Lift You Up

After the pizza has been eaten, the paper place-mats doodled on, and the bright pizza sign outside turned off, the four of us looked at each other grinning. I was listening to Kyle and Mitchell tell an embarrassing story about how the two of them had gotten locked out of Sarah's apartment. Sarah was in stitches, giggling beside me. I couldn't help but laugh at the way the two interrupted each other to continue the story.

"She did it on purpose-" Kyle said pointing at Sarah.

"It wasn't her, it was the dog," Mitchell interrupted, moving his arms up and down for emphasis.

"How could the dog have done it? He was the one who had gotten off the leash and was going after our legs."

"Personally I feel bad for the dog because he didn't have a girlfriend to hump,"

"Maybe he was into men, that's why he was humping our legs?"

"Maybe he was playing truth or dare with his bird friends. Didn't you remember they were everywhere?" Mitchell questioned. Kyle just shook his head and wiped his tired face with his hands.

"Yes, they're always like this," Sarah said to me. I just giggled and shook my head a little as I watched the two began fighting with each other over how the two had gotten locked out.

"So I'll definitely have to give you a call about hanging out," I said to Sarah, since we had exchanged numbers about an hour before.

"Definitely! I need to show you a good Ohio time without these icky boys getting in our way," Sarah said motioning at the two boys. They had heard what Sarah had said, and the two turned towards us.

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa," Kyle and Mitchell both began, looking offended.

"We know how to have a good time," Mitchell said.

"We know how to par-tay," Kyle continued.

"Not just party, par-tay!" Mitchell added for emphasis.

"Yeah, you're trying to compete with DJ E-Like and Meezy. Not gonna happen babe," Kyle said, trying to recreate a gang sign of some sort.

"Baby, you two are too funny," Sarah said smiling. Kyle leaned over the table and the two kissed each other sweetly a few times. I held in my "aww", not wanting to make the moment awkward. I looked over at Mitchell so I wouldn't be staring at Kyle and Sarah, and I saw that he was looking at them before looking down and biting his lip gently. When he looked up at me, I looked away, not wanting to be caught staring at him. I wondered if he had a girlfriend.

"I'm so tired. Can I stay over tonight baby?" Sarah said to Kyle. Kyle ran his hands over his face again as he yawned. Kyle then nodded haphazardly as he stood up and stretched. This seemed to be a sign as the rest of us got up and headed towards the counter in back.

The four of us each paid "MacDaddy-Yo" and thanked him for the yummy pizza before walking out of the restaurant.

My shoe had come untied as we got outside, so I bent down to tie it quickly. I saw that Sarah and Kyle had continued forward down the sidewalk, but Mitchell had stayed back, leaning against a pole to wait for me.

"That was really fun," I said before standing back up and walking over to him.

"Well I'm glad you had fun. Next time we hang out I'll have to show you the roof. Now that can be a happening place for a party sometime."

"The roof?"

"It's amazing, I personally love it up there. That's where I usually go at this time of night because I'm a bit of an insomniac sometimes,"

"I know the feeling. I'm a night owl myself," I said as we headed towards the parking lot of our apartment complex.

"Now I'll have someone to hang out with at night. Kyle and Sarah go to bed early a lot, which is a signal for me to go to the roof for a long while," He said scrunching up his nose. An awkward silence enveloped the air before I decided to try and break it.

"I can't believe you've been friends with Kyle for so long." I said as he smiled.

"Yeah, it's crazy. He moved away for a while, but he came back and things have been just great. Except for the fact we don't have a dog yet," Mitchell said in thought. I giggled a little as we headed in the door and up the stairs.

"I'll definitely be going for some roof party fun sometime. I'd like to hear some more of your stories,"

"Oh, they just keep coming," Mitchell said as we reached our floor. We walked over to our doors in silence. Mitchell's door had an elastic band over the door handle, and he avoided looking at it and instead looked at the floor.

"What?" I asked, curious to why he was avoiding his door.

"It's roof time I guess," He said motioning towards the rubber band on the door. I understood and nodded.

"I'd offer you coffee or something, but I have nothing. I just have water bottles and a mattress. You're welcome to stay in my apartment for a bit if you want though," I said politely to him.

"I don't want to bother you too much on your first night here. Thank you but I'll just head up to the roof," He said with a smile, his hand running through his hair. I smiled at him and opened my arms up for a hug. He hugged me and waited as I found my key. I unlocked my door and stepped inside before turning to wave at him.

"Goodnight," I said to him.

"G'night," He said to me. With a head nod and a wave, he stuck his hands in his pockets and headed farther down the hallway. I shut the door with a small smile on my face. I locked the door before going to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I changed into my pajamas quickly before heaving my mattress onto the middle of the family room floor. I undid the plastic covering it before jumping onto it, chest first. I sighed into the mattress, and before I knew it I fell asleep, still smiling because of all the fun I had that night.