༺ The Worst Thing In The World ༻

     Megara scribbled the black Sharpie against the CD, mouthing little incoherent words to herself.  She knew Ricky was as old school as herself deep down behind his iTunes account and might appreciate having something to listen to.  If not, she was getting something out of her system.

     It was like playing Operation in unknown territory, and each time she weaved into it, she was slamming those plastic tweezers into the sensor and setting off a loud and annoying alert.  As Big Red came into her line of vision, she then capped the Sharpie and took a deep breath.  In this crazy world she lived in, she knew she could talk to at least one person about what worried her.  She only hoped speaking aloud wouldn't trigger the Operation alarm.  "Hey, Red, I have something to ask you."

     "Shoot," the redhead sat back, taking a seat on the couch next to her.  His basement had become somewhat of a safe haven these pasts couple of months, especially when Megara didn't want to be home alone.  Even though she had known Ricky and Big Red nearly all her life, she had never planned on becoming their shrink.  So many nights she had watched them sit on that couch — namely Ricky — and spill their little guts out as the three friends binged on junk food and offered advice that wasn't really good at all.

     Now it was Megara struggling to gain control of thoughts running rapidly.  Matter of fact, it felt like her heart might jump out of her chest at the idea of uttering those thoughts aloud.  "I think I have a small problem.  Ricky sort of said that he loves me."

     "He what?" Big Red raised his eyebrows in shock as he listened to Megara speak.

     "Well, not really," she clarified.  "Plus it was in front of other people, so he must have been faking it, for them, you know?  But also it was just so natural, so unrehearsed..."

     "Have you guys talked about this?  Like saying you love each other?" Big Red asked.  The way he bounced up excitedly did not go unnoticed by the dark-haired girl.

    Stray hairs fell from her large top messy bun as she brought her hand to rub her forehead — slightly chipped ruby red nail polish and all.  But her colored nails hardly matched her outfit; a fitted long sleeve with black and mustard yellow stripes decorating her torso until her shirt ended at her hips.  Other than that, distressed and flared jeans.  "No, not at all," she continued rubbing her head.  She was becoming more distressed than her jeans.  "And I'm not sure I even want to bring it up."

     Big Red looked around unsure, but couldn't land his gaze on anything else.  So, he looked back at Megara, who was now slouching back into the couch, encouraging him to relax too.  "So what did you want to ask me?"

     Megara shrugged.  "I guess I wanted to know what you thought about it.  Do you think it's possible that he might love me?"

     After a quick moment of silence, Big Red would open his mouth and counter something bigger that scared her than the thought of Ricky having real feelings for her.  "Is it really the worst thing in the world if he does?" he asked.

     Megara furrowed her eyebrows.  "How you go figure that?  This is Ricky we're talking about."

     Big Red nearly laughed.  "What do you mean?  I mean, you're making him a mixtape, on a CD nonetheless," the ginger pointed towards the Sharpie and silver disk laying on the small table before them.  "You know that Spotify is a thing, right?"

     "What are you talking about?" Megara scoffed.  When she moved, her tiny gold earrings moved with her.  "It's just a CD."

     "Yeah, and next thing you know, you've got a Pinterest board for your princess-themed wedding," Big Red tilted his head as he looked at his friend, and he could not have been more serious as he said those words.  Which caused Megara to become a little bit hurt, crossing her arms over her chest.  "And then you're sending Cinderella wedding dresses to me at three in the morning."

     "I don't really like Cinderella," she said with a pout.  "You know it wouldn't be that style."

     "My point still stands," Big Red said.

     Megara chewed on her bottom lip as she allowed herself to get lost in thought for a long time.  Right as she was coming to a conclusion along the lines of the fact that Big Red was right, they heard incoming footsteps overhead.  Her eyes grew wide as she and her ginger friend hopped to their feet, sharing one look that said everything that needed to be said.  "Hide it!" Megara whisper-yelled as Big Red clutched onto the CD quickly.

     On it, the words: MIXTAPE 1 BY MEG⸺ i would have never expected this to happen. but i'm glad it did.

     Big Red practically leaped across the room to hide the CD under a stack of games somewhere as Megara dusted the table of any evidence she'd been downloading songs from her laptop earlier — USB cords, marker, thankfully her laptop was already back in her backpack in the corner of the room.  All that was left was a bowl of popcorn that was growing stale.

