“There he is!” a hulking, towering, muscle-clad blonde man exclaimed in glee when he saw a serious-faced brown-haired man in glasses enter the diner. “Ayo! Over here!”
Mike’s normally serious face broke into a slightly embarrassed smile upon hearing the commotion. He chuckled to himself, waving back to the man, and to the two others nearby. He nodded awkwardly to the waitress near the front to wordlessly tell her he didn’t need help finding a seat, and quickly joined the party of three. “Am I late?” he asked the group.
Burton, an Adonis of a man with slicked-back blonde hair, rolled his eyes and waved off the notion. The other blonde of the group, Tiffany, simply smiled, clearly eager to see her friend. The final member of the four, Paul, checked his watch. “Only five minutes,” he replied as if it were a joke. Even so, he immediately got up to give his friend a hug, smothering Mike in his leather jacket and smell of strange cologne in the process.
Mike sat down next to Burton and watched Paul retake his seat, bathed in the obnoxious lighting of the diner. “That’s a new cologne,” he observed.
“Right?” Tiffany joined in. “I think it’s better.”
“Nah, it’s just weirder,” Burton asserted, turning to look at Paul. “Why can’t you just stick to one and stay with it?”
“Yeah, because you’d know all about sticking to one,” Paul quipped back with a smile, then shrugged. “I’m trying something new. If I like it more than what I got on right now… why not?”
Burton leaned in, looking between Mike and Tiffany. “I’ve been to his place before,” he pretended to whisper to the other two. “Dude’s got half-empty cologne bottles littering his shelf.”
“What do you want me to do, throw ‘em out?” Paul countered. “They’re still good, they’re just not what I’m gonna use at the moment.”
Burton would have pressed the issue further, but around that time, the waitress came by. “Okay…” she began routinely, slipping one more menu onto the table. “That’s all four of you, right?”
“Sorry I’m late,” Mike sheepishly replied.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” the waitress instinctively replied. “Can I get you started with a drink?”
“Oh. Um, water’s fine, thanks,” Mike replied.
Burton started sporting a grin right as Mike said that. He turned to the waitress and pointed at her. “Told ya.”
The waitress turned to face Burton and smiled. “You called it, well done,” she laughed. “Okay, I’ll be right back with that for ya.” With that, she turned and walked away.
Mike’s eyes followed her. “Do I even need to ask, or-”
“Yup,” Tiffany interjected, reading his mind.
“Mary and I made a lil’ bet,” Burton explained.
“It’s not a bet, you just said that Mike would order water and she laughed,” Tiffany noted. “Because she’s paid to be friendly.”
“He did manage to get her name though,” Paul replied with his hand on his chin.
“I feel like that’s just a regular thing wait staff does,” Tiffany argued. “Like, ‘hi, I’m whoever, and I’ll be your waitress today.’”
“Yeah, but, counterpoint, when Burton does it…” Paul trailed off, and the group giggled together.
Mike slowly shook his head at his friend, a smile plastered on his face. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Why change when you’re the best?” Burton joked in a mocking self-obsessed voice, and the group laughed again.
“That just means you peaked in high school,” Tiffany joined in.
“Hey, maybe, but all that means is I’m still at the peak if I haven’t changed!” Burton reasoned.
“Because that’s how it works,” Mike laughed.
The waitress came back with a glass and a pitcher of water, and filled up Mike’s glass. Mike nodded in thanks, but Burton piped up. “Thanks, Mary.”
“No problem, Burton,” she giggled. “Do you four think you know what you want this evening?”
The four of them picked up their menus and shoved them in their faces, and began to order their food. Mike went last to ensure he (just barely) had enough time to figure out what he wanted, but then again, Mike always ordered the same thing from these kinds of places – the cheeseburger – so it wasn’t exactly difficult for him. Once the waitress was out of earshot, the four began to giggle again.
“She remembered his name,” Mike noted with a smile.
“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Paul joined in.
Tiffany rolled her eyes, but smiled and didn’t say anything for a bit. She took a sip from her drink, then looked at Burton. “Just don’t be weird with her.”
“Weird?!” Burton pushed back. “I’m not fuckin’ weird! When was I ever weird?”
Paul winced. “I mean, Katrina had some pretty mean things to say ab-”
“Oh hell no,” Burton assertively interrupted. “We both know shit got weird between me and Katrina after we… y’know. That’s old shit at this point though.” He shrugged. “You know how it was. Sex was weird and complicated back in high school.”
“As if it isn’t now,” Mike laughed dismissively.
“Yeah, I was about to say,” Paul added. “If you’ve managed to avoid workplace drama… especially, no offense Burt, if you have managed to avoid workplace drama… that’s a miracle.”
“All I’m sayin’ is, getting older is the best thing that happened to me,” Burton laughed, leaning back. “I mean, granted, college is basically over for me, but it’s still… all three of you, right?”
