Mike: I’ll be there around ten, okay?
Maya: Do we really have to do this, Mike? I’m really not in a party mood.
Mike: Yes, we really have to do this. You took me out when I was heartbroken and now I'm doing the same for you.
Maya: It has been weeks since the whole ‘Jaime incident’ and we weren't even really together. I'm fine.
Mike: We both know that's bullshit. I’ll be there at 10.

Maya’s POV
“Uhm, Maya. You don’t look like you’re ready to go out.” Mike said as soon as I opened the door. He let his eyes glide over my comfy baggy jeans and oversized shirt.
I rolled my eyes and let him in. “Oh hello, Mike. Yeah, I’m doing great. Glad you asked.” I said sarcastic. I walked over to the living room and heard Mike close behind me.
I let myself fall on the couch and looked up at Mike who still hadn’t taken off his coat and looked at me like he was still waiting for me to respond.
I sighed. “Mike, I’m not going. I’m fine like this.” I said. I really didn't feel like it. I was tired and I felt far from pretty lately. I wasn't going to go out when I had just gained a shit ton of weight. You would be able to see every single pound when I wore a dress, skirt or shorts.
Mike let out a soft groan and started tugging at my hands to get me off the couch again. “You’re not fine, otherwise you would come with me.” He said, trying to pull me up.
I leaned all of my weight on the couch, trying to fight Mike. Which surprisingly was easier than I had thought. I guess eating again had its perks. “You’re wrong.” I said, still tugging. Mike was putting up a good fight and my butt even lifted a little from the couch, but eventually my hand slipped out of his grip and I fell back on my ass. “I’m over him. It really wasn't that big of a deal.” I said after a short silence. I looked at my hands, so he wouldn’t see I was lying. Which was very hard to cover up around Mike lately. It was just how people worked. You told them something that was off about yourself and they’re gonna be paying attention to it. It was one of the reasons why I didn’t really tell people about my problems. It was just easier to hide them that way.
Suddenly I felt two hands grip my waist and lift me off the couch. Before I could even react, Mike had put me down on the ground again and let go of me. When I looked up I saw that our faces were so close that I couldn’t look away. “You’re obviously not over him. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so scared to come with me. If you come with me, it means you have to move on. And that scares you. But you have to move on, Maya” he said and he laid his hands down on my shoulders.
He was right of course. I was afraid to let go of my feelings for Jaime. I mean, I had liked him for quite a long time and I guess there still was that part of me that wouldn’t believe it was all over. I had been sad about it and now I had to find a way to forget him. The thing that bothered me the most was probably that it was so easy for Naira. She had been in the same situation as me, she had been hurt and betrayed, but she recovered in such a short time. Within a few weeks she had completely moved on from Jaime and she already had a new boyfriend. I wanted to be happy too, but I didn’t see myself with anyone else yet and that needed to change. I needed to get to a place where Jaime couldn’t hurt me anymore.
Even though he was right, I didn’t want to show that to Mike. Instead I grinned at him. “Look who’s the psychologist now, huh?” I said. “From which rom-com did you steal those lines?”
Mike groaned again and rolled his eyes. “Ugh Maya, seriously, sometimes I wonder why I am still friends with you.” He said, still holding on to my shoulders.
“Secretly you like my arrogant, passive-aggressive behaviour.” I said still grinning. “You can’t do without me.”
He sighed, shook his head and turned me around by my shoulders. “You have no idea.” He mumbled and then he pushed my back towards the stairs. “Okay now you are going up there and you’re going to put that stubborn butt of yours into something sexy.”
I resisted a little bit but not as much as before. I didn’t want to go, but he was probably right. This was just what I needed.
Eventually I got myself upstairs and tried to postpone the whole thing by walking to the closet as slow as I could. I eventually settled on black jeans and a loose black top. It was simple, but still perfect for a night out. I mainly chose it because I didn’t want to wear a skirt or a dress. I already hated wearing something like that normally, let alone on a day like this. Besides, I liked wearing black because it was the color of my soul.
By the time I was done, Mike had already impatiently called my name from downstairs three times. Normally I could do this in only a few minutes, but I just wasn't really looking forward to this.
When I got downstairs, Mike was reading some weird magazine I had bought once.When he heard me, he lowered it and looked at me. Slowly a small smile grew on his lips.
“Are you happy now?” I said groaning. I really didn’t want to give him the feeling that he had won.
He threw the magazine on the couch and stood up. “Not quite yet. I mean, you look amazing, but the next step is getting you there. I have the feeling you aren’t going to make this easy on me.” He said and he stepped a bit closer.
My annoyed face morphed into a grinning one. He was challenging me and if there’s one thing you shouldn’t do it is challenging me. I would go to extreme ends to win, that’s just the kind of person I am. “Did I ever make it easy on you, Mike?” I said with attitude. “You can’t win this, Fuentes.” I said and I poked with my index finger into his chest.
He rolled his eyes, the smile still visible on his face. “What are you gonna do then? Just stand here and refuse to go with me?” He asked like I would never do that.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Exactly. You can’t make-aaah!” I screeched out as Mike suddenly grabbed my waist and threw my body over his shoulder. The whole thing was unexpected, but the thing that surprised me the most was that it seemed like he had no trouble carrying me around.
I moved, but couldn’t seem to get myself out of this. “MIKE YOU ASSHOLE GET ME THE FUCK DOWN!” I screamed, starting to feel uncomfortable with leaning my entire body weight on a person.
But Mike was already carrying me out of the living room towards the door. He was even able to open it with one hand and keep me balanced on his shoulder with the other one. “There’s no fighting this, Milton. We’re going out and you’re going to like it.” He said demanding.
I sighed and finally relaxed my muscles. “Yes sir.” I said groaning.
That was when Mike put me down in front of the door of the passenger’s seat of his car. “Submissive. Who would've thought that?” He said grinning.
I clenched my eyes at him. “Dirty jokes don't exactly make your situation better.” I said threatening as I stepped into the car.
He walked around the front of the car and sat down on the driver’s seat. “Oh well, I can't exactly make my situation worse. Nobody wins from you and gets out alive.” He said as he fastened his seatbelt and drove out of the street.
But that wasn't entirely true. Mike somehow always got away with it.

