I stare at Minho curiously; he’d shown up with Noah and Alfie after practice today. “So how are things?” Minho asks sitting across from me at the kitchen table.

“Fine, been sleeping a lot,” I answer slowly. “What exactly do you want?” I ask him still confused by his presence.

“I’m going out with a couple of old friends, I’ve mentioned you a few of times.” Minho starts slowly; Alfie and Noah watch on carefully, they’re in on it. “I’m meeting them for a dinner at my friend Miyoung’s place.”

“He wants the three of us to go to the dinner with him.” Alfie says with a huge grin on his face. “It could be a lot of fun getting to meet new people.”

“I’d rather sleep.” I say bluntly as my eyes remained focused on Minho, he doesn’t seem too discouraged by this. “Why should I go to some dinner?”

“Because you’d be meeting new people, getting out of the apartment, and if you don’t go we’ll throw a huge party here.” Noah says taking a seat next to Minho, he smirks at me deviously. “Come on, it’s one of our only nights off. While Jay is off doing some show, we four can have some fun.” He says motioning to the four of us, like we have some sort of alliance or are some kind of thing.

“Maude, it’s only a couple of hours, and if you really hate it, you can leave.” Alfie reasons calmly. “Noah and I’ll be there, Minho can delegate for us and bam, new friends.”

I groan getting up; if the three of them are plotting it’ll be easier just to go along with their plan. I mean what harm could it be? I mean besides the fact I feel that they are particularly scheme-y, something seems like I should catch it, but I suppose it might be better for it to just be a surprise.

Heading back to my room I pull my jean shorts off, changing into a pair of skinny jeans and into an oversized grey shirt, stepping out as I slip my socks on, grabbing my shoes at the door I wait for the others for follow suit.

The drive there I stare at the back of Minho’s head warily, the three of them are all planning something with this dinner, I know for a fact that Jay is at a recoding for some television broadcast which does give these three a night off.

“I can feel you burning holes into the back of my head.” Minho calls from the front seat as he stops at a red light. “It’s just a dinner.” He reassures me, though this has the opposite effect on me. For the rest of the drive I avert my eyes to outside. Something is nagging on me; the name of the friend seems familiar like I’ve heard it in a passing.

As we arrive, Minho walks right in, the three of us following behind him and slipping out shoes off. I follow close behind Minho as he announces us. “I’m here; I brought Alfie, Noah and Maude.” He says taking a seat on the sofa.

“Ah, it’s good to meet you three, Minho has told us a lot about you.” A very pretty young woman says beaming at the three of us; I stand unsure what to do next to Noah and Alfie. I mimic them and bow.  “I’m Miyoung, this is Ian and Lexi should be here soon.” It’s at the last name that I snap my head to Minho.

“You’re a sneak.” I snap at him venomously, walking over I smack his arm hard. I hear the other people in the room laugh; I turn my gaze to my two supposed best friends. “You’re both on your own for lunches from now on.” I snipe at them as I plant myself on the couch. Something inside of me does not want to me Lexi, desperately so.

“I’m Alfie,” said boy says introducing himself to Ian and Miyoung.

“Noah and that lovely and well-tempered young lady is Maude.” Noah says from his spot next to Alfie on the other side of the room, I send both a forced smile, by their amused looks, I’m sure Minho has given them plenty of information on me. “She’s usually a bit more indifferent.” Noah says chuckling.

It’s at this point that I realize he’s right, normally I don’t really mind or pay attention to these kinds of things, I glance over to Minho, him giving me a knowing look.

“Sorry I’m late; Chansungie couldn’t find something to wear for his date with Soojin.” A very melodic and soothing voice calls from the entrance, “Oh, hello, you both must be Alfie and Noah, Minho has told us so much about you both!” Said voice says cheerfully, I turn my head to glance at the girl. As our eyes meet I find myself frozen. “And you’re Maude, I’m Lexi, it’s so nice to finally meet the three of you!” She beams walking over and shaking both Alfie and Noah’s hands.

As she stands in front of me I watch her warily. “Likewise,” I answer slowly extending my hand to hers. Lexi has long dark brown hair; she’s about the same height as I am, she dressed in a simple black skirt and a pink button-up shirt tucked in, she’s extremely friendly and stylish, all in all I can see why Jay is so hung up on this girl.

Ian speaks up as I study Lexi. “Miyoung ordered in tonight, we got back from work a bit late to start making something.” Standing up he motions for us to head to the kitchen, standing I walk next to Lexi, something about her makes me wonder.

“It’s all free game so dig in!” Miyoung says cheerfully, I glance down at the table I’ve stopped in front of, grabbing a plate I put a variety of foods on it before taking a seat at the counter with Ian. I watch Lexi interact Alfie and Noah. Both boys happily talk to her about their dancing.

“She’s not a bad person.” Ian says from next to me, I glance at him and nod my head, I frown when he laughs. “It looks like you’re trying to make a decision about her and you’re not liking what you’re leaning towards.”

Lexi looks up and smiles at me. “You’re not entirely wrong.” I answer nodding to Lexi; she walks over and waves Ian off, taking his seat next to me. “Everyone was in on this dinner, aside from Jay.” I state sending a glance to her.

Lexi nods her head at me. “You’re as intuitive as Minho said,” She pauses for a beat before turning to face me, I mimic her. “I wanted to meet you.”