Tiffany nodded, putting her head down in thought. Paul nodded as well, and Mike remained unmoved. “To be honest, I might drop out,” he told his friends. “I’m just not feeling it.”
“Shit, really? Burton asked, then shrugged. “Well, if you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. What’re you gonna do instead?”
Mike shrugged. “Work, I guess. Right? What else can you do?”
“True, yeah,” Burton replied, nodding. “But I bet it’s gonna be way harder to meet girls when you’re off in the real world. May as well smoke ‘em while you got ‘em, right?”
Mike eyed the table and awkwardly shrugged. “I, uh… I dunno.”
Tiffany’s radar picked up on something. “If you ever don’t wanna talk about something, you don’t have to, you know,” she told him supportively.
“No, it’s not that, but I – thanks, by the way – but I just… I think… I mean, I said it before. Sex is weird and complicated now. High school just takes you by the shoulders and goes, ‘Sup, fucker? This is how it’s gonna be.’ Everything else is just more of that.” He paused, and his friends didn’t say anything to close the gap, so he continued. “I mean, you remember what happened between me and Daniela.”
There was silence from the group again. Burton, Paul, and Tiffany just looked at each other. “I don’t think you ever told us,” Tiffany softly told him.
“Really? You sure? I feel like I did,” Mike argued.
“Trust me, I would have remembered,” Paul replied. “You never talked about it.”
Mike chuckled nervously. “Oh,” he said. “Well, uh… I mean, I know we didn’t meet up to just talk about the past-”
“Sure we did,” Burton replied with a smile, lightening the mood.
“Yeah,” Tiffany agreed. “If you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to, but… I think it’s safe to say all three of us were kind of curious about what happened with that whole thing.”
“Okay, if you’re sure!” Mike replied hesitantly. “I didn’t think I’d be talking about this of all things today, but hey…”
Burton leaned in. “Let it all out. Hit us with it!”
Mike sighed.
***
Teachers had this superhuman ability to make the dumbest choices possible. That was the only possible explanation Mike’s mind could make as he slammed his locker door shut. “Can you believe he moved the due date half a week ahead?!” Mike grumbled, shaking his head at the floor.
Paul took a bite from his apple, leaning against the next locker. “That’s Graves for ya,” he told Mike after swallowing his bite. “He didn’t get his reputation for nothing.”
“But at least just make it one week when you assign it! Try not being a literal Nazi!” Mike groaned, miming punching his locker. “There’s gotta be something in the school rules against that shit. Maybe we can report him.”
Paul turned to Mike and gave him a weird smile. “And maybe you’re calling your teacher a Nazi and threatening to write him up because he moved a two-page module up three days,” he laughed. “Yeah, he’s being a dick, but that’s Graves’ style. I’m not a sissy like your other teachers. Welcome to the real world.”
“It’s fucking stupid,” Mike grumbled.
“For sure,” Paul nodded, then looked at his watch. “I gotta catch my bus. See ya!”
Without even waiting for a response, Paul sauntered off in his imitation leather jacket. Mike loved Paul, but he could kind of be a tone-deaf prick sometimes. Even if the guy was going to walk like he owned the world, the least he could do was get an actual leather jacket.
***
“And to be fair, I did,” Paul chuckled, opening one half of his jacket as if to show it off. The table emitted a slight chuckle. “Real leather.”
“It does look better,” Mike admitted, alongside a chuckle of his own. “Anyways…”
***
Why was it so hard for Mike’s friend group to just see things his way? The last thing he needed when he complained about Mr. Fucking Graves was to have his friend go, ‘well gosh, Mike, it’s his right to be a jerk!’ Sure, Mike knew that. Everyone knew that teachers were allowed to be jerks. It didn’t make it right.
Mike sighed, hitting his head against his locker. Life was so much bullshit. He probably would have given up by now if it hadn’t been for-
Suddenly, Mike was pulled off of his locker and before he could even process what was happening, he felt a pair of lips on his. He melted into the kiss, not even needing to see to recognize who it was. He knew Daniela’s smell, her touch, and even her aura off by heart at this point.
Plus, if anyone else randomly tried to kiss him at his locker, that would be insane. Some guys might have liked it if something like that happened to them, but not Mike. He had everything he needed right here.
“Hey baby,” Daniela breathed as she broke off the kiss. “How was your day?”
Despite all of Mike’s feelings, he couldn’t help but smile. “Rough, babe,” he admitted breathily. “Real rough. Graves is being a bitch.”
Daniela pouted. “Oh no, baby, I’m sorry!” she sympathetically whined. “Tell you what, let’s hang out and I’ll make it better for you, how does that sound?”
Mike didn’t want to look easily pleased or even easily happy with his girlfriend – after all, that was a one-way ticket to him getting mocked by his friends for being “whipped” – but he couldn’t keep his expression’s eagerness contained. “Yeah, absolutely,” he agreed giddily. “Like, right now?”
