Damn Good Coffee- Mike Fuentes

Chapter 4- Baby, You're a Firework

Courtesy of my great procrastination skills, I decided Friday night before the barbecue was a good time to text Juliet the details.

"Hey Supergirl ;)" I sent her, figuring she'd know it was me.

"Hey hangover boy :)" she replied quickly after.

"The barbecue is tomorrow at 1, at 1765 Marcus St. Do you need a ride?"

"That's not too far from where I live, I can just walk over, but thanks :) Do I need to bring anything?" she sent back.

"Just your lovely self, and probably a bathing suit", I answered. Hopefully the lovely wasn't too much.

Apparently it wasn't, and we stayed up texting until she fell asleep. The next day, I sat on the front porch waiting for her to arrive. I was trying not to seem nervous, but seeing as the guys kept giving me shit for it, I was obvious. I kept telling myself that it was only 1:03, and she would have told me if she wasn't coming. I let out a breath as I saw her turn the corner.

She looked amazing. Her hair was down, and reached past her shoulders. I knew she was blonde, but I was just now noticing the purple streaks she had in it. She was wearing a purple tank top to match, but it wasn't super tight and low like the girls I normally go for. Her shorts even covered her ass, which was a first for me. Eventually my eyes went back to her face. She was smirking, and obviously caught on to me checking her out.

"Enjoying the view?" she laughed. I smirked when I realized she sounded as nervous as I felt.

"Whatcha nervous about, Super Girl?" I asked. Thankfully, my voice sounded cocky instead of shaky.

"Um...what if they don't like me?" she said in a rush, biting her lip and playing with her hair. God damn, she was cute.

"I'm pretty sure they've made up their minds that they already do. Tony and Jaime wouldn't shut up once I said you were coming", I assured her.

"You told them I was coming?!" she asked, seeming a little freaked out.

"Well, generally people like to know who's coming to their party. You know, RSVP?" I teased. "They'll love you, I promise."

"What if they don't?" she asked, still not convinced.

"Good, more for me. But if for some reason they hate you, we'll go and get some food" I offered. She smiled, and we walked into the house.

"You must be Juliet!" Vic greeted her as he walked out of the kitchen. "Mike wouldn't shut up about you." I didn't even bother to deny it. Jaime and Tony came out of the living room to meet her before I could say anything.

"Is that her?" Jaime asked.

"Of course its her, idiot. Who else would it be?" Tony said quietly, laughing at Jaime's stupidity. The three of them launched into an interrogation like I was a 15 year old girl going on my first date, and they were my parents. They covered questions like, "what are your intentions with Mike?" and "what's your curfew?". I just laughed, enjoying the sight of Juliet blushing through the whole ordeal. Soon, the doorbell rang, and they stopped questioning her to let other guests in.

"You want some food, or like a drink or something?" I asked, trying to be hospitable.

"I'm good for now" she said. She looked way more relaxed now, but without the guys we fell into an awkward silence. Luckily, herd of Mexicans began to make their way through the house.

"Of course they all carpooled", Jaime chuckled. Juliet laughed, and I was kind of annoyed that Jaime could talk to her so easily. I wasn't normally this bad at conversation. To make it worse, my ex casually strolled through the door.

"Who the hell invited her?" I practically growled. Jaime followed my gaze.

"Oh shit", he said. "No one did, she must've just decided to come. She still gets the invites I guess."

"What's going on?" Juliet asked, looking confused.

"Its nothing really. She's my ex, Megan, and I really don't want to see her", I told her. Juliet grabbed my hand and pulled me outside.

"Swim with me!" she said, smiling. Even though swimming wasn't really my thing, I figured I wouldn't pass up on seeing Juliet in a bathing suit. We swam and splashed around for a while, until Vic announced the food was ready. We got what we wanted, then sat on the porch swing to eat it. We were talking about childhood pets when Megan walked up.

"Mike! Baby! How've you been? I haven't heard from you in a while", she squealed, somehow managing to wedge her way between Juliet and me.

"What the hell do you want?" I snarled, trying to get her off.

"I just wanted to see my boyfriend! It's been too long!" she said, and then tried to kiss me.

"It clearly hasn't been long enough. Did you just forget we broke up five months ago?" I said, trying not to yell and freak Juliet out.

"But Mikey, I lo-" she started, but I cut her off by shoving her off my lap.

"You don't know what love is. You're a cheating whore who can't stand being told no. Why don't you just leave because no one wants you here!" I was yelling now. Megan ran off crying, but I didn't care. I was so sick of her shit.

"Mike", Juliet called softly. Well, there went my plan of getting her to like me.

"I'm sorry", I mumbled. "You can leave if you want."

"Why would I want to leave?" she asked. She stood up and put her arms around me, resting her head in my neck. I realized I was shaking, and put my arms around her to steady myself. We stood there for a while, way after I was feeling better. I just didn't want to let go.

"Mike", I heard Tony say awkwardly.

"Yeah Turtle?" I asked, letting go of Juliet so I could face him.

"We're doing fireworks soon, if you guys want to watch", he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We'll be there in a bit, thanks Tone", I said, and he walked away quickly, embarrassed to be interrupting.

"Fireworks?" Juliet said skeptically.

"Hell yeah! No one does fireworks like Mexicans. These aren't your everyday, boy scout boxes of gunpowder. These are smuggled-across-the-border fireworks!" I said excitedly. She looked more interested now, so we grabbed a blanket from the house and sat next to the porch. As they started, she looked more and more blown away.

"You look like a little kid at Disneyland for the first time", I teased.

"These are amazing!" she breathed.

"They're alright", I shrugged. She raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

"What?" I asked. "I've seen better. They go all out for the fourth of July." She just poked me and kept watching. I was distracted because the rest of the band was drunk and shooting off fireworks- alcohol and open flames don't mix, and those boys were important. I didn't notice for a few minutes that she took my SnapBack.

"Give it back!" I whined, internally cringing about how annoying I sounded.

"Make me" she said, smirking as she held it out of reach. With a devious grin, I leaned into her. It was easy to grab the hat, since my arms were so much longer than gets.

"I believe this belongs to me", I murmured, inches away from her face. I figured now would be a good time to kiss her...

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Will he actually do it?! Is this the most cliche chapter and cliff hanger in the history of fan fiction?! Find out sometime in the future, when I find the notebook that has the rest of this story in it!