“I’m fully aware, Mom. I’m not going to go to Mexico and get raped and drugged, you’re acting like I’ve never been there before,” I huffed into the phone, irritated with my mother’s view on everyone spending a week in Mexico.

“When you were there before you were under the watchful eye of Victor and Vivian. I adore Mike, Vic and Jaime but I don’t trust them to make sure you’re safe at all times.”

“Yeah, Mom... ‘Cause Mike is going to let me run off into the streets of Mexico,” I scoffed. “That makes a lot of sense.”

I heard her sigh on the line, “I just worry, Rae. I know all of you are going to be wasted.”

“All of us have been wasted enough times since we were fifteen... it shouldn’t be a worry.”

“Non è meglio che torni a casa incinta,” she snapped from the other side of the phone.

“Seriously? I’ll call you when we land on Wednesday. Goodbye,” I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone.


I leaned back and rested my head on Jaime’s shoulder, letting out a groan of frustration. My mom was always a little on the protective side as I grew up, but had let me go to Mexico tons of times with the Fuentes’ family. I didn’t understand why she saw it as such a big deal now. I’m twenty-two and am living on my own, and yet she’s worried that I’m going to get scooped up in some other country while I’m with all of my friends. My step-dad should really make her stop watching the news because it turns her into a paranoid freak. I was pissed that she brought up pregnancy. Once again, she should trust me enough to know that I take my birth control regularly and am not planning on getting pregnant until I’m at least thirty.

I tried to put it all in the back of my mind as I reached down and grabbed a piece of bread off the table, ripping it apart and putting it into my mouth. My car was in the shop because... I don’t even know... Mike drove it and said it had an issue and brought it to the shop. I didn’t ask questions. Tony and Jaime had picked me up from work and decided that we should go out for a late lunch/early dinner type thing, just the three of us.

Tony chuckled as he looked at me, “Why the hell do you still tare your bread into bits and pieces?”

“Because I only like the soft part in the middle, asshole,” I smiled and threw the hard outside crust at him.

“Let’s not be two year olds,” Jaime said from next to me in a deep voice, which resulted in him bursting into uncontrollable laughter because of how deep his voice really got.

“You’re so manly,” I batted my eyelashes at him and popped a piece of bread in my mouth.

“You’re so hot when you eat bread like that. Do it again,” he moaned as I brought another piece of bread to my mouth. “Oh yeah, baby, so hot.”

I leaned in close to him and whispered, “Mike doesn’t have to know.”

“I can’t do this anymore,” he started laughing. “You’re too good at being serious. You win.”

Tony was looking at us with wide eyes, “I’ll never get used to the two of you.”

“Can’t beat the Preciado-Matthews friendship, motha fucka!” Jaime said in an Asian accent, whispering the last part since we were out in public. Our waitress came over with our food, “Oh my god, I’m so hungry. Feed me!”

The waitress, Alison, just laughed and placed all of our plates down in front of us. “Let me know if you guys need anything else. Enjoy,” she smiled and walked away from the table.

I watched as Tony checked her ass out as she walked away. I rolled my eyes and dug into my meal. I had ordered spaghetti and meatballs. Tony had just plain spaghetti and sauce. Jaime went all out and had like some mussels and pasta and some other bullshit, I don’t know... it was gross looking and he was practically slurping it.

“Would you stop?” I looked over at him with a disgusted look on my face. Tony started giggling from the other side of the table because he knew what I was irritated about. Jaime just started to slurp louder, so I took it amongst myself to stab his arm with my fork.

“Seriously, Rae!” He squealed and rubbed his arm, “That hurt. You’re abusive how does Mike deal with you?”

“Can we not talk about Mike for ten minutes? Ya’ll complain that he’s taking over my life and then want to talk about him with me.”

Tony frowned, “We don’t really know what to talk about with you anymore, Rae... It’s always you and Mike. All of the funny things and stories that have happened are about you and Mike.”

I frowned and put down my fork, “Look, I’ve talked to Vic about this and I know you guys feel like I’m neglecting you... but do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been in a relationship where I’m genuinely happy? It’s only been a month, guys.”

“Yeah, but now we’re worried that because it’s always you and Mike, what if something happens to you guys? You’re not going to run from us, are you Rae?” Jaime said quietly, “Because I’m worried about our friendship as it is and I don’t want to lose you.”

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and nodded. They both had valid points - the same thing Vic had said to me a few weeks ago that I just blew off. I was kind of making Mike my main priority instead of friends, and I was always the one that said friends come first. I felt bad that they felt like I was abandoning and neglecting them. They were there for me when Mike and I hated each other, and I couldn’t do this to them now that Mike and I practically loved each other.

I pulled my lip out from my mouth, “How about after this vacation us three can go to Disney? We don’t have to invite anyone else, and Tony we can even do Star Tours...”

A smile broke out on Tony’s face, “I’d like that a lot.”

“Me too,” Jaime said and wrapped his arm around me.


Later that evening I sat snuggled up on my couch in a blanket with Mike fast asleep on my right side, his head on the arm of the couch. Diablo was in his arms and he was fast asleep as well. I laughed to myself as I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of them, sending it in a group message to the rest of PTV. Vic texted me back saying that I should Instagram the picture from Mike’s phone, and he gave me Mike’s password. I snickered as I typed in his password then posted a picture of him on Instagram, captioning it as “snuggles with my boyfriend.” Right as I was about to lock his phone a text came up with a very familiar name. I knew I shouldn’t snoop, but something told me that I really needed to look at this text. I slid open the message and my face dropped. I felt sick to my stomach as I deleted the message and locked his phone. I placed it back down on the coffee table and walked out of the living room. I could not be in the same room as him right now.


