Maybe Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last

~* * * *~

“First saved message, sent yesterday at 4: 53 PM.

Um… Hey Bilk.. uh. Blake. I totally understand if you never return this call, but I hope you just don’t quit listening once you realize it’s me. But I do honestly owe you a huge apology. Words cannot describe how sorry I am. To be honest with you, I have never had so much fun at a club before in my life. I don’t expect things to be all normal or for us to just forget what happened… but I figured I should at least try to make this right between us so, yeah. If I don’t see you any sooner, I guess I’ll see you at X. Bye,” Mira’s voice replayed throughout Blake's living room.

“What do I do man? I’m still so fucking pissed off at her, but she’s doing this now. I can’t hate her now,” Blake said to Adam as he started pacing in his living room.

“I honestly think it’s a lost cause. She’s got Cory now. That was probably done out of pure guilt. She’s not going to give you the time of day. I bet she won’t even answer if you call her back,” Adam said to his friend.

Blake stared at him as he punched in Mira’s number. It rang a few times before a familiar hey rang through his ears.

“Hey, Mira listen…”

“This is Mira. Sorry I missed your call…” Blake flipped his phone shut a little too hard and threw it on the couch next to Adam.

“I hate to say this, but I told you so,” Adam said getting up and placing his hand on his shoulder.

Blake sighed and went up to his room.

~* * * *~

“Mira, you totally have that. A few tries and you got it to dirt,” Joey said as Mira and her bike came from the foam pit.

“I’m scared as hell to do it, though,” she said going over and watching the footage that Joey had been filming.With her spike of interest in Bilko, she wanted to learn the ‘Flying Dutchman’, which is actually a 360, downside, Indian air, can can. She wished he were here to assist her. She barley had the 360 down and to add those variations in it wasn’t the easiest thing to learn by herself.

“It’s looking good though. I think you have it down,” he said as Mira took her helmet off. Even though she was riding her best, she still had a lot of things on her mind. “Are you doing ok, Mir? You’re not being too vocal like you always are,” Joey asked noticing her change in character.

“I’ll be fine…”

“You won’t be fine when you’re lying in a hospital bed. Talk to me,” he said as he led her back to his garage. “What’s up? Is it Cory?”

“No… not completely,” she said with her gaze to the ground.

“Bilko?” he said with a smirk on his face.

“Am I that obvious now?” she asked looking up at him.

“No. You’re just a girl that fell for his Aussie charm,” he said smiling at her.

“I haven’t fallen for him. I just want to fix things so we can actually have a conversation again. I just have a feeling if I don’t, X is going to be so awkward. Have you talked to him?”

“Not recently.”

“I called him last night, but I just got voicemail and he never called back.”

“Well at least you’re making an effort. You guys see each other tomorrow. Maybe he’s waiting for then,” Joey said referring to the first day of the X Games.

“I hope so,” she said. “So, should I try it to dirt?” she asked as she put her helmet back on.
___________________________________________

"Oh my god. Cory, you just won," Mira said when she realized that Anthony Napolitan just crashed on his final run.

"No I didn't. Anthony's... Holy shit, I won," he said hugging Mira as he pulled her up off the ground.

Mira kissed him repeatedly as he spun her around. The two got caught in the middle of all of Cory’s friends rushing over and congratulating him. Mira smiled. She hasn’t seen him this happy in so long. He had to leave to get his medal and do a few interviews. He came back about twenty minutes later and started leading Mira to the athlete lounge. When they got there, no one else was around. Cory sat down on a chair and pulled Mira onto his lap.

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” he asked as he kissed her forehead.

“A couple times today, but it never gets old,” she said with a smile.

“You love me so much that you’re going to go out with me later?” he asked looking at her sideways with a smirk.

“What does going out with you entail?” she asked looking at him the same way he was looking at her.

“A few clubs. Nothing too extreme. I just want to celebrate, Mir. This is big for me,” he said as his tone changed.

“Cory, you know I can’t do that,” she said nicely.

“Why?” he asked getting upset with her.

“Uh, news flash, Cory. I have a contest tomorrow at 3. I can’t go out tonight and be ready to compete tomorrow afternoon. It’s midnight now. You can’t stay out for an hour or two. It’s always like four or five,” she said standing up to get off his lap.

“Well I’m sorry. I’m going out whether you are or not,” he said and then stormed off.

Mira sighed and sat down… on a different chair than the one Cory was on. She put her head in her hands trying to keep her emotions under control. She heard footsteps approaching, but figured it was Cory. She spread her fingers and saw the first person she would want to see three weeks ago, but not now.

“I always wondered why they called him Nasty,” Adam said as he sat down on the chair Cory had been sitting on. Mira hadn’t even seen that Blake was with him until he sat down beside her with a smirk on his face.

