Teaching Mia

Chapter 25 - The Last Tears

Mia woke up cradled in Leo's arms. She felt safe. She had finally let her guard down and torn down all the walls she had put up. She had let Leo in.

They had spent all of Sunday practically glued to her bed since the early morning. Leo hadn't been kidding when he told her to be prepared. They had only left her apartment momentarily to grab a late lunch, but even when they headed back he immediately whisked her into the shower.

He said he wanted to recreate their first shower together with their underwear on, but this time getting to do all the things they wanted to. Mia initially thought he was crazy, but once she stepped into the shower it brought back all the innocence and emotion of the time so she went along with it.

This time he kissed her mercilessly and ran his hands eagerly all over her body, but to her surprise left her lingerie intact. Instead, he pulled her out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her placing her on the toilet seat. He kneeled down next to her and looked deeply into her light brown eyes. She stared back at him in wonder.

"This is exactly the look I wanted," he had said mesmerized. "This is it for me, Mia. You bring me to my knees when you look at me like that."

He picked her up in the towel and took her back to bed, just as he said he had fantasized once before. He didn't let her go for the rest of the night.

Mia was relishing at the memories when she realized it was a bit humid in the bedroom and she checked the clock. 6:43am the digits burned. Almost, but not quite yet. Pretty soon they would have to wake up and get back to their new school reality. Still, she felt the need to go to the bathroom and splash some cool water on her face.

Once at the sink, she looked over and noticed a small crumpled paper next to her traveling case. That's odd, she thought bending down to get it. She noticed it was an old baggage check sticker and unfolded it. JFK-MAD, it read.

She gasped. She clearly remembered that solemn day back in New York. She had been nearing the security checkpoint for the flight when someone called out to her.

"Mia!"

She turned around to see Daniel come up sweating and in a panic. She had already broken up with him for several months so she had no idea what he was doing there.

"Thank goodness I caught up to you. I didn't want you to leave without telling you how I felt," he said.

"Jesus Daniel, how did you even know I was getting on this flight? I'm going to be late," she responded. She secretly patted herself on the back for the quick answer as she still had plenty of time for her departure.

"I spoke to your sister and told her I needed to give you a drivers license that you had forgotten with me and you were going to need it."

He always had the worse excuses. "I don't even care how you got here. What do you want?" she said starting to turn red.

They had stepped aside to a lounge that appeared to be almost cleared out and empty from another flight. She could feel the adrenaline pour into her veins and her bags started to weigh her down. Much like their relationship.

"I know you're leaving to Spain and I know it's bad timing. Since the last time we spoke, I thought I'd never see you again. Honestly, part of me didn't want to see you."

"Get to the point Daniel," she stated coldly. He constantly had a way of beating around the bush and extending the conversation.

"Okay, well here it goes. I know you think I cheated. And I did. I guess I cheated on us, on our trust. I took you for granted, Mia. Somewhere between moving in together too soon, the abortion, and you being miserable with your job and your life – the pressure got to me. Instead of enjoying our time, I wanted to fix something that was not broken or not even mine to fix."

Daniel paused, he had clearly rehearsed this but he was starting to stumble, either by her presence or realizing that he had truly lost her and finally meant what he said for once.

"I made up stuff to protect us or maybe to hide some things that were wrong in our relationship. In the end, it started snowballing from one little thing to huge wicked problems. I guess once we both knew we weren't going to have the baby, I felt like the failure – not you. I let you down. I've always let you down," he confessed.

Mia couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. "Daniel, thank you for coming clean with a few things. But honestly, it's too late and I don't want this anymore. Just talking about it is affecting me. I don't know if you are getting the signals, but I need a clean break – from you, from my friends and family telling me what to do, and maybe even from New York. I want to make something for myself on my own."

"Mia, that is exactly why I am here. It took me awhile, but I understand it now. I'm so sorry for everything that I did. Maybe in an alternate universe we were meant to be together, but I get it that not in this life."

"Daniel," she said, her eyes were starting to water. "Just finish saying what you need to say and go."

"Mia, wait, listen. I want to thank you. The time I spent with you has made me a better person. It has made me realize what to look for in whomever I'm supposed to be with. Maybe I forced it too much with you that it wasn't meant to be. And..."

He started to cry. He never cried, except for the time his grandmother had passed away.

"I want you to go to Spain, I want you to find yourself like you say. Don't go and play it safe like you do sometimes. Be the Mia that I fell in love with once, the one pure time I had in my life. I want you to go and find someone who will appreciate you the way I didn't. I want you to make friends and just 'live the dream' for everyone who can't just get up and leave."

He choked over his next words. "Just go and one day maybe we can be friends or just say hi to each other in the street, the way you say hi to an old friend that you haven't seen in so long but are genuinely happy to see. Maybe that person still has one percent of your heart even if it's reserved for someone else."

He had hurt her so much and so many times that sadly the words bounced off her wall that she had put up and wouldn't be broken down almost a year later.

Fittingly, the loudspeaker at the airport came on. "Passengers on Air Europa flight 92 to Madrid, we are starting to board at gate A6."

She grabbed her bags and Daniel went to hug her and sneak in a kiss, but she quickly swerved and went through a new checkpoint line that had opened up.

After a few moments, she turned back and saw him sitting at the same spot with his hands over his head.

I'm sorry it didn't work out too...see you in another life Daniel, she thought, and locked away all the painful memories.

Mia came back to reality and caught herself staring into the mirror of her bathroom. She crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the trash. She wiped the last tears she would ever shed for him and crawled back into bed.

She looked over at Leo sleeping next to her and knew she was now in the right place. She cuddled into him and he unconsciously pulled her close. It was at that moment that she realized maybe everything she had gone through for the past year had been for a reason. She wouldn't be where she currently was if it wasn't for all those awful string of events. She would have never come to Madrid to test herself and ultimately find herself, find all the amazing people she had met, and most importantly, find Leo.

In some strange backwards way, it finally made sense to her now. Things were now okay again. She had overcome all of her hurdles, and Leo had helped push her along the way. He had believed in her, when she hadn't even believed in herself. He had been her coach, her constant companion, cheering her on unconditionally from the sidelines.

There would still be fights, pain, and suffering along the way. Such is life. But she could stop running, stop hiding, and simply live. Leo had managed to teach her as much. The whole experience helped her grow along the way. She would be alright, she knew that now. She had finally found that one person that truly appreciated her and held her heart. She was now ready to tackle anything and everything.