No One Does It Better

I stood in front of the mirror as I tied my hair up into a messy bun. What was I meant to say or do if I saw Mike again today?
“Hey Jessie, are you ok? You seem kind of distant.” Jake asked sounding concerned. I turned around to see his blue eyes looking worried from the doorway.
“I’m fine Jakey.” I said convincingly taking his hand. He looked down from our hands back up to my hazel eyes, smiling.
“Okay, well I’m going to give you a lift to work today on my way to town.” He said placing a kiss on my forehead. I just nodded as I grabbed my bag and followed him out of our apartment.

I looked over at Jake while he drove. He was singing along to The Maine as it played through the speakers. I couldn’t help but smile as he impersonated John O’Callaghan’s voice. “3,2,1 here comes the hurricane baby” He said as he turned to me smiling. I let out a laugh as he started trying to thrust in his seat.

Jake pulled up outside the front of the cafe and turned in his seat to face me.
“Thanks, for dropping me off, I’ll text you when I finish.” I said quickly taking off my seat belt. Jake looked me in the eye and lent over in his seat kissing me deeply before I pulled away smiling. He definitely knew how to kiss, I’d give him that.
“Bye baby.” He said sweetly to me as I stepped out of his car. I lifted my hand in a wave as I walked to the door of the cafe.
As soon as I had made my way through the doors, I was greeted by a pair of dark brown eyes.
“Was that your boyfriend in the car?” Mike asked looking a little awkward.
“Yeah. Uh his name is Jake” I choked out “and Hi to you too.” I said sarcastically looking at my feet. I heard him let out a deep chuckle that sent butterflies through my stomach.
“I was hoping we could talk?” Mike asked, looking down at his hands playing with his sleeves.
“I, uh. I’m at work Mike.” I stuttered grabbing my apron and putting it on. He nodded slowly.
“Well, maybe we could talk on your break?” He asked looking up from his sleeves to my eyes. I could almost hear a plea in his voice. I sighed rubbing my eyes.
“My break is at 2. Meet me out the front.” I said giving him a soft smile before going over to see Kelly.

“Hey Kel.” I said joining her at the register. Kelly looked at me with a suspicious smile on her face.
“How is it that you have been here less than a week and Mike Fuentes is already hitting on you?” She asked before handing a coffee to a teenage boy who was wearing his hat at an obnoxiously stupid angle.
“He wasn’t hitting on me, he just wanted to talk.” I shrugged as Kelly gave me look. “We were best friends growing up, we kind of haven’t seen each other in a while.” I said sighing. Kelly nodded her head understandingly.
“Well just make sure you stay away from his girlfriend Shanna, She’s a fucking nightmare.” Kelly said seriously. I nodded assuming she meant the girl he was with yesterday. I had no intentions of going anywhere near Shanna, It’s not like any of Mike’s girlfriends liked me in the slightest.

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“Are you ready to party Miss Grove?!” Mike yelled storming into my room.
I lifted up the bottle of Vodka I had taken from my kitchen, smiling in response.
“I’ll take that as a hell yes!” Mike laughed sitting down on my bed. He was wearing tight skinny jeans, a red band singlet and a black beanie covering his hair, he looked good…as always.
“I know right, I look hot!” he said getting up to do a twirl, as if he had just read my thoughts.
“But,” he added “You’re looking better.” He smiled. I looked down at my shorts and tight blue V neck and mimicked his twirl. “I know right?” I said imitating his voice sarcastically.
“Let’s go” I said grabbing his hand pulling him towards the door. “Vic is driving us right?” I asked as we walked down the stairs. Mike replied with a nod.
Vic was Mike’s older brother. There was only a couple years difference between them. Sometimes Vic, Mike and I would all hang out together. He was like my older brother. We always got along well and he knew that Mike and I were inseparable.

“Hey Victor” I said smiling, climbing into the back seat of his car. Vic turned around and waved giving me a wide smile.
“Hey Grover” He said as I groaned.
“You guys have to promise me that you’ll stay out of trouble tonight, I don’t think my parents can take another screw up okay?” Vic said giving us both serious looks. Mike and I looked at each other muffling giggles at his ‘serious’ face. “We promise Vic.” We said in unison only to make him roll his eyes.

--

“Thanks Vic, I’ll text you later” Mike yelled over his shoulder as we walked towards the house. When we got to the door, we were greeted by an overly drunk guy who made loud noises rather than actually saying words. Mike grabbed my hand instinctively, dragging me inside the house and straight to the kitchen.
When we got to parties our first priority was always the alcohol, no excuses. Once we had our drinks sorted we went over to join a bunch of our friends standing in the corner of the room.

After a few bottles of beer I started feeling buzzed. “Let’s dance Mike” I said pulling him over to the makeshift dance floor. Under sober conditions there would be no way in hell that we would even consider dancing to Ke$ha, but right now we couldn’t care less about her horribly scratchy voice. We danced for a couple of songs until we were both dying for another drink. Mike put his arm lazily over my shoulder and walked us towards the kitchen. As soon as we got to the kitchen we were confronted by a very pissed off Katy.

“Hi Katy,” Mike said pulling me closer to his lanky frame.
“Hi.” Katy said sneering before she turned her attention to me. “Listen whore, you need to keep the fuck away from my man, he doesn’t want a slut like you.” She said pointing her fingers in my face. Her friends all stood around her with satisfied looks on their faces as if it really hurt me. I chuckled to myself before answering.
“I don’t know what the fuck you have stuck up your cheap ass, but it must be stuck up there pretty damn far if you think that Mike is still ‘your man’.... and I’m a slut? I think you’re getting a little confused because you’re the fucking definition of slut.” I said laughing.
As soon as the words came out of my mouth I realised I really shouldn’t of said them, I mean yeah everybody was thinking it, but if I was sober I would of just let it slide.

Katy was starting to clench her fists and began walking towards me. Mike quickly grabbed my hand and led me out of the house onto the street.
He put both his hands on my upper arms and looked me directly in the eye.
“We promised Vic we wouldn’t get into trouble, remember Jessie. I know she deserves it but let’s just leave her, alright?” Mike said still looking me in the eye. I sighed and eventually agreed with him that I wouldn’t go back inside.
Mike linked his fingers with mine and pulled me along beside him down the street.
“I get it that we had to leave the party, but did we have to leave that bottle of Vodka?” I asked pouting. Mike let out a low laugh before showing me the bottle in his free hand. My eyes lit up at the sight of it.
“Mike, you are my hero. I swear.” I said cuddling into his side.

We roamed the streets for about an hour before calling Vic to come and pick us up. While we were waiting for him I realised how cold I had gotten and let out a shiver. Mike must of heard it because he instantly put his arm around my shoulders pulling me in closer to him.
“Sorry about having to leave the party.” I whispered up to Mike.
“It doesn’t matter. I still got to spend the night with my favourite person.” He said kissing my forehead.

It only took a couple of minutes for Vic to find the street we were on and pull up against the sidewalk. I climbed into the back seat and Mike followed, sitting right next to me. As the car started to move I felt myself become overly tired. I rested my head on Mike’s chest as he put his arm around me. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or not, but I had to continuously shake the urge to kiss him every few seconds. I kept reminding myself that we were friends and friends only. Sighing, I closed my eyes and started listening to the sound of his heart beating.