Stay with Miranda

Walking up to the busty blonde, Mark felt like he was doing the right thing. Despite their complicated relationship, Mark still did care for her and he didn’t want her to feel alone or on the outs.

“This is not the Miranda I know,” he said, taking a seat next to her.

“What on earth are you on about?”

He sighed before explaining, “The Miranda I knew wouldn’t be caught dead as a designated driver, it wouldn’t matter if she barely knew anyone, she’d drink and become the life of the party, probably finding the hottest guy here…”

“Nope, no, no,” she cut him off, hearing that.

Mark looked at her, knowing she was quite upset. She never was able to do a good job of hiding it.

“This is about Jackson isn’t it?”

She was shaking her head in disappointment, “Jackson… Bryce… it doesn’t matter… boys… can’t fucking rely on them.”

He wasn’t exactly the greatest person to be speaking up for the male gender at campus considering his actions earlier in the year. So Mark attempted to get her mind off that completely.

“Forget I said anything about boys then,” Mark said, shaking his hand, “Ali’s here, there’s plenty of other people here that I’m sure would like to get to know that fun side of you, you don’t have to end up in bed with anyone.”

“The ‘guys who want to know the fun side of me’,” she said using her hands for quotation marks, “are actually only interested in two things.”

She was now grabbing both her breasts. Miranda made a good point, she had always been known as the girl with the best rack on campus. Mark could say the same about himself and every single guy he knew, as soon as they met her, they had one thought on their minds, her tits.

“I thought you relished the fact that everyone says you have the best tits on campus?” Mark asked her.

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah it’s nice at times and makes me feel proud about by body but when people make it out to be your entire personality, it gets old quickly, I mean, if someone asked you to describe Miranda in no more than one or two words, what would you say.

Mark paused for a moment, knowing exactly what she was getting at.

“Don’t lie to me, what would you say?” she kept going.

He sighed, “I guess I would say something about your boobs.”

“Exactly. Hear that sometimes, it’s nice… hear that all the time and it’s like you think that nobody cares about who I am, inside.”

She was being brutally honest with Mark and the way she spoke, it made him feel guilty. It wasn’t any attempt to single him out, the junior was making it clear that it was everyone who thought the same way as Mark on this.

“You can’t think like that Miranda, people do care about who you really are, I know it.”

“You could just be saying that to try and cheer me up…”

“I’m not… I mean, look, i’m probably not the best person to be talking here but you’re a lot more just your body, I’ve seen how fun are you, I’ve seen your charm. I know others see that too.”

She had a tear in her eye, as if they were about to start watering right in front of him.

“I’ve seen all sides of you and without a doubt, when you’re carefree and happy, that’s you at your best Miranda.”

He made her smile.

Miranda wiped away a few tears from her eyes as she composed herself before speaking, “Maybe I was wrong to be so hypocritical, just because someone makes a mistake, doesn’t make them a bad person.”

Assuming she was speaking about Jackson, Mark nodded along with her, “Yeah, I’m not trying to defend my cousin but you’re right, he’s not a bad…”

She cut him off, “I was speaking about you.”

Mark looked at her in surprise but a happy one of that, he smiled back.

“I held you accountable for what happened to Tiffany for a long, long time, I kept thinking you were just like the rest of them but you’re one of the sweetest guys I’ve met here…”

He didn’t know what to say, Mark had gotten through to her and that pleased him tremendously. Not sure what to say, he just leaned in and hugged her tightly. She returned the embrace, resting her head on his shoulder as she gripped his body.

It meant something to Miranda for Mark to come over here and speak to her like this. Knowing that, meant more to him than what 20 minutes of sweaty sex with a random 18 year old that he would never see again would.

“Uhh Mark, I think someone’s looking for you,” Miranda then whispered to him.

They let go of the hug and Mark looked over his shoulder to see Daniel in the distance.

Daniel was clearly trying to gesture to him to come over. He just smiled at first, making him sweat a little more, Mark knew what he wanted.

Eventually he caved in and got up from his seat. Before he turned away, he looked down at Miranda, “Stay the night.”

She didn’t say anything, she just listened.

“I’m honestly not trying to play you, just have a drink, enjoy yourself, some non-sexual fun and then you and Ali can leave sober in the morning.”

She let out a little smirk, “We’ll see.”

Mark smiled before walking over to Daniel, noticing an immediate change from earlier.

“Did you change pants?” Mark asked, wondering why Daniel was now in blue jeans.

He looked embarrassed but still very excited to tell him something