Heart & Soul

I took as much time as physically possible to drive back to my house, an impatient Mike riding my bumper and occasionally honking at me. An old Blink 182 cd sounded softly from my speakers, as I wished it would lull my worries that obscured my mind. I felt like I should just trust the world for once, instead of questioning the actions it threw into my line of fire. Part of me wanted that, and part of me wanted to run away from everything as fast as humanly possible.

A significant amount of time later, we arrived in the parking lot of my apartment complex, parking our cars in spots next to each other. I turned off the engine of my car and slowly opened the door to meet Mike's glare from where he stood at my driver's side window.

"My grandmother drives faster than you do," he guffawed, swinging his car keys around and around on his "I <3 Boobies" lanyard.

"I love boobies? What are you, sixteen? Cute," I nodded down to his keychain and let out a throaty laugh before leading him to the door of my apartment.

"That is irrelevant at this point in time," he answered, raising an entertained brow. "Get your shit, we got places to be woman,"

I rolled my eyes, grasping the door knob and turning it to let us into the apartment. I walked in, Mike hot on my heels. I heard the television coming from the living room, and I assumed it was being watched.

"Bailey! I'm home so hopefully you guys are decent. And I brought a.....friend," I paused a bit, not knowing what to refer to Mike as. He wasn't necessarily a stranger anymore, so I couldn't just blatantly say that.

'Oh my god, praise Jesus because I swear you're growing cobwebs down there,"

"Bailey!" I shouted, feeling a deeo ruby shade immediately coming up and seeking shelter in the flesh of my cheeks. "It's not like that," I spoke, horrified. I turned back to Mike and mouthed "sorry", but his snickering showed that it didn't matter to him, he found this funny.

I walked around the corner to see Bailey spread across the couch, her feet in Vic's lap as they watched someone random action film on tv.

"What-" she started to speak, her eyes still glued to the television before she was interupted.

"Vic?!" Mike roared, clearly surprised for whatever reason.

"Mike?!" Bailey and Vic both shouted in unison, their dumbfounded expressions showing that they all knew each other. I jumped at the sudden change in volume of their voices. By this point in time Vic and Bailey had completely changed positions on the couch, their entire bodies now facing us as we stood awkwardly in the kitchen.

"You guys know each other?" I prodded, palpably showing my disorientation of this situation.

"Dude, Vic is my brother," Mike explained, a laugh resonating in his voice to keep his tone light and sociable.

"Woah, talk about a small fucking world," Bailey's mouth still hung open in shock, not being able to get a grip on what had just happened. It all oddly made sense though, now that I thought back to Vic's statements he had made about Mike not only at the night at the party, but after and prior to that as well. And there was Mike's comment about needing to find his brother, which now all made sense. Not that it didn't before, it just all clicked together now.

'Dude you're having sex with Jo?!" Vic howled, clutching his stomach with laughter. I face palmed myself before throwing my hands in the air in attempt to say "What the fuck?!" but Mike beat me to the punch.

"I'm tryin' here, man," Mike scratched the back of his neck and Bailey beamed ear to ear, trying to fight back laughter that I knew would get the best of her soon enough.

"Oh my god, it's not like that!" I bellowed, managing to choke out a laugh with my words, knowing that this was all said with humor and that I shouldn't be offended so easily.

"No, actually Josie here owes me a couple dates," Mike clarified, receiving a look of confusion from Bailey, and another from Vic."She'll explain later, we've got places to be!" Mike told them, although Bailey's look expressed that an interrogation was soon to proceed. I widened my eyes at her, just a signal to show that I would in fact explain myself later.

I shook my head, still trying to wrap my mind around the whole concept that we could have very well known each other before hand, but it just never happened. I walked to my room to put down the things that I didn't need, hearing Mike and Vic exchange conversations about what they were having for dinner. It felt strange, to say the least.

I walked out of the room, almost as fast as I had gone it. The only things I carried with me were my car keys and my cell phone.

"Why do you have your keys?" Mike asked, finding it peculiar. "I'm gonna drive,"

I fumbled over my words in my head, trying to formulate some lame excuse just so I could drive there, in case I needed to come back for whatever reason. It was just natural for me. I had to look out for myself after what happened.

"Umm...." I trailed off, racking my brain for an excuse but finding that I couldn't come up with one. Amazing, right? So much for quick wit. "Alright," I shrugged, giving a glance to Bailey, who must have known because she looked at me knowingly. Her eyes explained without using words that I didn't have anything to worry about. Yeah, accept for having a panic attack.

I tossed my keys down on the coffee table and tugged my sleeves down, though they were already there.

"But I wanted to have a movie night!" Bailey exclaimed in a whiny tone to which elicited a laugh from myself and Vic.

"She'll be back at before midnight, there's only so much sarcasm I can handle," Mike said with a grin before elbowing my side lightly, causing me to jump backwards away from him. "And jumpiness, jeez..." I gave a nervous chuckle to him before heading out the door. If only he knew.

-

"Let me get this straight, our first 'date' or whatever you are choosing call it, is watching a Harry Potter movie marathon?" I flopped down on the couch as Mike hurriedly turned on the channel that it would be appearing on.

"Genius, right?" he asked as he set the remote down on the coffee table before taking the seat next to me. My body stiffened as he got comfortable, the proximity to me distanced, but still close. We weren't touching in anyway, but I didn't know if that would last long.

"If you're in to that sort of thing," I shrugged, trying to play it cool.

"Does it look like it?!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, showing me the palm of his hand which had some strange triangle symbol on it and then lifting up his shorts a bit to expose two portraits on his thighs.

"Am I supposed to know what those are?" I retorted, to which Mike looked at me like I was insane.

