BURNING TOUCH | mike faist

|ballroom - one|

I grabbed everything I needed, which was my phone, a charger, a sweatshirt, and all that jazz. I called an Uber and gave directions to Maggie's place. I arrived fifteen minutes later.

Getting out of the van, I thanked my driver and paid. I looked at her mansion, the same mansion that I had my first play-date at, and took a deep breath. I could see purple lights pouring out of the windows, illuminating the dark night. I could hear music blaring from the inside of the house. I walked to her front door, the heels of my ankle boots clicking against the dark red bricks of her driveway. I took the spare key to her house out of my bag and unlocked her front door.

Entering the house, I saw exactly what I had expected. What looked like thousands of people that I didn't know, pop music blasting from the speakers of her 110-inch T.V., and empty red solo cups everywhere.

I wandered around for a bit, trying to find Maggie. I ended up bumping into Kirsten.

     "Oh, Kirsten! You're exactly what I need right now!" I said, relieved.
     "What's up?"
     "Do you know where I can find Maggie?" I asked her.
     "Hm, I'm not sure. Maybe try the ballroom?" She replied.
     "Oh, of course. That's her favorite place in the house! I never would have thought about looking there. Thanks, Kirsten, you're a lifesaver." I told her, smiling. She returned the smile.
     "Anytime." 

I started making my way through crowds of people I didn't know. I started getting tired of the huge crowds blocking my way to the stairs, so I made my way towards the guest bedroom instead. I pushed the door, but it wouldn't budge. I got out my key ring and unlocked the door. I pushed the door open quietly, not wanted to raise suspicion. I entered the room and locked the door behind me. I opened the closet and closed it as well. Pushing the hangers of clothing out of the way, the metal door appeared. I got out my ring of keys and found the key to the metal door.

Unlocking the door and pushing it open, the secret staircase was in my sight. I moved the hangers so that the door was hidden again. Silently, I closed and locked the metal door, making my way up the three flights of spiral stairs to the ballroom.

Entering the storage closet that connected the staircase to the main hallway, I slowly slid through the small space that the shelves gave to the opening. I opened the door to the hallway and closed it, walking to the ballroom. 

I unlocked the door to the ballroom, only to be greeted with loud sobs coming from the middle of the ballroom floor. 

I closed the door, the loud bang grabbing Maggie's attention.

     "Y/n, what are you doing here?" Maggie asked between sobs.
     "I-I came looking for you," I said, staying idle in front of the door. I had no idea what to do.
     "How did you get in here? I locked the door to the hallway and the ballroom," She stated, taken aback. I took out the ring of keys and shook them to make a little jingle, and smiled.
     "You have keys?" She asked, confused.
     "Yeah. You gave them to me in 4th grade so I could watch over Mincy when your parents took you on business trips because you were too young to stay at home by yourself." I explained to her. I couldn't believe she forgot.
     "Oh, right, I'm sorry I forgot. I'm just out of it." She said, shaking her head.
     "Now to the more important stuff, what are YOU doing here?" I asked her. She sighed and slightly started to cry.
     "You know Josh, my boyfriend?" I nodded. "I saw him making out with Shae Moore." My best friend instincts kicked in and I ran to her and gave her a hug. She hugged back, and after a few minutes of comforting, she pulled away.
     "I'm so sorry, I'm being such a burden." She said, her body in fetal position. I put my arm around her shoulders.
     "You're not doing anything wrong. Hey, I have an idea. Wanna go up to your gaming lounge and play MarioCart until you feel better?"
     "Yeah, I'd like that," She said. We stood up together and walked out of the ballroom, locking the door behind us.

We walked into the storage closet and opened the door to the secret staircase. We walked up the spiral stairs to the fifth floor, where all the main bedrooms were. To get to the bedrooms, we had to walk down a pathway, which branched off to either her parent's room or hers. We walked for a while, telling jokes and stories to pass the time. We then encountered the split in the walkway; you could turn left to get to Maggie's room, or you could keep going straight to get to her parent's room.

We turned left.

We walked up the spiral staircase into her closet and unlocked the door. We closed it behind us and walked out of her closet. We entered her room, the white walls and polished aspen wood flooring complimented her rose dust curtains and duvet. Her pillows were rose dust as well, with two white throw pillows next to each other and one rose dust throw pillow between them, forming an inverted triangle. 

She had a small shelf above her bed, painted rose dust. It held her favorite books, which included The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Catching in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and many others. Above the shelf, fluorescent fairy lights were hung, illuminating the room with a soft pink.

Next to her queen-sized bed was a white couch and a glass table. The couch had rose dust throw-pillows and a white Velvetloft blanket draped over the arm of the couch. Sleeping on top of the couch was her 5-year-old golden retriever Mincy, curled up in a ball. Sitting on top of the glass table was a white flower pot, with pale violet and white Sweet Pea's growing from the pot. Above the glass table hung a crystal chandelier.

The white walls of her room were complimented with pink aesthetic paintings, framed in aspen wood.

On the other side of her room was a pale violet-painted elevator that went up to the seventh floor of her house. I grabbed her hand and we got in the elevator.

She pressed the button saying "G" and we started going up. We passed the other floor, Maggie's dance studio, on the way up. 

We reached the seventh floor -her gaming lounge- and sat down on the couch. Once she powered up her Nintendo Switch, we both grabbed a controller and started playing.

     "FUCK!" I yelled, mad at Maggie. She had hit me with a blue shell sending my flying off the course, taking me from 1st place to 12th place in a matter of seconds.
     "Sorry, that's just how it goes," She replied with a smirk.
     "YOU'RE THE WORST!" I yelled at her, laughing.

A few games later, she was starting to feel like her old self again.

     "Hey, Y/n?" I turned my head to face her.
     "Thank you, so much." Maggie continued.
     "It was the least I could do," I replied, smiling.
     "No, I mean it. I was feeling so alone. You don't know how much I needed someone to come and offer to play MarioCart with me. You're really the best friend a person could ask for."
     "Oh, come on. You're gonna make me cry," I said, my eyes getting watery. Maggie hugged me.
     "Wanna go downstairs to the party?" She offered her hand out to me.
     "Let's go," I replied, grabbing her hand.