*

My ears started aching just a little bit as I stepped into the massive dark room, covered in colorful lights and filled with loud beats. The temperature raised noticeably as we made our way through the sweaty bodies. Mike walked in front of me, holding my hand as he let me through the room. I let out a small chuckle as I realized that only a few weeks ago I had held his hand the same way, trying to help him get over his heart break. We had a special kind of friendship I guess.
We were in a different club as first, though. This was probably my favorite place to go out. The music didn’t just consist of brainless beats and unoriginal lyrics, they did a lot of remixes of rock bands or old pop songs, which was great. All of the walls were covered in old posters of artists varying from Elvis to Beyoncé and from The Rolling Stones to the Arctic monkeys. The ceiling was covered in fairy lights and the lights that covered the bar changed colors constantly.
There was also another reason why I liked this place so much: the people. Lots of different people came here, from all races, social classes, ages, styles and sexualities. Definitely that last thing was a big deal to me of course. You see, most non-heterosexual people didn’t go to the normal clubs, those places were inhabited with straight people. So if I wanted to pick up girls, I wouldn’t have much luck there. Yeah, except for the occasional ‘experimenting’ girl, which was of course a big no-go.
Of course, I could go to gay bars, but for some reason I didn’t like that idea very much. I hated the fact that we had to be put away in a separate place. I just wanted to meet people of all kinds. It may sound very fucking stupid, but I just wanted us all to get along. And this place, it was the embodiment of music bringing people together. In here there were no boxes, or labels.
Mike let us to the bar and immediately ordered two drinks. I reached in my pocket, took out a few dollars for the drink and handed it to him, but he shook his head. “This one’s on me.” he shouted over the music and handed his own money to the bartender. I shot him a smile to thank him and took a sip of my drink. It was so sweet that I almost couldn’t taste the alcohol in it. I almost immediately gulped it down, knowing that I couldn’t be sober doing this. Because I drank it so quickly, I could already feel the light feeling in my head slowly seeping in.
Mike leaned in so his mouth was close to my ear and said: “Please don’t drink your weight in alcohol tonight. It will have the opposite effect of what we want to accomplish and you’re not going to get laid if you are one of those annoying drunk people.”
I laughed a little at his comment. The amount of times we had been passed out drunk together was really big. “Except if the person I want to hook up with is also annoyingly drunk.” I said without looking at him.
I could feel his eyes burn in the side of my face. “Listen Maya, I know you don’t want to be here. But please try to have fun. Even if you’re not ready to hook up with anyone, please just try to have a good time. He is not worth it, he is not worth to beat yourself up for.” he said, which made me look up at him.
His words repeated in my head a few times before I looked away from him again and let my eyes go over all the people on the dance floor. I had absolutely no intention to go to anyone. At this moment, I really just wanted to stay away from love and sex. I really wondered if it was all worth it. It never lasted anyway.
But deep inside I knew that this was just my heartbreak talking. I knew deep down that nothing lasted, but that that was just the reason to do the things you loved. Because one day they were going to be gone and then all there was left was regret. Regret that you never tried to make it last, or at last pretended that it would last.
I turned around towards the bar, Mike’s eyes following my movements. I ordered another drink and gulped it down even faster. I put down the small glass with force as the strong drink warmed up my throat. “Look, this is how we’re going to do it. We are going to have a good time together. We are going to dance until our feet are sore and we are going to sing along until we can’t anymore and whatever happens happens. If I bump into someone sexy then I will dance with that person and I refuse to let that bastard ruin all the things I love in life for me.” I said anger filling my voice.