It was about eleven thirty. I stood leaning against my balcony with my fifth cigarette of the past hour in between my lips. My eyes burned from the mixture of salty tears and mascara. I knew it was probably running all down my face. I had stopped crying about twenty minutes ago, but I still felt sick. I didn’t understand what was happening, how he could do this to me after all the shit we just went through. He told me he was in love with me and yet he was doing shit behind my back. I was disgusted. Absolutely disgusted. I didn’t want to start drama right before his birthday, though, so I was going to have to disguise this. I also didn’t want to start jumping to conclusions, but what else was I supposed to think? I was just going to sit back and act like I didn’t see it... keep it in the back of my mind until the right time to bring it up... after his birthday. 

I heard my sliding glass door open that led to the balcony. Mike walked up next to me, lighting his own cigarette and taking a hit, “So I woke up to thousands of notifications on a picture of me and my boyfriend.”

I exhaled the smoke in my lungs and let out a small laugh, “You guys looked cozy.”

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Mike sighed and wrapped one of his long arms around me, pulling me into his side. I guess my voice gave away the fact that I was upset. I hadn’t talked for an hour so I sounded groggy and depressing. I just shrugged as he rubbed my left arm with his hand, leaving goosebumps on my skin. I wanted to kick him and punch him and stab him in his cute, brown eyes with sporks. “You know you can tell me anything.”

I sighed, “I just feel bad. All of my friends think I’m abandoning them because we’re always together. Tony and Jaime and Vic have all brought up to me about how our friendship is going down the drain because my life revolves around you.”

Mike flicked his cigarette over the balcony and then took mine from my fingers, throwing it over as well. He pulled me into his chest, “Rae, if you think that our relationship is putting a strain on your friendship with them all you have to do is tell me. I completely understand where they are coming from and where you are coming from. We do spend a lot of time together.”

“It just sucks, you know? ‘Cause I love spending time with you, Mikey. During this past year you have become pretty much my everything... And now that I have a place to myself it’s like I never see anyone but you anymore. I’m either working or with you, but you’re so lucky that you get to work with all your friends. I wish I got that privilege,” I sighed and pulled myself from his grip.

“Maybe this week in Mexico will be good for that, babe. Even though it’s my birthday thing, I have no problem with you spending a little more time with the guys. I don’t want to watch you cry,” he gave me a small smile. “How about I make you some tea and you go get ready for bed?”


I nodded and walked inside. I went into the bathroom and washed my face of all of the make-up that was still left on it, then went into my room and changed. I pulled on a pair of cheekies and a sweatshirt, then crawled under my covers. I grabbed the remote and turned on the television. The Real World re-runs were on, and I just shrugged and turned the brightness and volume down. As upset with Mike as I was, I felt like an idiot. He was the reason I felt so shitty. I wanted to kill him. But at the same time it felt better to have his arms around me. I felt comforted. I was crying to the person that I was hurting because of. This is why I don’t like relationships. He was doing to me what I was scared I was going to do to him.

Mike walked in, Diablo hot on his trail, with my Mickey Mouse mug in his hands. He set the mug down in my hands and then closed my bedroom door. Diablo jumped onto the bed and crawled towards my lap.

“No, Diablo, go in your bed,” I said with a stern look on my face. I didn’t mind when he slept in my bed when it was just me, but he liked to hog the bed and that made it really uncomfortable for both Mike and I. The little dog jumped down and curled into a ball in his dog bed by my closet.

Mike stripped himself down to his boxers and then put a blanket over Diablo. He turned off the light and then crawled into bed next to me, lying down and resting his head on his designated pillow, letting out a sigh of relief.

All of a sudden a foul smell hit my nose and I gagged, putting my mug down on the bedside table and smacking Mike’s chest. “Seriously! You fucking stink you sick ass!” I whined as he chuckled and grabbed me, pulling me on top of him. “Stop, I’m mad at you don’t touch me.”

“Don’t lie to me. You love when I fart,” he smiled as I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, I love it so much because it makes my eyes want to fall out and die!” He puckered his lips at me and I shook my head, “I’m not kissing your stinky ass.”

“Please,” he whined and stuck them out further. I shook my head and he shoved me off him, “Fine, no cuddles for you.”

“I hate cuddling so that doesn’t bother me,” I laughed and nestled into my pillow. I pulled the comforter up to my chin and smiled.

“I know. I lose in this situation,” Mike moved closer to me, reaching out with his arms and pulling me into him. “And now I win,” he grinned.

“Good night, Mikey,” I rolled my eyes and rested my head on his pillow.

Once I closed my eyes I heard him groan, “You’re really sassy tonight, are you sure that’s the only thing on your mind?”

“Yep. Good night.”

“Can I get a kiss?”

I stuck my lips out, my eyes still closed. He pressed his lips to mine quickly and then rested his head on top of mine, sighing again. I pursed my lips and put him to the back of my mind and let myself drift off to sleep.

Notes

Woo! There's some drama starting again!

What do you think the text message said?
Who do you think it was from?
How's Rae going to survive Mexico?

A lot of stuff is coming your way!
Thank you everyone for the feedback.
You guys seriously rock, and you're the reason I write.

& I can't believe you all think I'm some great writer.
I'm pretty mediocre if I do say so myself.

Next update by Tuesday!

xoxoxxoxo