Mia's POV.......
I feel an instant smile on my face as I look at the my home.....my real home. It's been just few minutes since I arrived here, in Boston.
Home sweet home.....
A part of me feels really happy to be home.
I walk towards the front door and press the door bell.
The door opens shortly after.
"Mia!!!!" My mom screams in excitement.
"Mom!!!!" I scream back in the same manner before bumping into my mom for a wonderful hug.
"Oh my sweetheart!! I've missed you so much." My mom says.
"Me too." I say.
We pull away from the hug.
"Come on, let's get inside." My mom says.
"Sure" I say.
We enter into the house.
"You've grown so much. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages." My mom says.
"I know, right?"
"How about your friends? Didn't they come with you or have they gone to their houses?" My mom asks.
Hearing that, my smile melts a little.
Y'all know why.
"Well....they're still there in LA. They'll be coming to Boston by weekend." I say.
"Oh....I see. I thought you guys would come together." Mom says.
"We were supposed to but they....."
I hear slightly heavy footsteps descending from the stairs, interrupting what I'm saying.
I look up and see a tall, light-skin brown, handsome young man. He looks like he may probably be few years older than my mom or the same age with my mom.
Who is he?
"Hello there. You must be Mia." The man says.
"Uh....Mia.....this is Colin Richards, Colin meet my one and only daughter, Mia." Mom introduces.
"Nice to finally meet you, Mia. Your mom tells me a lot about you." Mr. Richards says.
"She does?" I ask, still in confusion of who this man is.
"Yes. You're really as pretty as your mom." Mr. Richards says.
"Okay.....Colin. Mia, I can tell you're wondering who he is. Well....Colin is...uh....he is someone I'm seeing."
What?
"Mom, you have a boyfriend?" I ask wide-eyed.
"I...umm....yeah. You can call it that. I'm gonna explain everything else to you but first you need to go to your room, get rid of your luggage, have a nice shower and come back down for lunch. I made you your favorite meal like I promised, spinach chicken casserole." My mom says.
"Okay. Nice to meet you, Mr. Richards. I look forward to getting to know you as soon as I'm done carrying out the instructions my mom has just given me." I say playfully.
"Sure. I look forward to getting to know more about you." Mr. Richards says with a smile.
I return the smile.
"Now, go and do what you must. Lunch will be ready soon." My mom says.
"Okay, mom. I'll be going to my room now." I say.
I start moving towards the stairs to go up to my room.
************************************
"Hey girl" I say to Amber over the phone.
I'm currently lying on the bed that I've missed so much.
I really can't believe it.
"Mia, how're you?"
"I'm cool"
"I got your text. I'm really glad you got there safely"
"Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't call. I've been so occupied with the mom's seemly unending conversation."
"She has missed her daughter so much. I can't imagine how excited your mom must be to have you back after a long time."
"Excited indeed. I'm excited too. I've a good news based on my mom but I'm gonna tell you when you get here."
"As long as it's a good news, I'm cool."
"You should hurry and come. My mom asked about you and Michelle and I told her you guys will be here by weekend."
"Oh...."
"Yep"
"What're we gonna do about Michelle? None of us have heard from her since after that night. We don't even know if she's still have plans for Boston."
"I don't know, Amber and I don't care either. If she's not coming to Boston anymore, it's her business. If she decides to show up, it's still her stuff."
"Well....I guess your current hatred for her is still at a peak. I don't blame you for that. It may be the same for me if I were the one she did what she did to. Speaking of, Jace showed up here, earlier today."
What?
"Oh...."
"He came looking for you but then I told him that you were already on a flight to Boston. Given how sad he was after I told him that, he really wanted to see you."
I utter no word.
"Have you returned his calls? He said he called you a few times."
He really did.....
"No, I haven't."
"I thought as much. Well....like I told you before, I'm not gonna say anything else to you concerning your relationship with Jace. I think I've said everything I need to. It's left for you to decide what to do. All I can tell you is to be sure of whatever decision you make."
