Stay With Me - Drew Ramos

Choose? But who?

I couldn't sleep that night for some reason. It's usually easy for me to fall asleep but not this time. I quietly got out of bed so I wouldn't wake up Andrea, grabbed my phone and room key and walked out. There was an area on our floor where it was set up as a lounge area with couches. I sat on a couch facing the window watching cars drive on the freeway. Even at 2 in the morning there were a lot of people driving both north and south.

"I thought I was the only one who couldn't sleep at night." Someone had snuck up on me. A part of me hoped it was Drew but the voice was a little higher pitched. I turned around and saw that it was Mikey.

"Oh, hey." I said.

"Hey," Mikey sat next to me on the couch and joined in on watching the cars on the freeway, "So what are you doing up at this hour?"

"Just thinking. I couldn't sleep so I thought that I would just walk out for a bit."

"Same, I can't sleep in my room sometimes. It's not comforting enough like my bed at home is."

"I understand the feeling. Every time I have a big tournament out of state and I have to stay at a hotel, no matter how nice the hotel is I can't sleep. The stress gets to me."

"Why are you stressed out?" Mikey asked.

I sighed and didn't know if I could tell Mikey about everything, but I also know that he's been one of the kindest people to me so far. "Just stupid boy stuff."

"Anything you'd like to tell me about? I'm pretty good at listening."

I laughed and kept looking out the window.

"Oh c'mon. Do you think I'm going to judge you?"

"No it's just that it's stupid. I shouldn't be so worked up about it."

"Well maybe I can help. Please, it'll help me sleep; knowing that I helped someone and they benefitted from it. And you would be the reason why I perform so well tomorrow."

I look over at Mikey who is already facing me. I roll my eyes and agree to talk to him about everything. "It's not realistic to say that you like two people at once, but my conscience would be less guilty if Chris just wasn't here."

"Have you told Andrea about how you feel about Chris?"

"No, and I never will. Going for Chris will be the death of me. But going for Drew is unrealistic. He's going to be too bust for me and I don't even think he's that into me."

"Kalani, he walked you to your door and kissed you."

"On the cheek! Like was our moment not good enough? That kissing me on the lips are reserved for people who he actually likes?" I started to get riled up and that's when Mikey puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me down. He laughed a little.

"I think you should just calm down a bit because one, it's two in the morning, and two, Drew's been through so much you should just take it slow and give him a chance."

"Why? what has he been through that's so bad?"

"Well he grew up with a single mom. Being in a relationship isn't something that he encounters on a regular basis."

"I-I didn't know that." I immediately felt so guilty over feeling so angry about it. Drew just had a hard time expressing his feelings this whole time.

"It's fine, if I didn't tell you, you would have never known."

"But I feel so bad for feeling that way in the first place. Like why am I so-ugh, why can't I just let things happen and not over think everything."

"Look I get it, you're just trying to protect yourself."

"From what? I'm totally fine, there's nothing wrong with me." I immediately became defensive after Mikey's response. He didn't know anything about me. Protecting myself?

"From a relationship? You've barely gotten out of one."

"That was months ago!"

"How many months?"

I started twiddling my thumbs and said underneath my breath, "two months."

"See? This is all new to you. You don't know how to feel. Look, take my advice and think about it: Drew is awesome guy who can give you the world, being with Chris is just going to cause drama. And you even said it yourself, you have stronger feelings for Drew. You think you like Chris but it wasn't anything but a friendly conversation. Sure, Chris is good-looking and yeah you've known him longer, but how well do you really know him?"

"You're right. What should I do?"

"Talk to Chris. Tell him he needs to back off because you don't feel comfortable with the whole situation."

"But I don't know how he's going to take it. Like, what if he doesn't perform well because of what I said?"

"He'll be fine. I'm sure he'll get over this terrible heartbreak." Mikey laughed and started to stand up. He held his hand out to help me up from the couch. He then gave me a hug to comfort me.

"Thank you, Mikey." I said into his chest.

"Anytime," He said breaking the hug,"And if you need anything just come to me."

"Ok.. You should be getting to bed you have to get up in a few hours," I looked at my phone and it was already 3 in the morning.

"I will, and you too. You got a big day ahead of you, Kalani." He smiled and we began walking back to our rooms.

"Night, Mikey."

"Night, Kalani."