heyheyhey! aren't you proud of me actually managing to get a chapter in on time?

i just wanna dedicate this to Elle aka martingarrix because she's a fucking awesome writer and you should go read her story Garrix & Me!

also thanks for all the votes and comments I've been getting lately, you guys are incredible.

There were two things that made my shifts at Cielo better: one being Porter coming to visit me, and the other being Martins' critiques of the people in the club.

"See that girl over there?" He nudged his head in the direction of a blonde girl dancing around a tall black guy who was entirely uninterested in her.

I nodded, pulling out a bottle of whiskey for the man sitting at the bar.

"She's a pornstar. Bet you didn't know that."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "The real question is, how did YOU know that?"

Martin didn't even flinch as he continued polishing the glasses beside him, sticking them one by one into the cupboards below the sink. "I know a person when I see one."

I snickered softly, just out of his hearing distance. I had gotten to know Martin as the days wore on, and all about how he was trying to find a job in the music industry because of his love for music, especially dance and EDM. That was one thing we had in common, of course.

Today was a dreary, rainy Thursday, and I had plans with Porter to go get frozen yogurt after my shift ended. I watched the clock anxiously, every few minutes twisting my head around to see how fast time was going.

Too slow.

"If you look at that clock again, I'm gonna take it down and make sure you never get to see that guy again." Martin said from behind me, mixing a martini, the spoon clinking against the glass. "You definitely have a thing for him, don't you?"

My cheeks burned underneath the bright white lights on the ceiling of the bar, and I tried to grimace.

"What? No! You're crazy. I just don't like this job that much, is all."

He looked up from the martini for half a second, before turning back to it. "You'd make an awful actor. Better stick to bartending."

I searched my head for a subject change, and diverted my eyes away from the time. Martin was now standing near the counter, his eyes trained on a girl in front of the bar that was sipping a cocktail. He was laughing and gesturing with his hands, and she giggled flirtatiously, flipping her hair over her shoulder. I heard him say some cheesy pick up line, and then she tilted her cleavage toward him so that he got a whole eye-view of it, taking it all in. A plan formed in my mind, and I walked over to the two of them.

"You know whats funny? Your name is Martin, and you made a martin-i. Ha! Martini. Marteeney tiny. Marteeney tiny di-"

His hand was over my mouth in less than a second, his face burning as the girl burst into laughter from behind us, looking at Martin and me with a mixture of amusement and pity for him.

"That's it. Go meet your little boyfriend and leave me alone. I'll handle the rest."

I stifled a laugh, and reached for my bag on the table by the wall.

"Thanks, Martin. I owe you one."

He muttered something unintelligible, and moved back over to the sink.

When I got out onto the streets, it was just getting ready to pour down. I zipped up my green army jacket around me, and made my way down the street to the fro-yo store. The second I saw a head of brown hair, I paused and exhaled a sigh of happiness. He was sitting at a table, his head down as he looked at something at his phone. I pushed open the door that led inside and felt the rush of the cold air-conditoning against my skin, making goosebumps rise. The rain pattered against the window, creating a cozy atmosphere in the building. Walking over to Porter, I sat down my bag and pulled up a seat to sit next to him.

"Hey," I said, shaking out my hair as it began to frizz from the precipitation and humidity outside. I stood up and began to make my

way over to the stacks of lime green and candy pink cups, hungry for frozen goodness.

Porter appeared at my side, plucking a green cup from the collection and holding it underneath the Cookies 'N Cream label, pressing down as the creamy vanilla flowed into the cup. I held mine underneath a Mango Sorbet flavor and waited, until I felt a figure behind me.

Tess stood there, grasping her purse and looking at me with a mixture of sadness and uncomfortableness on her face. She shifted from one foot to the other, and I was just about to ask why she was here when Porter walked up from behind us, interrupting the silence.

"I invited her here because you two need to talk. You guys haven't spoken to each other in what, three weeks?"

He motioned toward a table on the other side of the room. "I'll be over there. Come get me when you two are done."

