blondes and a brunette, so I think odds are it was one of the blonde ones.”
“Nope,” I’m quick to say, “I’m not into blondes.” It takes everything in me to not tug at the ends of her hair. “I like girls with black hair.”
If it wasn’t so dark, swear I’d be able to see her blush.
She clears her throat, hits play on her phone, a distraction from both our thoughts.
An entire song plays before I pause it, work up the nerve to ask, “What about you? What kind of guys do you like?” I don’t know how she sees me, or what she sees in me; I just know that whatever her answer is, I want her to describe me.
“I don’t know,” she says after mulling it over. “I don’t know that many guys. Besides Holden, I only really see kids my age at church.”
I bury my chuckle. “You go to church?”
“What’s wrong with church?” she snarks.
“Nothing.” Besides the fact that having full faith in an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present being has about as much plausibility as Lucy’s belief in fate.
Obviously, I don’t share that opinion with Mia.
“So you don’t have a type,” I push.
“I guess not.”
“What about that Holden guy?”
“He’s my best friend.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Do you think Laney’s pretty?”
“I mean, if I didn’t look at her as a sister, sure,” I reply, shrugging.
Chewing the corner of her lip, she nods. “I mean, if I didn’t look at Holden as a brother, then yeah, I guess so.”
Jealousy is a bitch, and I hate the way it burns at my insides. I crack each knuckle. Slowly. “You think I could take him?”
She laughs once. “Honestly, no, and I don’t know why you’d want to.”
My eyes narrow. “So me and him, one-on-one, you think he’d kick my ass?”
She drops her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with her laughter. “This is so pointless.”
“Why?” I poke a finger at her side, making her squeal. “Is he bigger than me?”
“Yes.”
Well, shit. “I mean stronger than me.”
“Yes.”
I start to poke her again, but she’s fast, too fast, and she slaps my hand away. “Why are we even having this conversation?”
“What if it depended on what we were fighting for?” I’m being such a boy, but growing up surrounded by as many brothers as I have, everything is a competition.
“What could you possibly, in any realistic scenario, both want that you’d come to blows over it?” she asks, her laughter waning.
I wait for her eyes to meet mine before saying, “You.”
Her smile’s gone now, replaced with shock. And then slowly, slowly, understanding dawns. “Leo,” she breathes out, and I want so badly to kiss her. It’s the perfect time. And I think she’ll let me. Maybe even kiss me back. But I don’t get a chance. I hesitate a beat too long, and her phone rings, breaking our stare.
She blinks, I blink, and poof, the moment’s gone.
The name Holden flashes on her phone, and she’s quick to answer, panic evident in her tone when she says his name, followed by, “What’s wrong?”
It’s five thirty in the morning, and there is no reason to be calling unless—
“Wait. Slow down.”
My eyes narrow, questioning, while she holds a finger to her ear as if doing so will help her hear clearer. Useless, because there’s nothing but silence around us.
“Hang on.” She moves around, her phone pressed tight to her ear. “The service is so bad here. Give me, like, ten minutes, and I’ll call you back.” She hangs up a second later, her eyes frantic. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”
We rush home, and as soon as we’re back through the gates, she drops her bike and pulls out her phone. I want to wait with her to make sure she’s okay, but she assures me she’ll be fine, that she just needs to talk to him.
Alone.
Whatever is said, it’s enough to make her not show up the next morning.
Or the five mornings after that.
I never see her during that time, and she doesn’t return my calls or texts.
And still, every morning at four thirty, I sit, waiting.
Forgotten,
abandoned,
discarded.
Chapter Nine
Leo
On the sixth day of no Mia, I find myself on the couch, half concentrating on playing a video game with Logan, Lucas, and Garray (Luke’s best friend), while Laney sits on the floor, knitting something probably meant for Lucas that I’m sure he won’t appreciate.
The twins are in the yard, filming something on an old video camera they’d found, and Lachlan’s in the kitchen with Virginia.