When he didn’t answer, I looked up at him. He had a big smile on his face, his expression told me that he had been waiting for me to say this. “I’m proud of you.” He said. He didn’t speak loud, so I couldn’t hear him say it, but I could tell that that was what he said by the movement of his lips.
I just shrugged and looked away from him again. “Ah well, it would just be very unfair to all the people in here if I would keep all of this to myself.” I said sarcastically and I mentioned to my body. “They deserve a chance to get to know the amazing person that is me.”
I was obviously joking, but Mike didn’t laugh. He just stood there smiling. “You’re right. Everyone should know how special you are.” He said.
Maybe it was because my second drink just set in, maybe it was the ambiance of this place, but I didn’t make a sarcastic remark back. Instead I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and I just smiled back.
I took his hand and let him through all the people to the middle of the dance floor. Since then time seemed to slow down. We both lost ourselves in the music and totally forgot about time. Like we had been consumed by the night and had become one with it. We sang along to every song we knew and made each other laugh by doing weird dance moves. For what seemed like a little eternity I forgot about all the shit in my life. The anorexia, the fights, my job and even Jaime. They seemed miles away from me. They seemed like things from another lifetime.
Until someone passed us that I really didn’t want to see tonight. Of course I had to bump into an ex when I was out to get over someone. The tall brunette was leading another girl to the bar, her pink skirt flowing in all directions as she walked. When she reached the bar, she looked my way and our eyes met. She recognized me immediately and an arrogant grin grew over her face.
I looked away and was met with a confused Mike. I sighed and moved my mouth to his ear. “My ex is here. She is obviously with her new girlfriend. Over there at the bar.” I said.
Mike tried his best to not make it obvious that he looked at her, but of course she noticed.
By now she had placed her hand on her girlfriends back and was playing with her hair. This was of course to make me jealous. We didn’t really end on the right note and this was her way to avenge me. To make me feel bad for all the fights that we had, to show me that she was doing way better without me.
“Is that Leila?” Mike asked as he looked back at me. “You used to date her before we met, right?”
I nodded my head, still looking at Leila with her new girlfriend. “Ugh, I really hate that she is rubbing it in like that. And I am just standing here like this.” I said groaning. I hated that I was losing this game. Leila was good at things like this. She was just as cunning as I was. It was the reason we got along, but also the reason we ended.
“Why don’t you make her jealous?” Mike shouted over the music. “You can play the same game.”
I tore my eyes away from the two girls that were getting more and more clingy and looked at Mike with confusion. “How? I don’t have a hot girl to make out with. I mean, look at her girlfriend! I won’t find anyone that pretty in the next few seconds, let alone make her make out with me.” I said. “Even if I did that, Leila is smart. She would notice if I just kiss some stranger to make her feel it.”
Mike seemed to think about what I said for a few seconds. He opened his mouth and closed it again, obviously not really sure if he should speak what was on his mind. “Well, she is the one that didn’t like it that you were bisexual, right? That you liked guys too? Maybe that’s why you should make her jealous with a guy not with a girl. Wouldn’t that hurt her even more?” He said, an evil grin covering his face. It was honestly my favorite expression of him.
But I didn’t really get where he was going with this. I raised an eyebrow. “That wouldn’t fix my problem at all. Where would I find a guy to-” I said, but I was interrupted by Mike placing his hand on my back and slowly pulling me closer to him. “Uhm Mike, what the fuck are you doing?” I asked, by now are bodies were touching and our faces were only a few inches apart. My breath immediately sped up.
