Fresh Start

T w e n t y - s i x

   "How do you know you love someone?" I question, tucking my legs into my chest as I throw my phone to the other side of the couch.

Kieron laughs from where he's laying on the floor as Kaylee answers immediately, "When you ask questions like that."

I glare at her, before weakly mumbling "Shut up.", which only incits more laughter from my two-so called-friends.

"But for real K," Kieron starts, sitting up to give me-terrifying-eye contact. "When you know you know...you know?"

I stare at him blankly as I try to understand his words. "Yeah..." I mumble, looking down to my bitten nails and the healing skin around them. "The last-" A loud knock on the front door cuts my sentence short. But it's fine, mostly because I was about to mention my fucked up ex-girlfriend, but behind that door lays my much better new girlfriend. "Forget I said anything." I state, standing to walk the few feet to the door.

Maia smiles at me, her eyes lighting up when they meet mine, and her lips highlighting those fucking dimples. "Hey." She greets cheerily.

"Hi." I return, moving to the side as she enters the apartment, looking around again like she did her first time here, and then her eyes land on Kaylee and Kieron. "You know there's no pressure right." I say, walking to stand beside her after shutting the door, "You've already met Kaylee and Kieron's nice and loves everyone...so you know, don't worry."

Her next words are spoken with a clever smile, as she turned to look at me with bright eyes, "That's my line."

I shake my head as small laughs leave my lips at Maia's joke. Before I pull her towards my awaiting friends, I make sure to link our fingers together, giving hers a small squeeze of support, all in hopes to ease her nerves.

---

"Wait are we cheering for the blue guys or the navy guys?" Maia half whispers to me, in a desperate attempt to understand the game unfolding in front of us.

"I don't know why you think I understand this more than you would." I mutter back, laughing as she throws me a joking glare.

Kieron finally speaks up from where he sits on the other couch, Kaylee's head in his lap, both watching the game intently as he grumbles the next words, "We're the Chicago Bears...so navy." He deadpans.

It was his idea to watch football, mentioning far too many times about how this game could change the way he views the team. Kaylee eagerly agreed to watching the game, having grown up in a football household and worshipping the bears as a Christian would god. So that only left me and Maia, huddled up on the main couch, desperately trying to understand the many rules of the game.

"Are all the team's animals?" She asks me, turning to peer at me with questioning brown eyes.

She seemed a little more lost then me so I answered as well as I could, "I-I think so."

"So what's the blue's animal."

"I have no idea." I say, as she sighs, finally giving up on trying and instead resting her head on my shoulder.

I stare blankly at Kieron and Kaylee as they both erupt into scremas of joy, Kieron clapping his hands several times before yelling, "Yes Bitch, Ha-fucking-ha!" and pointing at the tv as if it was guilty of some crime.

"Did we win?" I ask my friends, earning a glance from Kieron before his eyes shoot back to the screen.

"No we're only at half time."

I squint, confused, "Then what's with the...I wanna say cheering but it was so much louder than that."

"We got a touchdown." Kaylee answers, making me nod my head slowly. Finally, a term I recognize...even if I have no idea what an actual touchdown is.

The next words that leave Maia's lips have me sighing in relief, "I brought an Edgar Allan Poe short stories book. Wanna read quietly while pretending to understand the game?"

"God yes."

---

As soon as I finish my cup of coffee I head back to my room, where I expect to find a half asleep Maia, but instead find her dressed fully with my clothes. She finishes pulling one of my t-shirts over her head when I enter, before sitting back down on the bed.

"You sure you don't want anything?" I question again, sitting beside her and pulling my legs to my chest.

Maia nods her head, pulling out her phone. "I forgot to mention it earlier," She starts, glancing up at me with a questioning gaze, "I'm going to my mom's for the rest of the weekend and you're invited."

"Invited by who?" I ask, squinting at my girlfriend.

"Me..." She states, biting her lip before continuing, "And my mother." I mumble a small 'knew it' as she looks back at her phone. "So are you in?"

"I mean, yeah I guess. I don't think I have anything to do." I say, looking down to my hands. "Are you gonna tell your parents about me?" I question while nervously picking at the skin on my left thumb.

I feel Maia's gaze on me but I resist the urge to look up, meeting her gaze, worried she'd easily be able to tell how anxious I am to hear her reply. "Are you gonna tell your parents?" She shoots back, her voice somewhat joking.

Yes. Not only will I tell them, but I'll fucking brag to them about you. "I asked first." I point out, wincing as my nail hits the sensitive skin from the past week.

I watch as her hand reaches towards me, her fingers weaving between mine until our hands are locked together, stopping my previous nervous behavior. I finally look up to her as she brings my hands to her lips, kissing my knuckle before speaking against the skin. "Course I'm gonna tell them about you." She starts, bringing our hands back down to rest on her thigh, as she smiles warmly at me, her grin giving me the funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'm becoming quite familiar with. "It's just a matter of when and where. It could be today, at dinner, but if you don't wanna be there when I do it, then I'll wait and do it another time."

"I don't mind being there." I say, before quickly adding, "I just don't want you to feel like you have to tell them about me, like, I don't want to pressure you into it."

Her face draws into a frown, her eyes switching between mine, clearly confused. "You're not pressuring me into it at all." She explains, making me let out a breath of relief. "I want to tell them because you're important to me and I want them to know about this part of my life." I feel myself smiling by the end of her sentence, which in turn makes her smile. "You're cute when you're nervous."

At first I let out a laugh at her words but then as I think further about her words, I frown slightly, confusion flooding my mind as a question pops into my head. "You always say that, you know, call me pretty and stuff." I half mutter, "I don't know how you see me that way."

Maia gives me a small smile as if she's already prepared an answer for my question, "That's why I say it." She answers softly. "You're beautiful, Kris. And I'm gonna keep calling you that until you believe me...and then probably even after that because you deserve to hear how fucking pretty you are."

Once again my lips draw into a small smile as heat rises to my cheeks. "You're a really good girlfriend." I say, looking down at our hands, noticing what I already knew was a fact. She doesn't touch me like I'm delicate . She holds my hand like she means it, like she just wants to. She doesn't treat me like Luca did. And I find myself more and more grateful for that every coming day.