Captive in Plain Sight

Trei || Aida

It was Thursday afternoon, a day before Aida debuted at the Paramount. A week had passed since the intense encounter between Alec and Mila, and she was still back and forth on whether to accompany him. In a normal situation she would not consider going, but she had waited to see Aida for a while now.

It didn't help that she didn't hear back from her friends until a day or two after she'd been fired. She almost broke down and called her parents, but managed to stop herself. Mila was first generation Brazilian-American, and the first in her family to go to college. Her parents sacrificed so she could get an education and make something of herself. She was their beacon of hope, until she crashed her car into a building. There was no way she could tell them she messed up again. She couldn't diminish the little faith they had left in her.

She was especially upset with her best friend Alicia. She lived in D.C. working as a government contractor, but they managed to speak a couple times a week. Mila listened to Alicia for hours, every day, for weeks when her boyfriend broke up with her. It was disappointing she couldn't be there for her in the same way.

Her first week as an unemployed person had been miserable. She got up at 7:30 a.m. every morning and spent the day inside searching the Internet for jobs. At about 10:30 a.m. this morning, she was surprised to hear a knock on her door. It was a delivery man with a large rectangular black box and a silver envelope on top. He didn't say much, nor ask her to sign for it.

"Thanks?" she said as he walked away.

Mila had never received a personal delivery to her door before, or a box this nice. She remembered being super impressed with Evan's hand wrapped Valentine's Day gift. She had an inclination who the box was from.

There was a silver ribbon tab sticking out, and once she pulled it the box fell apart. Three rose bouquets sat in identical glass vases in the middle of her table. From left to right they were burgundy, lavender and white. She thought they were really lovely. She opened the envelope to find a burgundy card inside. It read:

Sorry for being a jerk. I hope you and Evan have a nice time at the opera.

- Alec

Two tickets for tomorrow's show sat at the bottom of the envelop. What a nice gesture, she thought. Maybe she could forgive him a smidgen.

She called Evan. He was at work, but every now and then he picked up.

"Hey babe," he said on the other end of the line. She could tell he was smiling.

"Babe!" she yelled in excitement. "One of my neighbors gave us tickets to Aida!"

"Seriously? That's amazing!" he said. "For when?"

"Tomorrow, opening night," She did a little dance of excitement in place.

"Wait," he said, his tone changing. "This isn't that Eric guy who made a pass at you is it?"

"His name is Alec, and yes. This is his way of apologizing." The phone went silent for a few seconds. She imagined he was trying to find a nice way to say hell no!

"Mila, I know you really want to go, but are you sure? You sounded shaken up when you told me about it." Most men would have said no to taking the tickets, but Evan was considerate of her feelings. "You've even been mumbling in your sleep, which you only do when you're stressed out."