     And as Ricky turned the corner after landing his feet in the basement, Megara threw a fistful of that popcorn at him.

     As kernels hit his face and chest before scattering to the floor, Ricky stared at her blankly.  "Well, I've seen it all now."

     Megara didn't have the heart to admit that she was hiding something.  Big Red tried to look at relaxed as he could, but if you looked hard enough, you could clearly tell the two were previously in a deep conversation.  Thankfully, Ricky was never clever enough to figure it out.

     At the time.

     "Sorry," Megara shrugged like throwing food around was now part of her everyday routine, like this was something that she did all the time.  "I just wanted to boo your outfit."

     Ricky mockingly smiled at her, one that Megara matched perfectly with her own smug face plus a nose scrunch, to which he then scoffed.  "Is this not good enough for you?" he asked, smoothing his jean jacket out with his palm.

     "At least wear something that compliments your eyes," Megara placed a hand on her hip.  "A pop of color wouldn't hurt every now and then."

     "Your cousin's texting again," Big Red alerted her, taking the liberty of tossing Megara's iPhone across the room.  Thankfully, Ricky reached out and grabbed it midair before anything happened to it.

     This was true, Megara's cousin Charlene had tried texting her multiple times throughout the day, but she had pushed it aside.  Honestly, Megara had made a mental note to text her later, but seeing as it was already the evening, later had already come.

     "Thanks... Spider-Man," Megara softly took her phone from his hand as he held it out for her.

     Ricky shrugged before walking away to join Big Red on the couch.  "Anything for my Mary Jane."

     Megara's eyes went wide as she immediately went to look at Big Red, trying to send a message that read; what the hell was that?  Are you seeing this?  To her disappointment, Big Red looked just as confused as her and didn't offer anything else further.  Megara sighed as she opened her phone, the boys watching as she groaned.  "Hey, either of you wouldn't happen to be available Valentine's Day weekend?  My cousin is asking me if I'm going to use my plus one for her wedding."

     Big Red furrowed his eyebrows.  "You already have a boyfriend rental for this exact reason."

     Megara hesitantly looked over to Ricky, whose jaw was practically dropped open at the suggestion.  "I mean, I could..."

     "You don't have to, it's not in the contract or anything," Megara shook her head as Big Red actively shook his own and mouthed words like; what's the matter with you?  "There's nothing in it that says we do it outside of school."

     "What about Thanksgiving or New Year's Eve?" Big Red asked with a cocked eyebrow.  If Ricky wasn't there, she'd swore she'd beat him up.

     Megara awkwardly shrugged, sliding her phone into her back pocket.  "Uh... well, you know.  School-related events."

     "It's not a big deal, I already know your whole family anyway," Ricky cut in.  "Not to rub it in your face or anything but they kinda like me, you know?"

     "That's the part that scares me," Megara said with a tiny sigh.

     Ricky laughed.  "Oh come on, me... you... dancing at a wedding again," he spun his torso in a circle and waved his hands around, busting a move the best he could while sitting down.  "So what if we let them believe I've wiggled my way into the family?  Is it the worst thing in the world?"

     Megara knew her eyes must have been popping out of her head, but it was like watching a car crash happen in real-time.  "Um..." she trailed as both of her boys looked at her expectantly.  "As long as you don't embarrass me with those awful dance moves of yours... okay."

     Just then, Big Red and Ricky burst up from their spots on the couches and quickly clapped their hands together before wrapping their arms around Megara — Ricky's notably tighter around her waist — as they then set off on joking about the wedding.  Megara felt like she was having an out-of-body experience as she watched them giggle and jump around, various quips about Ricky in a suit and tie fleeing from their mouths.

     Ricky jumped on top of the couch, already swinging his hips around in a way that was reminiscent of his dancing at Ashlyn's New Year's party.  "Can't wait for the reception.  I'm going to request Breaking Free," he pointed a finger at her.

     Megara stared up at the rather tall head of dark curls with the annoying boy attached to it.  "You wouldn't dare."

     If there had to be a worse thing in the world, she would have to assume the role to his daring, challenging eyes that seemingly darkened each time she stared into them.