“Fucking a,” she thought after he sat down.

“Adam, what do you want?” she asked sitting back to look at him. She was refusing to look over at Blake.

“Just to tell you four words that I’ve wanted to tell you the last two weeks. I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity and I guess I got it now.”

“What?” she asked knowing it wasn’t going to make her anymore happy.

“I… told… you… so,” he said slowly enjoying every syllable.

“Aw, Adam, now be nice. She just had a barney with her boyfriend,”

Mira would have loved to have thought that he was trying to defend her, but she could tell he wasn’t. He had a mocking tone in his voice.

“What the fuck is a barney?” she asked shooting a look at Blake for the first time. Bad move on her part. He was staring straight at her with the same look in his eyes as the one from the coffee shop. Her heart shattered.

“An argument, Mira. Gosh. Get with the Aussie lingo,” Adam said way too interested in what Blake had to say.

“But is there anything we can do about?” Blake asked shrugging while looking at Adam.

“No…” Adam said as a smiled fought its way through.

“Do we really care?” Blake asked.

“No…” they both said at the same time. They laughed at each other as they got up to leave.

She watched them disappear down the hallway. She felt so crushed and alone. There was no one for her to turn to. The only person she could think of was Joey, but she didn’t even know if he was in his room. She figured it was worth a shot. He was the only person she had left. Her friends couldn’t get off work to come, Cory left her to party with his buddies… again, and Adam and Blake haven’t gotten over what she had done to Blake.

She made her way up to Joey’s room. She knew right were it was. It was right next to herand Cory’s. She knocked lightly and, surprisingly, he answered. At this point, Mira was boarder line full of tears.

“Mira, there’s no crying in motocross,” Joey said jokingly as he pulled her in for a hug.

“I know, but I can’t help it,” she said breaking down.

Joey pulled her into his room and led her into the ‘living area’. He let her have her moment and cry onto his shoulder. She pulled away and whipped the remaining tears from her eyes.

“What happened?” he asked as she brought her knees up to her chest.

She told him everything that happened. She told him about Cory leaving to party with his friends. Then about what Adam and Blake said to her. Joey didn’t say anything until she was finished. This was normal for him.

“Mira, I think this just goes to show that you don’t need men in your life, especially Cory,” Joey said trying to lay it on her easily.

“I don’t’ care about Cory at this point. He hasn’t changed. What do I do about Adam… and Blake?”

“You’re calling him Blake now? That’s a big step,” he said teasingly.

“Fine, Bilko. What do I do?” she asked getting frustrated again.

“I think the first step is breaking up with Cory,” Joey said smiling at her.

She stared at him for a few seconds. He reached over to the table beside him and handed her a pen and paper.

“I can’t break up with him in a note,” she said shocked with his idea.

“Think about it though. He’s probably drunk right now. If you send a text message or call him, he’s not going to remember in the morning. With this he can find it in the morning and he’ll know,” he said willing her on.

“No.” she said as she crossed her arms.

“Well then what are you going to do?”

“We’ll skip over this one for now. If he comes to my contest I’ll talk to him,” she said rubbing her head with her hand.

“You can’t be breaking up with your boyfriend right before a contest. Do you know how jacked up your focus is going to be?”

“Do you know how jacked up my focus is right now?” she asked with her normal attitude.

“Alright. Fine,” he said dropping the issue.

“Joey, I want to fix things with Blake,” she said quietly. “If things are ok between us, then everything else will go away. It’s just like all the shit that’s happened between us is causing me all these problems with everyone else. Look at Adam. He hasn’t said one nice thing to me since we left Vegas. He’s my best friend and he’s sticking up for Blake.”

“Have you ever thought it was because Blake is right and maybe you actually do like him more than what you’re saying?”

“I’ve admitted I’m wrong though,” she said ignoring the last part of his question. “He just ignored it.”

“Maybe it’s because he’s hurt.”

“You’ve talked to him,” Mira said staring at him down.

“Yeah…” he said looking away.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked getting upset again.

“He told me not to tell you,” he said in defense.

“Whatever. I’m over this whole thing. I need to get to sleep. I have a contest tomorrow,” she said getting up to leave.

“You’re not leaving here,” Joey said as he stood up too.

“Why not?” she asked confused.

“Cory’s going to come in at some ungodly hour and you’re not going to get up and start arguing with him. I’ll go get your stuff. Give me the key,” he said holding his hand out.

Mira stared at him for a few seconds, sizing him up. She eventually gave in. He was right no matter what way she looked at it. He smiled at her and left the room.

“Tomorrow is going to be just peachy,” she thought as she got comfy on the couch to fall asleep.