“Sure!” Daniela beamed. “Your place?”
Mike readily agreed, and just like that, his day immediately went from the worst in a while to the best day ever. He and Daniela were obviously head-over-heels for each other, but even then, he couldn’t remember the last time they actually got to hang out. It was at least a week for sure. Hand in hand, the pair made their way to the bus, and eventually, ended up at Mike’s house.
Mike’s parents were accustomed to seeing Daniela and, thankfully, were completely fine with the pair hanging out alone. Daniela’s parents were less generous in that regard, so more often than not, the lovebirds would hang out at Mike’s house. More specifically, his basement. His dad had built a cozy little den with carpeting and wood paneling walls and comfy sofas, and both Mike and Daniela were happy to make that area theirs as long as Daniela was over.
Talk was cheap, and at any rate, the two had plenty of time to talk on the bus ride over. It seemed that to Daniela, the situation was simple – school was stressing her boyfriend out. Her solution? Actions speak louder than words. The two had barely gotten a few suggestive sentences out before they both ended up on the couch, with Daniela eagerly on top of Mike, grinding into his bulge as the two made out. Mike, of course, was a hot-blooded teen that knew the way things went by now – he was hard before they even got to his house, and he had to keep his hands in his pockets and… “re-angle things” so that he didn’t look weird in front of his parents.
Here, he had no such modesty. His favorite resting place for his hands was on Daniela’s hips, and he loved the way her skin felt against his. He was happy to take advantage of his hands’ placement and pull her closer to him, causing her to moan into the sloppy kisses as she felt his rock-hard bulge pressing right against her needy soft pussy. Even with the layers of clothes in between them, the two could feel every sensation, and every minute the two spent with their lips locked only made them needier and needier for each other.
Mike could only take so much, and after what felt like hours of making out (although Daniela could make ten minutes spent with her simultaneously feel like an hour and the space of a single second), he pulled away from her, allowing the pair’s lips to finally part, covered in each other’s saliva. The move wasn’t fueled by a desire to stop, but rather the opposite. When they pulled away from each other, Daniela’s eyes fluttered open to see the hungry desperation in her boyfriend’s eyes.
Her expression slowly turned into a smirk. “I know that look,” she teased, biting her lip and slowly grinding on her boyfriend’s throbbing bulge. She moved up and down, then in a circle, watching Mike wince, pure delight on her face. “But how could I ever turn my boyfriend’s bad day into a good one?”
Despite Mike’s neediness and desperation, he could help but smile back, albeit sheepishly. She was teasing him, but they both knew what she was going to do. Mike didn’t need to ask for it. All too happily, Daniela reached inside his pants and began to massage his rock-hard cock, kissing her way down his neck as he did. Mike moaned and leaned back, enjoying the sensations, keeping his eyes closed and feeling Daniela undo his pants.
Soon his throbbing dick was out in the air, and Daniela was getting onto her knees, enjoying the sight of it bobbing right in front of her face. “Mmm, you have such a perfect cock, Mike,” she mewed softly, keeping her eyes on the prize. Making a show for him, she licked her full top lip, then grinned up at Mike as he chuckled softly. “Is something on your mind?” she teased.
Mike smiled. “Come on,” he begged.
Daniela bit her lip and gave him a wink, holding the base of his shaft with her hand and slowly extending her tongue, licking him from base to tip. Mike groaned instantly. He knew her blowjobs so well, and yet, every time her mouth worked its magic, it felt like a new experience. Daniela didn’t bother teasing him for too long, taking his full cock into her mouth and sucking off her boyfriend lovingly. It was almost as if her eyes had hearts in them. He gripped the back of her head, a powerful feeling taking him. He didn’t just love fucking Daniela – he loved her. He was so sure.
Despite the tender feelings Mike was experiencing, he was happy to start moving his hips, fucking the little mouth of his wonderful girlfriend. Daniela responded in kind, moving her mouth along with his hips to ensure she gave him the best blowjob she could. Her hands started to playfully massage Mike’s balls, as if she was wishing he’d empty them right into her mouth. Her eyes would sometimes shut in focus, and then at other times they’d reopen almost lazily, giving Mike the most lustful yet loving stare he ever got. This was love, no question. No two ways about it.
“I fucking love you…” Mike groaned, his grip on her hair only tightening. He picked up speed, and Daniela didn’t miss a beat. She was there with him every step of the way, and knew the telltale signs. She was ready, eager, and happy to receive his load. When it came, Daniela didn’t wince, or pull back. She moaned. She gladly received, making sure to keep her eyes on her boyfriend’s expression. Even with her mouth still on his cock, she couldn’t help but giggle as his face went slack with overwhelming emotions. By the time her mouth was off of him, he was spent, barely able to form words.
