VLD Rare Pair Week: Day 4 (Kidge)
(I’ll post days 1 and 2 later)
Katie Holt was up, as her father used to primly say, shit creek.
(pardon her language, but her predicament benefited from it, if nothing else)
It was around two a.m. and she just stumbled through a strange dorm hallway, the slightest bit tipsy (courtesy of the wine coolers at the Kappa Alpha Princeton chapter’s party that was thrown on a Friday for, actually, no real reason other than “free booze, bitches!”).
Searching the hallway, she groaned, and knocked on a door.
“Lura?” She called. “Lura, you here?”
She went down the hall, knocking on several doors, with no response.
She finally got to the last door of the hall, and banged on it a bit harder than the others.
“Anyone home?” She said loudly. “Allura?”
There was no answer, and she groaned, sliding down to lean on the hard wood. She pulled out her phone, and scrolled through her contacts. Pressing down on her friend’s number, she lifted it to her ear. “Hello?” She said, tiredly. “Anyone ho-,”
Suddenly, the door behind her swung open, and she found herself lying on her back, looking up into the violet eyes of a stranger.
“Hello? Can I help you?” The guy said. The way he said it made her think he’d said it multiple times, and she shook herself out of her daze.
She scrambled up. “Um-sorry! Hi! Uh….hi.”
“Do you need something?” He asked, confused.
“Oh! Yeah! Um…my roommate’s missing. We were at the Kappa Alpha party with some friends, but she….disappeared? Someone said she came into this building. And I…um…need to find her.”
The guy nodded. “What does she look like?”
Katie jumped a bit. “Oh!” She swallowed. “Right! Yeah. Um-,” She scrolled through the photos on her phone, settling on one of her and Allura on a former spring break, in front of some waterfall. “Long, silvery-dyed hair? Pink shirt and jeans, and…um….white high-tops. I think. Name’s Allura.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, haven’t seen her.”
Katie bit her lip. “Oh. Okay. Thanks anyway.” She turned away, trying to decide if she should curl up in a ball in the nearby janitorial closet or continue searching.
“Wait!” She heard the guy say. She turned back around to see him tying his shoes and shrugging on a jacket. “If any of my friends were lost, I’d probably want help.”
She flushed. “Oh no, you don’t need to-,”
He waved her off, and jammed a beanie on his head. “Besides, I’d never forgive myself if her picture turned up on the paper.”
Katie blanched, and the guy cringed. “Sorry. Dark humor.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I got enough of that every Friday night when we rewatched Harold and Maude.”
The guy’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously? That was what we watched every Saturday back at home!”
She drew her eyebrows close together. “Really?”
He nodded. “Believe me, a twelve year-old did not need to see some of the stuff in that movie.”
Katie snorted. “Tell that to ten year-old me. I was scarred aplenty. All I wanted to do was to watch Bigfoot documentaries with my Barbie dolls.”
A tiny grin appeared on his face. “Ah, so ten year-old-,” He stopped.
“Katie.” She said quickly. “Katie Holt, but everyone calls me Pidge.”
“Pidge?” He asked, seemingly amused.
“An altercation with a pigeon as a toddler.” She admitted, cheeks burning. “And what’s your name, kind sir?” She said, bowing dramatically. “Allura will want to know what gentleman dragged her out from some Starbucks at-,” She checked her phone. “Two fifteen.”
The guy rubbed his neck. “Keith. Keith Kogane. Double major, history and math.”
Katie nodded. “Nice. Computer science.” She shuffled her feet. “Um. Should we-,” She motioned toward the hallway.
He nodded. “Yeah. Sorry for taking so long.”
Katie shook her head quickly. “Oh, no, it’s okay! I’ve never met anyone who was also forced to watch dark comedies by their family. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.”
Keith laughed. “So. Where should we start?”
It was about five a.m. and both Katie and Keith were sitting on the curb outside his dorm.
“Can you trace her cellphone?” Keith asked. They had been throwing out ideas to find her for about thirty minutes.
“Well.” Katie began. “Actually-,” She stopped. “Why did I not think of that?”
“Well, can you?” Keith asked.
Pidge nodded, fingers flying across her phone screen. “Don’t ask how, because I’m pretty sure it would piss off some law enforcement, but-,” She held up her screen. “I am a genius.”
Keith rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone. “Wait a second. It says she’s in this building.”
Pidge grabbed it back. “What?”
“Yeah. She’s right….,” Keith scanned the screen. “There!”
Pidge scrambled up. “Come on, come on!” She said hurriedly.
They rushed into the building, skidded across the floor, and raced up the two flights of stairs.
“I think-,” Katie gasped for breath, “It says she’s on the third floor!”
Keith reached the landing first, and looked down at her. “What room?”
“Um-,” Pidge checked the screen. “I think eighteen!”
Keith frowned. “Eighteen? Wait a sec-,” But Pidge was already at the door and banging on it.
“Allura!” She yelled. “Allura?”
The door cracked open and Pidge tripped and fell inside. “Ouch!”
Keith raced after her, and found himself face to face with whom he presumed to be Allura.
“Pidge?” The girl said incredulously. “What are you-,”
Pidge threw herself in her friend’s arms. “Oh, Lura!” She said, trying to fight back tears. “I thought I was gonna find you in the bottom of some ditch!”
Allura cautiously hugged her back. “Is she okay?” She mouthed to Keith, who shrugged.
“We’ve both been going off a caramel latte we got at three.” He confessed.
“Allura? You okay?” Someone called, and Keith laughed.
“I should’ve known!” He pushed past the girls, and nodded. “Shiro? This is who you snuck off to meet?”
The guy sitting on the couch inside the room did a double take. “Keith?”
“Yeah. Ditched me for….,” Keith trailed off and peered at the screen. “Overwatch. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The guy (Shiro, Katie reminded herself) flushed. “I-,”
Keith waved him off. “Just-stay safe kids.” He winked at Shiro, and Katie snorted at Allura’s red face.
“Let’s go, Keith!” She said. “Have fun!” She said to Allura, and then dragged Keith out of the apartment.
The door closed and they stood in silence for a bit.
“I guess this is…goodbye.” He said quietly.
“Thanks again.” Katie said, startling herself when she gave him a hug. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
He froze, but then gently hugged her back.
They stood there for a while, but then Katie pulled away. “I should…probably go. Rover’s waiting for me.”
“Rover?” Keith said, with a raised eyebrow.
And then Keith turned away, and started to move toward the stairs.
Suddenly, he felt a pair of lips on his cheek, and a piece of paper stuck in his hand.
“Bye.” Katie whispered, and then she was gone.
Keith stood frozen on the top of the stairs for a moment.
Looking down, he saw the following words in an untidy scrawl:
And then a sequence of numbers and dashes.
(Keith would solemnly deny it, but Shiro and Allura would both give witness to the fact that he might have squealed and did a little happy dance)
Hope you enjoyed! (Not beta-read; also, not an accurate portrayal of the Kappa Alpha Princeton chapter, no offense intended) @vldrarepairweek
