Page 29 of From Me to You

Milke smiled as he opened a can of beer. “You are good to him, you know. I’d never seen him like this with a girl before,” he said with a serious look on his face that surprised me.

The Mike I have come to know was always goofing around and pulling everybody’s leg. But maybe there was a lot more to him than I had thought. It was probably why Lily liked him.

“He is an amazing man,” I admitted. “It’s hard not to like him.”

“Well, as long as you don’t break his heart, you can have him all you want.”

“Who is to say he won’t break my heart?” I asked him.

“I have seen the way he looks at you. Trust me, I am sure Emmie would rather stab himself than break your heart.” He smiled.

“You care about him.”

“Emmie’s like a brother to me. He helped me through some of the darkest times of my life,” he said with a far-off look on his face.

Although they bickered with each other every chance they got, I knew Jay was very close to Mike. Jay was around twelve when he decided to start a band and Mike had been Jay’s friend way before that. One day he noticed Mike fooling around with a bass guitar, and the rest was history.

They then met Katy and Matt a year later and met Lan through Katy a year after that. They were all practically family, and I noticed that they were all protective of each other. They took me in and even added me to their infamous group chat that Mike kept changing the title of. The last time I saw it was ‘Mike is superior to all other peasants.’

Jay walked in just then and embraced me from behind. “Hey, babe, I missed you.”

“Emmie, man, you are pathetic. Evy, babe, you should leave that fucker and come to me.” Mike grimaced switching back to his usual self.

“Stop fuckin with my girl, asshole,” Jay said as he placed a kiss on the side of my head. My heart stopped. This was the first time he called me his girl. I knew we were together and that we were exclusive. But I was scared to ask him what we were. To put a label on our relationship. I considered him my boyfriend, but I wasn’t sure how he felt. He admitted that he never had a girlfriend before, only flings. I was scared that if I called him my boyfriend, he would run away.

Mike laughed. “You kids enjoy,” he said, walking out of the kitchen with his beer can.

“Am I your girl?” I swallowed as I asked Jay. I couldn’t help myself.

Jay turned me to face him. His forehead furrowed in a frown. “I thought I made it clear that you are my girl, Evelyn.”

I gushed. I loved how he said my name in his deep, smooth voice. “Does that mean you are my boyfriend?” I murmured.

His jaw clenched. “I thought you already knew I was your boyfriend,” he said, cupping my face. “And you are my girlfriend.”

I smiled so wide that my cheeks hurt. “I am your girlfriend.”

He laughed. “Yes, you are.”

“Your communication skills stink. I know guys like you don’t really do relationships. And I like you a lot. I was scared you would leave if I said something.”

He touched his forehead with mine. “There is nothing that you would say that would make me want to leave you. I want this with you. I want everything with you. I know I am not great at communicating things, but I will try,” he said, pressing his lips against my nose.

“Who is your favorite person in the whole wide world, Jay?” A question I asked him every day now.

He laughed. “You, you, you.” He peppered kisses all over my face.

I screamed in glee.

“You drive me so fucking crazy.” He admitted.

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Aunty M and I had spent the whole weekend lazing around and watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy. She had a rare two days off and so I spent every moment I could with her. It was our favorite way to bond. Sometimes I forget that she was supposed to be my aunt because she truly felt like my best friend.

I was currently lying on the couch with my feet in her lap. We each had a tall glass of iced coffee long forgotten on the tea table because we were so immersed in the screen, tears streaming down our faces as we watched our favorite character die.

Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door. That must be Jay. I paused the show and went up to open the door for him. Jay was going to hang out with me this evening because Aunty M had a shift soon—the weekend was already over for her.