"And one more thing, he left me a message....for you. He said I should let you know that he's never giving up on you, not just yet. I'm supposed to let you know of this message when I get to Boston but I don't feel like waiting that long to tell you about it."
"Okay"
"Gonna go now. I've to make myself dinner 'cause I'm starving."
"Sure. I'm gonna leave you now so you won't starve to death."
"Good for you 'cause I'm definitely gonna haunt you if that happens."
I chuckle lightly, so does Amber.
"Good night, Amber."
"Night, Mia."
The call ends.
I did see like three missed calls from Jace but I don't know how to return them. If I decide to call Jace back, I don't think I'd know what to say to him. I really wanna talk to him but I just don't know how.
I keep staring at "Jace H❤️" on my phone screen, fighting the urge to click on the "call" symbol. That's what I saved his contact with. I had added the heart emoji after we started dating.
Maybe I should now take away the heart emoji....
I switch to the message app to try and text Jace but looking at his name just makes my fingers suddenly numb.
Letting out a sigh, I drop my phone and roll on my bed, to look up to the white celling.
What the hell am I gonna do?
What the hell am I doing?
************************************
Jace's POV......
I'm lying on my bed, deep in thoughts....thoughts about my relationship with Mia.
Mia still haven't returned my calls.
Is this really the end of us?
No, Jace....it can't be..
The ringing of my phone snaps me outta my thoughts.
I reach for my phone that's just beside me, on the bed.
It's Amber.
"Hello, Amber." I say after picking up.
"Hey, Jace." Amber says over the phone.
"Umm....how're you doing?"
"I'm good. I just got off the phone with Mia. She got to Boston safely."
"Okay, that's good. Thanks for letting me know."
"You're welcome."
I've no other thing to say.
"Still haven't returned your calls I guess?"
"What?"
"I mean Mia."
I know exactly what she means.
"Oh.....well....yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh....no, don't be. It's fine."
"I'll see if I can try and talk to her."
"No, it's really fine. You don't need to do that. Thanks though."
"Okay then, have a good night."
"You too."
The call ends.
Looking at my phone screen, I see "Mia💖❤️" on my call history. I scroll up to see more of it.
I don't know what more I can do to gain Mia's attention. It would've been better if she hadn't left for Boston when I came running to her apartment this morning. I've no idea how I can reach out to her now.
Should I try calling again since Amber said she got off the phone with her?
She should still be with her phone now, right?
I thought with the urge to click on the "call" icon.
No, I shouldn't.....
Mia may find it disturbing....
Gosh! This is so infuriating!!
I drop my phone back on the bed and let out a heavy sigh.
God, I need my girlfriend back to me...
************************************
Michelle's POV......
"Michelle? What're you doing here?" Amber asks after she opened the door.
After a pretty long time of feeling guilty for betraying my best friend for no good reason, I decided to pull myself together to set things right.
That's why I'm right here, in front this apartment myself and my friends share or shared 'cause I've been crashing at Caleb's place since after the night I was found out.
"Amber, how....how're you doing? I know I shouldn't be here but I'm only here to correct my mistakes. I need to speak to both you and Mia....." I say.
"Come in." Amber says.
"Okay.....thanks." I say.
I enter into the apartment.
"Sit down." Amber says.
I do as she said.
She sits on the couch beside me.
"What about Mia?" I ask.
"Mia is currently in Boston. She left the day before yesterday." Amber says.
What?
"Wha.....why?" I ask.
"She's to visit her father's grave with her mother tomorrow." Amber says.
"Oh....I...I...thought I could see her and apologize for what I did." I say.
"Where the hell have you been, Michelle?" Amber asks coldly.
"I....uh....Caleb's place. I've been crashing there for a while now." I say.
"You mean since after that night." Amber says.
"Yeah....since after that night." I say.