I mentally cursed myself for accepting Porter's invitation to come here. Damn it. I'd been set up by the two of them.

Tess didn't make a motion to get any frozen yogurt, so I took my cup of mixed mango sorbet and strawberry tart over to the toppings. She followed close behind, opening her mouth and searching for something to say to break the tense silence.

I grabbed the scoop and shoveled a pile of granola into my cup, just as her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice shrill. I looked around for Porter, and spotted him at the table on the other side, shoveling a scoop of food into his mouth. He looked over at me and motioned for me to talk to her. The frustration must have been evident on my face, because Tess let out a groan.

"I want you to talk to me! Look, I know how you feel about him. Its kind of obvious. Yeah, its kind of upsetting that you didn't tell me, but I get it. I've been in that place too."

She glanced at my deer-in-headlights expression, and continued.

"I know exactly why you won't talk to me. You're upset with me for dating Anton. You want Porter but you don't think he'll like you."

I narrowed my eyes and turned away from her. No, I wanted to say. I didn't want to talk to you because I knew if you knew you would be incredibly bitchy about it like you are now.

As if she were reading my thoughts, she said, "That was a bitchy thing for me to say. But you know what I mean, right? You deserve Porter way more than I deserve Anton."

I stared down into my cup of fro-yo, watching the colors melt and swirl together.

"I don't think so." I said for the first time in this entire conversation. "He doesn't like me. And I don't want to ruin our friendship."

She breathed out through her mouth and reached for a cup.

"You know what?" She said, pressing down on the dark chocolate button. "I understand completely. I'm not gonna interfere with the two of you. I'll let you handle things on your own."

In an act of sudden forgiveness, I pulled her to me and hugged me. I missed my best friend. Its hard enough to find someone who'll accept you and be there for you and I should be thankful for that. I could feel her surprise, but she relaxed and hugged me back.

After pouring chocolate chips into her cup, she grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me towards Porters' table. "We should probably go over here." She whispered quietly, pointing at him. "He looks a bit lonely." We both looked over at Porter and saw him quietly twisting his spoon around his cup, his head off in another world as he looked off into the distance. Me and Tess made eye contact before we both burst into laughter, the people at nearby tables beginning to stare at the two of us. She smiled and linked her arm through mine, leading me back to where he was.

_______________________________

After that day, me and Tess continued to hang out at each others' apartments, studying for finals while listening to endless old vinyls from the collection in my room. Porter came over sometimes and helped me study, occasionally bringing me Chinese food from his favorite place. I couldn't ever concentrate when he was here. His face and laughter distracted me from whatever test I had been studying for.

My nights working continued at Cielo, and Martin seemed to be in better moods, even scoring a date with the girl he had been talking to before I kindly embarrassed him.

One day me and Tess went over to Porter and Anton's and were sitting in their living room, lazy while watching some anime and eating a pizza. Anton had seemed kind of anxious to say something for the past few hours we had been here, and as soon as the show ended, he began talking.

"We wanted to ask you two a question," he said, closing the pizza box. We both looked over at the two guys after exchanging looks, awaiting what he had to ask.

"Us and a couple of our friends are heading up to the Hamptons for a Memorial Day weekend kind of thing and were wondering if you'd be interested. We're just staying in a rental house on the water. You've met Dillon and Hugo, right? They're coming as well."

We both nodded. I was genuinely excited but a little bit nervous too - the thought of seeing Porter shirtless made me all kinds of happy.

"We'd love to go." Tess said, smiling brightly.

"Great!" Anton said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before standing up. Porter was laying down beside me on the floor, his head almost underneath the coffee table. I nudged him, but he didn't acknowledge me. After bending down to see his head, I realized he was fast asleep.

"Guess someone else is a little excited for this too," I said, giggling.

Anton looked back at me before his face turned stoic. "Oh," he said glancing down at the floor. "There's another thing."

"What?" I asked curiously.

"You're sharing a room with Porter."

sorry this chapters a lil short i might update in the next few days!