His girlfriend

In the doorway stood the single most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

I'm not kidding.

The single thing I had time to register before my heart exploded into a million pieces was long, very blonde hair. Not shocking. Not shocking at all. Max had always had a bit of a thing for blondes. I knew that. Of course I knew that. Did I think there wouldn't be blondes at college? Of course there would be. I shouldn't have been surprised. I'm not. Not really. Not surprised at all to hear Max say --

"This is my girlfriend, Nessa."

That was it. I knew I would feel the tears stinging my eyes soon, after the shock wore off. I didn't know what this would do to me in the moment, and I was a little off-put to find myself worrying about that. Shouldn't I be crying right now? Or feeling raging jealousy? Instead I felt nothing but ice in my veins and a vague worry about whether or not I would be alright.

Then my heart exploded.

Thankfully I hadn't felt the tears welling up yet. First came the pain. The dreadful, searing pain of my worst fear coming true. Of COURSE Max would have a girlfriend. I had explained this very likely possibility to my own mother not six hours ago. She told me he wouldn't. She lied.

Then came registering the rest of her. Of "Nessa". She was, for lack of a better word, perfect.

Her hair continued into the most perfect set of facial features I've seen, with an adorable button nose contrasted perfectly with refined and sharp cheekbones, and jawline that could kill, and sky-blue eyes straight out of some over-saturated British show. Her chest blossomed into a pair of perfect breasts -- large, shapely, perky. She was wearing a button up blouse that struggled to contain them even with the mercy of several buttons from the top uncommitted. The second she walked in the room Max's eyes snapped to them. I saw it.

She had to be wearing a corset. Nobody has a waist like that naturally. I don't believe it. She took a step towards me, holding out a hand. "what fucking amazing tits" was my first thought. My second was "What a fucking amazing ass". It had the perfect sway and jiggle as she walked. Not so much that it was trashy, but enough that it caught your eye in a subtle way. I had tried to practice that exact walk. So many times. How did she -- why did she get to -- who is she?!?

"Uh, Les?" Max spoke up. Not sure how long I had been standing there. Oops.

"I-I'm Les." I said, tearing my eyes from her tits. I wound up getting pierced through the soul by those too-blue orbs instead. "L-leslie, I mean." I mumbled. How old was she? She wasn't my age. She wasn't Max's age. She was a Woman. With a capital W. In the way that I had been pretending to be. What did I think I was trying to pull here?

"Nessa." She said with a smile. She glanced down at my body. Not quickly. Slowly. Lifting her eyes from my leggings up to my chest, like she was taking the time to imprint every detail of me and my wardrobe choices in her mind. Her smile was frozen, and she finally met my eyes again with an unreadable expression. "It's a pleasure to meet you! Max has told me so much about you." She dropped my hand and looked back towards Max. When had she shaken my hand? I didn't even remember her grabbing it. Still, my hand felt like it was on fire where she had touched it. I clutched my hand and looked over at them, both lost in their eyes like lovesick birds.

Taking in Nessa's form from the back, I was overwhelmed with one primary emotion: embarrassment. I looked like a fool. I was a fool. Did I think that a little bit of growth and some tight clothes would be able to compete with a REAL woman? Did I REALLY believe that Max would come back and just run into my arms? Into the arms of his stupid, goofy, UGLY little friend? With a woman like THAT around? I slowly began to zip up my jacket, covering my chest. I felt exposed. ****. Suddenly the leggings didn't feel powerful, they felt revealing. The room felt cold. I folded my arms over my chest, struggling to cover myself. Could they see my nipples?

Oh. And yep. There they come. The tears.

They started to pour down my face, silently. Right up until my first sniffle.

That was what got Max's attention. "Holy shit Les, are you okay?" He asked, nearly jumping the distance between us.

"Y-yeah," I sniffled out, feeling my makeup run as I wiped my face. "Fuck, now my jacket's dirty" I thought, seeing makeup smeared on the sleeve. "I'm just so... so..." I struggled to think of a good reason to be crying.

"So happy to see him after so long?" Nessa's voice startled me. It was sweet, like honey.

"Yeah, t-that's it!" I said, doing my best to grin up at them. I don't think it worked.

"Oh, well that's okay then!" Max chirped. "Happy crying is the best kind of crying!". He paused for a moment, feeling the room go quiet except for my sniffles. Nessa was still just staring at me.

"Well, um... anyways, yeah, this is Nessa!" He said. "We met in college, um... obviously. Anyways, she's a senior, and we met while she was doing some TA work, and, well, now we're together! Almost six months now!"

I almost choked, struggling to catch my breath. "SIX FUCKING MONTHS???" Max and I had emailed back and forth a fair amount, but he had NEVER mentioned anything like this. And they'd been dating for SIX MONTHS?

"Haha, um, yeah..." Max trailed off, the quiet in the room settling in again. "I mean, I was going to tell you Les, honest, but then Nessa mentioned it would be such a fun surprise, and... um... yeah."

So it was her fucking fault. Of course it fucking was.

It was around this moment that I felt something inside me bend. The embarrassment was settling into shame, and I was on the quick road to giving up. Maybe crawl under a rock and die. Something like that.

