When Damien and Michael returned down to the table, they both looked horrified. Their faces read of the horrors that teenage girls with crushes bring. They were followed by ten girls, most of them were white and dressed in the same why as the birthday girl. There was one coloured girl, she wore a pair of jeans instead of leggings and a black girl who wore a pair of shorts and a tank top instead.
“Who is that?” Nikita asked when she saw Minnie once again. This time, the girl had seemed to have decided on her game plan. She pulled a disgusted look on her pretty face.
Her game plan read clear on her face, a sneer and judgemental eyes.
“Nic’s girlfriend.” Damien answered, not sensing the tension between the two.
“Nic doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Nikita sneered, shaking her head.
“I do.” Nic spoke up, he didn’t look up to Nikita. His voice was seethed in a small layer of annoyance. “Her name is Minnie.”
“Like Minnie mouse?” The birthday girl poked. Minnie understood why she was being a bitch, it was simple, but it was all just a lie and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything to the girl. She could understand the appeal of an older American boy. She had gotten trapped into his green eyes as well.
But first rule of dating, don’t date older boys that are legal. It never lasts.
Second rule of dating don’t go after your brother’s friends. They are going to have reservations on dating you, bros before hoes and all.
“Yeah, just like Minnie Mouse.” She told the girl. Nikita was acting bratty and she could understand why. If her crush had told her that he had a girlfriend, she would have questioned it and been bratty. Not that any of her crushes ever spoke to her. She was waiting for the girl to ask her to prove it, but she didn’t. Her friend circle enveloped her, and they started talking about how stupid boys were.
Nicholas gave her a glance, but she shrugged him off, trying to drown everything in her water bottle. She wished she had taken up the offer for a beer. Drowning herself in alcohol was certainly easier than trying to let her issues down a bottle of water.
Damien went to tend the meat as Unicorn once again flicked to him for attention. Michael had brought himself a glass of an orange substance that looked like juice. He sipped it as the girls laughed and giggled. Minnie sat there and finished her water. The afternoon was going as slow as possible.
“Minnie.” Michael’s voice called out to her, she nodded her head at his direction to notice that he was standing with one foot inside the house and the other still on the patio.
“Mhm.” She looked up at him, his face was racked with worry. Studying eyes and furrowed eyebrows.
“You okay?” He asked. Nic wasn’t on the patio and she supposed it had something to do with Mike straddling the doorway.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She nodded, hoping that she had more water. Her throat felt dry once again and she was tired.
“You want to watch soccer with us?” He asked, his face was still, and his brows remained furrowed.
“Why not.” She got up off her chair, walking towards the door.
****
The soccer was a scheme to get away from the girls and leave Damien to his own devices. She sat on the couch next to Nic. There was a space between the ‘couple’, unnatural for people that had once been so close together. She had felt his hard muscle against her back and once, only once, against her front.
Oh, how she missed it.
There was a match against Bidvest Wits and SuperSport United. Bidvest was winning by 1-0 and it was thirty minutes into the game. Not that she was paying attention to the large tv screen. She was lost in thought, in the feel of being so close to Nic and not being able to be close to him. He had broken up with her.
She regretted the kiss, or at least she felt that she should. He didn’t like her, and she had forced herself on him. He had broken up with her and they hadn’t even been dating. What were they even doing? Were they friends? Or just strangers?
At that moment it felt like strangers.
With no intention, she gave him a side glance. He was asleep, his head leaned back on the top of the couch. His eyes were shut, and he was breathing through his mouth. She turned her head to his direction and saw that Mike was focused on the screen with deep intensity. Did he even notice that Nicholas had fallen asleep or was he ignoring it?
She kept quiet, shifting in her seat. Nicholas stirred, not waking, his head slumped to face her. His dark hair dropped over his forehead, his eyelashes long and his mouth peacefully parted. She wished she had her sketchpad with her, just to capture his sleeping face. So beautiful, without having to meet his tired, glint less green eyes.
Her mind reeled, remembering the scene from the patio. The ‘breakup’ made her want to burn any artwork she did with him in it, with any influence with him. Her hotel room was filled with a few of them, paintings and drawings all done waiting for hours to pass, waiting for sleep or trying to hurry until the time of the lesson began. They kept the hope in her alive, the hope she hated herself for having.
I don’t care, she told herself, I don’t care. She repeated it in her head until Michael drew her back to reality.
“He finally sleeps.” Mike noted, looking down at the sleeping surfer. He was towering over the ‘couple’. “I was wondering when he would.”
“He does this often?” She asked.
“Only when something is bothering him.” Michael shook his head, studying her. “Are you bothering him?”
“I don’t know.” Minnie shrugged, her eyes dropping back to Nic.
“You guys seem tense around each other. Something happen?” He walked towards the kitchen.
After a few moments of hesitation, she answered.
“He broke up with me and we aren’t, weren’t dating.” Minnie felt stupid for telling Michael about this.
“Whatever he said, he didn’t mean it.” He assured her, “He’s just exhausted en ek dink… ek ken nie wat om te dink nie.”
“Hoekom?” She stood and followed him into the kitchen.
“Hy is nie die soort dat praat oor hulle sy feelings. Hy maak dit kuns en dan hy slaap nie. Maar hy wil nooit oor dit praat nie.” Mike explained, opening the fridge and pulling out a jug of orange juice.
“I’m tired of it.” She sighed, leaning her hip against the granite marble of the counter. He poured juice into his empty glass.
“You want anything?” He asked.
“Water, please.”
Mike pulled another water bottle out from the fridge.
“Thanks.” She uncapped it and took a long sip. The water slide cold down her throat.
“Are you still going to stay?”
“What?” She looked back up at him.
“You said he broke up with you. Are you still going to stay?” Was he offering her a ride back to the hotel?
“Yes, I guess. I don’t want to go home.” Minnie shrugged. “I wasn’t here for him.”
“Need a tour guide?” His eyes lit up. She didn’t have one any more and she figured that if she was going to do this. She was going to do it to the best even if that meant having a friend of Nic’s around her.
“Maybe.”
“Don’t worry.” He assured her. “I’ll look after you.”
****
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