There's something pretty cool about hanging out in a café. Especially when you have your drink in your hand, enjoying it sip by sip while trying to work on school papers that won't be due for a while. Other students crowded the café too, minding their own business and occasionally visiting with their peers on the same table.

I was alone, my wireless earbuds in my ear and writing notes for English. Margo had told me to come visit her at work and now I have three drinks lined up on my table that were given to me for free because they messed up on orders. The drinks were sweet, and I love every one of them.

"Look at you, looking all basic and everything." Margo said as she approached me, her apron dirty and her hands on her hips. "Didn't peg you as a let's-study-in-a-coffee-shop kind of girl."

I chuckled, and shrugged my shoulders.

"I didn't either." I replied. "But I think I'm going to be more often. Look at all these free drinks! All thanks to you."

"Yeah, we've been training a new barista lately and he is struggling." Margo scratched the side of her face apologetically. "Man, I am so exhausted."

Margo's short dark hair looked ruffled and her forearms were stained with random coffee splashes. She does look a little rough, especially with the noticeable bags under her eyes.

"Heard from Marco lately?" She asked as she took her apron off and sat across from me.

I shook my head.

"He lives next door to me, but I haven't seen him in a while." I said. "I have no way to contact him either."

"You could always knock on his door." Margo suggested, a desperately look in her eyes. "He's been ignoring me lately. It sucks. I've just been working nonstop to distract myself from all this."

I pursed my lips, feeling awkward about the situation. She must've been thinking a lot about her younger brother lately. With a sigh, Margo stretched her neck and smiled at me.

"Are you done work now?" I asked.

"Actually, yeah. Finally." She replied with a nod. "Anyways, how are you doing? We have never hung out just the two of us before. It's pretty cool."

"It's different." I replied awkwardly, and shrugging my shoulders. "It's weird."

"You're so fucking awkward, Maverick." Margo said her tone amused. "Why are you like this?"

"I don't know! It takes time for me to warm up to people. Just be glad that I'm putting myself out there to hang out with you." I replied, crossing my arms.

"What would you usually do?" She asked, now curious.

"Hang out with Natasha, I guess?" I put away my school notes, because I'm done with it anyways. "I feel like she's ignoring me. Do you know anything?"

Margo looked down, scratched the back of her neck and I could tell she was trying hard not to smile.

"What?" I questioned.

"She's been ignoring me too." She said, now looking up and giving me an almost nervous smile.

"Everyone is just ignoring us." I said, and taking a sip of my drink. "Even Dennis is ignoring me. They're going through their own things, I suppose. Normally I would demand what was going on and try to solve things but now I... I guess I'll leave it to them for now."

"Dani mentioned you having a hero complex." Margo said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well there's nothing wrong about caring about your friends." I replied defensively.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing." Margo said, shaking her head. "You're pretty cool."

I frowned.

"I don't see myself as cool. But, thanks." I replied. "I'm pretty exhausted with all the drama that happened before. I'm done solving that shit. I'm trying to deal with my own problems right now."

"Oh dang." Margo said a bit taken aback.

"Yeah, I've been dealing with my feelings lately." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Trying to reflect on a few things. It's pretty weird, I didn't think one could feel so many things in so little time."

"It happens to the best of us." Margo said.

"Yeah, uh. I've been meaning to ask you about something." I said, now suddenly feeling anxious.

"Okay."

"How experienced are you with girls?" I blurted out quickly. "You've been really open about your sexuality and I guess I- Jeezus this is going to be harder than I thought it would be."

Margo looked at me like I was growing another head.

"It's just that, I was hoping that you would try to explain to me how- you know... How two women have sex- er... pleasure each other?" I blabbered on, my face feeling hot. "I can't believe I'm asking you this, oh my god."

Margo burst out laughing to the point where she was clutching her stomach and guffawing out loud. Some people turned their heads to look at us, so I quietly hissed at Margo to calm down.

"Maverick, you do know there's this thing called porn right?"

I gaped at her. Why didn't I thought of that?

"Sure, yeah. I knew that."

"Obviously, you didn't." Margo looked at me with amusement and also curiosity. "I wouldn't reccomend watching lesbian porn though. They tend to look super fake. I mean some of them are okay but a majority of them are just cringey."