Instead, as I watched Max mumble and Nessa stare, I felt that bend straighten, then solidify. I wasn't about to lose Max. Not to this, this... wench. I was going to fight for Max. I'd known him longer. I'd loved him longer. He just hadn't given me a chance yet. I straightened up, wiping the rest of my tears from my face. She wasn't so special anyways! Just another bimbo. Sure, she was hot stuff, I at least had a leg up on her in other areas! I smiled. I had always been the nerdy one. Let's see how interested Max is talking to someone who can't add two and two.

"So Nessa, what are you studying then?" I smiled sweetly at her. "Put up your guard, bitch. I'm coming for you."

Nessa smiled back, seemingly unaffected by my attack. "Biochemistry."

"Fuck." So what if she was smart too? That didn't mean she was athletic like me! I've got stamina to spare with all the years I've invested into soccer!

"What about hobbies, what do you do for fun?"

"Unfortunately I don't have much time for hobbies these days." Nessa said, her pouty lips making a pouty face on her stupid gorgeous face.

"Gotcha bitch."

"My commitments to the cheer squad and dance team keep me pretty busy."

"FUCK." Maybe she was boring?

"But I do still enjoy finding time to paint or compose some songs here or there when I have a spare moment."

"She's really good too!" Max chimed in. "Just the other week she sold a whole bunch of her paintings to a studio, and the rest to a private collector! He said she had that 'unique touch that's so rare these days'"

"fUcK".

There was a long pause, and Nessa turned towards the door. "Well Max, we should probably get going, right? We've got to get to your parents', and then I've got to unpack."

"You're staying at Max's?" I asked, sheer curiosity overcoming anything else in the moment. Max's parents were fussy at the best of times. They hardly let me come over, let alone stay the night. There's a reason all the sleepovers had been at my place. My mom was the cool mom, and Max's parents hated it.

"Yes, they've set up a guest bedroom for me. It's so very sweet of them!" She smiled, and for a moment I forgot how much I hated her. She really could light up a room.

"Yep Nessa, we should probably get going. Give me a sec to say goodbye to Les and I'll meet you out at the car!"

"Of course babe!" Nessa said. She took Max's face in her hand and kissed him quickly but briefly. Oh right, I DO hate her. With her heels clicking on the wood she strode out to the car, Max and I both watching her ass as she left. As the door closed, there was a good three second pause before we both snapped out of our trance.

"She's really something, huh Les?" Max said, grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah Max, she's really... what grade is she in again?"

"She's a senior! Crazy, right? I never would have thought a girl like that would give me the time of day, let alone ask me out!"

"What? She asked YOU out?"

"Yeah! She did the grading for the class, and there was a number stapled to my final test. I gave her a call, and she asked me out!"

"Isn't that... illegal or something?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, not at all!" Max said quickly. "I mean, it'd be pretty sleazy to ask out a student in your class, and even worse if you're doing the grading. I think there's a policy against that or something. But the class was totally over when we started dating. Everything's totally above-board. I asked my professor about it just to be sure."

"Ew, gross!" I squealed. "You asked some crusty old professor if it was alright for his cougar TA to snatch you up right after class was over?"

"Haha don't put it like that!" Max replied. "It, um... well yeah, I guess I kinda did. But it's not like that! She didn't snatch me up or anything."

I giggled, and Max followed suit. It felt good. To be with him again, I mean. It had been so long since we talked in person, and it felt just like it used to. I watched him laugh, glancing across his face, seeing those crinkles by his mouth again...

The room got quiet, and we spent what felt like ages just staring at each other.

Max finally broke the silence. "You... you look really good Les." He was visibly turning red, and his voice shook a little bit. I felt my heart pounding again. "Don't... don't think I haven't noticed." He wrung his hands in that way he does when he's not sure what words to use. I bit my lip, staring into his warm eyes as he spoke. "It's not just the braces. I can tell... all the other stuff too. Your hair looks great. And your clothes are..." He paused, staring at my abs. "...nice. Um. I just... want you to know. I know you felt pretty insecure a lot of high school, and --"

He stopped talking as soon as my finger was placed over his lips. They felt warm, soft. Why had I done this? What was I doing? He just stared at me, a questioning look on his face.

"Thanks." I whispered. "You have no idea what that means to me." I took a step closer, my face inches from his. I might have licked my lips. He was staring so HARD at me. "I just..." I froze. _"what am I supposed to say? What CAN I say?" _I felt something well up in me, past all the thinking. Honesty. "It's good to see you again. I've... I've really missed you."

The words hung there in the air, coloring the atmosphere of the room. I couldn't tell if the room was spinning or if my head was, and Max's eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger. Was I leaning? Towards him? Towards his lips?

The atmosphere broke as Max's phone buzzed. He broke away from my hand and glanced down at his phone's screen.

"Ah shit, I've gotta go Lez, my mom's asking where we're at." He looked back up at me, and then glanced towards the door. "Oh, and... um... take the time to get to know Nessa, would you?" He asked.

"I already know her type, she's a worthless man-stealing-bitch-whore". "What do you mean?" I asked out loud.

Max sighed. "Look, I've known you a long time, I can tell she's got you on edge. Just... give her some time, you know? To get to know her. Don't make a snap judgement right away. I know it's a lot to meet my girlfriend like this, but she means a lot to me." He advanced towards the door, and paused, pulling it closed behind him. "I think she'll mean a lot to you too. Promise? To give her a chance?"

I thought, probably longer than I should have. "Promise, Max."

"Thanks Lez. See you soon."

"See ya."

"Bye."

"Bye."

It wasn't until the door was closed and I heard the card driving away that the tears really started. __