mxmtoon Adopted Me!

Chapter Three

My jaw drops. I shake my head and rub to my eyes to wash away what seems to be a hallucination, but she's still standing there. I must look like a complete lunatic as I stand completely paralyzed from shock staring at the girl in front of me.

Evil foster mother gives me a shove closer to Maia. I can't believe she's here, I must be having some sort of fever dream. I stick my hand out to shake her's, still bewildered.

She takes my hand and shakes it as I whisper, "Holy shit." Maia lets out a small chuckle before I realize what I just said. I rip my hand from hers and clear my throat. "I'm so sorry," I begin. "I'm Emma. Is this a joke?"

Maia laughs her honey-sweet laugh once more before saying, "Of course this isn't a joke!" Her voice is the tiniest bit higher than you would expect to hear and she laughs through her words often, but it only makes her easier to talk to. I feel myself ease up, an unbreakable smile now on my face instead of a gaping mouth.

We make our goodbyes to evil foster mother and head to the car she arrived in. It's a dark blue van that appears black to those who just take a glance at it and the windows are tinted so the outside world can't see Maia riding around in it. She gets into the backseat and slides to the other end so that I have room to get in the car without having to walk to the other side.

As I close the door behind me, Maia says, "So, how are you feeling?" The two of us buckle our seatbelts as I gather my thoughts.

"Confused?" I say as if it's a question. Maia looks puzzled and she asks me to elaborate. I take a couple seconds before continuing, "Just... why me? And why are you adopting a kid, you're only a couple years older than me, wouldn't you much rather prefer a baby?" The driver starts the car and we begin our way to Maia's apartment. I let out a deep sigh and finish by saying, "I'm just confused; everything is happening so fast."

Maia nods her head and replies, "I get it, it's okay to be confused. I saw you on Twitter a lot and it just felt like one of those things that I needed to do, if that makes any sense. Plus, now I'll have an awesome roommate with great music taste." I smile and her and she smiles back.

The rest of the car ride is spent in a comfortable quiet with music softly playing. I go on my phone and keep vaguely tweeting things on my private account. My mutuals keep asking questions but I only respond with a spam of random punctuation and keysmashes in all caps.

We arrive at her apartment building and make our way to her room. It overlooks New York with big windows and lots of houseplants to make it feel more homey. I look around in awe and I don't even realize my eyes begin to water until I can't see because of it.

I turn to Maia. She's standing behind me, clutching her hands to her chest and a toothy beam across her face. "So?" She says hopefully. Without thinking, I squeeze her as tight as I can. She smells like spring and new books. She hugs me back and I let out a sigh I didn't know I was holding.

"Thank you," I whisper.

I take in this moment. Thoughts of worry about how she'll announce this or how my friends will react melt away as fast as they appear. For now, everything is good and that's all that matters.