Can You Hear the Ocean?

Chapter 29

Leila's body sunk deeply into the mattress after she shut off her bedroom lights. She was extremely drowsy after comforting Mia. Her heart felt full knowing that Mia felt comfortable opening up to her, yet it also ached knowing that Mia was still dealing with so much pain. After holding Mia in her arms for two evenings in a row, Leila found herself more in love with her than ever.

It was no surprise then that her dreams throughout the night were mainly of her and Mia. When her alarm woke her in the morning, Leila was rightfully annoyed. She'd been having a lovely dream of her and Mia on a date at the beach. However, her annoyance suddenly shifted to excitement. She longed to see Mia before she went off to work. While a small part of Leila hoped that maybe all that had happened in the past forty-eight hours was a chance to share her feelings with Mia, she realistically hoped to merely talk to Mia in the morning and make sure she was okay after what appeared to be a rough evening.

As Leila stepped out into the kitchen to feed Fuji, she half-expected to find Mia still sleeping on the couch, but rather, the door to Mia's bedroom was shut and the blanket had been left crumpled up on the couch. Once Fuji was fed, Leila folded the blanket and sighed. She couldn't remember if Mia had work today. If she didn't, that lessened Leila's chances of seeing Mia before she had to head to work herself.

After Leila had put on her work clothes and done her make-up, she sat in the kitchen, slowly eating some toast. She glanced at the clock. Ten minutes before she absolutely had to leave. She glanced at Mia's closed door. Should she wake her?

Thankfully, Leila never had to make the decision because as she took her last bite of toast, Mia stepped out of her room and into the kitchen, looking drowsy. When they locked gazes, Mia quickly glanced away.

"Oh. I thought you'd left for work already," Mia murmured.

"Just about to leave," Leila replied.

She rinsed off her dish and then bent over to set it in the dishwasher. As she bent back up, she saw Mia staring at the folded up blanket on the couch.

"Did you sleep okay?" Leila asked.

Mia nodded. "Yeah. I went back to my bedroom at some point in the middle of the night."

Leila nodded, trying to ignore her growing frustration. In only a few minutes, she sensed the distance Mia was trying to place between them again. Oftentimes, Leila let Mia do as she pleased, but today, Leila wasn't going to let her win.

"Um...do you want to talk about what happened?" Leila asked.

"I mean, I already told you everything, didn't I?" Mia said.

"Yes, but..." Leila already felt herself giving up, so instead she asked, "Are you feeling any better today?"

Mia turned back to face Leila, and strangely enough, smiled at her. "I'm feeling just fine. Besides, don't you have work?"

She's not going to let me talk to her, Leila realized.

"Yeah. If you need anything, just call me," Leila said as she grabbed her work bag.

"I'll be okay," Mia assured her.

"Okay," Leila said, only half-believing her. On her commute to work, she gripped the steering wheel in frustration. She'd finally thought Mia had opened up to her, that they were being honest with each other. It seemed every time Leila attempted to knock a wall down, Mia built it back up twice as fast.

As the work day drilled on, Leila was interrupted by a knock echoing off the side of her cubicle. She turned, seeing Helen standing by her.

Leila quickly glanced back at her computer screen. "Sorry. I should have those edits to you soon—"