She bit her lip, content to just watch him, only choosing to speak when he managed to open his eyes. “I love you too,” she told him in a voice that reassured him deeply. Even with his deflating cock between them, the two smiled at each other, sharing a wholesome moment.
And the moment didn’t go away quickly. Even after his pants went back up, the two laid together on the couch in that cozy little basement, holding each other, talking in the ways they’d gotten used to over the last few weeks.
“I hope it’ll always be like this,” Daniela told him.
“I know it will be,” Mike told her immediately yet tenderly, smiling at her. “I can feel it. We belong together, baby.”
Daniela’s eyes got misty and her smile slowly grew. He kissed her on her cheek and the two lay there, content to just have their hands on each other, holding one another. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” Daniela added quietly.
Burton didn’t often come home from college, so when he was back in town, the group was all too happy to make plans. Today was no exception. As soon as he announced in the group chat that he was home for a short time, the chat exploded, and within ten minutes perfect plans were made – where, when, what, the works.
Even though it was getting colder, Mike was happy to walk through the snow if it meant getting to see Burton again. Paul and Tiffany were just as eager, beating him to the cafe they all agreed on just minutes before him. The three were happy to chat and giggle and make a big ruckus at their table, but once Burton had arrived, it was like a firework had gone off in the cafe. Hugs, inside jokes followed by guffaws, and even shouts filled the cafe, to the extent where one of the workers had to give the four The Look. Tiffany caught on and sheepishly reminded the other three that other people were there, and perhaps they should keep it down.
“So, tell us everything!” Paul eagerly began, putting an arm down on the table. “How’s college?”
Burton leaned back in the cozy booth and snorted. “Easy shit,” he replied cockily. “Looking for a job though, that shit sucks. Anything that pays good is either taken or weird. Like, some weeks they’ll give you five whole days to work and some weeks they’ll be all, ‘oh, we only need you one day, for four hours.’ And they don’t tell you until like two days before. And that’s the good shit. I’ll be honest, I bet working somewhere like McDonald’s sucks.”
“Holy shit, actual empathy,” Tiffany teased. “College has changed you.”
“I know, right? Scary!” Burton laughed. “I mean, hey, you don’t just stop growing up in high school, you know? You guys forget, but being eighteen still means you’re a fuckin’ teenager. I’ll be twenty in less than a year, and that shit can be…”
Burton kept talking away as Mike felt a vibration in his pocket. Furrowing his brow, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to see Daniela calling him. She called him often but she knew today was a Burton Day. It must have been something important.
“Uh, sorry guys, one sec, got a call,” Mike quickly interrupted, getting up and jogging out of the cafe as he accepted the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Mike?” Daniela’s voice rang through the phone. Her voice quivered, even over the line.
“Daniela, are you okay?” Mike quickly asked, his voice losing its casual nature.
“Yes. Well – no. No, I don’t know,” Daniela replied in a quick, anxious way. “I’m, um, having a bad day. Really bad. Can I… Can I please come over? Please? I’m sorry, I know this is out of nowhere, but I’m really not okay right now. I need you.”
Mike’s eyes flickered through the streets, and he turned around to face the cafe. Inside the window, he could see Burton finishing some kind of joke. The other two broke out into laughter. He smiled slightly at their joy, but his smile quickly faded as he remembered why he was out here. Daniela never called him like this. Burton may have visited once in a blue moon, but Mike needed to be there for his girlfriend, the love of his life.
“Of course, baby,” he told her with confidence. “I’m out right now, but I’m walking home as we speak. I should be home by the time you get there.”
“Okay. Thank you, baby. I’m so sorry, I know today was-”
“Daniela. Don’t worry about it. You’re what’s important,” Mike warmly told her. “Talk to you soon.” He ended the phone call and sighed to himself, before walking back in.
Burton’s eyes followed him back inside. “Finally,” he groaned charismatically. “You spent more time with the damn phone than me, man. C’mon.”
Tiffany laughed. “He was out there for like, two minutes, Burton,” she chuckled.
Mike’s face didn’t change, and the group quickly noticed the atmosphere change. “Look guys, I’m really sorry about this, but I have to go. It’s a bit of an emergency.”
“A ‘bit’ of an emergency, what does that mean, what’s going on?” Burton mumbled, looking at the other two and shrugging. “I wanna know what a ‘bit’ of an emergency is, I haven’t seen you all year and you know I can only hang out today.”
“Is everything okay?” Paul asked.
“Uh, it should be, I just need to…” Mike trailed off nervously.
“A ‘bit.’ Of an emergency,” Burton repeated, mostly to himself. “Like, it’s either an emergency or it’s not, you know? Do you have to go?”
“I’m sorry, yeah,” Mike replied. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
Tiffany’s face turned serious. “I hope everything turns out alright,” she told him supportively.
