One Time Thing [Wattys 2021 Shortlist] ✔️

Chapter 31: Drama

MIA

It was way too cold outside for the red, sleeveless dress and it was way too hot for the long-sleeved denim dress. Mia stared into the mirror, liking the black V-neck shirt and her tights. Her boobs looked good in the shirt.

"Where are you going?" Jeff came into the room and appeared in the mirror behind Mia. She glanced at him and then at the clock. It was 8pm.

"Out." She simply answered. Why she hadn't confronted him about anything, she didn't know. Maybe she was tired of trying to talk to him, when he wasn't trying one bit. Not once had he mentioned her kiss with Xander, no matter how many times Mia told him they should sit down and talk about it. He wanted to keep this charade going? Fine.

"With whom?" Jeff squinted suspiciously.

"Alone. Maybe Christa, she's probably drinking somewhere." Mia felt her heart beat steadily, but quickly. It predicted trouble where Mia's other senses were blind.

"I really don't like you spending time with Christa. She's a bad influence." Jeff said, crossing his hands over his chest.

"Thanks for the advice, but I don't really care." Mia took off the black long-sleeved shirt and grabbed the one with more revealing cleavage, also black.

"Seriously? Are you trying to look like a stripper?" Jeff asked, looking at the shirt she put on. There was no satisfying answer to that question, so Mia simply smiled. "Seriously, Mia, what has gotten into you? If you're trying to be more like Christa, maybe you should know that's not helping our situation."

"Yeah? And what's our situation, exactly?" Mia asked. If he wanted to fight now, she was more than willing to. Jeff stayed quiet. "That's what I thought."

"I don't understand, are you trying to teach me a lesson?" He inclined.

"Not every damn thing is about you, Jeff."

Jeff seemed dumbfounded and stared at Mia while she proceeded to the living room. Maybe she wanted to stir things up a bit, maybe she simply wanted to go out tonight. Or maybe she wanted to piss him off. All of those things were more than what he was doing to help their situation.

"It's Wednesday, Mia, what about work in the morning?" Jeff asked, following her around.

"Oh, that, I'm not coming back to work until Mathilda decides whether I'm fired or not." Mia smiled, she was satisfied with the outcome of that evet. Mathilda had no guts to fire her because of her father. At least something good came from him.

"What? Fire you? Are you insane?" Jeff raised his voice. "You need to go there and beg for your job! What is the matter with you?"

"Lower you voice, Jeff." Mia shushed him. "The only headache I need tonight is the hangover headache, so please."

"You're not yourself, Mia! Risking your future, risking your relationship..."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think." She cut him off.

"Excuse me?" He stopped in place. "Then tell me who you are. Because this woman is not the woman I decided to be with."

Mia laughed out loud, predicting something like this happening. As soon as she didn't behave exactly how he wanted, he would say some fucked up shit like that.

"By the way, I'm going to Milano with Christa in March." To hell with it all, if he wanted to be pissed, the least she could do was give him a good enough reason.

"What? For how long?"

"Two weeks."

"Mia!" Jeff shouted. "We agreed we would save our days off for the vacation during the summer."