"Why did you run away like that?" Amber asks.
"I didn't run awa....."
"That's exactly what you did. You didn't even care to send word to anyone....just took off." Amber says.
"It didn't seem like anyone cared wherever I was." I say.
"Are you gonna deny that I called you later that night and even the day after and you didn't answer any." Amber says.
"That was....that was because I was ashamed and angry at myself. I realized that I had done such a terrible thing and I hated myself instantly." I say.
"You still should've just picked my calls. Mia may not have cared about your whereabout and you can't blame her for that, but I cared even though I didn't want to after what you did." Amber says.
I let out a light sigh.
"When did you find out....about my feelings for Mia?" I ask.
"First semester, sophomore year." Amber says.
"How did you find out?" I ask.
"Just by observing few things like the way you look at her and other stuffs that clearly confirms one's interest in another." Amber says.
"Why did you pretend like you didn't know anything about it?" I ask.
"Because I didn't wanna believe. I thought maybe I'm thinking about it the wrong way, that it's not possible. I chose not to take it seriously. That was till that night you came out, in the most horrible way. When and how did you find out that I know?" Amber asks.
"It's more like I got the feeling that you noticed and then some of your actions said it all. I can't seem to remember when I figured that out." I say.
"So.....when we were on the blind dates mission with Mia or for Mia, telling her to try out with girls, it had something to do with this, right?" Amber asks.
"Yeah. I thought that'd be an opportunity to figure out Mia's sexuality and I had wished the answer would be what I wanted." I say.
"Okay...." Amber says.
"Amber, you must know, this isn't what I want. I don't wanna be gay. I wanna be straight, I wanna date and fuck hot dudes, I wanna do everything straight people do. This isn't what I wanna be." I say.
"Really? Have you always wanted to be straight or are just realizing that now?" Amber asks.
"Back in high school, before I met Mia, me and my clique members bullied people that are not straight, especially me. I thought myself straight. I was really sad after I realized that I'm not as straight as I think I am and that was after I confirmed my feelings for Mia. I tried everything I could to remain a straight girl but I guess none worked." I say.
"That's because you didn't actually try not to be gay." Amber says.
"I don't understand." I say.
"Okay.....can you tell me how exactly you tried to remain straight?" Amber asks.
"Well....uh....I always make sure I'm dating a guy at every point in time, I flirt with lots of guys......"
"I'm gonna stop you right there. Michelle, you did nothing to stop the not-straight side of you from coming to the surface. You did absolutely nothing to stop that. What you mentioned as how you tried to remain straight is pointless. I'd even say it's unrelated except it is....in a very little way. Maybe you really wanted to prevent not being straight but you took the wrong approach. I remember you saying that you keep dating toxic guys to avoid falling in love, that's a very wrong approach. You're supposed to find every possible way to fall in love with a good guy. Maybe by the time it becomes a really deep relationship, you may forget that you ever had any unwanted feelings. Then you sabotaging Mia's relationship, that's even worse than a wrong approach. I must say, I didn't even see that one coming. Mia finally getting into a romantic relationship is supposed to be a headstart for you. When you see your ex happily dating another girl, what do you do or what're you supposed to do?" Amber asks.
"I don't know......move on?" I ask.
"Exactly, you move on 'cause your ex has moved on. That's what a normal person would do even though some wouldn't. Some would go as far as trying to ruin the relationship instead of moving on and that's exactly what you did. You said you had your hopes high because Mia wasn't dating anyone and that her mind was well occupied by the "don't trust guys" advice. When you saw that she has decided to give herself a break from that advice and try something different, you could've just stopped your daydreaming about being romantically involved with her especially after you've figured out that she's straight and can never not be straight. Ruining her relationship just for your selfish desire to have her only means you wanna be gay which you've just claimed you don't wanna be. Then....another really stupid approach, you didn't come out to anyone before that night." Amber says.
