Let Me In

The strong light penetrated the blinds and pierced right into my eyes. I attempted to block it out with the covers but it was too late; I was waking up. As my eyes began to function properly, I found myself in an unknown place. I sat up slowly, trying to avoid the hungover migraine but as soon as I lifted my head from the pillow, it hit me. I grunted and ran my hands through my hair to gather it all together before wrapping it into a bun.

Memories of last night began to rush in and out of my head: the drinking, the boys, Erin’s evil glare, the dancing, the kissing, the fooling around - and then it hit me. This was Mike’s room. Had we had sex? No, it couldn’t be. I padded myself around and I was still wearing my clothes and there was no sign of Mike anywhere around me. But had he slept with me? It was too early to have my brain working like this. I moved closer to the edge of the bed and pressed my feet solid on the floor but as soon as I lifted my body I began to stumble, so I decided to go back to sitting down and take it one step at a time.

I looked up and realized that the closet door was open and there was a mirror staring right at me. I looked like a mess; my hair was sweaty and all over the place, my makeup had me looking like a raccoon and like I hadn’t slept in days; it was a complete disaster, and to think that everyone had seen me like this. A part of me was really annoyed at the fact that I cared about what they thought - specially Mike - or that I was worried about what they’d think about me, but on the other side, Mike and his opinions had been very important in the past forty eight hours. I felt like a twelve year old: getting that feeling of attraction out of nowhere and I was very uncomfortable with my own feelings - I don’t do feelings very well. I shook the thoughts out of my head but suddenly the door opened and startled me. I turned around and saw Mike’s tall and slender figure standing at the door.

“Good morning,” he said softly with a smile.

“Morning,” was the only thing I managed to mutter. This made him laugh because he understood that I was too hungover to actually talk properly.

“I see you’re ready to start the day,” he joked as he walked towards me with a cup of water and two blue capsules; of course he knew how to cure a hangover.

“Thanks,” he moved towards the closet and began to take things out of the shelves and throw them on the floor until he found a shirt and a pair of new pajama pants - so new he had to take the tag off - and then threw them gently at me.

“You might wanna change your clothes,” he said pointing at my shirt with clear stains of alcohol and other substances that I really don’t want to know. I thanked him once more and as he headed out of the door I couldn’t hold the urge to ask him.

“Did we uhm?”

“No of course not. You were piss drunk, passed out and I’m not that kind of guy,” he began “plus, remember what I told you in the bathroom, I’m wasn’t looking to get laid last night,” he smiled “Now get changed because my special breakfast tacos are good when they are nice and fresh,” He said before closing the door and leaving me alone in his room so I could change. My head was still trying to understand what he’d just said; I truly thought he was in it to fuck me and then never contact me again but now I was getting a whole new vibe from me and it had me more confused than ever.

I walked into his bathroom to wash off, since we had already established that I looked like a trainwreck. As I washed my face and got rid of the makeup from the night before, I caught a glance at my neck and realized that it looked like I had been attacked by a bear; deep purple patches of where Mike’s lips had sunk themselves in dominated certain areas of my neck, specially on the sides and a little over my cleavage. Normally this would be relatively disguised with a little foundation and powder however the issue was I had no makeup here and I definitely didn’t want to be seen like this, but sadly there was no way back. I put on his clothes and allowed my hair to rest on my shoulders, covering the marks enough that they wouldn’t call any attention; his shirt was so long it reached half way through my thighs. I sighed and gave up on trying to make myself look slightly better and simply headed out the door and down the stairs, following the smell of food right into the kitchen.

Vic and Danielle were setting the table and putting out everything they owned out of their refrigerator, whilst Mike finished up stirring something in the saucepans and wrapped the burrito wraps in a kitchen towel and into a container. I wasn’t sure whether I was starving or it simply smelled delicious - or a mixture of both - but the moment I walked into the kitchen the mix of spices took over me.

“Well, good morning Sleeping Beauty,” Vic said joking whilst Danielle simply waved her hand with a smile; in a clearer light I was able to see her flawless skin and beautiful red hair; all of the girls in this circle looked like - or were - models and then there was me. I had to admit I felt a little intimidated by all of them however she seemed to be the one who liked me the most, followed by Jessica. Mike turned around for a few seconds and gave me a big smile. I offered to help but everyone told me that everything was ready and all we had to do is sit down.
Mike came in with the saucepan to reveal a very appealing dish.