I nodded my head, blushing.

"It's for research." I said trying to cover up my embarassment but end up making it worse. "You know, for... school."

"You're researching women pleasuring other women for a school assignment?"

"Okay fine, it's for personal reasons." I said now panicking a little and hiding my face with the coffee cup. "I'm wanting to go to the next step with Dani but I'm really nervous about it. I thought- I thought since you know so much about this kind of stuff then maybe you could shine some ideas my way."

"What makes you think that I know a lot about pleasuring women?" Margo asked, her eyes narrowed. "But also don't you see how awkward this is? Maverick, I don't want to give you lessons about oral sex, or sex in general."

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed hissing at her to keep it down.

"Maybe I could tell you about fingering but-"

"Margo, oh my god nevermind!" I hissed at her again while she just laughs my way. "I'll just watch porn instead."

"Do you know where the clit is?" Margo continued, and I could tell that she was messing with me. She burst out laughing and I my shook my head at her. I was blushing pretty hard and that seemed to make Margo laugh even harder. "For porn, I do have reccomendations." She added.

I huffed, and pushed my glasses up to my nose while she blabbered on and on about certain genres. I'm getting a little stressed. This shouldn't be that complicated. I knew Margo sensed this so she backed off a little bit and said,

"It's fine to feel nervous, or feel like you don't know what you're doing. All that matters is that you're spending your time with each other. The most fun part of it is figuring out what works for the both of you." Margo looked at me curiously again. "Do I really come off as a womanizer?" She asked out of the blue.

"Er, kind of?" I said, nodding my head.

"Huh." Margo thought about it.

"Sorry."

"No, don't be." Margo looked as if she was distracted about something. "I used to fool around a lot but not anymore. I kind of hated that time of my life."

"Are you seeing anyone now?" I asked.

"No...?"

"You don't sound certain." I chuckled.

"I'm still confused about what we are." Margo said, still not telling me who it would be. "I'm not ready to commit fully. As you can tell, I'm pretty damaged and messed up. It's hard to be in a relationship in this state."

I could only nod. That's how I felt when I was still trying to figure things out about my feelings.

"It's not fair for the other person if they want to be serious." Margo added. "I kind of envy what you have with Dani. Both of you are almost like... Intertwining with excitement."

"As cheesy as that sounds, I couldn't describe it any other way."

"I cringe, I tell you. I cringe." Margo said making me laugh with her.

"We should do this more often."

"Talk about sex?"

"No, you dunce. Hanging out." I replied and rolling my eyes.

"I'd really like that, Maverick." Margo said brightly.

***

I skipped church for the first time in a while.

I didn't skip it on purpose, I was sick. My nose won't stop running and it was really hard to breathe. Somehow, I've lost my voice and my head hurt so badly that I just laid there in my bed groaning in pain. I sounded more like an angry turtle than anything.

My mom checked on me so many times that I got annoyed because she was interupting my sleep. My anger subsided when she brought me soup and started feeding me with a spoon because I could barely sit myself up. She then gave me meds and proceeded to clean my room.

Goddamn it, I wanted to see Dani today.

I wanted to jump on her, pull her close and kiss her endlessly. The meds must've been kicking in because I now feel groggy and dreamy. At one point I think I might've been calling out Dani's name because my mom was repeatedly telling me,

"You're overly dramatic. Dani is not here right now, honey."

I groaned in complaint and turned in my bed while hugging the pillow who I desperately wished to be Dani right now. Since when was I this needy?

My parents got worried to leave me by myself so they skipped church as well. Not gonna lie, I was kind of touched that they did that for me. But now they're making a fuss about me being sick and treating me like a fragile person. I hated that part.

I slept the whole day trying to evade any form or source of light. They're making my head hurt even more. The meds helped me sleep, and when I woke up my headache was less painful than before.

"I need to workout today." I said to my mom when I saw her walk in to my room with a mug full of medicated tea. "I need to go out for a run, and hit the gym."

"No, you don't." She said, her voice stern.

"I'm going to lose my muscles!" I complained like a child. "There's a tournament coming up after the break. I need to train."

"You have plenty of muscles." My mom replied, rolling her eyes at me.

"I don't have enough." I said, forcing myself to get up but my legs betrayed me and my head suddenly pulsed with pain.

