Fresh Start

E i g h t e e n

   "You should come with us." She tells me, as I raid her drawers, stopping slightly to peer back at her serious expression.

"You don't have to do that." I tell Maia, forcing my eyes back to the dresser.

"I don't have to, I want to." She points out, "I'd be nice to have you, plus my mom's always wanting to meet my friends."

Friends. Yup. That's all. Friends that like each other. Friends that sometimes kiss...and hold hands...and cuddle. But just friends, nothing more.

I honestly don't know what I was expecting, we are only friends, we've only ever been friends. "I don't know, I have to check in with Kaylee, plus Jenna's leaving in a few days." I say quickly, grabbing a blue sweatshirt.

"Please? Just a few more hours before we have to go back to reality." Maia says, standing from the bed, she walks over to me, taking one of my hands as she gives me another pleading look. "Please Kris?"

I meet her eyes hesitantly before nodding my head slowly, making her flash me a set of white teeth, her brown eyes shining at me. "I don't know why you want me to come so bad." I mumble, dropping her hand to pull the sweatshirt over my thin t-shirt.

"I want you to meet my mom." She answers, "She's really sweet, I think you'd like her."

I pull out the next drawer, looking for some pair of pants to wear, "I'm sure I will." I mean she's your Mother after all, of course I'll like her. "I get to meet your brother too, right?"

"Aaron? Yeah, he's driving us up there." She confirms, walking backwards until she sits down at the edge of her bed.

"Do you drive?" I ask Maia curiously, while holding up a pair of jeans.

"Yeah, but Aaron likes driving more," She explains, "And this way I get to control the music."

I hum a bit, while pulling off my sweatpants, "The real question is do you have good enough music taste to control it?" I reply, pulling on her black jeans, only to find the waist a bit larger than mine.

"Belts are in the top right." Maia tells me, pointing her finger towards the dresser, I mumble a thanks before searching through the drawer. "And yes, I have good music taste."

I rummage until I find a black belt, slipping it through the loops in the jeans, all while saying, "Of course you think that, no one thinks their music taste is bad."

"Then what's your music taste?" She shoots back.

I shug while fastening my belt, "I don't really listen to music."

Maia let's out a small laugh, which startles me slightly, as my mind tries to figure out what was funny about what I said, "We'll just have to change that." She comments, but before I can ask what she means, she's standing from her bed addressing me again, "You look really pretty." I smile slightly, "Can I take a picture?" She asks, already taking her phone out.

"Oh hell no." I say immediately.

She puts on a very convincing pouty face, when my hand rests over her phone. "Oh come on, please?" She pushes further, trying to lift her phone again, laughing loudly.

"Stop!" I yell, but now I'm laughing too, pushing her hands away from me as she tries to level her phone, both of us stumbling back. 

Eventually, through the fits of laughter and both of us walking backwards, I find myself lying on the bed beside her, my legs hanging off the edge as I try to control my full on grin showing.

But I shouldn't care about my large smile because when I look over at Maia, it's mirrored on her face, her eyes crinkling as she meets my gaze, her lips tugging up more. "Seriously, you look really pretty." She comments, once our laughter subsides, the grins left over.

I feel my cheeks heat up at her words before hesitantly I murmur, "Fine."

"What?" She questions, either confused or unable to hear my quiet tone, but something about her smile tells me she's very aware of what I said and what I mean.

"I said 'Fine', you can take the fucking photo." I say, forcing myself to rein my smile in but failing miserably as I roll onto my stomach, groaning when I'm met with a camera in front of me. It's only a second, then she's slipping the phone back into her pocket and rolling onto her side as I return to my original position on my back, gazing up at her.

I feel her hand rest just below my neck but I don't look down to check, because instead I'm way too focused on meeting her focused gaze as her body seems to draw closer to mine. And then again, her lips meet mine, in an all too sweet kiss. I only describe the kiss as that because as it continues I find myself falling deeper and deeper into it.

It's safe to say we both get carried away, My fingers in her hair, trying to bring her even closer to me, her hand on my waist, sliding down to hook her finger through one of the loops in my jeans, both of us getting lost in the push and pull of this kiss, that is until there's a loud knock on the door, breaking our lips apart.

"Maia we need to go." A male voice complains, his voice lined with annoyance.

"One minute." She calls back, her voice surprisingly even. And within a few seconds there's a loud groan before there's loud footsteps fading away from the closed door.

And then again, Maia's eyes are resting on my face, her hand still at my hip, "He's right, it's a pretty long drive."

I nod, agreeing, my hand sliding down to the base of her neck as I drop her eyes. Long drive. That's good, gives me lots of time to prepare. . .what to say...how to act...oh god how do I act? What if she doesn't like me? What if-

"Kris." Maia says, gaining my attention both by calling my name and also, by lightly brushing her hand against the skin between where the sweater has rided up and my jeans waistband. I meet her gaze, silently telling her I'm listening, "I can literally see you spiraling. Don't worry about it, it's not a big thing." She says, offering me a comforting smile.

I nod my head again in acknowledgement, trying my best to mirror her smile. "Not a big thing. Got it." I say, my voice sounding way more convinced than my mind is.