✓ [18+] A THOUSAND MILES FROM NOWHERE

IX. All Great Minds Think A Like

"Actually it's pretty serious. We've been dating for the last two years," she beams at me with pride. I think the longest relationship Heather ever had was maybe a month tops. It's not that she was easy, she just wasn't into commitment at the time. She enjoyed life too much to be settled down. That's perfectly okay. I'll admit I had a few noncommittal relationships in college. Mostly because I was still in love with Nate and couldn't move on with anyone.

"Wow! Well I'm proud of you Hev. It's about time you settled your ass down," I grin at her teasingly.

"So what about you? Anyone special in your life?" she props her elbows on the table, cupping her face in wonder.

"No, there's no one," I shyly smile, avoiding her gaze.

"Oh come on Bex you can't tell me you've been single the last eight years since you've left," she jokes. No I haven't. I was actually in a very serious long-term relationship Heather but you will never find out about that either.

"There were a few boyfriends here and there but no one serious," I shrug and take another sip of my coffee as I play with the straw wrapper laying on the table.

"Mmhmm," she hums and looks at me suspiciously.

"So I heard about what you did to Nate the other day," she begins with a huge grin. Oh God, here it comes.

"I'm actually shocked it wasn't worse than it was. I expected almost ten years of pint up anger would be a lot more violent than a punch to the gut," she jokes and tilts her head back in laughter. I smirk to myself but I don't engage with her in laughter. When she looks at me, she calms herself down and grabs my hand.

"You know what? We should totally go out tonight. Yeah, let's go into town and go clubbing. Isn't that the kind of stuff you do in California?" she grins with excitement.

"Umm, I don't know," I begin but someone catches my eye coming out of the familiar antique store a few shops down. It's Heather and Nate's mom, Maria Daniels. She catches my gaze and instantly beams with excitement. Walking over, she squeals at me just like Heather did. Heather looks over her shoulder at her mom and giggles.

"Oh my God if it isn't my favorite other daughter," she opens her arms wide and I stand to embrace her in a tight hug. Oh how I've missed this woman. She's always been like a second mom to me growing up and after Mom passed away, she really stepped up to make sure I had a mother figure in my life.

"Oh sweet thing how have you been? Look at you! You're absolutely stunning! That California sun did wonders for your skin. Up here in the northern states it's harder to get a good tan," she playfully nudges my arm with a smile while she compliments me. It is true though, my skin tone is a lighter tan but out in California when I was out in the sun a lot, I got extremely tan. Many times people would assume I was Latina.

"Thank you, you look good yourself Maria. I love your hair. It's so pretty," I grab a piece of her long beach waves in between my fingers. Last time I saw her, her hair was shorter and always up in a ponytail.

"Aww thank you baby. I love your hair too. The shorter hair looks good on you. It's similar to Hev's," she smiles and gently grabs a piece of Heathers hair to compare.

"What can I say Mom, great minds think a like," she smiles up at me and sticks her tongue out.

Great minds think a like use to be our saying with each other all the time as teenagers. Every time I trimmed my hair, she'd trimmed hers or if I got a new shirt, she got the same one. All of this being done without telling the other. It was freaky to others a lot of the time. We even made a joke once that we'd probably get pregnant at the same time without realizing it.