Missed Out On So Much

It was a little over an hour after Afia and I talked that Keita and Alina finally returned back home. Cerberus barked excitedly and leapt off my bed, continuing to yell as he barrelled up the stairs. Alina's voice squeaks with laughter once Cerberus finally reaches them, followed by a loud bang, most likely from Cerberus jumping up and pushing her against the wall. The laughter continues upstairs with only a moment of concern originating from my mom, asking if Alina is okay.

I lay in my bed, waiting for Alina to finish up all of her greetings and come down to hangout with me. I still hate myself for not thinking of going with them sooner, that would've been my chance to meet Daniel and see if he really is good enough for her. I'm sure that if I ask Keita about him then he'll be willing to tell me, but if he makes me beg then I'm not doing it. I'd rather live in darkness than ask Keita about what's up with that dude.

The chatter quiets down and the sound of footsteps making their way over to my room grows louder. Cerberus is the first to enter my room, followed by Alina. She has a sad smile on her face, her eyebrows bending in remorse. Cerberus leaps up onto my bed again, smothering me with affection as I attempt to fight him off, flailing my face around like an idiot.

She giggles softly, still standing in the threshold of my room, wrapping herself up in her arms. Her nose is pink, most likely from the cold. Frankly I'm surprised that Ketia didn't drop her off at the door first then go to park the car. Sure he's an asshole and an idiot, but I know for a fact that he wouldn't let Alina freeze in this horrific winter. He might've parked close and didn't see a point with dropping her off, or he may have had a terrible experience when meeting Daniel and was in such a bad mood that he couldn't even think about dropping Alina off first.

"Everything okay?" I ask her as I struggle with keeping Cerberus' face away from mine. She smiles softly, slowly making her way over to my bed as she sits in the corner of it. She continues to remain silent as she gazes at me solemnly, clearly doing her best to hold in her laughter as Cerberus nearly winds me.

"Yeah," She finally says as I've managed to successfully push Cerberus off of me. He's directed more of his energy towards her now, except unlike me she's actually able to control him. She pushes on his big head and he lays down, resting his entire body across her lap. He lets out a tired breath and promptly closes his eyes to rest.

"Oh sure, so he just smothers me then calmly falls back to sleep, fucking asshole," I mumble, gesturing angirly at the resting Pitbull. She smiles and laughs softly to herself, scratching the back of his ears. The room is in a painful silence that I really want to be filled. Normally I find comfort in the silence, but with this atmosphere and what happened recently, I'd rather actually talk instead of just sitting in silence. "How was everything? Did Keita beat up Daniel?"

"Everything went amazingly," She speaks kindly then reaches into her pocket, pulling out an M&M cookie for me. "I grabbed another one for you before leaving."

"Um thanks," I respond awkwardly, taking the small paper bag holding the decently large cookie. It's still warm somehow, and it smells absolutely delicious. "So they didn't fight or anything?"

"Nope," Keita's voice responds and both Alina and I turn to see him leaning on my doorframe. I really should've asked her to lock it behind her. "In fact he's actually a pretty cool dude. I definitely approve of him."

"Wait really?" I ask, my voice somehow portraying my astonishment perfectly.

He smiles and nods, arms crossed across his chest, "Yup and him and I will be training together once in a while. Though I'm still stronger than him, faster, and have a far better stamina than him. But it'll be a good confidence boost."

"He's smarter and more hard working than you," Alina fires back, shooting him a competition smirk. "He's also far nicer and doesn't have a fuck boy style."

"How do you know?" Keita asks, raising an eyebrow at her. "From what I know, you've only seen him in his work uniform, how do you know he's not a fuck boy outside of school?"

"Because I've seen pictures of him on Instagram," She retorts confidently, her smile bright and joyful. I guess that they really did have an amazing time together, without me.

He takes a moment to think, almost like he already has an idea but is unsure as to if he should say it or not. "How do you know that he doesn't just change for the pictures, huh?" He asks and both Alina and I break into hysterical laughter. "Have you ever thought of that?"

"Why the hell would he change just for a picture?" Alina asks through her laughter, tears of joy forming on her eyes.

Keita shrugs, his upbeat smile matching hers, "You never know."

"Whatever, man," She laughs, waving her hand in front of her to dismiss Keita and his joking assumptions.

I continue to sit there, silent and confused as they resume with joking about how Daniel may secretly be a fuck boy that tries extremely hard to keep up with his more innocent and caring identity. I guess that I really should've gone with them, not only did I miss out on seeing what Daniel is like but it seems that I have missed out on memories and inside jokes as well. How am I so fucking stupid? Why did I have to get all emotional and shit? I can't believe myself, and I even acted out on Alina's birthday too. She doesn't deserve this kind of shit on her birthday, she deserves the world.

"You doing okay?" Alina asks again, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. Before I even knew it, it seems that Keita and Alina finished their conversation and he's already left, somehow I never even noticed.

I force out a smile and nod upbeatedly, if I fake it long enough then I'll eventually get over missing out and be actually happy. "Yeah, tell me about how it went."

She silently stares at me for a moment, a sad smile still present on her face, but as I go to ask her what's wrong she finally speaks up. "It was so much fun! Though I couldn't stop wishing that you were there with us."

She did? She was hanging out with her crush and my brother and all she could think about was me? That honestly makes me feel kind of good, she does care about me. I need to make today up to her. I owe it to her. "Want to stay the night?" The words leave my mouth before I even finish thinking them through. She looks at me with a stunned expression and I continue, "Let's go on a little adventure tonight."

She smiles softly, but still mainly surprised, "You want to go on an adventure tonight? You. At night. In the cold."

I did not think this through, but I can't take it back now. "Yes, let's have dinner and eat some cake together then sneak out tonight and go have some fun."

"Have you ever snuck out before?" She asks, this time more confident and excited.

"Nope," I shake my head nervously, doing a terrible job with my forced confidence. "But we can at least give it a try."

"Alright," She giggles, shrugging joyfully. She places a hand on my shoulder and smiles at me solemnly, "Let's do it."