no savior.

no words

"Go talk to her!"

"I can't," I shake my head, "It's not that simple." A barrage of memories flow through me and I suppress them all, "Besides. I'm seeing someone else now."

And evidently so is she...

"You two were really cute together," Beck mumbles to himself, "Shame that you're a piece of shit."

I hit him, "Shut up!"

***

After awhile I head home, in a better mood after seeing Beck again. He served as a reminder of my youth. Of who I used to be, and how thankful I am to be who I am now.

When I get home, Vin is relaxing on the couch, downstairs, having waited up for me obviously, "Hey, where did you go after work?"

"I ran into an old friend," I reply, "We had drinks and grabbed dinner."

He stands, kissing my forehead, "Was it Layne?"

"No," I shake my head, not mentioning how close we were tonight, "It was a guy."

We both get ready for bed, then find ourselves intertwined beneath the sheets.

"Baby Girl?" he asks me, as I wrap my arms around him.

"Mmhm?"

"I wouldn't be mad if you talked to her. You know that, right?"

"I know," I reply, "I don't want to talk to her."

Layne's POV

I open the door to Mira, who is dressed in a fitted crop top and pencil skirt, "Well hello."

I go to kiss her and she turns her head, the kiss landing on my cheek, "No sex. Take me out on a date."

"Date?" Is she serious? I'm by no means an expert, but I don't believe that booty calls are supposed to go like this.

"Take me out. On a date," she says it even slower, mocking me, "And not dressed like that."

I stare at her, confused, before nodding, "Alright. Come in and I'll go get changed."

I head to my room, changing into something nicer than the sport's bra and shorts I answered the door with. I put on a dress instead, a dark maroon color with long sleeves and a dangerously low v-line. I match it with a pair of matching combat boats, accented with black laces, then head back out to Mira.

Her eyes scroll up and down my outfit, lingering particularly long on the swell of my breasts barely contained by the dark fabric.

"Better, mi conejita?" I ask her and she blushes, my nickname for her making a return. She looks away, "Si si. Mucho mejor."

I guide her chin, so that she's looking back at me, "Can I kiss you now?" I search her eyes, "You know you wanna..."

She pulls away from me, and snaps, "Puedas dejarlo, mi güera?"

"Sorry," I pull back, "I'll get my bag and we can go, alright?"

She nods and I return. We're silent on the way to her car before she turns to me, "I should call you 'coqueta'. Flirt."

Flirt. I couldn't even be made if she did call me that. "What do you call me now?"

"Fair skinned. Essentially, white girl," she smirks.

"I don't know which one is worse," I laugh a little, "If I'm nothing but a white girl to you, what made you ask me out?"

"You don't know much about me," she replies, "I'm just the maid that you sleep with. I don't want to be that anymore."

She's quiet after that and I let it stay that way until we reach our destination, some bar downtown. LOVELY'S. "Our first date is at a bar?"

"They have really good cheeseburgers," she parks, "Let's go."

We get out and head inside. I follow Mira upstairs, my eyes fixated on her ass. We take our seat at the bar and she smiles at me, "So..."

"You say I don't know you," I prompt, "What am I missing?"

"Layne," she pauses, "What country is my family from?"

"Cuba."

"No. Costa Rica. What's my real name?"

"Mira?"

"No. It's Maria Castella. Mira is a nickname I got from my little cousin because he couldn't pronounce my real name."

"It isn't like you know everything about me either." I suddenly feel defensive. Of course I know things about her. How can two people go years with each other and still know nothing about the other?

She shakes her head, "You forget. I was your caretaker before I was your lover." I frown and she brushes my cheek gently, "Don't be sad. That's why we're here."

The bartender serves us our drinks and we sit in a reserved silence, thinking.

"You said that you don't want to just be the maid I'm sleeping with," I break the silence, "What do you want to be then?"

She doesn't say anything, so I prompt her again, "Do you wanna be my girlfr----"

"No! God no!" she cuts me off, "You're way too young for me to be dating. I think I just don't want to feel used. I want us to be friends, above anything else."

I nod, "Okay then."

After that we talk on and off about her life. Her family. Her school work. It hits me that I've been sleeping with her on and off since we met, but I hadn't bothered to ever get to know her.

There seems to have been a lot of things I hadn't bothered to do recently.

After our date she drives me back to my apartment. "I had fun tonight."

"Me too," I go to get out and she grabs me, "You aren't going to ask me for a kiss good night?"

"I don't deserve it," I say, getting out the car.