F***in' Arizona

Two Sneaky Brownnosers with a Hidden Agenda (Chapter 41)

"So, are you two just gonna act like we're supposed to already know you guys are dating?" Ari says shocked.

"THIS is the mystery person who you've been seeing?! Dakota?! Haven't you been seeing him for a long while now??" I ask, still thrown off by what I'm viewing before my eyes that I don't even pay attention to Ari standing in my presence as well.

"Surpriiiisssee???" Maya says shrugging her shoulders.

"We didn't really want anyone to know because we weren't sure how it was gonna be taken. Maya is a little younger than me, albeit not by much, but she is a good friend of my little brother's so it can be seen as a little weird. Besides, we both wanted a private relationship," Dakota says looking over at his longtime girlfriend with admiration and love.

"But from us??" Ari says to his older brother slightly upset.

"Especially from you two! Don't think I've forgotten about ya'll being nosey and all in my romantic business!" Maya says pointing a finger at both Ari and me.

She widens the door for the brothers to come inside so she can close the door behind them.

"But why now? Like, why did you choose to let us know now?" I ask.

"Well, Ari and I are headed back to California and we have a layover here. I wanted to see my beautiful girlfriend," Dakota says kissing Maya's smiling cheek, "and Ari wanted to try and talk to you. I tried to advise him against it, but he was pretty adamant."

I couldn't help the frown that unknowingly popped up on my face after hearing that.

"Yeeaahhh, Nov, I wasn't aware he was coming with Dak. How you doing Ari?" Maya asks him faking like she just really cares.

"Um, I'm ok, I guess. Can't get any lower than I am right now," he says fidgeting and rubbing his arm nervously.

"Oh, the ground is lower than where you are right now.  I could put you there if you'd like."

I almost laughed at Maya's bluntness. I love that she always has my back. I don't know what I'd do without her.

"Ok, ok, we've acknowledged that Ari is the biggest idiot alive. Can we sit?" Dakota says, playing peacekeeper again.

Dakota and Maya sat on the couch together, she plays in his hair and kisses his cheek while I walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. Unfortunately, Ari follows me.

"Ari, I've already pretty much said my piece to you. I honestly don't want to discuss it anymore. I recognize I have no actual grounds to technically be mad at you because you aren't my man."

"But I want to be your man. Although, I know it's a little late for that."

"You can't come to me now and tell me you want to be my man. I'm not in a place for that right now. I need you to respect that."

"I don't like it, but I'll respect your wishes."

"Thank you."

"Do you think we'll be able to work our way back to at least being friends?"

"Honestly, too soon. Like I said, I am probably reacting to this too sensitively, but I really like you Ari and it's a lot for me to admit that. Even if you say otherwise, what happened with you and Charlie really made me feel like I wasn't enough for you.

You claimed you felt unwanted and unloved when you know that wasn't true. At least coming from me, that wasn't true. I was at the house waiting for you to come back so I could make you feel even more wanted and loved, but you were out enjoying getting your dick sucked by your cheating ex, sooo... Yeah, I need time from you. Like very minimal contact from you.

It also seems like you still need to sort out your unresolved feelings towards Charlie. Whether they are romantic or hostile, they need to be resolved before you even attempt to pursue me."

He looked at the tiled floor, saddened, but I think it was what he needed to hear. He finally looked up and we stared at each other for a long time before he finally looked away and nodded.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I really hope you can forgive me one day," he says running his hand through his thick dark tresses as an anxious reaction.

"I hope so too."

"What are you guys in there doing? You better come back out here before Dakota and I take advantage of this alone time we've been having!" Maya yells from the living room.

"So how exactly did you guys get together?" I ask them once Ari and I come out of the kitchen.

"Well, what you guys never knew was that Dakota and I used to hang out all the time back in high school. We had gym class together when he was a senior and the rest of us were sophomores. I didn't know anyone in the class except for him, so we kinda became closer from that.

We started gaining small feelings for each other the closer we became as friends until one day after gym class, Dakota took me behind the gym and kissed me. I know what you're thinking, "but didn't you have a huge thing for Ari in the tenth grade?!" Yes, sort of. In actuality guys, I had a thing for Dakota that no one knew about. I used the excuse of having a huge crush on Ari because practically every girl did back then. I used it as a cover up for my real crush on his older brother."

Maya glanced over at Dakota lovingly and placed her hand on his knee, rubbing it before continuing.

"It was super shallow of me to use you like that Ari, especially without you knowing, and selfish of me to not tell you Nova and eventually you Ari once we became friends. I'm sorry. But after that first kiss Dakota and I shared, we would sometimes sneak around like it was some kind of torrid love affair we were both a part of. We only made out a few times before we stopped though. He was going to be leaving for college in a different state soon."

"Right. I left for college and we remained friends and kept in touch with each other well into both of our college days. Talking on the phone almost every night, video chatting, sending each other care packages and little gifts. I was beginning to really miss seeing her every day. I started yearning for her like a lovesick fool, so I flew her out to L.A. so we could do a weekend trip, and—"

"And we fucked! We fucked hard! And we made our relationship official."

"Maya! Come on babe!"

We laughed at Dakota's embarrassment and continued to hang out for a few more hours and talk until the two of them retired to her room. Ari and I knew exactly what that meant so we decided to go out for a while and grab Chinese takeout for us all to eat for a late-night dinner.

When we made it back to the apartment, the four of us enjoyed dinner and conversed until the Matthews brothers needed to leave to return to the airport for their late flight back to L.A.

"I really wish you didn't have to go Dak," Maya lovingly says to him, pecking him on the lips a couple times.

"I know, I know. I wish I didn't have to go either, but you know I'll see you in November for Thanksgiving. We've got that trip planned."

Aww, they were honestly the cutest. I'm really happy that the two most supportive people I know found love with each other. It makes me happy to see Maya happy. I'm actually glad they kept their relationship under wraps because it seems like that private time helped them to build and flourish.

"And Ari, you're quite lucky your brother was here because you would've gotten your ass beat," Maya threatens him after finishing with Dakota.

"I deserve it Maya."

She gives him a hug and whispers something in his ear that was probably another threat, knowing her.

I give Dakota a tight hug, and then decide to hug Ari for probably the last time.

"Take care of yourself, ok?" I tell him while holding him tight, deeply breathing in the faintly sweet scent of him in hopes of holding it within my memory forever.

"I will. Goodbye Nova," he says sadly like he too understands that this would be one of our last encounters.

"Goodbye Arizona."