The Friend

Rodney

"What's going on out here?" Maxine appeared.

The guys rose at her presence and pleased, her smile widened. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and reached behind her, pulling the friend out of the room. The friend didn't meet anyone's eyes like before. Instead, her eyes veered off to the side to stare at nothing. Because Rodney was close to Maxine, he was right in front of this girl as well. He forced himself not to frown at her again, but Michael was right. This girl couldn't have had experience with guys at all. She looked like she wanted to mold herself into the wall and disappear from their eyes, but she stayed put.

"Guys, this is my friend Alicia," Maxine introduced her.

Michael waved, Cortes said hi under his breath and Rodney began to nod at her when he noticed what she was wearing. On Maxine it would've been perfect, a fitted, velvet black dress, but on Alicia it just looked pain-stakingly awful. It was the type of dress that required curves to fill it out, but this Alicia girl was body-less. Instead the dress just came off as cheap and tacky and not appealing at all.

Alicia didn't say anything to any of them. She didn't acknowledge their efforts to greet her. Her eyes casted down to the floor, memorizing the design. After a minute, Rodney looked at Maxine and smiled tightly. Maxine glanced at Alicia, before speaking.

"Well...I guess we better get going then."

It didn't feel as weird as Rodney thought it would be when they all went outside and walked towards his car. Although he suspected it would be with the looming, awkward presence of Maxine's friend, but Michael and Cortes just led the way as he kept Maxine company. Alicia stayed in the back by herself.

It got strange when they got to the party. Almost as if, when the friend saw all the many people dancing and getting loose, it made her nervous. She began to slip on her cardigan, trying to hide her outfit, but Maxine stopped her with a look.

"What are you waiting for?" Maxine asked her.

Alicia didn't move away. She just kept looking at Maxine, nearing her until she was holding her hand with pleading eyes, but Maxine pushed her off with a laugh. The girl stumbled, took a deep breath and scattered away. Immediately, Michael and Cortes veered off into the other direction far away from her. Rodney gazed after the friend and wondered if it was the right thing to do to leave a girl like that around all these people. Then again, she might've just hid in the broom closet until it was time to go.

"Where'd you meet that girl?" Rodney frowned.

Maxine frowned back, "What do you mean? School, of course. She's my best friend."

"Right," he said.

"Look, I know, she's not the trendiest person ever. She's not a bad bitch. She can be pretty quiet around strangers. I guess you were expecting Maxine 2.0, huh?" Maxine asked.

"Nah, it's not that," Rodney said. He didn't know what it was.

"Well, I wanted to bring her. She needs to get out more," she replied.

He was going to speak again, about the dress, but bit his lip. No friend should've let her come out looking crazy like that. Once again, he didn't think it was her. He thought it was Maxine. Maxine was making her to appear like Maxine 2.0 when she wasn't.

Maxine spoke again when he hadn't, "Look, I wanted to bring my friends, because you brought yours."

"Is she for one of my friends...?" Rodney asked.

"No, no!" Maxine said, "Ya'll are not her type."

Rodney smiled at that, "Not her type?"

"She's pretty chill. Pretty low-key. You and your friends, I can tell, are not like that. Ya'll are gonna bring all the attention. She needs a humble guy. A geek," Maxine said. Someone like her, Rodney heard her say it even though she didn't.