What if he did?
What if he did?
"A date?" She asked in surprise, standing in front of her door and not giving him a chance to go inside. He had noticed it. Whenever he went to her door, she opened it only a little, not giving him a chance to look in talk more of going inside.
Why was she being so distant? He wondered.
Mira had made Mia a bit worried after their discussion. She had told her that now that she was dating Leo and also lived in the same house, something was bound to happen eventually and had warned her to be careful if she didn't want it to happen just yet. Mia wasn't sure she was ready to cross that bridge for now so the best thing was not to let him inside.
Things had happened between them a couple of times inside her room. She couldn't take any chances now.
"Yes and... I have a surprise for you." He said with a mischievous smile that made her curious.
"Surprise? I'm not sure I like surprises. Tell me about it."
"If I tell you about it, then it is no longer a surprise. This evening, are you in?"
Mia chewed her lips as she contemplated it. "She had to meet with Mr B this evening since they had rehearsals, but she wanted to speak with him before the time of rehearsals."
"What? You already have plans?" He asked with a disappointed frown.
"No, it's fine. Let's do it." She said with a smile which he returned.
"Great! I may not be in when you return so just get ready and wait for me."
Mia bobbed her head up and down obediently. 'She's adorable.' He said in his head and was about to go plant a kiss on her head, it was just then that Mia's pen fell on the floor and she bent down immediately. Leo's lips was left puckered, kissing the air while Mia who was getting up mistakenly jammed her head into his stomach causing him to jump back and whimper from the impact.
Mia raised her head to look at him, oblivious to what had just happened. "Did I hurt you?" She asked, wondering when the distance between them reduced.
"N--o" He said with an awkward smile and Mia nodded. He moved closer again but Mia smiled sheepishly at him before returning inside her room and closing the door in his face. She believed they were done with their conversation and remembered she had left a textbook inside her room so she went to retrieve it.
Leo watched her door in disbelief and raised his fist to punch the air out of frustration.
She opened the door again and saw him behaving weirdly so he cleared his throat and returned to his room with flushed cheeks, feeling very embarrassed.
Mia suppressed a laugh as she head for the door and left the house but not without calling Mr B to reschedule the time for their meeting.
*********
"You look better." Mia said with a smile when she met Jeremy in class and sat beside him.
"I regret it." He hissed.
"Why?" She asked in confusion. Why would he regret getting better?
Jeremy moved closer to whisper into her ears. "You won't believe this, but Chloe gave me all of her attention. She even fed me and helped me brush my hair." He said and moved away so she could see the smug smile on his face, but Mia could see how sad his eyes looked.
"Really?" Mia asked in surprise and was about to turn to look at Chloe when he stopped her immediately.
"Don't look at her. She's going to know I'm talking about her."
"So...are you both almost at the stage of dating?" Mia asked curiously making Jeremy sigh.
He remembered how Chloe had told him he was going to get heartbroken, and had warned him a several times to stop liking her like it was something he could do on his own.
"I think her family controls everything she does. Apparently, she cannot date someone like... me." He said with a sad smile which made Mia's countenance change. Firstly, she was sad for Jeremy, secondly, they were talking about the same family whose son she was dating.
"I mean, Leo still tried for you right? You guys are dating now right?"
Mia nodded slowly and saw his eyes widen slightly in surprise.
"She's not even giving any chance to get to know me, to like me. She's always so... prim." He hissed before taking out a printed material from inside his backpack.
"What are you doing?" Mia asked in surprise when she saw him flipping through the pages like he was studying.
"Studying. Obviously!"
Seeing him study, Mia could tell he really wasn't in a good mood.
After classes ended for the day, Mia stood up to leave when Jeremy pulled her back.
"Hold on, let me get my things. I am going with you." He said as he stood up and began to place his writing materials inside his backpack.
"Going with me? Why?" She suddenly thought of something and asked him. "You think Benjamin is going to approach me?"
"He wouldn't dare seeing all the people around you, but let's not take chances. I'll go with you. We live in the same neighbourhood anyway."
"What about her?" Mia asked, looking at Chloe's direction.
Jeremy looked at Chloe who was placing her things inside her handbag before she stood up. She looked at the direction and immediately her eyes locked with Jeremy's, she looked away and looked at Mia instead. She nodded briefly as a form of acknowledgment before walking away.
"Did you both quarrel?" Mia asked him curiously. She couldn't understand why they usually hang out outside of school but pretend not to know each other in school.
Jeremy had already accepted that their relationship was going to remain like this so he didn't say anything. He gathered his things and left the class together with Mia.
Since the neighbourhood wasn't far from the school and the weather was fair, they both walked and talked about random things.
Once Mia showed him where she lived with Leo, they waved at each other and he left for his apartment while Mia went to freshen up and get dressed. Just as Leo had said in the morning, he wasn't in.
She looked at his door with a smile on her face when she came out of her room, this whole relationship stuff was a bit awkward and new to her, but she was going to have to open her mind to it. It wasn't like she had anything to lose.
Mia placed a call across to Mr B to remind him that it was almost time for their meeting and he promised to meet her in the next thirty, so she went to the cafe they had planned to meet and waited until he arrived.
"Whatever you have to say must be really important right?" Mr B asked Mia immediately he sat down across Mia.
"Yes." She answered with a quick nod.
He narrowed his eyes to look at her. He hoped whatever she wanted to say wasn't going to affect the team. That was the most important thing to him.
"The new dancer, Benjamin...."
"What about him?" Mr B asked her curiously.
"Where did you meet him? How did he suddenly join the team?"
Mr B raised a confused brow at her, wondering why she was suddenly asking.
"I really want to know." She said in a eager tone.
"Paul introduced him to me."
Paul was the lead dancer Mia had always danced with, but he could not participate in this competition because according to him, something came up at his home.
"Paul mentioned he couldn't dance because.. you already know, his sister is sick. It got me really worried until he showed me a video of a guy dancing, saying the guy was looking for a team to join for fun, not really interested in the money to be won, so I asked for him and that's it!" He explained quickly.
Mia began to think deeply. Was it possible it was all just a coincidence? She doubted it.
"Is something wrong?" Mr B asked out of concern.
"I can't dance with Benjamin." Mia blurted out, making him sigh and run a hand around his hair roughly.
"We already talked about this before, Mia. You can't just pull out now. The competition is just about to start!" He said in a stern voice while trying to keep his temper in check.
"I am not comfortable with Benjamin."
"This is not about your comfort!" He snapped. "This is thousands of dollars we are talking about right now and also our future. It's just for a few nights goddamnit!" He hit the table angrily, drawing the attention of most of the diners.
"I even lent you my last cash just to keep you. Can't you see how desperate I am? This is for all of us. Are you willing to shatter all our plans just because of your comfort?"
"Mr B—"
"Mia Lucas... you already promised me." He said tenderly.
"Why aren't you even asking me why I am not comfortable with him!?" It was Mia's turn to snap at him angrily.
"And why the hell can't you dance with him?" He asked in a raised voice showing how pissed he was.
"He... he kiss-ed me... against my wish" Mia said in a quiet voice, swallowing hard. It was embarrassing saying it, but if it was going to get Mr B to send Benjamin away, then she had to tell him the truth so it wouldn't seem like she was being unreasonable.
Mr B snorted.
"So? What if he did?" He asked, startling Mia who looked at him in disbelief. "We are talking about thousands of dollars, why are you bothered about a stupid kiss?"