All at Once

Chapter Fourteen: New Benefits, New Beginnings

I groggily wake up in a place different from my bedroom, different off-white walls, different dressers, different bed, different everything. My whole memory of last night has been a blur, everything except the fact that Michael is gay, that's the thing I wish I could forget. Maybe I shouldn't have chugged lots of alcohol after I found out about him and my doctor.

My head spins, I am terribly hungover that I don't even know where I am or what I am doing here in this stranger's bed. So far there's no one to be found or seen, all I know is I'm under someone else's covers and I have no idea who's.

A light knock is upon the door and it opens, Luis and his gorgeous face peek in, he walks over calmly and sits on the bed. Oh my gosh! Please tell me this isn't true! I slept with Luis!

"Did we... Ya know?" I ask vaguely. A sly smirk spreads across his face, I'm dreading his response. I really hope his answer is no, because I don't wanna jeopardize whatever "flirty thing" we have together.

"Yes." Luis replies. I roll over onto his bed and scream into the pillow, "ughhh!"

"That's not the usual reaction I get when a girl finds out we slept together." He says as he chuckles. This is no time for jokes. We just slept together. Am I the only one that cares?

At least I try to embrace the fact that we made a mistake, Luis thinks otherwise. He seems to be completely fine with the idea of us sleeping together and possibly ruining our friendship. I just can't believe this happened.

"Luis. What does this mean for us?" I ask, expecting the worst. But the way he looks at me, you would've thought I was someone he's loved forever, he held so much love and passion in his eyes that it confused me. His look made me wonder what we really were.

"I was hoping it might mean that we could maybe start something up?" Luis begins, "unless you don't want to, that's perfectly fine!"

Ugh! I wish we weren't this complicated, my heart wants to say yes, but my brain wants to say no. I ponder for a moment, thinking of possible scenarios that may result of Luis and I as a couple. No good results.

"Um... I think, we should be friends, we seem to be good at that, right?" I say, the whole sentence left a sour taste in my mouth, but it had to be done. His eyes go from a sparkle of hope to a pit of sorrow. My heart sinks, this was something so hard that I had to do. I try to gather up my feelings before I cry, I hate breaking his heart right now. I go to the safest thing I know, the butterfly ring he got me on our first date.

"Oh. Okay. But, um, are you admiring that ring I bought you?" Luis asks, noticing I was fixated on it.

"Yes, it's always meant the world to me." I say as I try to hold back tears but for some odd reason they just start flowing down my face like a river.

"Remember what I said when I gave it to you? 'For someone truly beautiful, deserves something equal in beauty.'" Luis starts to tear up and he looks at me and just kisses my forehead, our emotions seem to have gotten the best of us.