“It’s sausages, meat, bacon and the Fuentes Secret Ingredients,” he said winking. Each of us served ourselves, simply taking a tortilla and placing all the ingredients plus the meat sauce and whatever additional touches one wanted to make.

“Mike these are great,” Danielle said taking another mouthful of her taco. It really was delicious; very spicy but that’s not something that generally bothered me. “So did you enjoy last night, Sarah?” Danielle asked me and everyone stared at me. I guessed she might be curious since at one point she was in my place and probably understood that being thrown into the scene might be quite overwhelming. However the only thought from the night before that came to mind was the dancing and fooling around.

“It was fun, something unlike I’ve ever experienced really,”

“Well, I’m glad you had a good time,” Mike said with a little smile at the end.

The conversation went back and forth with very different topics: Mike’s embarrassing moments as a child, Mike trying to get back at Vic for spilling the beans, how at a point Vic was actually taller than Mike - a subject Vic hated to talk about but Mike always used as vengeance material - and a little about how they got into music. As we finished breakfast, I offered to help clean up but Danielle and Vic told us we were free to go and Mike obviously didn’t complain.

“I guess you’re calling in sick today?” he asked me as we walked away from the dining room.

“I’m pretty ahead of work really, I don’t have to show up to the office unless there’s a meeting which is pretty nice,”

“Then I guess we’ve no rush,” he said guiding me to the living room where a huge flat screen TV and a very comfy looking couch awaited. I sat next to him and moved my hair into a side low-ponytail and the moment my neck was exposed Mike couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s not funny,” I said knowing exactly what his thoughts were.

“Hey, these aren’t discrete either and I don’t have your hair to cover them up,” he retorted as he showed me the marks I’d left on him.

We both kind of laughed it off and started watching whatever came on. I thought that at any point he’d make a move since we were alone however he didn’t which left me very confused. This dude was so unpredictable; he’d gone from fuck boy to respectful and nice. However, I liked that and so I decided to ignore the confused side of my mind and simply roll with it. We watched TV for a couple of hours just sitting there cuddling slightly until my alarm rang; it was 5:45 pm and I was supposed to meet Lisa at 7.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry but I’ve to go, I’m supposed to meet a friend tonight,” I said apologetically. I truly was sorry to cut it short, I was enjoying the moment; it was silent but you could feel this calm sensation that I hadn’t felt in a while.

“Let me drive you,” he said and I didn’t disagree.

“Thank you, let me go upstairs and change back into my clothes,”

“No, don’t worry about it” he said with a grin.

I packed my clothes in a bag and we headed out back to his car. The ride was silent, but it was the same silence that had dominated the air when we were watching TV; it was comfortable, as if we didn’t seen words to communicate. We got back to my house too fast and the moment he pulled into the apartment complex I didn’t want to leave but I knew I had to. He walked me all the way up to the front of my apartment and we stood there staring at each other for a couple of seconds.

“I had a really good time,” I said breaking the silence.

“Same,” his eyes were still locked on mine “Look, I’m not good at this but I want to see you again,”

“I’m okay with that, I’ll make some space in my schedule for you,” I winked, adding some humor to the conversation and he giggled.

A couple more seconds passed by and then he slowly leaned towards me and pressed his lips against mine, delicately and I responded. Unlike the night before, this kiss wasn’t desperate, it wasn’t wild and passionate it was tender and sweet. Everything I didn’t imagine from him. We kissed for a couple of minutes until my phone began to ring - it was Lisa. Mike pulled from me and suggested I took the call.

“Hey, can I call you in five?”

“Yeah, still on for tonight?”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll call you later” I said hanging up the phone.

Mike stared at me with a small smirk in his face and I felt the blood rush straight to my cheeks and I knew I was blushing like an idiot.

“I guess I’ll leave you to get ready now,” he said and before he began to walk away I pulled him in for one last kiss which he responded to. “I’ll take that as a text me later?”

“Yes, you can assume that,”

“I’ll see you later then,” he smiled as he walked away backwards, his eyes never parting mine until he turned towards the stairs and he was out of sight. I got into the apartment and as I closed the door I slid all the way down until I was sitting on the floor. I had no idea where I was standing or what my emotions were. My head and thoughts were so chaotic and messy I didn’t even understand what I was feeling anymore. A part of me told me this was the biggest mistake I could ever make but the other one was so intrigued and hypnotised by his indecisive and mysterious personality that I couldn’t simply stay away.

Notes