Can You Hear the Ocean?

Chapter 13

Leila was alarmed at first when she opened the door to her apartment and found someone sitting on her couch. Since moving into her new apartment, she was always greeted by Fuji at her feet, meowing for dinner. She was still adjusting to the fact that Mia now lived with her. At the moment, it still felt like a dream.

Everything seemed to have changed since Mia had moved in. Not since she was in college had Leila been used to sharing how her day was with someone else, cooking meals for two, or sharing a bathroom. Even Fuji was quieter when Leila arrived home these days since he was often hiding from Mia in another room. All of Leila's routines had suddenly shifted, but strangely, she welcomed the change.

Mia was laying against one of the couch pillows with her knees drawn toward her. Her phone rested on her legs, and her nails clacked loudly against the phone screen as she texted. Seeing Mia lounging around made Leila slightly jealous, until she remembered the odd hours Mia had to work with her waitress job.

"Hey," Mia said, glancing up and making eye contact with Leila.

"Hey," Leila responded. Awkwardness hung in the air. Mia had been nothing but kind and courteous to her since moving in, but that element of friendliness Leila was used to having with her roommates hadn't settled yet. Leila felt like she was back in her freshman year of college, living with a randomly-paired roommate in the dorms.

Fuji emerged tiredly from Leila's bedroom and began to meow at her.

"Did he bother you at all?" Leila asked as she headed into the kitchen to prepare the tabby his dinner.

"No. He mostly stays away from me. If I get too close, he hisses," Mia explained. "He's clearly fine when you're in the room though."

"We need to work on your stranger problems, mister," Leila told the cat. She dumped some wet food into his bowl and watched him begin to chow it down. "So...what did you do today?" she asked.

"Mostly spent the day with Julian at the beach," Mia said. "It was pretty warm out, so we didn't stay long. He had to work tonight, so I came back home a few hours ago." Mia returned to looking at her phone, then spoke up again. "Um, how was work?"

"Same old," Leila responded. She stepped back out from the kitchen and took a seat across from Mia on the opposite couch. "Just a lot of emails and meetings and such."

"Sounds boring," Mia muttered.

"I mean, I guess it does get a bit repetitive," Leila considered. "But, I mean, with you—"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a waitress, so it's different kind of work."

"Actually, that wasn't what I was going to say," Leila admitted. Fuji emerged from behind the kitchen counter looking satisfied and walked over to Leila. As she scratched one of his ears, she continued, "I was going to say you're an artist, so of course you don't like office work. You never really liked schoolwork either."

"Hey! I did good enough!" Mia complained. "I really started to focus on my grades more in high school."

Leila laughed. "Sorry."

Fuji stretched and leapt up on the couch next to Leila to curl up on one of the pillows.

"Well, at least he can stand being in the same room with you when I'm here," Leila noted. "I'm sure he'll warm up to you soon."

"Hope so," Mia responded.

"I didn't really have time to get groceries on the way home, so are you okay with something simple? Maybe just some chicken and potatoes?" Leila asked.

Mia nodded. "I'll help," she offered.

When they had been laying out ground rules a few days prior, they had decided to alternate cooking meals. Leila didn't expect Mia to help on the days she was cooking, but she appreciated her assistance all the same.