Reid My Mind

25. Aiko

she's in the rain - the rose

By the time I showered, got dressed in a grey t-shirt and black leggings, responded to at least fifty work emails, and packed my go-bag for the next day, it was 6:50. I decided to order the pizza.

Just as I hung up on the pizza parlor, my doorbell rang.

"Max!" I pulled my front door open.

"Maya!"

"It's so great to see you!"

"I know," he said with a smile and handed me a box of microwaveable popcorn.

"How's the job?" I asked. He had moved out here to consult on an advertising project and to his surprise been offered a permanent position. He'd started a week after I saw him last.

"It's pretty good, actually," he said. The so-called "living room" area in my apartment wasn't very large, but it held a very comfortable couch, upon which Max plopped as if at home. That was one of the things I loved about him. He was so devoid of affect, so casual and genuine that it was easy to talk to him. Even now, after college, I felt like we were just grabbing some food after a class, ready to bitch about the professor.

"Turns out the last guy who did my job was horrible, so they were overjoyed when I actually made a proposal for the new project," he said. I laughed at the thought.

"Pick a movie," I instructed and handed him the TV remote.

"Wow, big girl, you actually got your own Netflix account?" he asked, clicking the on button.

"Nope, still using Juliet's," I confided.

"No way. Me too!"

"I'm sure Eliza's using it too," I quipped. We exploded into laughter that didn't subside for a long, long time. Each time we tried to calm down, we'd be reduced to giggles again when either one of us mentioned a story from college. Despite the laughter, I managed to get the popcorn ready and handed it to Max.

"So what are we watching?" I asked when I'd finally regained my breath.

"This," he said, motioning to the screen with the remote. It was a movie we'd seen in theaters during college at two a.m., half drunk. Max shot me a smirk that told me he remembered. God, it was good to have a day off. No serial killers, arsonists, kidnappers.

Naturally, just as he pressed play, my phone buzzed on the kitchen counter.

"Fuck, just wait one sec," I told Max. He paused it.

"No problem, True Detective." Please, please, let it not be JJ pulling us into a new case, I thought.

I picked up my phone. An unknown number had texted me. As I typed in the password, the screen flickered like it was glitching.

"What the hell?" I muttered to myself, but it was gone as quickly as it had begun. I tapped the Message app.

Unknown:  I'm here with your pizza. I can't find the doorbell.

I rushed to the door and peeked through the hole. Sure enough, a man with scraggly brown hair was standing outside holding a pizza box. I open the door.

"Pizza."

"Sorry, the doorbell is kind of hard to find," I said. He smiled sheepishly. Even Max had just knocked. I paid him and waved before returning inside with the pizza.

"Turn the movie on!" I commanded and lifted a slice out of the box.

"Yes, ma'am."

By the time the movie was over, all six slices of the ten-inch pizza where gone, mostly courtesy of Max.

"So, how's it going with whats-his-face?" Max asked.

"Ah, yes, whats-his-face," I joked.

"Cmon, the triple doctor guy." Max made a vague gesture as he tried to recall the name.

"I forgot I told you about him," I said. I had only mentioned him briefly when Max and I had met last time.

"Mind like a steel trap," he teased, "So what's up with you and him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on. Your face lit up when you talked about him," Max said emphatically.

"I said like three words about him."

"Still."

"We may have... I..." I struggled with whether to tell him.

"Spit it out, Davis."

"We slept together. Twice."

"Wow. Okay. I thought you just had a crush on him."

"I do," I confessed, "It's just casual, or whatever."

"Honestly, I didn't think he'd be the type for friends with benefits," I mused.

"Me neither, from the way you described him. Is that what you want?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why not?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. It sounds like you really like him." I didn't say anything. I felt a foreign hand grip my lungs and keep them from expanding all the way.

"Maya, you okay?" He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. I just..."—I took a deep breath—"I do like him, you know, a lot. I just wish it wasn't like this."

"So ask him out." Max looked concerned. He took his hand off my shoulder and crossed his arms. I sighed.

"We can't date. We're on the same team. And he doesn't want that." All of a sudden my eyes welled up. I didn't know what had come over me, so I just blinked until I could see clearly again.

"Did he say that?"

"It was implied." Max gave me a look.

"Maya, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know if this is a good idea." I just bit my lip.

"You're going to get your heart broken in two pieces." He was right, unfortunately.

"Pass the popcorn," he said. I did.

"What do I do?" I complained.

"How long have you liked this guy?"

"Like six months," I groaned and put my head on the table dramatically.

"Don't pull an Aiko," Max cautioned through a mouthful of popcorn. I stole the bowl back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aiko, from college. She was in love with you for like two years but she didn't say anything."

"Shut up! She was not in love with me." I threw a piece of popcorn at his face and hit him on the cheek. He picked it up off his lap and ate it.

"She sure was. But she was so happy just to be hooking up with you that she didn't say anything." I blinked.

"No way." I threw another kernel, which Max managed to catch in his mouth.

"Yep. She'd never shut up about it when you were gone. It drove me and Eliza crazy."

"She should've told me!"

"Are you going to tell Reid?"

"That's different," I said indignantly. He looked at me the way you look at a child covered in paint when they say it was the dog who drew on the walls.

"Is it?"

"Shut up!" I leaned back in my chair and studied the ceiling.

"Oh my god," I said, more to myself than to Max.

"You have to break it off with him," Max said, resigned, "Or tell him."

"Oh. My. God," I repeated, trying to retroactively piece together signs from a past life.