Brian's POV

I listened intently as Maggie got into her bed, keeping my face pressed into my blanket. Once I was certain she had gone to sleep, I got up. I knew she was concerned about me. I just wasn't sure how to tell her what happened while I was gone.

I changed out of my ripped jeans into a pair of loose cotton lounge pants, opting to just take my shirt off and leave it be. Maggie had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. First grade. We knew everything there was to know about each other. For the most part, that is. What I had neglected to ever tell her was that for the past seven years, I've been madly in love with her. I crushed on her in high school, but she was my best friend. She also had a boyfriend. Maggie had a heart of gold, pretty green eyes and a certain air of mystery about her that drove the boys at school mad. The guys wanted to date her, the girls wanted to be her. She was rarely without a boyfriend then and even when she wasn't exclusive with someone, there was no shortage of guys waiting to take her out for the night.

Who could blame them then? She was even prettier now. Over the years her body had filled out in exactly the right ways. Her hair was long and shiny and soft. She refused to dye it and used only the nicest products on it, so it always smelled great and had that healthy sheen to it. Her bright green eyes were expressive and sultry, just the right shape. Her mouth was pouty and her skin was flawless. She'd gotten a few piercings in high school, and after graduation, got several tattoos. The one hat intrigued me the most was the word "Agony" tattooed just below her waist, between two sparrows on her hips. She had several others on her legs and a nice back piece and half sleeves. Her ears were stretched, though I wasn't sure if she was still wearing eight gauge earrings or if she'd stretched beyond that now. The school wasn't happy about her having visible tattoos and stretched ears but Maggie was an asset they couldn't afford to lose.

One of the tattoos she had was one she'd gotten for my band, and it was on the top of her left foot. It was a small deathbat. When she came home sporting that one, I was floored. I asked her why she had done it, and her response was one I'll never forget. She explained that she'd been my biggest supporter for so long, she wanted everyone to know she had my back and my band's back. She also said it was just a bad ass design and so many of our songs were special or important or somehow touched her life.

I went back to bed after finding a snack and tried to sleep, but found it hard to doze off because my thoughts kept screaming at me about her, about my now ex-girlfriend Nadia, what to do about the whole thing. It turned out Nadia was using me for my money, which wasn't too shocking once I thought about it. Maggie was muttering in her sleep and I had a hard time making out what she was saying, but it distracted me from my thoughts enough to doze off for a while.

When I woke up a few hours later, the sun was streaming in through the window above Maggie's bed, casting a warm glow on the exposed, colorful skin of her shoulders and her peaceful face. She was so beautiful. I couldn't stop myself from crawling out of my bed and padding quietly across the apartment to hers. She stirred when I crawled onto her bed, shifting now so that she was sitting up a little against her headboard.

"What's wrong, Bri?" Maggie asked, her voice thick with sleep, eyes bleary, moving her blanket out of my way so I could scoot right up next to her. She draped her blanket over me and looked at my face, looking for the answers I knew she wanted. I just offered her a small smile and nuzzled my face against the soft skin of her shoulder, burying my nose in her neck. She smelled good, clean, like a mix between her body wash and the detergent she used to wash our sheets.

"We'll talk about it later, go back to sleep," I whispered, sliding my arms around her torso. She hummed in agreement and snuggled closer to me, her breathing finally slowing down and evening out. Before long, I found myself dozing off again as well.

The afternoon found us lounging around the apartment in our pajamas, drinking coffee and nibbling on junk food. I could tell that Maggie was worried about me, I caught the looks on her face when she thought I wasn't paying attention. Even though she knew I had things on my mind, she was giving me space to work it out on my own. She'd known me long enough to know I'd come to her when I was ready to talk, and for that, I was grateful. By three, Maggie decided to start grading papers. She was impossibly quiet, flipping through the huge stack on the table, going over the various assignments, humming every once in a while when she finds a mistake, marking through them and adding notes. Occasionally, she gets this look on her face and I know that look. It's her teacher face. That face of disappointment only teachers have when they know you know the material but you're too lazy to actually do it. She finishes a little later and walks over to the couch, beckoning me to sit next to her. Moments like these feel like there's more to our relationship than just us being best friends and roommates.

"Wanna talk about it now?" Maggie questions as I lower myself onto the couch, leaning against her heavily.

"I walked into the hotel room I was sharing with Nadia and found her in a very compromising position," I said, closing my eyes against the twinge of pain I felt at mentioning what happened. That was all I needed to say for her to understand exactly what I meant. Maggie grumbled something unintelligible and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, hugging me close to her petite frame.

"I'm sorry, honey. She wasn't right for you anyway. Not your type," she said matter of factly. That's just how Maggie was. She had no issue pointing out things that she thought were wrong. Other people were constantly taken aback by her straight forward personality, but this was so familiar to me, it didn't phase me.

"I know, Mags. But it doesn't make it hurt less," I said quietly, sighing. She just rubs my arm, nuzzling my shaggy hair with her nose. I hear her quiet sigh and lean into her more, relishing the comfort I find in her embrace.

"Spring break is coming up, what do you have planned?" Maggie asked me suddenly after several moments of tense silence.

"Nothing, why?"

"We should take a vacation. Hit the beach. Do something, get out of town for a while. What do you think?" she asked, leaning away from me to watch my expression.

"Sounds good to me, I suppose." Maggie just smiles and nods, leaning back into me, and we sit on the couch like that until that evening.