Stuck in the middle

chapter 22

Chapter 22

Alessya was Mar's Ex. They dated his freshman year of highschool and had been on and off a little after that but he hadn't heard of her after things ended badly. He had no clue she was Mike's cousin and of course neither did anyone know they dated. He planned to keep it that way. It's just a small party, it won't be too long. Everything will be fine.

Saturday at Mar's house "hey foo, nice house" Said Mel when Mar opened the door "come in, Mensa" Samy followed in behind Mel and greeted Mar. They were the first ones there but shortly minutes after everyone began to arrive. The first hour was fun, well everyone seemed to have fun but Mar. He maintained himself in the kitchen and kept pacing back and forth. "Ey Mar what's wrong?, come hang us out there" said Ash. Mar didn't even say anything he just followed after Ash. He tried to have fun like everyone around him, some guys were on the game and others just talked amongst each other or danced. It took him some time but eventually he stopped being nervous and relaxed. Only the thing is that just as that happened Mike arrived. "Took you long enough Mikey" said Samy as everyone proceeded to greet their friend. Standing behind him was the girl. Alessya

Her and Mariano's eye contact was almost immediate. Around Mar the world around him was just a blur, he just stared at her without knowing what to do. The girl on the other hand beamed at him hugely. She began to walk toward him but he snapped back into reality "hey Mel?" Thankfully for him Mel walked right past him and he used her as an excuse to walk away quickly. "Yeah what's up?" "uh yeah uh" he kept looking back at the crowd where Mike introduced everyone to Alessya and vice versa" "Mar are you okay?" She followed his eyes and her own landed on The girl. "You know her?" "huh? No, um anyways I was gonna say if you could help me order some food, I think I trust you the most, you seem to keep track of all of us more than we do" "yeah sure" Mar stayed with Mel the whole time as she walked around asking everyone if they wanted to order anything. They got just about everyone and the two walked back to the kitchen counter. "Thats alot of food we gotta make sure everyone pays back" "it's aii i'll pay and i'll get the guys to pay me back later" "hey do you think Mike's cousin wants any food?" " I- uh I don't know" "I'll go ask and introduce myself to her" Mar sighed glad it wasn't him in that position. Mel walked over to Mike who stood next to his cousin. "Hey Mike" she Turned to the Girl "Hi!" she smiled "Hey M look this is my cousin Alessya" "Hey" said Alessya, just a simple glare and half smile on her face. Mel looked at her, the first thing she noticed was her beautiful poofy shiny curly hair. She was very pretty "nice to meet you" " nice to meet you too,oh um we're ordering food right now would you guys like anything? Me and Mar are about to finish and pay" At the call of his name Alessya's eyes brightened up a bit and she seemed to look for him. Mike was telling his order to Mel then finished "hey Ale what about you" she went back to the the two "oh um do they have sushi" "ummm i dont think so, all they guys agreed on like Wings and burgers" "then no thank you" she said snapped the plastered a fake smile "oh um okay, sorry" jeez "hi im back, I got mikes order and she's...she's a little rough" Mar chuckled to himself you think.

Throughout the entire night Mar tried to avoid Alessya in a discreet way. He was doing just fine until he stepped to his room and she stopped him on the way down the stairs. Luckily nobody was really paying attention. "Mar you've been avoiding me all night" "um hey Ale" he said then went around her to keep going down the stairs "thats it thats all you're gonna say" "i don't recall having anything else stay my b" " I don't think it's very manly of you to hold a grudge on what happened like 3 years go" she said as she kept following him. He kept his back to her the whole time. "My b again" he said sarcastically as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs and went to his fridge.. Alessya still followed and stood in front of the fridge "Mar don't you miss me? Why are you still mad at me, I don't even remember what I did for you to be mad" "you cheated" he said with a sarcastic fake smile "uh! No I didn't i dont think that-" "you kissed multiple guys, i think that qualifies as cheating" "Mar but seriously you were my favorite, I miss you" "and you are actually crazy. Listen to yourself. Now move" she crossed her arms and didn't move. "Listen Alessya we were just still kids that was forever ago I seriously don't care, leave me alone,me and you is not gonna happen ever again " he gripped her by the wrist and squeezed as he glared at her. "Ow you're hurting me" she pouted. He let go and she rubbed her wrist. He made a hand gesture for her to move and she rolled her eyes but she finally left. The rest of the night she kept her distance, then eventually everyone left. Mariano dragged himself upstairs and jumped straight to his bed in clothes and everything. He huffed and without warning sleep took over him.

Couple of weeks later

It was finally cold outside. Winter break was about a month or less away and of course everyone was excited for almost a month off school. At around the end of lunch time everyone walked in their group on their way to class like usual. Also like it was acostumbed to do so, everyone left to their own ways as they disappeared to their own classes. Lately Mar had made a custom of it to walk with Mel to their psych class. "Oh look Mariano you're early! Again!" said the young psych teacher. Mrs.Caudle was definitely Melanie's favorite teacher. She was funny and always gave back the same energy her students gave to her. Mel snickered as she walked to her seat. "Oh hey Mrs.Morgan" Said Mar and snickered at his own joke. He reached his row and left his stuff on the floor "watch my stuff" he told Mel then he disappeared into the hallway again. Minutes later he returned to the classroom just as the bell rang and Mrs.Caudle gave him a glare but said nothing. He reached his row and thought it was funny to pretend Mel wasn't there. "Hey get off me you big bum im not a chair" he finally sat down on his own chair, still snickering. The teacher hasn't started class yet as she had gone into the hallway to talk to some other teacher next door. Mar turned to Mel "hi" he said "hey..." "hi" "you are so weird you know that right" he reached across her table and pulled a loose strand of hair from her side ponytail. "I hate you" "you actually love me very much as I am the bestest friend you've ever had apart from Samy" "I mean I guess..." he pretend to put on an offended face "oh whatever you're not wrong" "beTTER, yeah that's what I thought" she rolled her eyes but couldn't help to smile "so....bestie are you gonna answer me now" "what do you mean he said struggling to pull his phone out his jeans pocket "oh come on don't play dumb foo you know exactly what im talking about". Alessya "when are you gonna get it in your head that I don't know who she is?! Well I do now because of Mike" "Mar im not one of the guys im not dumb I can pick thing up more than yall can and plus I saw you and her talking in the kitchen. The scene of Alessya standing in front of his fridge weeks back popped up in his head. He zoned out thinking but Mel interrupted him. "So...." "okay fine fine but you can't tell anyone" "you know I wont" "we dated back freshman year and it didn't go so well, she cheated and then she kept trying to come back. We were on and of after that but shes actually crazy so" "woah that's not what i expected out of this" "it's not a big deal really it was 3 years ago" "hmmm and you're telling me nobody knows? I'm guessing cause you didnt know she was Mike's cousin right" "sum like that" "well she is really pretty" "eh" She wanted to ask so many more questions but obviously Mariano was done with the subject. Plus Caudle was back and actually started the class. 45 minutes passed quickly, there was still another 25 minutes left, that day they were only taking a couple notes then doing individual assignments on their laptops. Mel was doing so when her phone began to Buzz with notifications. She ignored it at first but then wondered if it was the group chat, possibly Samy or Malcom wanting to make after school plans. So she grabbed it and when she looked at the screen her face went white and cold. It wasn't the group chat or even any of the guys. It wasn't a random prank text from Mar or even a "i'm gonna be home late from work" text from her mom. It was André.