Wingmen | Redlyn

Part 1: High Five?

Big Red's POV

Steph's house isn't near big enough to hold the number of people it's holding now, but it's sure trying. Her parents went out of town, so she's having what began as just a get-together with the theatre kids and some of her other friends but has now expanded to include basically everyone in any form of art at East High. It's a fair bit busier than I usually like. The only other parties I've been to have been Ashlyn's, and she only ever had the theatre club invited, but there is a bright side to Steph's party, which also happens to be the only reason why I agreed to come with Ricky tonight. 

Malaak sits in front of me in my English class. I've spoken to her several times, including lending her a pencil and discussing during class why Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. But whenever I think to make a move, she's already moved on. I heard from Ricky that he heard from Steve that Malaak was coming, and he told me I should come and try to talk to her in an informal situation, because I might have better luck. Currently, though, it's been about twenty minutes, and I still haven't seen her around. 

"Do you know where Malaak is?" I ask Ricky as he sips from his can of root beer. 

Ricky scans the room, lighting up as he responds, "Hey, there she is."

I feel my heart start beating in an instant, and nerves build up, but they freeze when I notice that the girl Ricky's looking at isn't the one I was asking about. 

"Ricky, that's Nini," I say.

Ricky glances over at me, blinking out of his focus on his girlfriend. "Sorry, what?"

I shake my head. "Never mind."

Ricky hardly even reacts to that. Instead, he's fully entranced by Nini who waves him over, and he follows like a moth to a flame—or like a lovestruck boy to the girl he writes all his songs about. 

That leaves me alone in the middle of the crowded living room, surrounded by groups of people all chatting and laughing together. I'm not close enough with any of them to feel comfortable walking up and joining in, so I stand on my own for a while, anxiously searching for someone I know within a reasonable distance. 

After a few minutes in, I finally spot the reason I came. She's in the kitchen, digging through the fridge for a beverage. I make sure my collar isn't standing up and head on over. When I get there, she doesn't notice me right away, but when she does, she gives me a smile. 

"Oh, Big Red, hey," she says. 

Malaak's long, chestnut brown hair swings loose as she bends over to scour the shelves in the fridge, but the two pink butterfly clips keep it out of her face. She really is stunning, so much that I often question if I even have a chance with her. Her deep brown eyes draw onlookers in with every blink, and they stand out proudly against the cream-toned, smocked tank top that hugs her frame perfectly.  

She stands up, pulling two cans of cream soda out of the fridge. "Could you hold these for a second?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I say, taking them from her. "So how's the short story coming along?"

"Um..." She continues rummaging through the shelf, searching for a particular drink. "Pretty good. I may want some help going over it, though, before I hand it in."

"For sure, I can do that," I say. 

She finally picks out a can of Coke and pushes everything else back into place. 

"Cool. I'll send it to you when I'm done," she says as she stands back up straight. 

She grabs the two cans of pop from my hands and puts them back into the fridge before closing it.