011. ━━━ ❛ SO WINNING ❜
real life. . .

          "LET'S GO ON THE balcony. i want to smoke first."

malikai smirks at maisie's words, nodding his head as he quietly shuts her bedroom door behind him. his eyes scan over her body once she turns her back to him to turn in the direction of the balcony, giving him an opportunity to get his first real look at the outfit she must have changed into when she got home from the club.

he only grows more pleased at the juicy sprawled across the back of her sweatpants, finding her taste for juicy couture appealing. she's also wearing a tank top that's a little extra short, and has malikai feeling very glad he bumped into her tonight.

he only just got here and maisie is quick to get to the point. that's something he's always liked about her.

he presses his lips together as he follows her out onto the balcony, watching as she heads to the railing with a familiar box in her hands. knowing her, she'll have everything ready to go in five minutes. he's been in this position before, so he feels comfortable as he walks over to the couch and takes a seat.

another thing he's always liked about her, is that she's so untouchable. word around town is that hardly any guys are able to score a night with her, so he knows he's lucky to have spent so many with her. that's why it hadn't really came across as a surprise to him when she ghosted; it's nothing she hasn't done before. the two have been sneaking around since maisie was in boarding school and he was in public school, so yeah, he's pretty used to periods of them losing contact.

they always seem to come back to each other though, and he likes that the most.

as his eyes slide over her figure leant across the railing to watch her get whatever she's choosing to smoke tonight ready, he wonders what she was doing in the type of club they ran into each other in. it's on the side of town he knows her parents aren't fond of, and he's never known maisie to venture out that far anyway, but she was there tonight—when the national saints were playing.

he knows of maisie's ongoing rivalry with the guitar player matt, and while it's always made his jaw tick because he can see right past it, it's never seemed to be something to worry about until now. he can't help but wonder if their performance has to do with her sudden attendance at the place.

he stands up from the seat he had taken on the couch and lets out a breath as he takes another glance at maisie. he can't tell what she's thinking about.

the corner of maisie's lips turn upwards from where she stands at the edge of the balcony. the joint she wants to smoke is one she rolled beforehand, so her plans are not the current hold up. the fixation her eyes have on the house across from hers is what has her mind elsewhere. she's zoned in on matt's window because unfortunately, it is the first place her vision jumped to, but she's starting to find the boys presence predictable. before when she'd spot him it'd feel like a nuance, but now such a sight affects the pace of her breathing. she should feel like a stalker with all the staring she's been doing recently, but he's always been around—she just wasn't looking until now.

he has a shirt on this time—much to maisie's dismay, so she guesses that he was quick to change after arriving home from their show. she figures he'd be tired, but no, he appears to be doing the same thing as her to wind down. there's a joint between his fingers and maisie's starting to think she should begin counting how many that she catches him smoking with how reoccurring this is becoming. she's no one to judge though, so she only presses her lips together as she watches him bring the substance to his lips. his window is open as per usual, but from what she can make out, this time she sees him sitting inside his room on a couch next to the window.

that brings her a wave of comfort, allowing herself to believe that means her staring isn't so obvious. she lets out a light sigh as she pulls her eyes from his window and to the box sitting on the top of the balcony railing instead. she first reaches inside for the prerolled joint and then grabs the lighter with her other free hand. she focuses as she lights the joint and feels satisfied at the smell of the smoke hitting her nostrils.

exhaling a breath, she sets the lighter back inside and closes the box. she has every intent to pick it up and return it to where she got it from, but she freezes once she feels a body approach her from behind. she lets go of her hold on the box and raises the lit joint to her mouth as malikai moves her hair back to give him easy access to her neck. she recognizes the feeling of his hands on her hips and can't help but melt against him, finding the reassuring familiarity of his touch all too relieving at the moment. "i haven't even had my first hit yet," she teases.

she feels him subtly shake his head. "you were taking too long," he murmurs before lowering his mouth to her neck. when his lips meet her skin, the sensation is something she's not sure if she's missed or not. she holds the joint to her lips and inhales her first puff of smoke, closing her eyes for only a view seconds.

when she opens them again, it's like they have a mind of their own. it's either that or her brain feels another pair of eyes on her, because her vision is instantly focused on one place only. she likes how the tables have suddenly turned as she quickly becomes the one catching matt doing the staring. he's noticeably moved closer to the window now, and his eyes are squinted as if he can't quite believe he's seeing correctly from so far away.

the thought only makes maisie laugh, and after he made her look like such a fool earlier tonight, she has no hesitation in raising her hand to wave at him. the grin on her face is smug as she waves her fingers to make sure he knows he is not dreaming, and the way his face drops is pure gold in her eyes. she watches his lips form a thin line and his face back up. maisie doesn't have perfect vision from such a distance away, but he appears to be seething to her, and it only makes her grin widen.

she's so winning.

having seen everything she needed to see, she pulls away from malikai and spins around to face him. just as he furrows his eyebrows at her, she diminishes his curiosity by grabbing onto his hand and turning towards the balcony doors. he raises his eyebrows as they enter her bedroom, noticing the joint still in her other hand. "smoking inside?" he teases as she drops his hand, watching her roll her eyes as she stands at the end of her bed. he takes it upon himself to step in front of her, making her raise her eyebrows at him entering her personal space before he then slides past her to sit on the edge of her bed. she narrows her eyes, turning to face him more directly. he only grins. "rebellious."

she shakes her head, turning around so that her back is to him. "shut up," she mutters, her hands reaching for the ends of her tank top as malikai cheekily grins at getting to watch her do so. she begins struggling though, because she still has a joint in her hands.

malikai lowly chuckles and speaks up, "let me help you, mais." her movements halt and he hears her let out a sigh before slowly spinning around to be face-to-face with him. he continues to grin despite her frustration, and reaches to grab the joint in her hand. she allows him to take it, only for him to end up raising it to her lips. "here," he says, and maisie rests the substance between her lips.

then, when he lifts her tank top, she tries really hard not to think of matt and all his stupid tattoos when she looks into his eyes.

maisie wakes up to a redundant pounding in her head, immediately causing her to squeeze her eyes shut after attempting to open them and being met with far too bright of sunlight. she's unsure of what interrupted her slumber until something—or, someone—speaks up loud enough to outshine the ringing in her ears.

