broken.| Miles Hollingsworth

chapter 8| little lion man by mumford & sons

"Well that's a new look." Winston's widening eyes draws Miles' attention so much so he almost falls off the desk he was sat on as I walked into English. I do a spin as I continue my way to their desks. "Thanks, I had some encouragement to not wear black for the millionth day in a row." "Smart man who said that." Miles nods, giving himself credit in a nonchalant way. "I even got on your own personal favorite." I joke as I slightly life my skirt and put out my foot, showing off the white boots Miles picked up the night before. Miles and I are laughing at our own inside jokes as Winston's eyes dart between us in confusion. 

Just in time, the bell rings and we all return to our seat when Mr. Mitchell enters the room. "The chemistry exam is tomorrow, do you want to go over anything tonight." "Shit- I can't. My dad is coming over for dinner." "First dinner since therapy?" "Since he found out his son was a drug addict." He corrects me, and I roll my eyes at him. "I'll come over after and you can complain about it all you want- if, and only if we actually get some studying done. I don't think my dads will appreciate if my grades begin to drop because of a 'drug addict'." I mock him and now he rolls his eyes at me. An idea pops into his head then and I notice because of his eyes. He's very expressive with his eyes, I've began to notice. "What if you come for dinner?" I'm taken a back, mentally and physically. "Like have dinner with your dad?" "Yeah, I mean, he can't do anything drastic if a stranger is there." I contemplate, swaying my head in thought. "Deal." 

"Do you think people can actually change?" Miles spoke after a long drought of silence, his eyes were glued on the road in front of him, fists tightly around the steering wheel. I stare at him with my head leaned against the head rest, casually. "Your dad?" "I mean-" His hand ends up in his hair anxiously. "When Esme and I broke into his apartment, we found an email from him to the women he cheated on my mom with. He sounded like he was serious but can someone really change like that in six months?" "I think he can be trying, but I don't think you can except him to be a totally new man in six months." Both arms drop as he puts in the car into park in the driveway of his home. "Should that be enough for me?" He sincerely questions, finally taking his eyes off the house and turns to me. "That's for you to decide." His head falls back against the head rest, eye closed as he struggles with that answer. "Hey-" I grab his hand, his head snaps back to me. "You don't have to forgive him today, you just gotta make it through dinner." Getting out of the car, Miles joins me on my side and we both stare up at the house in front of us. "Did you guys really break into his apartment?" I ask in shock and disbelief, and Miles chuckles at me. "Aren't bad boys attractive?" He jokes and I laugh at him in incredulity. Then he grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers, a proper hand hold. Our first proper hand hold. 

"Miles- oh hi Kala." All eyes land on us as we enter the pool area, his family all sat around the table, food already prepared. His mother and father stand as Hunter is uncaring and Frankie's eyes practically pop out of her head at the sight before her. "Hi Mrs. Hollingsworth." "Oh, I completely forgot about dinner. I have a chemistry exam tomorrow, Kala's tutoring me." Miles lies as his mother and father meet us halfway. I feel a wave of anger wash over me as I make eye contact with Mr. Hollingsworth. How could he do what he did to Miles? "Don't worry about it- You're welcome here anytime Kala." "Miles-" His dad begins and I can see Miles flinch the tiniest bit at his voice being directed at him. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" My head snaps to Miles at the word girlfriend. Are we dating? "Kala, my dad. Dad, Kala." I have to hold back a chuckle at the way he introduces us. "Nice to meet you." I stick out my hand, I may not like the man but I'm not gonna be rude about it. "Likewise." "Can we eat now?" Frankie calls from the table. "Yeah come on, I'm starving." His parents chuckle, turning back to the table. "Hunter go inside and get another place setting for Kala." We all return to the table, Miles grabs a chair from a near by table for me, he even pulls it out and pushes it in for me as I sit before taking his own seat. As Hunter returns his plates and silverware, Miles takes it from his hands and places it nicely in front of me, even pouring lemonade into my cup before handing it to me. To me, this is very normal Miles behavior. He always open the car door for me, allows me to watch through doors first, holds my books if I need to tie my shoes, grabs the stuff out of the top shelf of my locker, that's just Miles. However, according to the dropped jaws of his mother, brother and sister, this is very abnormal for their son and brother. 

"So Kala how long have you and Miles been together?" His dad begins the questions, I notice Frankie perk up at this question. "Well, I just moved here this year. We met because I have class with Winston." I dodge the question but open up for other conversations. "Where are you from?" Mrs. Hollingsworth follows up. "Pennsylvania, but I was born in Hawaii." Now Miles looks at me questionably. "I didn't even know that." I shrug at him. "You never asked." "Is one of your parents Hawaiian?" His dad asks, which is understandable. I am the most non-Hawaiian looking girl that could tell you she was born in Hawaii. I can feel Miles go stiff next to me as the topic of my parents come up. I am not lying about my family. "No actually my birth mother was just on vacation when I was born because I was like a month early. So my dad's had to fly out to Hawaii to get me. That's why I'm named Kala." I can see the wheels in his dad's brain turning as I spoke. "Wild first vacation." Hunter jokes, and Miles' looses at this comment. "What do your dads do for work?" Once again Mrs. Hollingsworth comes with a question, not making the situation awkward for all our sakes. "One's a realtor and one's a pediatric sergeant." "How do you distinguish between them? Like are they both just dad?" Frankie finally speaks, genuinely curious. Miles chuckles and answers for me. "One's dad and the other is Dr. Dad." A mild laugh falls across the table, specifically from his mom. Miles looks lighter until he looks at his dad whose cold stone at the end of the table. 

Miles seemed lightyears away as we sat on his floor studying for his chemistry exam. "I think we should take a break, I don't think your brain is really here right now." "I'm thinking I might not go back to Degrassi next semester." I freeze in place. That was out of nowhere. "My mom and I feel like I need a fresh start away from Esme and everything." I finally look up at him after a few moments of processes. He sat anxiously across from me, knees pulled to his chest, arms around them. "Like moving school districts?" "Boarding school." "Boarding school?" He slowly nods at me, my mind is racing. "I can't tutor you in Chemistry if you go to boarding school." I joke, trying to keep the conversation light, he chuckles at it. "I like you, a lot, and I don't want whatever this is to end. I just- I don't know if I can stay here anymore." My heart breaks a little as he speaks, I shouldn't be the reason he stays at a place where he's going to be battling sobriety everyday. Even if I want him to stay. "If you stay because of me, I won't ever forgive you." That takes him aback, I don't think he's use to people putting him first. "What about this." He motions between us. "No oh our 30 minute relationship, how will we go back to normal." "Even on a friendship level, I can't imagine going to a school without you." I don't know how to respond to him and on the note of friendship, I lean over and kiss him. "One day at a time."