“Thanks,” Mike replied, already walking towards the exit. “I’ll make it up to you, Burton. I promise,” he called out as he left the cafe.
***
“That’s what the emergency was?! Daniela was just on her period?” Burton asked, almost banging his hand down on the table but restraining at the last second.
“Look man, I knew if I told you it was a her thing back then, you would have tried to guilt me into staying,” Mike insisted, his hands in front of his face defending himself.
Burton stared at him for a bit. “No shit I would’ve, man!” he agreed emphatically. “That was the only time I was home all year!”
Mike shrugged. “Back then it felt like she was more important to me than anything. I don’t know what to tell you.”
Burton folded his arms and sat back. “Yeah, it’s pretty damn clear she meant more to you than we did…” he mumbled.
“Hey,” Mike pushed back, gaining his voice, holding up a finger. “Keep in mind, where am I now? I’m here with you, not her.”
Paul leaned forward, a smile growing on his face. “Speaking of…” he goaded, twirling a finger and encouraging Mike to go on with his story.
***
Miraculously, Mike had made it home before Daniela did. He did his best to explain to his parents why Daniela was coming over unannounced – even though the only reason why they were okay with her being over alone with him in the first place was because he was always communicative about it – and went to prepare the basement for her arrival. After about a minute of him tidying up the couch, Daniela’s footsteps came thundering down the stairs, barely hiding the sound of her crying.
Mike had never seen her in tears before. He dropped the throw cushion in his hand and immediately moved to his sobbing girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her. “What is it, what’s wrong?” he asked breathlessly, although she would not answer with words for the next five minutes. By the time she was ready to speak, the pair had migrated to the couch.
“Do you ever…” Daniela began, struggle apparent in her voice. “Do you ever just have a day so bad, it makes you see the whole world different?” Daniela began.
“Daniela, what happened?” Mike asked nervously. “Did someone die?”
Daniela shook her head, a fresh tear flowing down her face. “That’s the most fucked-up part. Nothing even… Nothing even happened,” she explained between sobs. “I just looked at myself in the mirror, and… and I just couldn’t stop, and I…” She began to cry more violently. “I… didn’t recognize myself!!”
Mike had never seen her like this, ever. Half sad that his girlfriend was hurt, and half… baffled, he continued to hold his girlfriend as the tears flowed. Even so, he did his best to reassure her. “Don’t worry, baby,” he told her softly, only finding his voice halfway through his sentence. “You still have me, I promise, we’ll get through this. We’re gonna grow up together, just like I promised. It’s okay, I promise.”
Daniela, who normally melted from Mike’s “magical way with words,” was completely unaffected, and continued to cry into his shoulder. Mike’s bafflement only grew, but he still diligently held her, coaxing the tears out. Eventually, when her crying had devolved into sniffles, Mike broke off the hug. His finger guided her face by the chin so that they were looking each other right in the eyes, and as meaningfully as possible, he began to kiss her deeply. Daniela didn’t resist in the slightest (though she showed no real initiation herself) and accepted the kiss. As most of the kisses did in their treasured basement, the kiss eventually evolved. Soon, the pair were lying down on the couch, their tongues fighting for attention, with Mike on top of Daniela, holding her down playfully. Mike got lost in the sensations, letting instinct take over, with his hands traveling up and down Daniela’s tight, irresistible body. He knew just how to cheer up his special girl during her bad day. Departing from the kiss, he smiled reassuringly at her. His hands went south, and were soon undoing his girlfriend’s pants.
Daniela turned pink. “Mike, what are you-”
“Sssh,” Mike shushed her warmly, moving her pants and underwear down her legs in one fell swoop. With confident hands, he parted her legs and eagerly moved his head down, ensuring to kiss up her thighs every step of the way. He would show Daniela that there was no reason to be worried, and that he truly would make everything better for her.
The teasing kisses led to playful licking around her labia, with the occasional lick moving closer and closer to his goal. The teasing was always his favorite part – it made her so excited for the main event – but it couldn’t last too long on today of all days. Daniela needed a good dose of cheering up, and the doctor was in.
Mike’s eyes slowly closed as his tongue first breached her inner womanhood, then back up to her clit, then back inside. His confidence almost broke for a second – his radar sensed something was wrong – but soon Daniela had finally allowed herself to surrender to her feelings, moaning and moving her hips to meet her boyfriend’s tongue. The world was alright again. Mike gladly continued his friendly attack, gripping her thighs and allowing his tongue to work his magic on her.
Finally, Daniela was whimpering, allowing the occasional moan to come through. Even with his tongue out, Mike couldn’t help but smile. Pleasing his girlfriend felt and sounded so fuckin’ good. He temporarily stopped his assault on her folds and replaced his tongue with a finger, telling her, “See? We belong together. It’ll all work out, baby. I promise.”