"maisie, maisie!"

hushed whispers have her slowly peeling her eyes open. she has to rub them with her hand, but she manages to open them fully and process sunny standing in an unfamiliar doorway. maisie blinks repeatedly, glancing around what's all currently in her line of vision. sunny appears relieved at the sight of her not falling back asleep. "listen, if you don't want your parents to kill you," sunny talking again has maisie's eyes immediately snapping back to her, "we need to leave like, now."

maisie just manages a nod of her head, having not at all comprehended anything that's happened yet.

sunny nods as well. "okay..." she trails off, glancing to the side of maisie before letting out a breath and backing away from the doorway. "i'll give you a bit." she then disappears behind the door.

maisie then lets out a large sigh when she thinks she's left alone, she decides to force herself to face her obvious hangover straight on and just get up. it's when she attempts to sit up and she's not physically able to, that her stomach drops. oh no.

she quickly realizes that she is being kept in place by a firm arm wrapped around her torso. she gulps, suddenly feeling the warmth of his skin on hers due to his arm being underneath her shirt rather than on top of it. she can also feel his legs all tangled with hers, and just as gears begin to turn in her head working to unravel all of last night's events, her eyes snap to the guitar in the corner of the room. she's sure her face turns white as she automatically recognizes the red guitar practically screaming to be noticed on the stand in the corner. oh no, no, no.

she closes her eyes shut for a mere second and sends a quick prayer to god. after opening her eyes, she uses her hand to first raise the comforter and then her shirt as well. once she recognizes the tattoos on the arm with such a tight grip on her, she immediately sighs and defeatedly lets go of the comforter. are you kidding? she thinks.

she refrains from groaning as she refuses to turn and take a glance at matt next to her, instead beginning to pull herself apart from him. his grip on her does not loosen, so she frowns and puts in more effort to get away from him. with some form of a grunt coming from him in his sleep, she eventually gets out of his hold, despite nearly tripping due to their still slightly entangled feet.

she feels satisfied once she has her feet on the ground, resting her hands on her hips as she glances over matt fast asleep on his bed. her frown remains persistent, not remembering how exactly she got in this position. after staring for maybe a bit too long, she turns around with a sigh.

she's not wearing what she had gone into last night wearing, but it's very clearly thrown on the floor. maisie presses her lips together as she shamefully walks over to where it lays to pick the clothing up. she guesses she'll just keep the outfit she's wearing which must be matt's, because there's no way she's walking out in last night's clothing. she does need to find her shoes though.

she huffs as she searches around the room, struggling for a full minute to find them until she decides to check underneath the bed. she figures they must have slid under there, and sighs of relief as she reaches for them. it's as she's on the ground though, that her eyes widen.

she quickly stands up with both her shoes and her clothes, her frown now turning into a scowl as she's just realized she isn't wearing a bra. just incase, she feels around her waist, and refrains from feeling relieved at feeling underwear underneath her sweatpants. she kind of wants to cry in frustration though, because her bra isn't anywhere she can easily spot.

due to her panic-filled trance, she doesn't notice the comforter moving because of matt readjusting. he catches her by surprise, his voice clearly affected by the morning sunshine outside when he speaks up extra raspily, "looking for something, mason?"

maisie instantly turns around, spinning to face the nonchalant boy who reaches behind one of the pillows maisie was previously rested on to pull out her bra. she feels her cheeks burn red, instantly feeling the urge to clear her throat as matt's gaze stays on her. she can tell he's deeply amused, but he only has the effort for an upturn in the corner of his lips since he just woke up. "yes, actually," she forces out after an embarrassing few seconds in which she can practically feel the smugness radiating off of him. she walks over to the side of his bed and purses her lips as she yanks it a little aggressively out of his hands. he raises his eyebrows at the aggression and she can sense what he's thinking, so she attempts to silence him in advance, "not a word."

matt raises his head up more just so he can tilt it at her. "oh, you didn't want to give me another kiss before you go?" he asks sarcastically, amusement swirling in his eyes as maisie's lips form a thin line.

she doesn't entertain him with giving an actual response, and steps away with anger bubbling in her veins. "i'm going now."

maisie blinks repeatedly as she wakes up, the sunlight from her balcony door casting rays of light across the room. she furrows her eyebrows as she looks around, beginning to process the dream she's woken up from.

she's unsure why she has matt on her mind after waking up from a night with malikai. she glances around her empty room just to be sure the boy didn't stay over for some reason, but boys know better than to stay over here. she would never risk having her parents pissed at her just for some guy she doesn't actually care about.

she sighs heavily as she sits up in her bed, rubbing at her eyes and refusing to come to terms with the fact that she's seriously dreaming of matt.

she can't help but wonder though, if all of the girls he sees too have to untangle themselves out of his hold in the mornings.

💌

kind of crazy

<3
jaden