Almost is Never Enough | MIKHAIAH

11

Third-Person P.O.V.

Max steps forward, the stage lights softening as she takes the mic. She looks at the audience, then her gaze lands on Z, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"This last song means a lot to me right now." Max begins, her voice low but steady then she winked at Z.

"It's about seeing someone and knowing they could change everything. Sometimes you look at them twice, and it all makes sense."

As the first notes of the song fill the air, Max's voice follows, carrying the emotion of the lyrics as her eyes locked on Z.

"I could say I never dare
To think about you in that way but...
I would be lyin'."

The crowd is entranced, but Max's attention is only on Z, the connection between them clear in the moment.

"And I pretend I'm happy for you when you find some dude to take home..."

As Max sings, she thinks about the times she's seen Z with Daniel or with this guy, Jeremy, the pang of jealousy she tried to ignore. She tries to keep her emotions in check, but the words come out with raw honesty. Z senses the truth in the lyrics and realizes that Max might have been hiding these feelings all along.

"But I won't deny that... in the midst of the crowds, in the shapes in the clouds, I don't see nobody but you..."

Max's voice rises with the chorus, and the room feels like it's closing in, leaving only her and Z. As she sings about not seeing anyone else, her eyes stay locked on Z. Azariella's heart races, understanding that Max is singing directly to her, about her.

"In my rose-tinted dreams, wrinkled silk on my sheets, I don't see nobody but you..."

Z's breath catches as she hears the intimate lyrics, realizing how much space she occupies in Max's thoughts. She imagines the moments Max must have spent thinking about her, dreaming about her, and she feels a deep connection that she never fully acknowledged before.

"Girl, you got me hooked onto something, who could say that they saw us coming? Tell me, do you feel the love?"

As Max sings the chorus, her voice is filled with a mixture of hope and fear. She's laying it all on the line, and Z can feel the weight of the moment. Their friends, who are also watching, seem to fade into the background as Z's thoughts whirl. Does she feel the love? Could she?

"Spend the summer of a lifetime with me, let me take you to the place of your dreams, tell me, do you feel the love?"

Max's voice grows more intimate as she sings the next lines, her fingers lightly strumming the guitar. Her eyes drift over the crowd, but always return to Z, who stands near the edge of the stage, watching intently.

"And I could say I never unzipped
Those blue Levi's inside my head
But that's far from the truth..."

Max steps closer to the front of the stage, she knelt down and winked at Z. The spotlight following her as she continues. Her voice softens, like she's sharing a secret, her body language relaxed but deliberate.

"Don't know what's come over me
It seems like yesterday when I said
We'll be friends forever..."

She gives a small, almost playful smile as she sings this part, making eye contact with Z, and for a moment, it feels like the two of them are the only ones in the room.

As the chorus swells, Z shifts her stance, gripping the microphone stand as she sings with more intensity.

"Constellations of stars
Murals on city walls
I don't see nobody but you..."