Miles apart (Man × Man) ✔

20) r e u n i t e d

Daisy Madden.

She was the daughter of Harold Madden. Everyone said she looked like his father, but Miles couldn't for the life of him understand how a girl with huge brown almond shaped eyes and a freckle sprinkled button nose could possibly look like an old man.

She was also a friend.

It hadn't been easy to make friends with Miles' broken English, but Daisy took her time to explain to him all the absurd grammar rules and even went as far as translating his made-up words to the ones who didn't understand. Despite being only 8-years-old, she was trilingual and way too smart for her own good.

Miles remembered those lazy summer days walking to the beach and laying on the towels while Daisy read stories in English to him. Every time he smelled sunscreen, it still brought him back to those days.

He remembered all the girls Daisy was friends with: how they adored Miles' accent and how they bribed him with candy to not tell his dad about the things they gossipped about.

Miles didn't stop to think why a three years older girl with a bunch of friends of her age would want to waste her time with him. He was still young and certain that the world revolved around him. Later, when he found out that wasn't the case, it felt like the biggest betrayal in the world: his best friend hung out with him because her dad asked her to and not because she wanted to.

Miles hadn't talked to Daisy for days after that, until she sat him down and explained how one could do both. She had started hanging out with Miles because she was asked to, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy that little task of hers.

Before Miles' years in all-boys private school, all his friends had been girls. So, understably, being surrounded by those sweaty foulmouthed creatures, a.k.a boys, had been a shock to Miles at first. Then he had gotten adjusted to their company, even going as far as kissing a few of them. Not all boys were bad news, he learned.

Later on there had been many more lessons to learn and times to get his heart broken, over boys and girls altogether. But it was never more than friendship, to the great disappointment of Anthony and Harold Madden, with Daisy.

It wasn't that Daisy wouldn't have been pretty, because she was the prettiest girl Miles had ever seen, but because kissing her would have been like kissing his sister. Daisy was the person to call to, to gossip about boys and girls and guys and ladies with. Though, after Miles' moving to another state, they had grown more and more distant. They had FaceTimed daily at first, then once a week and later on the calls had turned to arbitrary texts.

Which was why Miles was so surprised when she called and told him she was stopping by the next weekend. In fact, Miles had been so surprised he had actually squeaked on the phone, earning a giggle from his oldest friend.

And that is how Miles ended up in the lobby of a hotel, looking around while waiting for Daisy to show up. He was surrounded by professional, stylish and exhausted people. Some of them balanced a coffee in one hand and a suitcase or a tablet in another, some had sunk in the leather couches with their coffees or relaxing teas.

When Daisy rushed to Miles, a smile brightened her features. She was wearing a checkered blazer, a turtle neck top, black trousers and no makeup. Her eyes were still huge, brown and almond shaped, but the look in them had grown worldlier. Her brown hair was shorter and there was no trace of the freckles on her nose.

"Mon chou." She greeted Miles as she pulled him into an embrace. She was still lanky and flat-chested, but her scent was different. The sweet vanilla perfume she had used since forever, was replaced by something that reminded Miles of the expensive cosmetic stores near the airports.

"It's been so long." Miles gushed, hugging her a little longer. He hadn't even realized how much he had missed having her around, and now that he did, he didn't want to let go of her ever again.

"I know." Daisy agreed, squeezing Miles tighter before letting go. "The coffee's on me. Still the same for you?"

Next thing Miles knew they were sitting at one of the tables on the couches, sipping their iced vanilla lattes. He leaned closer and nodded vigorously at Daisy's words, all the gossip she had from their old mutual friends. It amazed Miles how they could carry on right where they left things the last time, no matter how much time had passed.

"So, what's it like to live in a big city?" Daisy asked. They had talked about that earlier, of course, but back then Miles hadn't really gotten used to living in a big city yet.

"It's not that much bigger." Miles shrugged, before launching into a story about a project he was working with in Kerning and somehow getting off to the point and telling about FAB instead. "I need to take you clubbing sometime, the night clubs here are from another world. There's this one gay bar me and my friends like to go and I just love it."

"These friends, I want to know more about them." Daisy studied Miles over her coffee cup, grinning. She had a gap between her front teeth, but never let it keep her from smiling, and Miles found her ten times more adorable because of that.

"Well, you know Benjamin, Judith and Jeremy Preston." Miles had talked about them a lot during the first weeks, when he and Daisy still FaceTimed daily. "They're still around. Then there's Eli, Benjamin's new guy, Steven, Eli's best friend, and their friends Dam-Bi, Shirley and Brandon. And Ash, he's.. Ash."

"Ash is.. Ash?" Daisy let out a childish giggle. She could see Miles shifting on his seat and she cocked an eyebrow.

"He's just this one guy I've been seeing." Miles shrugged, feigning ignorance. He was, obviously, dying to talk about Ash, but he wasn't going to give in to Daisy's coaxing so easily. Instead he took a deliberate gulp of his coffee and slung his arm on the backrest of the couch.

"Uh-huh." Daisy narrowed her eyes and started tapping the table with her forefinger, watching how Miles' decisiveness started to grumble down.

"Okay, fine, you win." Miles huffed, throwing his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. Given the fact he had wanted to talk about Ash from the beginning, it wasn't much of a loss, but Daisy didn't need to know that.

"Is he handsome?" Daisy inquired.

"Oh, yeah. Picture this: tattoos all over his body." Miles began, grinning when Daisy hummed her approval. "Ash blond hair, dyed and slicked back." Now Daisy was nodding and leaning closer. "Gorgeous dark eyes. Tall and lean body. Chiseled jawline."

"You've got any pictures?" Daisy asked, smiling with so much enthusiasm it was getting scary. When Miles shook his head, she continued the questionnaire: "Is he nice?"

"Nice isn't the first word I would use about him." Miles chuckled. When Daisy knitted her eyebrows in confusion, Miles explained: "He's actually kind of grumpy. He doesn't smile much. He can seem rude and humorless at first, but he's not like that. Not really, he's just.. Ash."

"You really like him, don't you?" The gaze in Daisy's eyes melted to warmth and genuine joy for her best friend.

"I do, yeah." Miles admitted, his chest all fuzzy and warm with affection.

"When will I get to meet him?" Daisy clasped Miles' hand over the table. Their coffee date extended all the way to lunch, but Miles was in no hurry to go home. He had missed Daisy and their little talks so very much.

If only he had known it was something his dad would try to use against him. If only he had known that his dad was willing to ruin every good thing in his son's life to make it resemble the life he had gestated for him. If only he had known how his dad had mastered the skill of planting the seeds of doubt, twisting the truth to his profit, to always getting what he wanted.

~~~

How would you feel about getting two chapters today? :) I hope the answer is excited, because there will be another update today. I've been in the flow, and the words just keep coming.