JUICY

ch 27

Peering into the window Kayla stood outside of Zach's room

She rubbed her hands together before shaking them and slowly opening the door to step into the room

Kayla creeped towards the bed to stand over Zach. She lowered her hand to grab his before she stopped herself and pulled her hands to her chest

Turning around Kayla rolled over the chair in the corner to his bedside

With a sigh Kayla reached for Zach's hand, closing her eyes thinking about past moments with the Salvatore

"Kayla baby I really don't know how to make your mommies pudding" Zach sighed as he continued to stir the bowl

Mother's day was Sunday and Kim was out of town since Thursday, it was currently Friday and Kayla wanted to decorate the house for her moms return on Sunday

"Then why don't we call Shelia?" Kayla shrugged as she stuck her tasting spoon in the bowl to taste the pudding mix while Zach blinked and started reaching for his phone
"Yeah let's call Shelia"
As the phone rang Kayla looked up at her father figure with a frown

"Zach... this is bad"

Zach chuckled as he helped the girl down from the stool. Once she hopped off the last step he heard Shelia Bennett say 'Hello'

Zach started speaking to Shelia asking if she could tell him how to make a banana pudding to which she laughed and said 'I'll make one and you can pick it up tomorrow but you got to leave it in the fridge so the cookies will soften'

Zach nodded as he responded "Thank you so much. This is the third bowl I messed up"

"Fourth!"

As Kayla chimed in as she kicked her feet while coloring on her notepad causing Zach to turned toward her "My bad. Fourth bowl. Thank you Kayla"
"You welcome"

Shelia laughed "No problem Zach. I'll call when it's read"
"Thank you again"

"Alrighty Kayla!" Zach clapped as he looked around the kitchen
"Time to get this cleaned up"

Kayla hopped up and ran towards the cd player on the counter to play music like her mom does while they clean

Zach and Kayla stood at the sink, one washing and one drying with Kayla mumbling words she didn't remember and singing the ones she did

Zach was nodding till they got to Left Eyes verse and he started singing with Kayla

"I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms. Have come and gone, leaving a trace of not one God-given ray"

Kayla stared at Zach with grin
"You do like TLC! I told Tyler and he said TLC was for girls. You wanna listen to Whitney Houston next?! Or we could do dance dance revolution!"

Laughing Zach dried the last dish and his hands before picking up the six year old

"How about we go to the Grill and get lunch before we decide to have a dance party"

"Can Caroline come dance with us? She's my best friend"
"I thought I was your best friend?"
"Yea I guess I am your best friend"

Zach raised an eyebrow "You are literally your mothers twin"

Grinning, the young girl hummed "Thank you"

A knock sounded at the door and Kayla turned around to see who it was

"Hey"
"Hey"

Caroline stood with a small smile and bag in hand
"I brought you some clothes. Jeremy finally texted me back after I blew up his phone with messages about you not answering"

Kayla nodded "i appreciate that Care"

The Forbes girl sat the bag down and walked over to rest a hand on her friends shoulder "What happened?"

Kayla's eyes watered for a second before she blinked the tears away, "He hit his head, I don't know- he was like this when i found him"

"Right...and so the blood on your shirt"

Squeezing her eyes the Salvatore girl blinked hard. She'd forgotten about the blood stains on her white skirt and dried patches on her skin

"Listen-"
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me right now. You'll tell me eventually, I just thought it was funny how you thought you could lie to me" Caroline chuckled as she brushed her friends hair out of her face

Kayla huffed a slight laugh and stood up "Especially with this on my skirt"

The two girls let out a short laugh. They never could lie to one another. It was always so easy for them to catch on.

Walking towards the door, Caroline turned around and said "You go ahead and get changed, I'll go sit with Jeremy and then we can go to the grill before we go home"

"K"

After Kayla got cleaned up and changed, she said her goodnight to Zach, she made her way to where she left Jeremy

When she reached the lobby, she noticed Stefan gone
"Where's-"
"Stefan left to go deal with something, he said let him know when you were ready to talk" Jeremy answered as he approached the girl to wrap an arm around her

The blonde girl who stood off to the side on a phone call came back over "My mom said she could stop by the grill and just pick it up if you wanna just go home"

"I thought you were staying with me?" Jeremy questioned like a kicked puppy causing Caroline to roll her eyes "It's a school night Gilbert, don't you have homework?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes "Girl boo"
"Did you just- did he just 'Girl boo' me?" Caroline questioned
"He hangs out with you wayyy to much Kayla"

The Salvatore girl snorted "Jeremy had offered me to stay the night with him but now that Liz knows, i doubt she'll let me out of her site for the night if the week. So i'll stay with you tomorrow if that's okay?"

Jeremy nodded "Yea, just call me if you need anything. Y'all good getting back? I can follow in my car?"
"We're good, thank you. For everything"

"Of course" Jeremy waved to Caroline as he pulled Kayla into a hug with a kiss on her head before walking off

"Y'all are so cute, I can't wait for mini Kayla and Jeremy babies"
"Don't play with me Forbes, I am a whole minor. You are not about be made an aunt by me anytime soon"
"....Girl boo"
"Caroline, I will fight you in this hospital"