When Hands Touch

10. cereal

CHAPTER TEN

CEREAL

—

"Why aren't you complaining?"

Milo glanced at Lia, hand shoved into the cereal box from which he was shovelling dry cereal into his mouth. When a metallic taste filled his mouth, he winced in pain. Ow, I think I bit my tongue.

"What?"

Huffing, Lia rummaged through Milo's closet, until she found an old beanie of his, one that he hadn't worn in over three years. "Can I keep this? It's cute."

"It's not even cold outside," Milo stated, munching on his cereal. "But yeah, keep it if you want."

Lia cheered in triumph, securely placing the beanie on her head. "Anyway. How come you're not complaining about how horrible Xen is, and how you'd rather get impaled in the eyes than look at him? You didn't even try to get out of the dinner."

Milo grunted, frowning when his hand hit the bottom of the cereal box. Did I just finish this whole thing by myself? What if I'm not hungry enough for dinner? Ugh. "Because I realised that he's not that bad. He's actually really— he's nice. And the food is— don't touch that, it's for my art portfolio. The food is immaculate," he justified, kissing his fingers and tossing them dramatically away from his lips.

"Whatever, I guess. Dad's waiting downstairs, by the way, so get your ass up," Lia ordered, tossing a maroon jumper at Milo. "Wear this. It's nicer than the shit that you're wearing right now."

Pouting, Milo complied anyway, mostly because he trusted her judgement a little more than his own.

"How come you get to skip out on the dinner today, huh?" he questioned, switching out the black turtleneck for the jumper Lia had handed him. Or thrown at him, more like.

"Because I have actual work to do," she countered. "My friends are coming over for a sleepover, by the way." Before Milo could open his mouth to speak, she cut him off. "I asked Dad, don't bother complaining. Now go! He's waiting!"

Milo rushed downstairs, giving his dad an apologetic smile when he saw the impatience plastered on his face. Once they were in the car, Milo got into his usual position in the backseat, with his dad in the front, driving.

"No complaints today?"

Milo rolled his eyes jokingly at his dad, letting out a small huff. "Am I really that—"

"Yes."

"Well, fuck."

"Milo."

Sorry! Sorry," Milo sputtered out, cringing at his own words. While his dad had become more open and understanding after the whole drug addiction debacle with his mom, he still never swore, or let him swear. Which was a real task, considering Milo swore in every other sentence.

Milo apologised once more, before saying, "Anyway. Xen's helping me with English! I wouldn't say he's tutoring me, but yeah. I realised that he's not as bad of a person as I thought he was."

His dad just sighed in disappointment. "What did I tell you? You just assumed he was a bad person because he looks mean."

"He sounded mean for a while! He used to keep telling me to shut the fu— sorry— shut up and study, because I was annoying!"

"You are annoying, Milo," his dad reminded jokingly, looking at Milo through the rearview mirror. "Only sometimes," he added when he saw Milo's lips pull downward into a pout.