The Taste of You and Me

“You OK, Maya?” Mike asked once we were halfway down the street. I nodded silently and he gave my shoulders a quick squeeze before letting go. “What a wanker. You have to put up with that every day?”

“I only met him today.” I gave a slightly nervous giggle and chewed my lip. Mike shook his head, almost disapproving, but said nothing more on the matter.

“I’m getting a pizza. Do you wanna come over and hang with me for a while?” he offered. I shook my head automatically, not wanting to impose. “You sure? There’s plenty of food and it’s not trouble.”

“Yeah, man, you don’t need me stealing your pepperoni.” I insisted.

“Ahh, true.” he nodded, giving me a cheeky wink. “At least come a pick it up with me - then I can walk you home.” I agreed after some persistence on his behalf, namely him saying that getting me home safely would make him feel better. It made me blush a little (although it really shouldn’t have as I begrudgingly reminded myself HE HAD A GIRLFRIEND). We collected his pizza and walked home, talking about the general bizarreness of our days.
Apparently, a stripper had hit on Jason today, but he was so out of his head, he didn’t even notice.

“At least you don’t have creeps breathing down your neck every time your boss fucks off.” I chuckled.

“You’d be surprised!” Mike laughed as we stopped outside our respective apartment doors. “So…” He began, swinging one arm awkwardly as he clung with the other to his pizza box.

“So…” I repeated. “Thanks, Mike.” I leaned forward and gave him a quick hug, seeming to take him by surprise. He hugged me back for a second before I pulled away. You never know when suspicious girlfriends might come a bustin’ in, guns aimed at my head. “Have a good night.”

*

Mike’s POV

Shutting the front door, I sighed and slouched over to the sofa, dumping the pizza on the coffee table ungracefully and flopping onto the cushions. The scene with Maya outside played through my head again: it was bothering me almost more now than it had then. How could she just blow the situation off like that? How could he just try and pick her up like that?
Bastard.

I wasn’t going to lie - I was no fucking angel at best - but Mama Fuentes raised a gentleman. I didn’t like seeing anyone mess women around like that. And Vic wasn’t even home to give me advice to for me to vent to either: he’d gone out with a few old high school friends to a party, and I couldn’t call him unless I wanted to ruin his night.

Flipping the pizza box open, I reached for a slice, but my phone rang before I could grab one. Looking at the caller ID, my heart sank: AR. Taking a second to think through what she might want now, I answered it, lying flat on my back.

“Hey,” I said, taking off my cap and kicking off my shoes.

“Mike.” AR said, sounding cold as ever. “We need to talk.” I had figured, but didn’t say anything. “Mike!”she snapped when I didn’t reply. “Are you there?”

“I’m here.” I sighed. We had been through this too many times for me to pretend I cared anymore.

“We need to talk.” she repeated.

“Yeah.” I said, closing my eyes.

“This isn’t working. I need some time to think ‘us’ through.” she replied.

“I thought you might.” I muttered bitterly.

“You know what, Michael? Fuck you, OK? You can’t judge me, not when you’re hanging out with random bitches.” AR snapped, cutting off the line. I didn’t care anymore, true; didn’t mean it hurt any less. Our whole relationship was beginning to look like a double standard: like some big fucking joke at times. I could give her all the space she wanted, but when it came to me, she was unbelievably paranoid at best.

Putting my phone down, I closed my eyes and tried to think of something other than the dull aching under my ribs: maybe just needed a shit tonne of ice cream and some chicks flicks to recuperate, like a teenage girl. That could be the temporary bandaid for my stone heart.
The thought made me smile, and my tensed muscles pushed me off the sofa as I thought: Maya would laugh at that. Flipping the pizza box shut, I picked up my shoes and headed to the door, opening it with one hand, then kicking it shut behind me after I stepped out. I knocked on the door opposite mine with - hers - with my shoe and waited, hearing her soft footsteps on the other side. She only opened it a crack to peek through, then saw it was me a swung it all open without hesitance.

“Mikey,” she said, a frown slotted between her eyebrows, “what’s up?” I opened my mouth to answer but no words came out, and I faltered, feeling my throat tighten.

“She left me.” I eventually managed. Her expression softened; for a moment, it was unclear whether I moved forwards first, arms open, or her - but she hugged me tight anyway, and I hugged back.

“I’m sorry to hear that, man.” she mumbled, her hands rubbing small, soothing circled on my back.

“C-can I come in? Vic’s not home, and I don’t wanna be alone.” I said, swallowing hard as she pulled away.

