Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY - UNEXPECTED GUEST

"Everyone," she announced, "this is my boyfriend Justin."

I looked at her, shocked. Mia had a boyfriend? A boyfriend that was serious enough to bring home? I looked him over from head to toe. He wasn't bad looking, either. In fact, he was the complete opposite of bad looking. His golden brown hair was short and flipped up in the front. His eyes were a pretty light blue. He had a small amount of facial hair on his upper lip and chin, but it was well kept in an attractive way. Heck, even his jawline was attractive. His shoulders were broad and, when he took off his jacket, muscles popped through the sleeves on his t-shirt. I also spotted an anchor tattoo on his right arm.

"Hi," he said, holding out his hand for me to shake. Man, his voice was yummy, too! "You must be Aria."

I shook his hand and tried not to stare too much at this beautiful creature that had just entered my house.

When he went over to shake my mother's hand, I walked over to Mia. "You did good," I whispered in her ear. She laughed quietly and grinned at me.

"I take it that Mia didn't tell you that I was coming," he was saying. "I told her that she should, but she was dead set on it being a surprise."

"Uh, that's alright," my mother said, also caught off-guard at our unexpected guest. "We have room. You can stay in our guest room."

He smiled and nodded. "Thank you, ma'am."

My mom led Justin to where he would be staying. As soon as they were out of earshot, I whacked Mia on the side of her head. She looked at me, appalled.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," she said defensively. "Literally the only person that knew was Riley."

"How long has this been going on?" I pestered.

"Since school first started up," she said grinning. "I actually really like this one, Ar."

The back door swung open and Lorelai came running in, her eyes glued to her phone in her hands.

"So I just received a particularly interesting piece of information..." she started before looking up and seeing Mia. "Mia!!" she exclaimed, running to my sister and hugging her. "You're home!"

Mia hugged her back. "Hey, kid! What's shakin'?"

Lorelai put her phone back in her pocket. "Nothing important," she said. "When did you get back?"

Mia laughed. "A whole five minutes ago."

"And she's not alone," I chimed in.

Lorelai raised her eyebrow. "Whaddaya mean?"

As if on cue, Justin and my mom walked back in the room.

"Justin," Mia said, "this is my neighbor Lorelai."

Justin smiled and offered his hand to her. "Nice to meet you," he said politely.

Lorelai stood staring at him, her mouth gaping open. I shoved her to break her daze.

"Oh, um, hi. Hey. Nice to meet you," she stuttered, taking his hand and shaking it, slightly embarrassed.

Justin laughed at her hesitation. "I don't bite, trust me."

Lorelai blushed deeply. "Sorry," she said, embarrassed.

Mia laughed out loud at the awkwardness. "C'mon Justin. Let's go get the rest of our stuff out of the car."

"You got a rental car?" Lorelai asked, confused.

Mia shook her head. "Mrs. Bovino picked us up with Riley," she explained. She and Justin walked out to the car.