As good as one could hope

I see her sitting in the distance, as I approach I cant help but feel nervous. A million thoughts race through my head, a million ways this could go wrong. I find myself praying to gods I don't believe in hoping that this ends well.

I get to her and realise I don't know what I'm going to say.

"So... Is this seat taken?" I ask as I sit beside her.

"There's always room for you" she responds.

Her smile lowers my guard, although I cant help but think how difficult it's been to talk recently.

"I missed you Maisikins" I say with a gentle smile

"Hey! Someone might hear you!" She says, slapping my arm pretending to be angry but the smile never leaves her face.

"I hope not" I say, "I was hoping this conversation would be private"

The words land heavier than intended, bringing us back to reality.

There's a pause. Wanting the conversation to continue I say the first thing that pops into my mind.

"This beach house you guys found is awesome and the location is amazing"

She gives one of her distinct looks, the one she gives where she's about to reveal some info she's probably not meant to "Don't tell anyone but it's actually Ari's families holiday home, and she's letting us stay here free."

"That's so cool!" I say enthusiastically "Why doesn't she want people to know?"

"Her family isn't just rich, they're Richie Rich rich" emphasising the point with her eyes

She pauses "She doesn't want to be liked for her money, or rather her family's money" she says in a more serious tone.

"Oh wow, my lips are sealed. I wonder if Todd would change his tune if he knew."

"Ehh" Maisie responds "Doesn't really matter, she just sees at what's happening this week as a bit of spring break fun."

"At least Tessa and Mark are going well" I say, trying to shift the conversation to something positive.

"Yeah" She says with a wide smile on her face, "They seem like they're made for each other."

"What about Jayda and Clemson?" I ask curiously.

She pauses, scanning my face and asks "Clemson... Do you mean Mike?" she asks almost breaking into laughter.

"Wait... his names Mike? I thought he said Clemson"

She bursts into laughter "He goes to Clemson his names Mike!"

"Oh man." I facepalm "I called him that to his face."

She's still laughing "Don't worry about it, he's pretty chill. Maybe he likes it as a nickname"

"Yeah... Maybe" I say highly doubting her statement.

There was a pause, the next couple to ask about is obvious and I could tell she wasn't going to start talking unprompted.

"So... what about you and Brad?" knowing I'm partially responsible for it ending.

"It sucks" she says, forcing the words out "I'm so into him, and he doesn't care" she says on the verge of tears. I hate that I know exactly how this feels but I also know, this is her moment, not mine.

I put my arm around her and gently stroke her back. She rests her head on my shoulder and looks out into the ocean reflecting the moon and continues, with her voice breaking "I gave myself to him. Yesterday and the day before and..." She drags her sleeve across her eyes and keeps going "and today he's with someone else"

"Sorry" I say in a whisper after a couple of minutes of just sitting there with her. "I know it sucks now, but I promise, Maisie, it gets better and you'll get over it".

"I should have seen it coming" she says quickly coming to terms with what Brads done, neither of us realising the curse triggering on my accidental command.

She smiles at me, realising the similar pain I have gone through, "Sorry" after a short pause she continues "I didn't realise how rough it is, being into someone who doesn't see you that way"

"It sucks" I respond, parroting what she said earlier while pulling her in closer.

As she looks me in the eye I hesitate, then **** myself to keep going,

"I thought" I pause again, it felt like an admission of guilt "I thought If i used the curse to give you the athleticism, dancing skills, and fixed all your beautiful imperfections you hate for some reason, then maybe, you'd see me more then just a friend, you'd see me as something more"

There's an uneasy silence, neither of us know what to say, while it was common for me, it was rare for Maisie to be found in this position.

I turn to her and with a genuine offer, "It's kind of funny, the whole time I was changing you, I was wishing I could change myself to be whatever you wanted, taller, blue eyes, more athletic. Instead I could only change you to become what he wanted." I paused again "I could give it back to you, you could probably have him then." I paused for a moment and continued with "I get why you like him, he's stupidly handsome, tries to make every situation fun, hell he's so charismatic within a couple sentences he got Alina interested in me."

"Wow wow wow" Maisie interrupted "Firstly, as tempting as it is, don't change me. I don't think he ever truly liked me, even with the changes. It was all physical for him. More importantly, that wasn't Brad, that was me. I was kinda hoping to try and set you up as an apology and to maybe help you stop thinking of me that way. "

I couldn't help but smile like an idiot "You tried to help me with Alina? How'd you know I'd be into her"

"Please" she quickly responded "I've known you forever, of course you'd be interested in the cute rancher girl. Cute smile, flannel shirt and jeans, I knew if you went for anyone it'd be her, plus I got to talking to her and she's lovely so I put some work in for you. Im glad you went for it"

"So am I. And truth be told, I have stopped thinking of you in that way... like I still love you, but just not in that way. Remember last night when I called you from Todd's phone?" I asked, now realising how long this day had been.

"How can I forget" she responded, "I dreaded falling asleep"

"Sorry about that, that was petty... but that night when I called I came to the realisation that you were using me and I was letting you use me, the relationship had stop being give and take and was rather, just give. Hell we used to talk daily, and I couldn't remember the last time we had a conversation without you asking for something."

"I'm sorry for using you for the curse" she paused "At first, it was just a small help but then, I just got so popular overnight and I guess I figured you'd always be there" She paused again, realising she's walking a tightrope "I can't say I'm not happy you're over me but like... you can just change me to be as you want... it's scary."

"I love you for who you are, I couldn't do that... you're just going to have to trust me on that."

I hold her close, my arm around her, her head on my shoulder looking over the water enjoying the ambient sound of waves crashing. After a few minutes of sitting there taking it all in I say "I'm so glad, we had this talk"

Maisie chuckles "Oh please, I didn't have much of a choice, Jayda got drunk quicker than I did and told Mike and his friends about the plan to get me drunk to speak to you" she said matter of factly.

"Ohh yeah" I say, genuinely having forgotten the plan Jayda and Ari came up with "thanks for drinking then"

"I didn't drink" she responded "I wanted this too, sorry for running for so long"

"Nothing to apologise for" I respond quickly as my phone buzzes. I pull it out to see a text from Alina.

I chuckle, "Alina's asking how this went" I tell Maisie.

"What are you going to tell her"

"As good as I could have hope"

"I think so too"

I respond and my phone buzzes almost immediately I look down to see

Come find me then ;)

I turn my phone to show Maisie