“Yeah, of course.” she replied, giving me a warm smile and stepping aside so I could enter. I went in, glancing around the interior as she shut the door and beckoned me to the sofa. “Come on, don’t be a stranger.”
She watched me hesitate for a moment, then took me by the wrist, pulling me to the sofa to sit next to her. Settling down and chucking my shoes to a side over the armrest, I felt my muscles relax, dropping my head back as I closed my eyes.
“How you taking it?” she asked after a moment, placing a hand on my knee. I opened my eyes, looking at her concerned face and nodded, mumbling, “Great.”

She chuckled, shaking her head, and I smile with a shrug. “I actually thought a couple of chick flicks and some ice cream should fix all my shit straight up.” I added, making her snigger.

“I can actually arrange that,” she said, sliding off the sofa and crawling over to a box she hadn’t unpacked yet. As I watched her, I thought of something better to wile away time; Maya had changed out of her smart work clothes and into a tank top and jeans torn by natural wear at the knees.
I watched her top ride up, flashing a thin strip of the tanned skin of her flat stomach and the small of her back. She bent down to pick up a few DVDs, and U got an eyeful of the goodies hiding under her top. Nice. She was a little on the thin side, but more like the stress of the past few weeks had been eating at her instead of her not eating food thin. She looked up, holding one in each hand - a DVD, I mean.

“Toy Story, Finding Nemo or the Nightmare Before Christmas?” she asked.

“Those aren’t even chick flicks.” I stated, throwing a cushion at her. She dropped the DVDs to bat it away.

“Don’t be so fussy, you moody git.” she replied, tossing it back, “These are the nearest things to chick flicks I own. Unless Tangled counts.”

“Tangled does not count.” I said. “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” She nodded dutifully and went over to her TV set, feeding it into the DVD player. I didn’t take my eyes off of her as she came back to the sofa, flopping down next to me: there was no doubt she was physically attractive, but I wasn’t going to hit on my neighbour. Either the fact that Vic would kill me for taking advantage of her, or I respected her too much, something held me back. I could actually be friends with a girl for once, and a cool one at that - I wasn’t going to mess it up.

“I happen to have some ice cream, though. Cookie dough’s good, yeah?” she asked.

“Cookie dough’s great. Shall I get the pizza?”

“Go for it, man.” she nodded, jumping over the back of her sofa and heading to her kitchen. I got up, opening the door to her apartment and going to mine; as I searched my pockets for my keys, she watched me from the open kitchen. “Strawberry too?” she called.

“Mmm,” I sighed, hanging my head, “forgot my motherfucking keys.” She snickered as I kicked my door and winced, seeing as I was still barefoot. Turning to face her, I scowled.

“Today’s just not your day, love.” she teased, extending her arms for another hug. I engulfed her again, squishing her to my chest without much regards for personal space, rocking from foot to foot. “Just come and hang out, alright? You can crash on the sofa if Vic comes back late.”

She pulled out of my grip and sauntered off to the kitchen again. “Shut the bloody door!” she yelled over her shoulder. I chuckled, doing as she told me, and followed in her footsteps. “Here.” she handed me two tubs of ice cream and two spoons, holding three tubs herself, along with a box of cookies. That looked like more than just cookie dough and strawberry, but who am I to complain.
I slouched over to the couch and she did the same, placing everything on the coffee table before wandering off again.

“C’mon, MayMay, the movies started!” I shouted, frowning on hearing her rattling around in the bedroom. She reappeared, arms full of blankets and pillows.

“MayMay?” she said, dumping it on the sofa next to me.

“If you can call me Mikey, I get to call you MayMay. I said, grinning as she began to try and build a bed. She pulled a face to display her aversion to the nickname and motioned for me to get off the sofa. “Quit fussing and sit down, the movies started.” I sighed, pulling the blankets out of her hands and taking hold of both her wrists to pull her onto the sofa. She sat down next to me, rolling her eyes and reaching for the cookie box. “No cigarettes either.” I muttered, feeling around in my pockets and realising they were totally empty. Maya offered the box in my direction and I reached over, taking a cookie and shoving it into my mouth in one bite.

After a second’s hesitation, I stretched my arms out, curving one around her shoulders and shuffling closer. “Thanks.” I whispered after a long moment. She squirmed under my grip, and I thought maybe I was pushing it, but she shuffled closer to curl up next to me. Lowering my head, I rested my cheek on the top of her head and took another one of her cookies.

“Shut up, you girl.” she replied.