Us After The Fallout

Part 3

I wander around her house while I wait, trailing my fingers along the furniture and walls. I've been here dozens of times now, but only in the pool or her bedroom really. I haven't looked closely at much else of her house. Even if she would have given me a tour, I doubt I would have been able to see the house. 

It's hard when we are together to look anywhere else but at her. 

Now I see how stony and detached it seems, with its lack of anything other than ridiculously expensive artwork by my guess. There's no picture frames, personal belongings, or anything that alludes to there being people that actually live here. A family that is present. Nothing is out of place and nothing is tying down remnants of Mia whatsoever, which in itself makes the already seemingly staged-house feel even more vacant. 

That must be what draws me to her room, I'm suddenly there without intending to be and am hit with a wave of ease and familiarity. The walls of pale pink surrounds like a haze encapsulating the room; old worn dance shoes gathered on a shelf, potted plants of all shapes and sizes on her window sill, pictures and clippings from Vogue and other fashion magazines plastered on her wall by her vanity, candles littered around on any flat surface. I walk up to her desk and notice for the first time a stack of books under a bag. Glancing at the titles I realize they are all poetry, milk and honey to Emily Dickinson. I smile from not being able to imagine Mia reading a book, but poetry fits her. 

She is poetry - the way her body moves when she is dancing, her hands and fingers as she pours a glass of wine holding the glass delicately, her soft and whimsical voice. 

I restack the books on her desk and turn climbing onto her bed, instantly sprawling out and clutching her blankets to my chest. I take a deep breath and smell fresh linen, her vanilla and almond scent lingering on the pillow and sheets. This is the first time I've been back on her bed since we talked about us, what we are and what we were going to move past. 

But...this is also the first time I've been in her bed since that night, and I can no longer fight with my brain and ignore these thoughts. 

That was the night we got drunk and danced in the parking lot under the street lights. 

That was the night we ended up on her floor talking until we were looking without realizing and kissing with all reason. 

Her hands and lips and eyes and hips dragged me into her, telling me it was okay. How I had desperately hoped she would say that when she did before crashing my lips back onto hers. Pulling her up from the carpet, pulling off our clothes, pulling her into the bed, pulling the sheets overtop of us. My hands wandering her with precision and patience like clay. Her lips kissed not my lips, but other places as her head moved down. Places that evoked unfamiliar sounds out of my mouth. Her tongue caressing and arousing the ocean that had become me. My hands moving between her legs dancing and descending on her until only the sounds of her moans and our labored breathing filled the air.

A shiver ran through me as my body became alit and tense, a deep blush creeping up my neck at the thoughts. We are just friends, you need to forget it Vada. She did. It's never happening again.

All of a sudden the door to the bathroom opened and I lifted my head to look up and–Mia came in with only a towel on. The towel hung haphazardly leaving little to the imagination as I gulped, her skin damp and the droplets of water falling off the ends of her hair onto her shoulders. She met my eyes going wide and stepped back.

"You scared me geez what–I didn't know you'd be in here, I forgot my clothes," she said, fixing her towel a bit.

"Sorry I–sorry, I didn't mean to...I just thought I would wait here. I didn't know you needed to get in yet," I stutter out hoping I sound only half as awkward and embarrassed as I feel. "I'll uh turn around," I shuffle and face the headboard of her bed.

She chuckles, "Chill Vada, it's fine. It's not like we...are strangers," she pauses before she says the last words, almost as if she caught herself from saying something else. 

I hear her rummaging in her drawers and tossing clothes on the end of the bed. The sound of her towel falling and the rustling noise of her getting dressed fills the room as I try to distract myself by looking at a tiny crack on her ceiling instead of thoughts of her being naked five feet away from me. Damnit Vada you are turning into a teenage boy pull yourself together. I don't look back until I feel the bed dip and Mia sliding in the covers next to me.

"So what do you want to watch tonight? We could start a show or watch a movie, or would you rather watch a YouTube video?"

"You can choose," I say, giving her a soft smile.

"No I picked Grey's last time which means you HAVE to pick this time those are the rules. We are the most indecisive when it comes to this so that's the only way it's going to work. Now pickkkk" she whines out and I laugh before scrolling through and picking I Know What You Did Last Summer. It's a classic and not too scary of a movie when it comes to horror, but I'm still met with Mia's disdain.

"Seriously, you couldn't pick any other movie Vada? When I said pick a movie I meant an enjoyable one, not some creepy thing you know I hate scary movies," she pouts biting her lip. It's so cute.

"Alright, I'll look for something else th–"

"It's fine I guess, I did tell you to pick so I'll brave through it. Don't be surprised if I cover my face most of it."

I laugh and give her a nudge and I crawl under the covers too. The food arrives and she gets up to grab it and bring it back to the bed. We get settled propped up against her pillows with the laptop balanced on one of each of our legs, as we press play and eat our pasta.

Mia wasn't kidding. Her face was covered 80% of the movie, I don't know how she was able to see the screen long enough to be scared as she had the blanket pulled up high on her face. I just kept chuckling and giving her crap the whole time and she was so freaked out she didn't even fire back a remark. Throughout the movie, I also noticed that each time she jumped or buried her face, it was me she hid and curled into. I guess I missed a lot of the movie too, I was absorbed in the feeling of being that close to her to pay much attention. 

When it was done we put on a crappy reality tv show that she likes for some reason. I guess I can't say I hate it, it's so dumb that it's somehow good but I'll never admit that to her. She makes an evil laugh every time and looks so proud that she is able to get us to watch it, so I grumble and roll my eyes while I give her a knowing smile. She gets settled against my side once again and I shuffle lower onto the bed to lay down. Three episodes later and I am starting to doze off and I look over and see Mia is already fast asleep. Slowly trying not to wake her, I move to shut off the laptop and twist, reaching somewhat blindly in the dim moonlight streaming through the window to put it on her night stand.

As I set it down, I feel a tug on my arm and a groggy "Hey" behind me. I turn, being pulled, and am met with Mia's face. Inches–no–centimeters from mine as I was yanked down towards her, catching myself with my other arm and hovering right over her.

I tensed, sucking in a breath and holding it while Mia gulped and mumbled, "Stay tonight?"

My breath. Her breath. Our breath. At this point it was one as it fanned over my face while mine finally escaped staggering.

"I..."

"Please?" her whisper seems to thunder through the room, her face bathed in the moonlight and I see her eyes are lazily open from just waking up.

"Y-yes," I barely mumble.

I feel her tug me towards her again and I am suddenly on top of her. Her hands wrap around me tightly despite her sleepiness, and she nuzzles into my neck. She takes a deep breath and exhales onto my neck, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin and my already racing heart to increase tenfold. I'm surprised it hasn't jumped out of my chest at this point. 

"Your heart is beating really fast," she muffles into my neck, as her hands slowly slide down from my shoulders to my waist, securing me in place against her. I couldn't leave the bed even if I wanted to now. I drew in a shaky breath and kept quiet, which went unnoticed as I could already feel her breath even out. 

Mia was fast asleep, but I was wide awake.