Promise. (Manthony)

Four

     Mitchel and I rush into the bathroom just in time before he pukes all over the place again.  We run into the nearest stall.  Not bothering to close the door behind us.  I hold his hair back as he empties his drinks into the toilet.

I lean down on my knees, gently rubbing his back, waiting for him to be done—Mitchel groans before collapsing against the wall. 

"Was not expecting that." He giggles.  I sit next to him.  Leaning my back against the wall as well.

"What'd you drink anyway?" He shrugs.  He was rubbing his temples with his index fingers.

"Had a couple shots of tequila, vodka, and I think whiskey?" He questions, confused.  His brother should have known better than to order whatever Mitchel wanted. 

"What the fuck?  Are you sure you're good?!" I exclaim, raising my eyebrows at Mitchel.  He nods silently.  Leaning his head on my shoulder.  My shirt was still covered in his vomit, but at this very moment, I didn't care.  For now, that is.

     I could hear the music almost just as loud as I could when we were on the dance floor.

"I'm glad I broke up with Jordan," Mitchel states out of the blue, his eyes staring at the black wall of the stall.

"You sure?" He nods.  Sitting up straight and turning to look me in the eyes.  He looked as if he would fall asleep any minute.

"Why's that?" I ask.  Typically he was candid when drunk.  But also very emotional.  I guess the honesty came first this time.

"I can figure myself out.  Finally, go after what I want." He slurs a little bit.  He gives me a drunk smile.  "What's that, Mitty?  What is it you want?" I question further.  My curiosity was spiked.

He begins to play with my fingers.  Giving me a playful smile.  I feel the heat rush to my cheeks.  I wasn't sure what he was up to, but it made me nervous.

"Do you ever miss what we had?" He asks without hesitation.  My eyes widen at his question.

"I-I don't know...?" I swallow hard.  I was so unsure of what to say.  I didn't know if it was a good idea to be honest or remind him that he was drunk and had no idea what he was talking about.  Unfortunately, I had a feeling that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I wish it had never ended," Mitchel states.  I blink a few times.  Maybe I was the drunk one.  "S-sorry what?" I stutter.  "We liked each other a lot," He tells me.

"We were kids..." I trail off.  Why would I say that?  I was shutting Mitchel down when after all of these years, this was what I wanted to hear.  What I needed to hear.  I waited for him to admit that he missed us, but now that he did, I had no idea what to do or say.  Especially since he was drunk. Was this the truth or something he wanted to say because he had nothing else to say?

No, that wouldn't make any sense.  My head was spinning with so many questions.

"I'm sorry that my dad ruined everything.  I'm sorry I allowed it to happen." He stops playing with my fingers and pulls his legs up to his chest.  Hugging them with his arms.  I watch as he begins to cry.

His mood completely changed.  The tears falling from his eyes were like a knife going through my heart.

"It's not your fault, Mitty," I admit.  "It's not your fault he's homophobic," I offer him a gentle smile, but he doesn't return one. Instead, he frowns at my choice of words. He looked as if he wanted to defend his dad but decided against it. Mitchel knew I was right.

"I let you go so easily." He mumbles almost inaudible. My heart flutters at his words. They were like music to my ears.

"You were scared. I didn't understand then, but I understand now." I tell Mitchel gently.

     He gets up. Stumbling a bit as he regains his balance. He holds himself up by leaning his hand on the wall.

"What are you doing?" I get up as well, dusting my pants off.

"You have my vomit on your shirt.  Don't you wanna clean it?"

I had forgotten about the mess he had made. We walk towards the sinks, Mitchel grabbing a few paper towels from the dispenser. He runs them under the water and rinses them out.  Turning to me and dabbing the mess, doing his best to clean it with what he had.

"You didn't answer my question." He says bluntly. I bite my lip. I remain silent for a few more seconds. He throws away the paper towels before looking at me.

"Do you ever miss what we had?"

Of course, I missed what we had. I missed everything about it. I had fallen deeply in love with him, and losing him broke my heart into pieces. I desperately wanted to try and fix things, but I knew there'd be no point if I wanted him in my life. So I dealt with it by remaining friends.

We accumulated a wonderful friendship. We became very close, and nothing had made me happier.

     "Never mind." He says sadly. He goes to walk out of the bathroom, but I grab ahold of his wrist, pulling him back. He stumbles into my arms. Smiling as our faces were now close together.

"Of course I miss what we had," I admit. I couldn't help but smile as well.

He slips his hands into mine. Making my heart flutter again. I never wanted this to end. 

As we stared into our eyes, I could feel both of us leaning in even more.  Our lips brush one another's. Sending sparks all over my body.  I close my eyes as I relish in this feeling of our lips about to touch.

"Where the fuck are y'all?!" We hear. Mitchel and I jump immediately, stepping away from one another.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I say to myself in my head. I huff, annoyed as Clinton and Jesse come into view.  Thankfully, a wall blocked the view from the sinks when you walked into the bathroom. I didn't want to be caught about to kiss my best friend like this. Not now. Not like this.

"Last time I checked, the party was out there, not in here!" Clinton jokes. Jesse laughing at Clinton's unfunny statement.

"Whatever," I mumble to them.

Clinton and Jesse stumble out of the bathroom, somehow forgetting about the both of us in two seconds.

"Come on dummy," I mumble to my best friend. I grab ahold of his hand. I drag him out of the bathroom and fight our way through the crowd. Clinton and Jesse were lucky they were drunk, or I would've beaten their asses right then and there.