His evil grin morphed into a softer expression. “Calm down, Maya. It’s just an act. Just dance with me and make her believe it.” he said softly, but he was so close that I could hear every single word clearly. My mind started racing. Being close like this to him was a whole new thing to me. It was something that I had never considered. It maybe sounded like a stupid cliché, but I had always kind of seen him as a brother-type. “We don’t kiss, Mike. I don’t like you like that.” I said. I just wanted to make that clear to him somehow, I didn’t want to lose him to something this stupid. This was a dangerous position for best friends.
His eyes remained on mine and I couldn’t quite uncover the emotion in them. Maybe it was because of the drinks I had or maybe I was just too busy freaking out about his hand on my back. “No kissing, just dancing.” he said and I nodded.
In the back of my head there was a small voice telling me that this was wrong, but it seemed so far away. I moved my hands to his neck and filled the remaining space between our bodies. His other hand found my back too and we made our bodies move to the music. Soon I found myself forgetting everything around me. All I could think about was his breath on my face and his hands tracing my hips. Everything else seemed irrelevant.
I clenched my hands into fists on the back of his neck and moved my face so the side of mine was close to the side of his face. His grip tightened a bit and now I felt his breath on my neck.
I didn’t want to admit it, but I was completely lost in him. I had totally forgotten about Leila and her pretty girlfriend and my plan to make her feel bad. Soon ,I felt myself actually dancing this close to him because I liked it and not because it was an act. I thought I would have to pretend to like this, but it wasn’t like that at all. It was natural and Mike obviously knew what he was doing. My mind was spinning even more than before and he left a trace of goosebumps on the places his hands touched my back.
He moved his head back again, so we were facing each other again and my heart started beating really fast. This was all going so fast. Just a few minutes ago I couldn’t have imagined ever dancing with Mike like this and now every nerve in my body was begging for him, leaving every bit of my skin tingling. How did this happen? And why couldn’t I stop it?
I moved my eyes away from his and glanced at Leila. She looked at us with pure shock. She looked annoyed and angry. She looked like I had won.
“Did it work?” I heard Mike ask, who stood with his back towards Leila. His voice sounded different too. Was he just as confused as I was?
I looked back at him and our eyes met again. There was a spark visible in them that I had never seen before. After that I just remember that my mind completely shut off. “I don’t know.” I said, not looking away from him.
The tension between us seemed to take forever. Until Mike stopped it. Within a few seconds he had planted his lips on mine. I know I should’ve stopped him. But I just couldn’t and I didn’t know why. I knew that kissing Mike was the worst idea ever at the moment, that I was potentially wasting years of amazing friendship. But something had drastically changed in the last few minutes and that something kept me from stopping him.
I felt some sort of relieve rush through me as the last bit of distance was closed between us. It made every inch of my skin feel like it was on fire while I started to move my lips in sync with his. It was slow, but passionate. Rough, but not forceful. The perfect mixture of everything, just how I liked it. I moved one of my hands up to the edge of his snapback where I could feel his short hair and I felt him shiver under my touch.
It went on like that for while. We moved our heads a few times, but neither of us felt the need to break it off. I had no idea how much time had passed, time wasn’t really my concern at the moment. I was lost in this kiss, in his arms and I had yet to find my way back.
When our lips finally lost touch, the reality of what had just happened set in. I had just kissed my best friend. Something I thought I would never do.
But that wasn’t even the thing that shocked me the most. It was the fact that it had been the best kiss of my life and that I had felt things I had never felt before.
As we went on dancing like nothing had happened, I realized this wasn’t going to change anything between us, but that it had changed something about me.

Notes

heeyyyy guys.

soo it took a while, but I finally updated! yay! woo!

xxxxx

Nicky