When We Were Young

XLIII: i'll be there for you

Ming-Na Wen as Margaret (Margo) Young (Mave's mother)

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"We were just going to start a movie!" Tate exclaims excitedly.

Mickey adds, "You have that exam tomorrow, right? It's totally fine if you'd rather study."

I glance around at all my friends, a sight I haven't seen in a long time. "I've been studying for the past six hours. I'm ready and I'm tired, so let's get this movie started."

I remove my jacket and sit myself down in between Tate and Gray. On the other side of Tate is Mickey and they are not fooling anyone, already whispering in each other's ears and sitting way too close to be platonic. I wonder if they've already revealed their relationship to everyone in this room.

The movie beginning on the screen shows a very young Leonardo Dicaprio.

As I adjust myself on the sofa, a whiff of Gray's cinnamon scent enters my nose and I recall the precarious position we woke up in this morning. I try not to, but I yearn to feel his arms around me again rather than robotically at his sides as we both stare at the screen. I glance over at Tate and Mickey, who have taken comfort in the dark room and are even more obvious than they were before with Mickey's arm wrapped around Tate's hip, almost touching me.

The rest of the night is filled with funny commentary by Mickey and Tate about how stupid the love story of Romeo and Juliet is. I enjoy the movie more than I thought I would have considering it's the type of movie that they would force us to watch in high school after reading the play.

The night slowly comes to a close with Tate and I begging the boys to scoop us some ice cream from the kitchen. Happily, they go, quietly chatting between themselves.

"Did you tell him?" I ask her.

She looks genuinely confused. "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me," I insist, getting no reaction from her. "Did you tell Gray about you and Mick?"

"Of course I did," she responds, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Well, I'm sorry! He doesn't always react super well when you show interest in guys even before the whole baby and Tommy situation happened. That situation just amplified it."

She scoffs, picking the underneath of her nails, which I only now notice are painted a dark green. "I think he understands by now that I'm not his baby sister anymore and he doesn't need to be a gross guy getting all protective over women. I understand that he wants to protect me as a brother, but I have to live my life."

I know Gray tries to give Tate as much freedom as she wants, but I also know that it is hard for him. It's not so much that he feels any sort of ownership over her, but more so that he's scared of what the world could do to her. I mean, look at what it's already done to her and to the both of them. At the end of the day, Mickey's a friend. And a good guy, so I don't think Gray or myself have anything to worry about.

"Do you think it's okay if I... " Her tone is sheepish now, much different from the confidence she usually exudes.

I quirk my eyebrow, interested.

"If I invite Mickey to stay here tonight?" My missing ability to form a response urges her to ramble on. "You already know we've slept together and Gray's going to find out sooner or later. Plus, I haven't seen Mickey in the past few days and I... missed him."

I finally find my voice after being a bit taken aback by her question. To think that I had no idea they were even together this morning to now, where she's wanting him to stay over and fully admitting to missing him. "You're twenty, so I don't think it's any of my business or Gray's business who you invite to stay with you. As long as you're not disruptive then I can't think of a problem."