Key To My Heart || Slugterra

08| Slugs

Mia and I laughed, but quickly put our hands over our mouths to silence ourselves. Pronto, however, didn't notice anything and started caressing his moustache. A grin slowly surfaced on his lavender face.

"Yes... Yes, you're right! Pronto the magnificent should not be wasting his priceless brilliance on preparing various cuisines for peasants like you! From tomorrow onwards, Pronto shall retire from being the incredible chef of the Shane Gang and pass the baton to our newbies."

Mia laughed with pure joy. "Of course, your majesty," she said. Kord was so relieved. He placed a hand on his chest where his heart is while looking at Mia and I, and mouthed a 'thank you'.

"You're retiring?" Eli questioned with suppressed excitement in his tone as he walked down the stairs.

"Yes, you peasants don't deserve Pronto's magnificent dishes!" Pronto claimed. "A word of advice from the Almighty Pronto himself, do cherish this meal, because you will not have the opportunity to enjoy fantastic food ever again!"

"Yes sir!" we said with relish as Eli sat beside me. He greeted me with a small smile, before digging in his plate. After returning the smile, my eyes naturally landed on Mia. Her smile, however, faltered, her appearance saddened.

Eli didn't even look at her.

I furrowed my brows, not exactly knowing what step to take next.

Should I tell Eli to sit beside Mia? No no no that would be too obvious! Should I move, then? But Eli would think that I dislike him! Arghh I don't know what to do-

"Eli!" Trixie yelled from behind us and we turned to face her. She was at the garage door, she just got back from running errands.

"Welcome back," Eli greeted as Trixie headed towards the group. "What's up?"

"Shoo go sit next to Mia," Trixie commanded, lightly pushing Eli away from me. "I want to sit next to Alessia."

"Huh?" Eli mumbled in confusion, scanning Trixie from head to toe, and then Mia and I. "Why can't you just sit with Mia? It's not like you can't talk to Ales from there? Did you and Mia get into a fight-"

"Just do it!" Trixie screamed as she shoved Eli, full-forced, so that he is now beside Mia. With a proud smile, Trixie sat on his original spot. Eli looked at Trixie perplexedly. Kord and Pronto exchanged a glance, and were intelligent enough to not question any further.

"Okay...?" Eli mumbled, and whispered something to Mia, which made her shrugged. Trixie covertly nudged at me, a proud smirk pasted on her face. I returned it with a faked smile.

Honestly, I was more than willing and happy to help Mia out, but deep down, something just did not feel right. We were trying to make Eli like Mia in a 'more than just friendly way', but love should not be forced like this, right?

Or am I just jealous?

Trixie cleared her throat, breaking the silence revolving in the room.

"So, any distress calls when I was gone?" she asked no one in particular.

"No," Eli replied. "It looks like Tad has been taking a long break from work."

"A skill he undeniably learned from Pronto!" Pronto commented.

"To be frank it is slightly concerning me," Kord said. "What if he's planning on something and we have no idea about it? He has been silent for more than a month!"

"Well, the last mission was the slug shipment mission, where we almost died by the way," Trixie said and let out a small giggle. "But other than that, it really does look like Tad is on a holiday."