Miles p.o.v
Chapa and i were too late, the minute we reached the end of the staircase Mika had already opened the door to let Bose in. We watched as the 2 of them work to greet each other like regular acquaintances, "Don't make any sudden movement," Chapa whispered to me. Bose's parents came in and Mrs. Willard-Obrien looked more than pleased to see Mika, "Oh my goodness Mika, dear it's been so long," She hugged her, and Mika's eyebrows shot up not expecting her to do that.
Mrs. Willard-Obrien pulled away from her, noticed Bose still standing by the door, then changed her attitude toward Mika and said, "Oh, it's you," acting as if she couldn't care less about her presence. "This has been pleasantly...enjoyable," The Mayor said taking the lasagna from Bose and walking away with his wife following behind. When they left I made my way from behind Chapa to Bose.
"Hey man, glad you could make it," I pulled him into a bro hug.
"Oh, I'm sure you are," He sarcastically said through gritted teeth.
"Hey Bose, what a surprise to see you here, in Swellview, this very summer" it was now Chapa's turn to take part in pretending like everything was perfectly going according to plan.
"Chapa!" Bose greeted naturally glad to see her again and as they embraced each other i noticed Chapa's face light up as well. Besides the fact that this was a total mess, it was nice having us all back together again.
Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse I saw Mom wiping her hands on a towel coming by.... with Noah, crap.
Bose's p.o.v
I struggled to keep my cool and that obvious fake smile I kept on my face. I tried to avoid any possible eye contact with Mika while i quickly caught up with Chapa but all my thoughts were about how Mika was standing less than 5 feet away. I wanted to run away, the door was wide open, but I feet were glued to the floor. My fingers felt numb and my ears were red hot, it became almost unbearable.
Mrs. Macklin gushed over me, telling me how much I've grown and how she hadn't seen me in what left centuries. I made some small talk with her all while i couldn't help notice another guy that I've never seen before. He seemed to be around our age and he was standing next to Mika. "So are you going to introduce me?" He joked elbowing her arm. Mrs. Macklin stopped talking to me and faced the two of them. " Oh god," i heard Miles sigh. Mika looked at the guy with her mouth open then closed it looking back at me.
"Um, right! Noah this is Bose," She presented. Ah, so Noah was his name. I gave him a small head nod.
"Bose, this is Noah," She acquainted us.
"Here it comes," I now heard Chapa mummer.
When Mika moved closer to Noah and wrapped an arm around his waist my palms became sweaty and a slight chill came over me, i tried to process who exactly Noah was. Two words, all it took was two words for me to feel faint and when she said them my heart had started pounding against my chest with such speed, i was convinced everyone else could hear it.
"My fiancee," She revealed.
Noah leaned over and reached his arm out for me to shake, i snapped out of it to shake his hand back, "It's nice to meet you,".
"You too, Bose is a pretty sweet name," He complimented.
"Thanks, My mom was on medications when she picked it," I half-joked. Noah chuckled and so did Mrs. Macklin, who i had forgotten was even there.
Mika's p.o.v
"What a fun little reunion!" Mom clapped, "You know i don't think all four of you have been in the same room since your senior prom," She added and the four of us went dead silent at the mention of prom. "Wait, you all went to high school together? That's awesome that you're all still so close," Noah claimed. My cheeks became flushed and i bit my lip. "You don't even know the half of it Noah, Mika and Miles have known Chapa and Bose since they were twelve, they go way back," Mom added.
"And it's amazing that you'll be here to celebrate with us on our wedding day in a couple of weeks,". The more Noah talked the more i wanted to jump out a window. I begged with all my that Mom wouldn't mention anything about Bose and I, that we would end the conversation here and move past this, and thankfully that was what happened. Mom went into the living room when she heard Dad scream 'Cheater' and Noah went back to the kitchen to check on the cookies he was baking.
The four of us awkwardly stood there, none of us sure what to say. "So..." Chapa broke the silence. "We're back," Miles tried to defuse the tension. "Yeah...", "Yep", Bose and i nodded along.
It got quiet again until Bose turned to my brother, "Miles can i talk to you for a second about...the bushes outside,". The bushes? I don't even think we had any bushes outside the house. But it was whatever because i needed to talk to Chapa alone as well, "And Chapa! i want you to come see this new vase i just bought," I made up grabbing her hand as Bose grabbed Miles's arm. Both of us pulling them in opposite directions.
