Spinning the bottle

Chapter twenty-two

HARPERS POINT OF VIEW

The past few days have felt like an actual bliss. Everything was good between me and Mia. Of course, we still had to pretend we were just friends at school but I decided that that wasn't gonna bother me anymore. It didn't matter what other people thought, because I'd have her.

I've always been the romantic type. The one to buy flowers, to plan dates and surprises, even when I was with Liam. Now, it was a challenge to be my usual romantic self because I didn't want anybody to see it. Luckily, I'm not usually the one to run away from a challenge. Which meant that the flowers turned into sweet texts during the day, the surprises into love notes in Mia's lockers and the dates at locations nobody will know us.

What I needed now though, was a moment for just the two of us where we didn't have to pretend. So I invited Mia over for dinner, since my parents know the full story and promised not to tell anyone. I have always been so lucky to have them as my parents and that they fully support me. We would eat pasta for dinner, as a reminder of our first date. See, still some romance involved.

The day went on as usual. The reason behind it may not have been great, but I did enjoy me and Alex becoming closer again. We used to be best friends, but that was before I met Mia and the two of us grew inseparable. Alex and I just outgrew each other, which was fine, but now we found our way back to one another. I liked it.

The classes I didn't share with Mia, I sat next to Alex and we chatted about everything. I noticed Mia giving us a few side eyes during lunch time because for an outsider it might look like Alex is flirting with me. But that wasn't the case, he was just being a nice and good friend to me, something I really appreciated.

I did see it really bothered Mia that Alex and I were so close again, so whenever Alex took a step towards me, I took a small step back so we wouldn't stand too close to each other. Sometimes it looked like he didn't really get the memo, because he would just take a step towards me again, but I was sure he didn't mean anything by it.

When classes were over, Mia and I made our way towards my house. On our way, Mia turned to me and asked:

"Are you sure your parents don't hate me?"

I giggled a bit, but I could see Mia was serious so I responded:

"Of course they don't hate you, how could they ever hate someone that makes their daughter so happy?"

Even though I could see Mia's face light up a bit, there was still some doubt.

"You talked to your dad about the situation right, when I made you feel so miserable. They know I have hurt you in the past and I don't know if they forgave me for it."

I saw guilt wash over Mia's face and I took her hands in mine.

"As you said, it is in the past. My parents don't hold any grudges towards you or whatsoever. I think the more important question is whether you forgave yourself for it."

Mia shook her head lightly.

"I don't think I did. I hope I made up for it a bit these past few weeks but I still feel horrible about it when I think about it. It might take a while for me to fully understand that nobody is angry at me."

I held onto Mia even more tightly.

"I understand and that's totally valid. Good thing we have all the time in the world, because I am not going anywhere."

If we weren't in public, we would have kissed right there. But we were and even if we wouldn't have been a secret I'm not the biggest fan of making out in front of everybody either way.