Daniela shifted in place, then nearly froze. At once, she shifted back, causing Mike’s finger to stop. “Mike…” she trailed off, causing him to look up at her.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” he asked, wiping his mouth subconsciously.
“No, you didn’t, I just… I think I should go home,” Daniela replied nervously, picking her underwear back up.
Mike stared at her for a few seconds, dumbfounded. “…What?” he asked eventually, to no answer from her. “What?” he asked again with more emphasis.
“I just… can’t do this right now. I’m sorry. You didn’t do anything, it just… I just can’t, okay?” she explained uneasily.
Mike didn’t move. “Y’know, when you say it like that, it sounds like I did do something and you’re just not telling me or something…”
“Mike, please, just trust me, okay?” Daniela replied, exasperatedly. As if he did something wrong.
Still, what could he do? Eventually, Mike nodded slightly. “Okay,” he replied defensively, trying not to let it show how bothered he was. “Do you, um, want to go on a walk maybe? Would that be better?”
Daniela shook her head, now fully dressed. “Honestly, I think I should just go home. I’m really sorry Mike, I just need to be alone for a bit.”
Mike’s vision narrowed. What? He went home for her, and left his friend he hadn’t seen all year, just to get blown off? No. That’s not how this stuff went down. That wasn’t fair. That wasn’t fair at all.
“Um, Daniela-” he began, heat burgeoning in his tone.
“I’m being real, Mike, I just need some time alone,” she told him more assertively. “Please, okay? Please.”
“But this isn’t fair, I went home from – I mean – I rushed home for you, and left my friends, and-”
Daniela scrunched up her face and rubbed the bridge of her nose as Mike talked. Like he was annoying her or something. “Then, um, go back to them I guess,” she told him. “I’m sorry. Really, Mike, I’m sorry. I just really want to be alone right now, okay? I’m sorry.”
“Wha-” Mike began, and Daniela, sensing the tone of his reply, sighed and marched up the stairs. “Dani- Daniela!” Mike called out after her. “Daniela!”
Slam! The sound of the door echoed through the house, and his heart. Mike knew this feeling instantly – betrayal. No two ways about it. He was there for her, he was there to comfort her, and she pushed it away like it was alien or something. He understood she was feeling bad, but he did all this for her. What about his feelings? Didn’t they matter too?
He sat down on the couch, shaking his head to himself. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Soon, instead of sitting down, he was pacing back and forth on the shag carpeting of the basement, mumbling to himself.
“No, it’s actually not fair to me, because…” he murmured, then shook his head. “Daniela, when you say that kind of stuff, it’s actually destroying my – disregarding my words. Yeah, you really need to think about your… think about your… think about how I’ve been helping you. There’s a respect barrier… There’s a respect… Daniela, there’s a certain level of respect two people show each other in a relationship, and you’re not being fair, because…”
“…Because you’re being a fucking dick!!” the little brown-haired girl screamed, trying to ignore the crowd growing in the hallway who had come to watch their antics. The guy she was screaming at, some preppy kid with a baseball cap on, seemed a lot more aware of how stupid the dramatic duo looked than she did.
“Holy shit,” Tiffany murmured, chuckling to herself, unable to tear herself away. “Were we ever that bad in ninth grade?”
“Nope,” Mike replied without a second thought. “At least I wasn’t.”
“I think I was,” Paul admitted, clearly less amused at the whole situation than the other two. His hand was stressfully running through his own wavy brown hair.
“Must be genetic then,” Mike mused. “I mean, that’s your cousin, right?”
“Ha ha,” Paul replied with little-to-no amusement in his tone. “I never claimed she wasn’t a handful. Maybe the other guy was actually being a dick too, we wouldn’t know.” He would have said something further, but another yell full of expletives from Paul’s cousin caused him to abandon his further argument and squeeze his eyes shut in embarrassment.
Mike could see his friend was genuinely hurting from this cringefest, and leaned in. “Uh, not to tell you what to do, but maybe you should get a teacher or something,” he suggested. “Y’know, to maybe make this stuff stop before it gets more embarrassing.”
Paul looked from Mike to his cousin’s display. “Do you really think that’ll actually help…?” he asked.
Tiffany shrugged. “It could,” she admitted. “It’ll be embarrassing for her now, but maybe the punishment will make her not wanna do it in the future.”
Paul’s face mulled over the idea, then eventually he shrugged. “Yeah, good point,” he conceded, turning around. “I’m gonna go get Graves.” With that, he sauntered off.
“Jesus. Mr. Graves,” Mike laughed, turning back to the spectacle. “Paul went with the nuclear option.”
“When you’re at war, go big,” Tiffany laughed. “I really want to keep watching, but…”
Mike read her mind. “Yeah. Out of respect for Paul, if nothing else…”
“Exactly,” Tiffany agreed, and the two walked off together towards their lockers. “I bet Burton would have loved to see that shit.”
“Burton was definitely, a hundred percent like that in ninth grade,” Mike laughed.