He then paused the movie and proceeded to tell me for an hour and half what each one meant and the symbolism of them and just how in general he was what he called a "potterhead". I chuckled at that and then told him he should shorten it to "pothead". He neither agreed nor disagreed.

"So what tattoos do you have?" he asked me as we moced forth with conversation.

"Uh, I don't have any," I admitted sheepishly.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, startling me and causing me to jump. "You're a tatoo virgin?! We must change this very soon,"

"I can't," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. I had always wanted tattoos, but medical school doesn't accept them. "I'm in medical school, it's not acceptable there. I had to take out the visible piercings I had just so I could attend,"

"Is that where you heart is?" he asked, catching me off guard.

"Does it matter?" I snapped, suddenly defensive. Who was he to question my decisions? He hardly even knew me.

"No, I guess not," he shook his head, following with a shrug. I furrowed my brows in confusion, wondering why he hadn't gotten defensive when I had. I respected that.

We continued on with aimless conversation, asking each other random questions just to get to know each other better in the time we were alotted. Hours passed by, beers were chugged, laughs were shared, and not once had he tried to make a move, and for that I was grateful.

He explained to me about the band, who was in it, how long they had been together, and their roles in the band. He talked about his musical influences in life, the things he was passionate about other than Harry Potter, his side project, and everything in general. From what I gathered, him and I were completely different people.

I didn't know where the banter was headed or what to make of it, but I kept finding myself enraptured in his words. I watched how his eye glimmered when he spoke of the band and his band mates, I watched the way his mouth moved when he talked, I absorbed all that was Mike Fuentes. I had never been so intrigued by someone so completely different from myself. But often did I find his sarcasm challenging me, his quick wit a match for my own, and his often use of profanity to match my mouth of a truckdriver. His aura enticed me from the start, and I couldn't help but just drink in his presence with ease, as if I had known him for a lifetime rather than a mere two weeks.

"So what is your full name, Josephine?" he asked, leaning back in his perch on the couch next to me, propping his feet up on the coffee table in front of him and casually slinging an arm around the back of the couch where I sat to get comfortable.

"Josephine," I replied easily.

"No shit. I meant all of it. Middle and last," he countered with curious ears.

"Okay fine, stalker. I mean that literally too," this caused him to chuckle before I proceeded. "Josephine Elizabeth Mireles," I took the last drink out of the bottle of beer that had sat in my lap for quite some time now.

"A pretty name for a pretty girl," Mike winked at me, causing a slight blush to splay across my high rised cheekbones.

"Thank you, Michael Unknown Middle Name Fuentes,"

"It's Christopher,"

"A pretty name for a pretty boy," I mocked him, trying to talk in his octave but failing miserably, causing him to burst into a fit of laughter.

'I should probably get you home. When I said I could only take so much sarcasm, I meant it," he spoke, still trying to stifle laughter.

"HA! Coming from you of all people," I chuckled at his hypocrisy.

He just shook his head in amusement before picking his keys off of the coffee table and walking to the door, holding it open for me. "After you, m'lady," he bowed before the door, and I rolled my eyes, punching him lightly in the shoulder before following him out to his car. Normally, I wouldn't have done such a thing as even jokingly punch a man in the arm, for fear of the result. But with Mike, it was different. I hardly even knew him and I could just tell that it was never taken seriously, unlike some people would. He made me feel comfortable and at ease around him, and I don't know whether or not that scared me or calmed me down. I would be lying to myself and anyone else that asked if I said that I wasn't interested in this man, but it was more complicated than that. If only it were that easy.

We drove the short trip to my house, and to my surprise, I wished the car ride was longer. I didn't want to leave his company. When we pulled up, I expected to say just a quick goodbye, and have him drive off. But when we pulled up, he quickly put the car in park and ran around to my door to let me out.

"Since when are you a gentleman? I heard you stalk women," I teased him, to which he rolled his eyes. Rolling our eyes and teasing were something we did a lot in each other's presence, and I liked that conversation could be light hearted and fun. It just added more excitement.

He walked me to my door, the night air around us thickly ladden with silence. It was a cloudless night, all the stars, constellations, and clusters revealed effortlessly. I consumed the moment, nostalgia creeping into my veins although the moment wasn't even gone.

"I had a nice time actually meeting you," Mike told me once we reached my door, his eyes not making contact and his hands shoved into his pockets.

Oh no. I knew what was coming, and I wasn't at all prepared for it. I knew he was going to kiss me, and I didn't want it to happen.

"I did too," I half smirked, keeping my head tilted so my lips weren't in kissing range.

"I'll call you soon, because you owe me a couple more of these. Exciting ones at that. No more of the stupid shit. Actual dates," he declared, causing me to crack a smile.

"Ah, but you don't have my number. How do you presume you will call me?"

"I have ways," he winked, causing my heart to palpitate in the slightest before I calmed myself down. "Goodnight, Josie," he looked at me deeply, and suddenly, I actually wanted it to happen. As much as I hadn't wanted it to only seconds before, something just clicked, and my mind was altered. I had no idea why he had this effect on me, as no one ever had before. But with him it wasn't forced or unnatural, rather second nature. So I closed my eyes, waiting for it to happen.

As I braced myself for what I fantasized his soft, supple lips would feel like to be on my own, it never came. Rather, he bent down and placed a soft, gentle kiss on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see him smile softly before receding back to his car.

I gave a toothless smile to him as he got into the passenger seat, and I turned to open the door to my apartment, lost in my head and my all too eagerness to kiss him.

Something about me was off, but in the best of ways.

I wanted to know why Mike Fuentes had this ability of making my feels turn into mush, and I would do so until something physically stopped me.