"Sobriety I swear is a mindset, but even the more complex minds can be corrupted by it.
It's a fragile being, but don't be fooled it's like a ticking bomb.
One minute you're riding the wave, but for one moment you get lost in it for a second.
It can and will drown you if you let it."- S
The wind blew east, the sun was high and shining.
The Uni Café door opens and the door chimes,
Ava comes out of the door with a smile on her face.
"Here's your Coffee, you look like hell." She said this as she handed Syd his drink.
"Oh, thanks little sis, not like you aren't stating the oblivious." Syd's sarcastic remarks,
"Don't be bitchy with me, what happened? That sticks up your ass even farther than normal." Ava asks as she brought the cup to her lips.
Syd puts the cup from his mouth, "I'm fine, just a little on edge with no alcohol and dad's anniversary coming up."
Ava looks at him for a second, then reached her hand out to touch his that was on the flat surface.
Syd looks up from the flat surface and signs.
"And Maribel and I had a heated conversation and I feel-, No I know I fucked up, and she will start to shut me out again."
Ava looks at him like he was an idiot,
"Syd, you two have to stop pushing each other away."
He looks at her with understanding in his eyes.
"Ava I know, but she is my best friend, I just want to be close to her, but then she starts to put up her walls, and it feels like I'm losing her even if she is right in front of me."
"How do you think she feels when you keep Amara around?" She finishes that with a bit of irritation in her tone.
"I know you're right. But you know how Mari is selfless at best, and she wants everyone to be happy even if that doesn't involve her in it, and I want her in my life. She is my mejor amigo.
He said in denial, he knew very well that you don't kiss or touch or even think about your best friend the way he did, but he thought that if he told himself enough times he could believe it.
Ava looks at him with a certain understanding of what he wants to say but won't dare speak the words of it.
She stands up and comes beside him where he's sitting and kisses him on the cheek and hugs him.
"Syd, you know if you two talked, maybe you could stop running circles around each other." Ava said to him before letting him go.
They wave to each other,
She walked alongside the pavement.
As she fades out of his vision
He sips his coffee and thinks about everything that
happened since they met the first day
But that was short-lived, his phone buzzed
He looked down at his phone after collecting it from his Pocket.
The remainder was the music class he was taking starting at 25 mins.
*
Maribel graced the floor as her feet followed with her muscle memory. She practice the sixteen count with a studied pace,
The music twined in the background.
She was so focused she didn't notice that Ava had come in.
As she graduated twisted her body to make the starting point but the only difference was that she was on the other side of the room.
Maribel looks up from her end pose and with that, the song comes to an end.
"Hey Bels." Ava said as she came toward her.
"Ava, how are you? I know we were two ships in the night." Maribel asked as she came in for a hug.
"I'm good, I just came from the Uni Café, and I've avoided writing a page for my English class. So here I am." Ava voiced as they separated from the hug.
"Oh I know the feeling, that was me two weeks ago with my thesis for my end-semester project. We miss you on the team, you know you're welcome back anytime.
Maribel expresses this as she gives a soft smile to Ava.
"Yeah I know, I miss you guys too. I just need a mental break."
*
As the afternoon creeps into the day
The band room filled with college students and with a surprise to most the director Raymond was back in the building.
Syd came from the office with shades on his face and with his original poker face.
He gazed at his peers in front of him.
"Amir, I want you to warm up the band." Syd told him.
Amir makes his way up to the platform podium.
"Alright ready, band? Ready band horns up."
In that second, all the instruments made a loud and proud noise.
Shortly after he started to conduct them into their first song.
"1,3,1" One of his hands snapped, and the other his hand started to move in a way only the instrumentalist understood.
Shortly after both move with the tempo of the music.
*
Maribel
Sitting through lunch with her mama is the worst
She always asks me what next or if I would dance next season.
She is just not so subtle about telling me that dance won't cut it and she wants me to do something in government.
Like don't get me wrong, I love criminal justice and the endgame is to be a crisis manager.
But dance is just something she can never give up and it's hard to choose between the two.
my mama doesn't make it any better with her constant taunting.
Also with June not being here as a buffer, she is ten times worse and it just makes me feel bad about choosing something that she loves and is good at over something that I also love as well.
So when my mama got a call about business and that led it to be cut short.
I leave as soon as humanly possible, my anxiety is through the roof and I need to get out of there before I have a pain attack.
As I'm leaving the restaurant, I was trying to calm myself but nothing was working.
The restaurant was not far from the dorms so I walk back with my heels in my hands.
Before I know it my foot are carrying me to Syd's doorstep.
I know I'm not supposed to be here...
*
Maribel knocks on his door, it opens in seconds
"Mari-" Syd said as open the door but he stopped him once he saw her face.
He knew the moment she looks him in the eyes that something was wrong.
She has tears in her eyes and Syd goes to hug her.
He held her tight, "I got you." He whispers to her as he closes the door behind them.
She put back a little just to look him in the eyes again.
Syd's heart broke just seeing her like this, she barely ever cried.
Maribel was always the one doing the hugging with everyone else never being the one being held.
She looks as if she going to make an impulse choice, that when she led and kisses him.
This is the first time she kissed him, usually, Syd was the one to initiate it.
This kiss was soft and gentle but quickly became something more.
The increase of heat as she leads into him, she grips his soft brown locs, Syd was so shocked because recently they had been hot and cold, never really on the same page.
But Syd kisses back as he takes control of the kiss, he moans into and he feels her hand roaming over his chest.
He slightly bites her lip and pulls away.
"Are you sure, we can just talk about you know that right?"
"Yeah, I know." Maribel answers him before kissing his lips again.
Syd grabs her jawline, and brings Maribel's full attention to him, "Promise me we will talk after this is all over."
"I'm fine Syd please." Maribel said while kissing his neck.
"Mari, I'm serious, you can't just do this because you want to avoid your problems."
"I'm not avoiding anything." She said getting irritated and went to kiss him again.
But this time he didn't say anything because he knew it was no use, he had her after all they would talk later.