Tiffany laughed too. “Not like we’ll ever know. We weren’t even here back then.”
“He’s so fuckin’ old,” Mike laughed, nearing their lockers.
Waiting for him there was Daniela, who folded her arms upon seeing the duo approach. “Hi Mike,” she greeted him flatly.
“Hey Daniela,” Mike greeted back, trying to artificially inject warmth into his tone. It probably didn’t work. It felt like something was weird between them these days, but nothing bad actually happened, so Mike tried to push it out of his mind. “What’s up? Good to see you.”
“Yeah,” Daniela replied. “Um, good to see you too. I texted you earlier, but I guess you didn’t see it. Hi Tiffany, how’s it going?”
“Uh, fine?” Tiffany replied hesitantly.
“What were you two talking about?” Daniela asked. “Y’know, when you were hanging out together just now.”
Mike couldn’t help but flash her a look. Tiffany decided to keep talking. “We were just watching Paul’s cousin make a total scene in the halls. Paul was there too, and-”
“Oh, Paul was there too,” Daniela replied, a hint of skepticism to her tone. She started nodding towards the floor. “Okay, okay.”
Tiffany was getting less comfortable by the second. “Um, okay, so, I’m gonna… go,” she admitted uneasily. “I’ll, uh, see you later Mike.” Without another word from anyone there, Tiffany walked away.
As soon as she was gone, Mike sighed. “Happy now?” he asked Daniela. “Tiffany and I have been friends since before we even started dating. You used to be so good about her and I being friends. What even changed?”
“I just think it’s funny that after I want some space, you and Tiff start hanging out more and more, that’s all,” Danilea said defiantly, yet with this faux ‘it’s just interesting’ tone.
Mike grunted. “Yeah, that’s what happens when your whole world wants space, Daniela,” Mike admitted through gritted teeth. “You have more free time and spend it with friends.” He paused. “And don’t call her ‘Tiff,’ I told you, she hates that.”
“It’s really sweet how you’re so considerate of her feelings like that,” Daniela replied with the same tone. “It’s nice how you defend her so much too. I’m sure she really appreciates that.”
Mike’s expression turned to weirded out. “Baby, you can’t both push me away and get defensive when I’m around my female friends,” he argued, just like how he rehearsed it in his head the day before. “I would give you so much more attention than her if you just allowed me to. But you don’t. It’s weird you get jealous like that when the only reason I’m not hanging out with you more is you telling me you need space. Like, did you want me to give you space and stop talking to every girl in my life too?”
Daniela scoffed. “Um, I’m allowed to both want space and think it’s weird that as soon as I want space, you cling to another girl,” she argued. “I don’t even have guy friends, Mike. Some of that is out of respect to you. You’re not exactly an angel yourself when it comes to being jealous.”
Mike’s cheeks burned. He didn’t want to admit to her, or himself, how true that was. “Okay, whatever,” he lamely conceded. “Fine, I won’t hang out with Tiffany. As much. I still want to talk to her a little. But I can try to make sure it only happens when Paul i-”
“Mike,” Daniela cut in.
“What is it?” he sighed.
“I don’t think it’s working.”
All of the other noise in the hallway died out in an instant. All of Mike’s visuals blurred and blacked out, save for Daniela standing there. He only saw her, and darkness. “What?”
“Things haven’t felt right for a while, have they?” Daniela asked, her tone softening.
“W-well, no, but… but that’s because you asked for space when e-everything was-”
“And now you’re blaming me again,” she observed gravely. “Mike, I don’t think things have been working for a while now, but we just… I dunno, we just got caught up in-”
“No, fuck that, we said we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, Daniela. We loved each other.” He shook his head. “We love each other. We-”
“Do we?” she contested him with a sad expression. “Look, Mike, I don’t think we can continue like this. It’s been feeling worse and worse even befor-”
Mike grabbed her by the shoulders. “Then why the fuck did you say those things about loving me? About spending the rest of your life with me? Were they just words? Were you just saying fuckin’ words?!”
“What the fuck else do you say when someone says that stuff to you?” Daniela argued. “‘Maybe, we’ll see’? I told you what you wanted to hear. I told you what I wanted to believe, and maybe I tricked myself, but… I…” Her eyes began producing a sheen of tears. “I just needed to stop… lying. To myself. I was lying to myself. It’s felt more and more like I’m serving you, like I’m living for you. I felt like your mother more than your girlfriend some-”
“Ew!” Mike interjected. “Fuck that! Why would you even say that?”
“Because any time you were over I’d have to clean up after you, and serve you food, and it just became weird! Mike, that’s why my parents didn’t like you, you know.”
“Oh, okay, here we go,” Mike laughed with hostility, crossing his arms and swaying side to side.
