Hold Me Closer

Part Four

"Push," I puffed, my cheeks red with effort.

"I am!" Meg yelled, applying a tiny bit more pressure to my back.

"Not. Hard. Enough," I gasped out between puffs.

"You try-"

Whatever Meg was about to say was cut off, as we both fell to the ground in a heap. In the background, Ben and Mike burst into laughs that echoed throughout the common room. Me and Meg had been sitting on the floor, arms crossed, back to back, trying to see if we could stand up by pushing against each other.

Ben had seen it on Instagram, and after he and Mike had annoyingly managed to do it first time, the guys had suggested that me and Meg had a turn. Which essentially showed that Meg had no muscle and I had no balance whatsoever.

Mike tried to stop himself from chuckling as he reached down a hand to help me up, which I took grudgingly. "Stop laughing! That was seriously hard."

"You two looked constipated," he commented.

I pushed him lightly on the side, and turned to help Meg up who was sprawled on the floor exhausted. 

"You girls need to do some squats," Ben said, eyeing us up.

"Shut it perv," Meg said, sticking her tongue out at him. "Just because we don't have lardy arses like you and Mike doesn't mean we aren't a power duo."

I gave her a little fist bump in agreement, and as a four we wondered over to a couple of couches to collapse on. 

"If you guys are a power duo, then you're Shrek and Donkey. I have never seen something with less grace in my life," Mike said.

"I think we're more like the Power Puffs," I mused.

"Power Puff girls fighting crime," Meg started to sing.

"To save the world before bed time!" Ben finished loudly, doing tiny punches in the air.

We all looked at him a little weirdly, and then broke into another fit of giggles. "What!" Ben shrieked, "I liked the power puffs. No shame in that."

"Well you can dress up as the Power Puff Girls then for Nick's party tonight," Mike suggested.

"You guys are going to that?" I asked hesitantly.

"Nick's parties are so legendary that they give me lactose intolerance," Ben added. "Get it? Because it's legend- dairy?"

Like I said, Ben was a golden retriever through and through. Meg booed at his bad pun, but turned to me in agreement. "Ignore the cheesiness from Benny over there, but yeah, we're going. Nick throws a really good party and it's only like once every term so pretty much everyone rocks up."

I bit my lip in annoyance. I had planned determinedly not to go to the party that Jason had invited me to, because going felt a little too close to giving in. But if Meg, Mike and Ben went that would feel a little like me, sitting home, alone, out of stubborn determination.

"You coming?" Mike said, nodding at me.

"Uh-"

"Of course she is," Meg butted in. "Tonight, we are going to get my girl Olive nice and drunk so she can finally take the edge off in catching up on school work."

"Does your girl Olive get a say in this?" I joked.

"Nope. But you do get a say in picking your dress. Which considering its-" Meg checked the time from the clock in the wall, "6 o'clock is something that we should go do pretty much now."

Meg jumped up, grabbed me by the hand and pretty much pulled me up the four flights of stairs to her room. 

"The party starts at ten," I grumbled, as she started sifting through the stuff in her closet. "Why are we getting ready now?"