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“We made it. You were right, Coco. Stars, that was scary.”
Coco dropped to the floor on her back and lay there. “I’m always right, Fina.”
Seraphina laughed and joined Coco on the floor. She stared at the ceiling. “Can you believe that? All that fuss and I didn’t get to swipe his card for credits.”
Coco continued to gasp beside her but the chuckle she released was familiar. “Cry baby bitch.”
Seraphina snorted. “Me or him?”
Her heart slowed and sweat dried on her skin as she worked to get her breathing under control. They’d never been this close to being caught before. She had no idea what she’d done to give herself away.
“We’ll have to be more careful next time,” Seraphina mused aloud. “Double check everything before we go in. The risk, man, Coco, I thought we were done for.”
Laughing, she tipped her head to the side to face her friend. Coco continued to wheeze. Seraphina pushed up to her elbows and shoved Coco’s shoulder. “Getting old, eh? I’m usually the one tired after a quick take off like that.”
Coco remained on her back, staring at the ceiling. Worry set in. Seraphina leaned closer. “Coco?”
Cocoa’s eyes rolled a little to the side to see Seraphina. A lone tear slipped down her cheek. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
“What’s wrong?” Seraphina cried out, moving to her knees and searching for a sign of injury.
Coco lifted the hand she had pressed to her middle, revealing a blaster hole. Blood soaked the center of the short green dress she wore. “S-sorry.”
“No, no, no.” Seraphina looked around for something to staunch the flow of blood.
Nothing. There was nothing. She didn’t have a medikit or anything here. They weren’t supposed to stay here long. A week max. Score some credits and leave. Her eyes burned as she reached for Coco’s hand. She got a weak squeeze in return.
“Hang on, Coco-mo,” Seraphina begged, using the childhood nickname. “I’ll get help.”
A medic. Someone. She didn’t care if they arrested her as long as her friend got help.
“Too late,” Coco croaked. She licked her lips. “We had a good run, didn’t we?”
Seraphina met her gaze and tried to force a smile to her face. Her lips quivered and a sob caught in her throat. “You can’t leave me. First rule of group home—”
“We stick together,” Coco finished with a shaky grin.
Her skin held a pale cast, no resemblance to the golden tan Coco paid expensive credits to maintain. Seraphina wiped a trembling hand over her cheek, smearing the tears on her face and sniffled. “I don’t know what to do without you.”
They’d been together from that first day. Years of friendship and sisterhood. Coco was the only family she had.
“Change,” Coco ordered. “Wanna...see my f-f-friend, not the face of this skank when I leave.”
Seraphina’s chuckle broke in the middle as she released the morph and assumed her normal appearance. Red hair to light brown, blue eyes to hazel. “Happy?”
Tears glittered on Coco’s eyelashes. Her lips pursed. “Immensely.”
They smiled at one another, the reality of death looming too hard to talk about. Coco held up her free hand and used her thumb to nudge off the silver ring on her middle finger. “Take it.”
The ring was all Coco had of her mother. A single piece of jewelry the miners claimed had been left in her blanket.
“N-nnooo. I can’t.”
When Seraphina didn’t reach for the silver band, Coco tried to lean up and shove the ring at her. The effort caused her to groan and fall back on the floor. A small puddle grew on the floor beneath her.
“Stop. I will, I will. Just keep still.” Even as her heart broke in half, Seraphina accepted the ring. It was too big to fit her finger, so she jammed it on her thumb. She wrapped both hands around Coco’s.
“Now I’ll always be with you,” Coco whispered. Her lashes fluttered and Seraphina could see it was a struggle to keep her eyes open.