“And then we’d always go to your place, and go to the same fucking basement, and then I would always have to-” She glanced around her to make sure no one was listening. “…I’d have to give you a blowjob or something, almost every time,” she finished with a much quieter tone.
“And despite all that,” Mike rebutted, “You never told me once until now. So all those times you said you loved me, they were all lies, huh? They were all lies?”
“I didn’t know they were lies! I just told you I was lying to myself!” Daniela argued. “And plus, I definitely brought a few of those things up before, and you said you’d change. Because you loved me and you were going to marry me. Sorry, no. No, Mike. I don’t want you to marry me. I don’t want to date you any more, Mike.”
Mike’s vision started to shake. It was as if reality itself was crumbling around him. Even if he could logically tell where this was going quickly, hearing her say those words so explicitly destroyed his whole world. Not knowing what to do, he spun around, facing his locker, and let his head hit the metal. Unmoving, he stood there, eyes shut, head welded to his locker. There he remained, trying to stop the tears from coming… failing.
It was so clear how devastating this was to him. How unfair this was. Even if he wasn’t perfect – and who was? – why was all of this coming out now? Not before? Why couldn’t she see how mean this was? Why wasn’t she seeing she was going too far? Why wasn’t she comforting him?
Daniela’s hand never supportively reached out to caress his back like after the past fights. She never told him it was going to be okay. She never hugged him and said she was sorry. Instead, all he could hear from her at first was a sigh. “I’m not saying we can’t be friends,” she told him softly after a pause. “Eventually. But for now, I need my space. Please respect that.” She paused, and eventually sighed. “I’m going to leave now.”
“Go ahead,” Mike immediately replied, his eyes still squeezed shut. “Go.” He didn’t know if she stuck around or left immediately. He wouldn’t turn around again for the next five whole minutes.
***
“And after that, I barely saw her at all,” Mike admitted quietly. “I thought maybe there was a chance every so often, but after she un-added me on all of our socials, it was like, ‘Oh, well that’s clear as day, it’s over, see ya,’ y’know?”
“Shit, man,” Burton replied sympathetically.
“Can I say something, uh, potentially…” Paul began gingerly.
Mike flashed him a half-annoyed smile. “Go ahead.”
“You’ve matured,” Paul admitted. “Last time you told me that story, you only painted her as this evil bitch. I never heard anything about that speech at the end or anything. I think a lot of the time we like to see ourselves as, like, infallible, so… I dunno. I’m proud of you, man.”
“Well… hey, thanks,” Mike said with a shrug, nervously playing with the straw in his water glass.
“So even the friend stuff…” Tiffany trailed off.
“Nope. I can’t even remember having even one actual conversation with her after that,” Mike admitted.
“Well, I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her by the end, but… I agree with Paul. It’s really nice that you aren’t just festering.”
“Festering,” Mike repeated with a laugh. “I mean, yeah. I…” He sighed. “I think I don’t like who I was back then anymore. I think I like myself now. I mean, I hope so.” He took a drink from his water. “I dunno. I’ve moved on, but every so often I think of it, I think about how real it all felt, and I think about… what could have been, y’know? What could have been. Sometimes I catch myself and try to stop it though. Obviously, she’s moved on too, and it’s almost creepy to still think of that-”
“Nah, it’s human,” Paul interrupted kindly.
“-But also, thinking about it still kinda hurts. Like, to this day.” Mike sat back.
Burton nodded slowly. “Shit, man,” he repeated. “That really sounds like it sucks.”
Mike sat back up, finding new energy. With a hand, he waved it away. “Nah,” he commented. “I’m here now with good friends, and that hasn’t changed.” He smiled at his friends and picked up his glass. “And thank God.” He raised his glass in appreciation, and his friends lightly chuckled and clinked their glasses with his. Mike took an extra long gulp, then swallowed. “Sometimes, I think you actually really had it all figured out, Burton.”
“Me?” Burton asked, genuinely surprised. “What do you mean, all figured out?”
“With the casual stuff,” Mike explained. “Y’know, with Katrina and the other dozen or so girls. Shit never blew up for you like it did for me.”
“Uhhhh…” Burton trailed off, slowly turning pink. He nervously scratched the back of his neck. “Okay, honestly, I had no fuckin’ clue what I was doing in high school, and, uh… If we’re playing The Honesty Game here, things actually got really ugly once. I don’t think I even told you, but… it got messy.”
The other three exchanged glances, smiles slowly brewing on their faces, and leaned in. They didn’t even say a single word. They didn’t need to.
“Oh hell no, are you serious?” Burton asked.
“It’s only fair. Mike spilled his guts,” Tiffany pointed out.
“Ugh,” Burton exhaled. “Fuck it, fine. Hope you’re sitting comfortably, fuckers. Get ready for shit to get turned up to eleven.” He paused one last time, perhaps hoping he would get struck by lightning or something, before begrudgingly beginning his story.
Bashful Scribe 