"Maverick, stop it sweetie. Just lay down and relax for a few days or else you won't get better."

"Mm." I mumbled in my pillow. I felt my mom feeling my temperature and said,

"You don't feel so hot anymore. That's a good sign."

"Is it though?" I joked. My mom gave me an annoyed look and laid the tea on my bedside table.

"You're recovering pretty fast, thank goodness. You don't have the gross crusted boogers in your nostrils anymore."

It was my time to give my mom an annoyed look, but she thought she was funny anyways.

"Dani's downstairs." She said.

I sat up from my bed so fast, I saw dark dots in my vision.

"Okay, captain obvious. I'm going to tell her to come up. No funny business, you hear me?"

"Mom!"

"I know you." She said, grinning. "Don't get Dani sick now."

"Mom, oh my god." I covered my face in embarassment, my cheeks already feeling warm.

With an amused chuckle, my dear mother left ny room while I was busy trying to fix my nest of a hair. I had soup stains on my pajama top, and I quickly got up with all my strenght to find a different shirt.

When I successfully unbuttoned my top, I heard a knock on my doorway which made me turn to see Dani standing there. She was leaning on the door frame, with a tray in her hands.

I quickly threw my shirt in the hamper and saw Dani look away.

"Er, uh Mave p-put a shirt on." She said nervously.

"That's what I'm doing. I had stains on that one, so I'm changing." I explained, and grabbing a blue oversized tee in my dresser. "I wanted to look... sickly presentable?"

"Sickly presentable?" Dani asked in amusement.

"Yeah." I said, nodding and sitting on my bed. "Hello by the way."

"Hello." She replied, and stepping in to my room. "I got you a care package. Er, I brought all your favourite junk foods-"

I gasped.

"Goldfish crackers?" I asked excitedly.

"Vanilla, rainbow, and pizza flavour." Dani replied grinning. "I got you a variety of drinks too, uh I didn't know what to get you but I had to stick with citrus drinks- Er, you know high in vitamin C."

I smiled. Dani is being so sweet and cute.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked, now crossing my legs on the bed.

"You just have that effect on me." She replied.

"I missed you." I blurted out which made the both of us blush.

"Same here."

It made me smile seeing Dani here. She looked relaxed now but she was still awkwardly standing there in the middle of my room.

"Hey, so I have something to ask you?"

"Come here." I said, holding up my arms. "Come closer."

She seemed suspicious about me being clingy, but she gladly sat on the bed beside me. With a grin, I crawled up to her and placed myself on her lap while my hands wrapped around the back of her neck.

Dani seemed amused by my actions, but she let me lay my head on her shoulders. She got herself more comfortable by holding on to my waist with one arm, and my legs on the other.

"After you're all recovered. I was wondering if you'd like to go on a trip with me." She said, sighing a little when I kissed a spot just under her jaw.

"Who's all going?" I asked, now playing with her hair.

"Just us." She replied, her finger tips running up my leg to my thigh just to tease me. I bit my bottom lip, a small smile trying to escape.

"Where?" I asked, now daring myself to kiss her neck.

"Waskesiu." She said, her breathing pattern changing. "My grandparents has their own cabin there that I go to during the holidays when I used to visit."

Waskesiu is in a national park that is an hour and a half drive from here. It's a cute little town considered as a tourist spot. The view there is amazing. You can spot wildlife, admire the lake, and walk on multiple hiking trails. I go there at least once a year during the summer with my family but I've never been there during the winter time.

"A romantic getaway?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"You just want to get in my pants." I said.

"Like you don't want the same." She challenged.

I grinned then leaned to whisper in her ear.

"Well then, I should focus on getting better." I told her quietly. "I would like to eat you all up soon." I added as seductively as I can.

Dani looked like she lost her train of thought which made me chuckle. She seemed to pull herself together and immediately pushed me off her.

"Your mom is within earshot you asshole." She hissed, a blush rising up to her cheeks.

"I didn't even do anything!" I protested, now laughing.

"I was going to. Then I remembered where we are." She admitted. "Damn, stay away from me." She joked, also now smiling.

"You got all hot and bothered?" I asked innocently.

"Not bothered." She said. "More like hot and aroused."

"Jeez, you stay away me." I joked.

"I'll try."