“Why?” I ask curiously as I set my chopsticks down on my plate. Lexi makes me curious about a lot of things, most of them concerning Jay some even going back to me refusing to dance anymore. “I’m not that interesting.”

Lexi giggles, the kind of giggles that makes men fall in love with you. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re fascinating; I can see why some many people just get awestruck when they meet you.” She smiles a sort of regretful smile. “I actually wanted to meet you because of Jay.” She says hesitantly.

I wait for her to continue, when she doesn’t I let out a sigh. “I’m more the type to listen then reply. I haven’t must to reply to.” I tell her flatly, I take note that everyone has left the kitchen to us.

“When I met Jay he’d saved my life quite literally.” Lexi says suddenly, she looks down at her plate this time. “Things between us seem to just fall in place, and just as easily fell out of place. I love Jay, but when he left…” She leaves off seemingly out of words. “I want him to be happy.”

I stare at Lexi before letting out a sigh, this catches her attention and she watches me. “Jay will be; he’s getting there.”

Lexi smiles and reaches out, grabbing my hand, I flinch. She doesn’t seem to notice or care if she did. “I know.” It sounds like she’s implying more, but I can’t understand the meaning, furrowing my brow for what seems like the umpteenth time I watch her. “Just, don’t fight it when it happens, but if you do, just remember he won’t give up.” She says cryptically.

I nod my head as she lets go of my hand. “I thought I wouldn’t like you if I ever met you.” I tell her bluntly as I begin eating my food, despite Lexi chuckling I shrug my shoulders. “You’re not so bad; you just care about people a lot.”

“I see what Minho means about you, you’re endearing, completely and totally honest.” Lexi says excitedly. “You’ll both do each other some good it seems like.”

As she says this the others come back in, being loud and happily taking seats at the counter with us. I try to figure out some of the things that Lexi has said to me, the not so straightforward things. As Noah, Alfie and I leave, thanking everyone for the night I feel something strange.

I feel torn between what I’ve been and who I was, something changed that made me shut something out, dancing had been the way I released a lot of my emotion, mostly because I’ve never been able to do so in the typical way.

I walk off from Alfie and Noah, calling Jay on my way to meet him at studio.

~~~

“What did you want to meet here for?” I ask Maude as I let us into the practice rooms. She seems a bit different than she normally is. “You alright, Maude?” I ask her, resting my hand on her shoulder.

“When I decided to become a write it was because something had happened.” She answers slowly; she doesn’t say anything more until we arrive in the practice room. Maude walks to the center of the room as I flip the lights on. “I stopped dancing because my mom died, she was on her way to one of the street shows Alfie, Noah and I were doing.” Maude doesn’t sound particularly sad, but then again it isn’t normally how she sounds, but what she does.

“Do you want to dance now?” I venture slowly walking to stand across from her, I lean against the mirror to her; Maude nods her head slowly.

I watch as she does some simple popping, slowly getting more elaborate. She’s amazing, stunning for it being years since she last danced. She works herself up into more complicated tricks, I watch her do some tricks that take years of practice to do, and she does each one effortlessly and perfectly.

After a while she slows to a stop, she looks at me and frowns, this time she looks sad, she looks heartbroken. As I start to walk towards her she runs into my arms and hugs me tightly, this is the closest I’ve ever been to her. “What brought this all on?” I ask her gently as I walk over to the chairs on the far wall.

As we sit, Maude wipes the tears away. “I met Lexi at dinner.” She says furrowing her brows, a semi-scowl coming across her features. She then glares at me. “I’m not indifferent anymore, I’m more aware because of you.” She says exasperatedly.

I’m stunned at everything she’s said, mostly because she’d met Lexi, she suddenly wants to dance again and she’s blaming it all one me, or connecting it all to me. “I don’t follow how this is all on me?” I as confused, Maude looks just as confused, leaning back she closes her eyes. “I’m not really sure what just happened.”

Maude looks at me and smiles a little, it’s strange to see genuine expressions on her face for so long, they don’t normally surface this long. “I’ve been numb for a while now, so much so that Alfie, Noah and I moved here five years ago.” She says.

I feeling things connect in my head at an alarming rate. She’d moved to another country to cope, she’d stopped doing something she loved because she’d lost her mother. “So what happens next?” I ask her in a quiet voice.

Maude looks at her hands and lets out a long sigh. “For one, I start dancing again. It was how I connected to things before, sorted everything out, after that I’m not sure.”

I nod my head watching her, smiling. “You know, Noah and Alfie are right, you’re not so robotic around me.”

“You’re not so mopey around me.” She counters in her usual nonchalance; that I think has always been part of her personality. “I should get home; I sort of just bolted away from the guys after we left the dinner.” Maude gets up; she looks at me like she wants to say a bit more, but decides against it. “Thanks, I’ll see you later.” She says leaving me slightly stunned.

Watching her leave and being with her like this made it very obvious to me, I’ve moved on from Lexi, over her in every romantic kind of way.

“Maude, you’re something else.” I mutter running my hand through my hair. While it is a relief to know I’m no longer waiting for this idea to happen with Lexi, that it is settled and I can move on, it’s facing the challenge of what to do now that I’m finding myself pulled in by someone who doesn’t seem to understand romantic intentions, at least not anymore or not yet.

I'll be wrapping this up pretty soon.
Partly so I don't just drag this on and on.