked, "how are we gonna carry everything back to the apartment?"
"Already handled it. Hailey'll be by in about an hour or so to drive us back," Killer announced. Nia headed into her room and Kid laid on his stomach in front of Cleo, offering his open palm to her. He could admit he had more experience with dogs than cats. Still the kitten sniffed at his hand before rubbing her head against the palm of his hand. He smiled as he gently rubbed the kitten's ears and commented, "well this'll be different, huh? Never had a cat in the apartment before. Nothing in the lease saying we can't have pets—but well a one bedroom's kinda small, ya know? Especially for two people as tall as me and Killer. So umm I'm gonna apologize now if I trip over you, okay? I'm gonna try hard to be aware of where you are all the time."
He'd almost swear the cat understood him, watching as the tawny tabby licked his hand. He chuckled at the roughness of the cat's tongue, realizing very quickly if the cat tried to lick his feet he'd be in trouble. That would likely tickle.
He had been feeling down at the idea of Nia going home, but now he got another week with her. He didn't like the circumstances that happened under, but at least he'd have a week of having a friend at least—he was betting once her grandfather figured out his history the man would force her to cut contact with him.