Two Broken Souls

chapter twenty-six

Harry POV

After Mia's appointment with Dr. Vaughn ended, she was free to go. My mother had left to go and pick my siblings up from school, while Mia and I just talked for hours.

I could tell that she just wanted a distraction and for her head to be cleared. So we just talked while I drove around town and we somehow made it into East Rivers.

It's close to midnight. I've been driving for about an hour when I pull off the highway to stop at a tiny diner that was advertised on a billboard near the exit.

Mia's been sleeping for the last thirty minutes and she slowly wakes up as I park the car. I was glad that I didn't have to shake her awake. I didn't want to disrupt her.

She rubs his eyes making them redder. "Where are we?" Her voice was rough.

"I thought it'd be good if you ate something before I dropped you off at home." I told her.

I give her a half-moon smile and my heart feels like it's being strangled. The two of us glance out the windshield as rain pours down from the sky, and off in the distance, we hear thunder rumble.

"Good idea," she says as she steps out of the car.

We walk slowly into the diner and get seated at a booth in the back. Mia looks at the menu and I find myself staring at her. She catches me and I drop my eyes, reading the crepe choices over and over again. I pretend to be really interested in the difference between the chocolate or the vanilla choices.

When I'm sure she's not looking at me, I sneak another glance. Her hair is slightly damp due to the rainwater. And since she is wearing a black shirt you wouldn't be able to tell that it's wet from a distance.

I go back to silently staring at my menu. I can't think about any of that right now. Our waitress comes over to the table and takes our order. Two eggs, bacon, and toast for me and a chocolate crepe with strawberries for Mia.

The waitress is probably around my mom's age, but her hands are much more wrinkled and her face has a lot more meat. Her hair has clearly been dyed blond because the roots are dark and greasy.

"Good choices," she says with a smile as she scribbles our order down on her notepad. "Y'all are a cute couple, you know that? I bet you get that all the time. Anyway, I'll be back soon with your food."

Before either one of us can correct her, she walks away. I pick at the booth seat's cushion, which is splitting down the middle and oozing fabric stuffing.

Our waitress returns quicker than I expect, which always makes me nervous about the food. Then again, we're eating breakfast in the at a run down diner, so I guess the quality of the food is pretty much already established.

I am starving by the time our food arrive that I shovel my bacon into my mouth. Mia, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have much of an appetites. Since she got her food all she did was push it around her plate making little scratches on the dull white surface with her fork.

"Can I ask you something?" Mia says while I'm in between chews.

"Sure." I take a gulp of the tap water the waitress brought us. "Only if I get to ask you something as well." She nodded agreeing to the terms.

"Do you believe in soulmates?" She asked. Which came out of left field. 

Mia and I have talked about our feelings but we've never talked about our romantic feelings towards one another.

I pause and study her face for a second. Her deep-set hazel eyes have brightened since eating and she looks genuinely curious. I tilt my head down so I can stare at the metallic tabletop instead of her face.

She picked up her water and took a sip. "So does this mean you're not going to tell me?"

I don't look at her. I close my eyes for a second. "I believe that soulmates exist, but I don't think that there is one person for everyone." I answered truthfully.

There are more than seven billion people on the planet. I am a firm believer that you are not destined to only have one person to be with for the rest of your life.

That goes for romantic relationships as well as friendships because people grow apart and that's okay. I think that there is a soulmate for you during certain times of ones life. Like a high school soulmate, a college soulmate, and even a soulmate when your sixty years old after the first one dies.

I mean look at my mother, I know her and my father had a love fueled marriage. And now with Richard. I don't know how much more she loved him than my father.

"Do you think, you'll ever get married?" I ask her.

I'm curious about her answer. I want to hear so many things from her. I want to hear about all her hopes and dreams that she has for herself because she deserves to live a life still.

Maybe she'll tell me that she dreams of being a mother one day or maybe she'll tell me that the one place that she wants to visit in the world is Paris.

She picks up her fork and finally takes a real bite of her food. "No." she says it so confidently too. Like she doesn't think that she's even capable of love. "I mean look at my parents they thought they loved each other and now they hate each other." She not looking at me, but she seems to be in deep thought.

After a few minutes, our waitress comes back. "How is everything?" She asked.

"It's great." I answer.

Mia looks up at me and she is clenching her fork. "Do you think that love exists?"

How do you know what love feels like? Because here I am sitting in front of Mia and I think I might love her, but I'm not too sure. I don't have anything to compare it too.

I'll admit, in the beginning she intrigued me because I thought she could give me the answers about my fathers suicide, but I've learned that it is so much more complained than anyone can explain.

"I think I might love you," I tell her before I even realize what I've said.

She pauses for a slight second and I could've sworn I saw a small smile tug at her lips. I silently pray that she says it back.

But then, she shakes her head. "You don't mean that."

"I do." I reach forward to hold her hand, but she pulls back.

"Harry," she said my name and she looked a me, almost with pity in her eyes. "You can't fix me, because I am not broken."

"I know that."

"I don't think you do because love cannot fix a mental illness."

Have I been completely wrong these last few month?I can't lie, if I wasn't certain before, I am now. I do love her. I'm not trying to fix her. My chest feels tight and all I want to do is hold Mia, but she just rejected me.

"I'd like to go home now." She isn't looking at me, but the table.