"Why bother coming out when you already know?" I ask.
"Well, I figured it out on my own but Mia couldn't." Amber says.
"You could've just told her." I say.
"I'm sorry? Am I supposed to be the one to come out for you?" Amber asks.
True....
"I was scared because this isn't what I wanna be. Amber, I bullied people for this same thing. I feel like a fucking hypocrite now." I say.
"You're a hypocrite now but it's not too late to change that. You can still try to return to being a straight girl.....for real this time." Amber says.
"How do I do that?" I ask
"I think you can answer that on your own." Says Amber.
"Okay....thank you. I'm really sorry for lying about the whole thing with Jordan. I was being really stupid that night."
"Yes, you were. I would've called you a fucking psycho. But, how do you happen to know everything about my relationship with Jordan?" Amber asks.
"Well....I was there the day your relationship started. If you can remember, I was making out with Caleb just few inches from where you and Jordan were sitting. I may have been getting it with Caleb but I was paying attention to what was happening. I heard you tell him that Mia wasn't into guys yet and I caught a glimpse of you seducing him." I say.
"Oh....I had no idea you noticed that." Amber says.
"And then.....about how you guys broke up, I might've gone to talk to Jordan after you came home crying about the break up. I wanted to know the reason why he'd break up with you like that and he told me everything." I say.
"Michelle!! Why'd you even do that?" Amber asks.
"I'm sorry....I...just....I couldn't help it. I was really pained about how much you were crying because of it so I did what I thought of at the moment. I'm really.....really sorry." I say.
"You shouldn't have done that. You're forgiven though, at least not to make things more difficult for you." Amber says.
"How?"
"You know, the main person you should be apologizing to is Mia 'cause what you did to her was nothing compared to what you did to me. She was badly hurt that she even fell ill the next morning from crying and lack of sleep." Amber says.
"Are you serious?" I ask, wide-eyed.
"Does it sound like I'm kidding? I had to feed her that morning because she was too weak to do so herself." Amber says.
"Shit!! What did I do?"
"What I'm trying to say is that with Mia's current state of mind, at least before she left for Boston, it may take a while before you earn her forgiveness. Mia is not a quick-to-forgive kinda person.....I mean, she is sometimes. I think it depends on your offense and maybe her mood. Looking back at how happy she was while dating Jace and how terrible she felt after all that happened, I don't know how easy it's gonna be to earn her forgiveness." Amber says.
"They're not broken up, are they? Mia and Jace." I say.
"I don't know for now. They don't talk to each other anymore. Mia wants to talk to Jace but she doesn't have the courage to because of something else that happened between them. She thinks Jace hates her now. On the other hand, Jace is desperate to speak to her but he can't reach out to her. Mia doesn't pick his calls. Something tells me they'll still get back together but how that'll happen, I've no idea." Amber says.
"I should figure out a way to get them back together since I'm the one who tore them apart at the first place." I say.
"How would you do that?" Amber asks.
"I said I'll figure it out but first, how do I reach Mia to apologize to her?" I ask.
"What do you think? We're going to Boston by weekend which is the day after tomorrow by the way. I already planned on going there on that day, like we had planned before.....the whole crisis." Amber says.
"Oh....I almost forgot we planned that."
"Now that you remember, go and settle everything you need to 'cause first thing Saturday morning, we're flying to Boston." Amber says.
"Okay. I don't really have much to settle I'm just gonna start packing little by little. Can I crash here at least till Saturday?" I ask.
"Crash? Girl, you live here. Just because you offended everyone and ran off like a scared little puppy, doesn't make you any less of a member of this household. We're gonna stay together and plan our Saturday travel." Amber says.
With a smile on my face, I move to where Amber is sitting and give her a big hug.
"Thank you so much, Amber, for accepting my apology. I didn't deserve it. I promise to be a better friend from this minute to whenever." I say.
"You're welcome, Michelle." Amber says.
We both chuckle.