Ella’s POV 

Something was bright, very bright. It’s hurting my eyes! I tried turning over and pulling the blanket but something was stopping me. Mae. For a second I forgot that I slept over her house. 

Oh no… last night. Miki… What should I do? I like him, I really do, but he pretty much said we cant be anything. I’m not “of age“ for him to just be with me. I understand we have Jay and Mae to think of but if they love us wouldn't they just be happy for us? Why isnt it ok that we date? Ugh this is so complicated. I’ll be 16 this year and he’s already 17. The age difference isn’t huge, so I dont get why he wants to wait. I guess we will see with time. I was brought out my thoughts as Mae rolled towards me. 

“Hey…“ She muttered tiredly. 

“Hey.” I looked at her and gave a small smile, knowing how much she hated the morning process of getting out of bed. 

“How are you feeling?” Thinking of the events of last night, made me cringe. 

“Well…” I hesitate. Because like how more embarrassing could this get. 

“What is it that I don’t know? There is more to last night than I was told. Because a lot of it does not make sense to me. Like first of all, why did you drink so much? Secondly, What got you so angry to yell at Lyn? Al didn’t tell me much, he just said that you saw Lyn do something and it made you flip. But others are saying something else. Lastly, I heard that Al punched Red over you so what is going on Ella?” 

I took a deep breath. I know I couldn’t hide anything from Mae… She’s my best friend, more like the sister I never had. She knows me more than anyone in this world, so how do I go about this? 

“Mae…” I’m just going to have to tell her the truth. Well some of the truth. “Please don’t hate me… But I like Miki.” I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see her reaction. But all I heard was laughter, not the giggling laugh but a hard belly laugh. I opened my eyes confused and she said with all seriousness. 

“Ella, I’ve known this for a while now. I don’t care. What are the chances of him liking you back anyway.” My face must have shown my emotions because she quickly said, “Not saying that he wouldn't, but if he does he hides it well. But that’s not what I’m coming at. I just knew you liked him and I also understand why you never told me. He is my brother but I can't stop you from liking someone. I'm your best friend regardless. So what really happened?” 

With watery eyes I hugged her. Then explained what I saw and what happened leading up to Miki punching Red. But I left out the part when Miki kissed me. 

“I embarrassed myself Mae. Not only in front of half the school but in front of Miki. I embarrassed him. Then to top it off I bugged out in the car and I think I told him I like him… I don't know if I made things weird between us or not. But I just know Jay can’t know that I like Miki.” She nodded, understanding why I didn’t want Jay to know. He was already annoying enough. 

“Ella, everything will be ok. We’ll just take each day, one at a time hopefully no one makes what happened a huge deal when school starts. But one thing's for sure. Lyn will hate you more now then she ever did before.” And that she was one hundred percent correct about. 

“Let's just hope to God that this school year isn't too bad.” I got up and headed to the bathroom in the hall. I didn't run into anyone, thank God. After my morning routine I went back into Maes room and changed. 

I went to the kitchen after and had a bowl of cereal. Mae came down mid bowl and asked if I wanted to run to the store with her to grab snacks so we could have a movie night. I shook my head no and told her my head hurt too much, I’d just wait in her room. She nodded and headed out. 

I made my way back towards Maes' room and my phone dings. It was a message from Miki! My stomach felt as if there were a million butterflies crammed in it. I opened the message.

Miki: “Alone?“ 

Me:  “Yes…” 

Next thing I knew Miki was walking into the room. 

“Hey.” He gave me a sheepish smile. 

“Hey…” I gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry… you know…” I paused because of how embarrassed I already felt. My face would soon become a tomato. 

“About last night. For embarrassing you and blabbering.” I broke the awkwardness. The one I created. He shook his head. 

“No need to apologize.” He slowly walked closer until he was an inch away from me. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. We just stood that way. He leaned down a bit and placed a long kiss on my forehead and walked away. Then I heard the front door. Way to kill a mood. 

“Ella, hurry and come to the living room so we can watch some movies!” I sighed remembering that the store was right at the corner of this street. What else would he have done if we had more time? 

“Coming.“ was all I said, then made my way to the living room.