Feeling Good

“Did we do it?” Adrian turned so fast to Max, he could snap his neck.

Max beamed at his bandmate. “I think so!”

He held up his palm up, which Adrian returned with a high five. They did! They wrote their first song for their band. Alright, Adrian and Max had to find a second guitarist, a drummer, and a vocal, but they shouldn’t trivialize their current achievements. The boys were grinning from ear to ear. This was it. They were one step closer to being a band.

“We should celebrate!” Max stood up from the booth of the boba bar.

“Here?” Adrian glanced over to the mixers and shakers for the milk tea. “There’s no alcohol to really celebrate. This is pretty big, Maxie.”

He let it slide just this once that he called him by the annoying nickname. “Let’s go to a real bar then. We’ll take Sally too!” Max whipped out his phone.

“You don’t have to. I already texted her.” Adrian slumped back into his seat.

“How long ago did you text her?”

Adrian looked down at his phone. “Ah, just an hour ago. She supposed to pick me up.”

“Ok, I’m just going to call her then.”

Max walked across the boba bar to sit in another booth. Adrian stood up to go to the bathroom. He sighed, waiting for Sally to pick up the phone. His chest felt heavy as soon as he heard the generic voice mail kindly ask him to leave a message. He frowned a bit, but his heart jumped out of his chest when Sally called him back.

“Sorry,” she welcomed him with a yawn. “I just woke up.” Max heard doors opening and closing in the background. Then, he heard her car starting. “You guys just finished your session right?”

“Yeah, we did.” His lips curled into a shy grin.

“YOU’RE AWESOME, MAX.” Her congratulations was so warm. Was it possible for hearts and sparkles to shoot out through his phone? “How did the writing process go?”

“For once, Adrian and I didn’t fight. We were focusing mostly on the lyrics and the song.”

“So how are you feeling?”

“Me? I’m feeling good!”

“Great! I’ll treat you and Adrian to a drink!”

“You don’t have to….”

“Come on, Max! It’s your first song that you’ve written for Medical Assistance! We have to celebrate, dude. So where are we going?”

“Honestly, I’m fine with anywhere as long as you’re there with me.”

His eyes dilated immediately. Crap. Why did he say that?

“That’s sweet, Max. I like spending time with you too even though you can be an annoying flirt.”

“Glad it’s mutual.” He felt a flutter in his stomach. Max grinned.

“Whoa.”

Both of his eyebrows rose. “What happened?”

“Nothing. I just — never mind. I made it to the parking lot of Kuya’s, so I’ll be there in a minute or two.”

“Great, see ya.”

Adrian returned to the booth they were sitting in earlier. Max walked over towards him.

“Sally’s here early.” He was looking through the glass window.

“Yeah, I called her.”

The guitarist in the booth looked him up and down analyzing him. Adrian gave him a cold stare and raised his eyebrow every once in a while. Max knew that look. Whenever they played basketball, he held a hard, calculating gaze. Adrian was usually one step ahead of his opponent on the court.

“Ah,” Max smiled, showing his teeth. “Sally’s our manager. It would be nice to celebrate with her.” Max looked down at the phone in his hands and shrugged. “Cuz you know, she’s our manager.”

Adrian nodded with a snicker. “Right, buddy.”

Knock knock. Max and Adrian turned to the glass door to see Sally, just as ecstatic as they were a few moments ago. If it was humanly possible, lavender and roses could grow out of her head. She was waving before Max went to the door to unlock it. Sally’s grin widened into an open smile as she jumped into his arms. Max’s heart began to race as his arms wrapped around her waist. Well, even though flowers didn’t grow out of her head, she definitely smelled like some. Matcha and roses tickled at his nose. He felt the chuckle shaking her body against his chest.

Adrian ripped Max by the shoulder, removing him from the hug. Sally turned up to the Adrian, jumping into his arms. He gave a smug grin to Max as he pulled her into a hug, her legs lifting in the air in that cute, romantic comedy kind of way.

“Congratulations, you guys!” she pulled away from her dear friend. “You guys have your first song!”

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” Max smiled down at him.

“Are you ready to party?” Adrian smiled at her. He looked up at Max as he took Sally’s hand in his.

“I am if you are,” Sally nodded.

Max sighed. Whatever. If he was going to hang out with Sally, it’s going to be fun.