Chapter VII

MIKE was my constant.

My life revolved around him. He was the only person who truly knew me. Maybe that's the reason why I was totally shattered when he died. My life was a mess when I lost because I depended on him too much. I felt like I stopped living. Why not? All of my plans included him. I could never imagine a future without Mike.

We were childhood friends. We both came from a family of powerful businessmen that's why we often see each other on social functions. We also attended the same school and became friends because we could totally relate to each other. We shared almost the same struggles. We both have parents who valued money and power more than their own children. We both family who saw us as heirs and set a lot of high expectations for us to meet.

"It's unfair. Why can't we choose a family?" I asked him one time. We were in the rooftop of our school that afternoon. It was our favorite spot to chill before going home.

"I feel you." He chuckled. "But life just works like that. It's unfair to all of us... and I guess that makes it fair, right?"

I laughed softly and nodded.

"Sometimes I feel bad for complaining. But some people think we're lucky because we're rich. I mean, yeah, I guess we should be thankful that we're living a comfortable life compared to others. But..."

"But we also have our own struggles," he finished. "Just because we're rich doesn't mean we're happy. There's no exception when it comes to struggles in life."

"I'm glad that we have each other. My life's a bit easier because I have you," I honestly said.

"Me too." He smiled back as the setting sun reflected on his face. He looked breath taking and I felt a sudden urge to kiss him.

That was the first time that I admitted to myself that I was attracted to him. I've been so confused for quite a while because I wasn't sure about my feelings for him. One thing's for sure, he was never justba friend to me. He has always been more than that eversince.

But I tried to keep my feelings to myself. I was too afraid to let him be aware of it. I didn't want to risk our friendship because there's no assurance that he felt the same way for me. It was better to hide my feelings than to make things complicated for us.

"Trent..." he whispered my name and gave me an intense stare.

"Mike..."

My heart was pounding so hard as I saw his face merely an inch away from me. What was happening? Fuck.

Before I could think or say anything, he already claimed my lips. It was sweet... it was heaven. I've never felt something like that in my entire life. He was my first kiss... I was also his. It was so innocent and really cute. It didn't even last that long. But the moment our lips parted, we both smiled as if that was enough to explain what just happened.

***

"HEY, you're spacing out." I went out of my reverie when I heard Mariela talking to me. I didn't realize that my mind just went off somewhere else as I stared at Marco who was in the dance floor.

"Oh, sorry."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

I didn't like what I was feeling when I saw him dancing with a hot chick he just met tonight. The girl was obviously flirting with him and he looked more than glad to cooperate. I tried to shrug off the jealousy I was feeling by drinking another shot of a hard drink.

Why would I get jealous? We're not in a relationship. In fact, I didn't like him. I might be sexually attracted to him but I didn't like him in a romantic kind of way.

"Hey, Trent. Where are you going?" Mariela asked when I stood up.

"I'm going to dance."

"Really?" She looked too shocked.

"Yeah, of course. We're in a club."

I didn't wait for her response and quickly went to the dance floor. I made sure to keep a safe distance from Marco and the girl he was with. But I could see them from where I was standing. The girl was apparently hot in a red dress which flaunted her ass and perfect curves. She looked like one of those girls you see on men's magazine. So, yeah, it was no wonder that Marco enjoyed flirting with her. Who cares, though?

I shouldn't bother thinking about him. I should have fun. So I closed my eyes to feel the beat of the song even more and started dancing. My head was spinning a little bit eventhough I only had one shot of hard drink. Fuck it, my alcohol tolerance has never been reliable. But I couldn't care less. The longer I danced, the more I felt lost in the music. It felt so good and liberating. It's like nothing else matteres, like everything was perfect.

"Hooo!" I screamed as I started to jump.

I suddenly felt an arm on my hips. I opened my eyes to see who it was and I saw Kurt giving me a really sexy smirk.

"Having fun, eh?"

"Hi."

"So you do know how to party, afterall."

"Of course. I'm not that boring, you know?" I chuckled.

"I never thought you're boring."

"Really, huh?"

I realized that we were so close to each other. In fact, we're whispering while dancing. I've never been that intimate to any guy except for Mike. What I was doing felt like cheating... but he's gone. And I wanted to feel better. I wanted to have fun and numb the pain. So I discarded the guilt that assaulted me and continued dancing with Kurt.

I suddenly bumped into someone and when I turned to that person, I was welcomed by the sight of Marco wearing a really dark expression. The hot chick he was with was no longer there. He was no longer dancing. He was merely looking at me and Kurt.

"Man, where's that chick?" Kurt asked in a casual tone. "Did you get her number? Damn, she's hot."

Are they seriously going to talk about a girl in front of me?

"Trent," he called my name instead of answering Kurt's question.

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk."

"Huh?"

"I said, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Just come with me. Let's talk somewhere else."

"Can't we talk later? I'm partying."

The truth was, I was too afraid to be alone with him again. God knows what could happen because I wouldn't be able to control myself if I'm with him.

"No. We need to talk now," he insisted.

"What's wrong, man? You look so pissed-off," Kurt wondered but he didn't bother to respond. His full attention was on me.

I sighed in defeat.

"Fine, let's talk."