Miles (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 23

"Hey, Mom," I tell her as I lean forward, setting my forehead against my boyfriend's chest as he starts to rub my shoulders to take the tension out of them. I let my eyes flutter closed as tingles run through my whole body at the release of stress that're due to his hands.

"You got laid off?" She blurts out and I pick my head up in shock before looking at my sister, who definitely told our mom once she heard about my job. I let out a sigh, pushing Julian back so I could jump off the counter before leaving the kitchen and going down the hallway. I look at the sliding door that held the formal living room and I slide it open since it would probably give me some privacy to talk to my mother. I glance at the picture that made Julian never come in this room because it was a constant reminder of his friend's betraying him when Stigma first started.

I sit down on the comfortable couch, leaning on my elbow that was pressed against my knee. "Did Ivy tell you?"

"Yes, she just texted me. Why didn't you tell me?" She asks and I can hear the worry and anger present in her voice as I let out a sigh, wishing I had called my mom as soon as this happened. I shouldn't have let her worry yesterday by not answering her texts because she obviously knew something was going to happen when I left for Mia's, but I was too worried about myself to talk to anyone about it.

"Mom, I'm so sorry. I really should've told you first. I just... I didn't handle it well. I fucked up and I'm sorry," I whisper to her, feeling extremely guilty for not telling the one woman that has always believed in me. The woman that helped me get through college and was so excited for me to get this job. The woman that would've supported me the minute I told her about this. I should've gotten my head out of my ass and just given her a call. She really could've helped me.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice softening when she hears my guilt.

"Budget cuts. Since I'm not essential staff, I was one of the first people to get laid off. I just, I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I think I got too entitled when I got this job right out of college and I wasn't entirely grateful for it until it wasn't mine anymore," I whisper, realizing my mistakes when I first got this job. I was a new college graduate and I was confident, so when I got this job offer, it fueled my ego more than it should've and that essentially is why I'm so hurt now. I was too confident and thought that someone else thought that I was so good that they needed me.

"You see your mistakes now, Mila, and you'll never make them again because the only thing you can do now is to learn from them. You move on because that's what you have to do. You'll find many more job opportunities from now until the end of your life and this is just one of them that fell through, but that's okay. You learn and you grow, so we'll start looking right away," she tells me, making me feel immensely better about everything like she usually did whenever something major happened.

"Thank you, Mom, seriously, you're really awesome," I remind her and she laughs a bit as I lean back on the comfortable couch, trying to not focus on what the future will look like and just focus on right now.

"Well, I kinda have to be pretty awesome to deal with you and your high maintenance sister," she jokes, making me chuckle as I run a hand through my hair.

"I'll tell her you said that," I joke back before she scoffs through the phone.

"Oh, she already knows she's high maintenance and spoiled, just like you were when you were a teenager," she says, making me scoff in disagreement. 

"I wasn't too bad," I try to say, but she just chuckles in response. Once her laughter dies down, she clears her throat as I sit back against the couch. 

"Do me a favor and don't let her and Jonah do anything she'll regret. She's just a teenager and I don't even know this boy yet," she says with worry. I know that she's a very protective mother when it came to relationships, but once she liked someone, she liked them. That's why she had no problems with Julian since she got the chance to know him before him and I even started this relationship.