on valentine's day, mia goes out with luke the doorman to get their nails done.
"i think i have a date tonight," says luke, lips pursed in thought as the nail lady paints a coat of black onto his almond shaped nails.
mia, sitting beside him, frowns with confusion. "you think?"
"well," he sighs. "there's this guy that wants to get dinner - rich business type. he's got gorgeous blue eyes..." luke shakes his head, almost like he's in a trance. "i'm a sucker for blue eyes."
"so why don't you go?" questions mia. her gaze shifts between her half-done nails and luke.
at this, luke seems almost embarrassed to answer. "i'm scared."
mia almost doesn't believe him at first. luke - the man who's always radiated confidence - says he's scared. "of what?"
"people," he says blankly. "i'm not exactly the normal mold, not that i ever cared about any of that, but it matters to some people. and this guy's important, y'know? he's someone."
"so are you," insists mia.
luke rolls his eyes disbelievingly. "i'm a doorman. a fabulously amazing one, but still."
"obviously if this guy likes you, he doesn't care about that," mia says. "so neither should you - just be yourself."
he looks at the brunette beside him with a mixture of realization and adoration. "i always knew you were my favorite. the day you and jenna moved into the apartment and i saw you carrying an entire box of alcohol, that was it."
mia grins. "yeah? did you think 'wow, one day i'm gonna give this girl pot brownies'?"
"okay that was an accident," tsks luke. he moves his hands in front of the small fan on the manicure desk to let his matte black nails dry. "i had made one batch normal and i thought those were the ones i gave you."
"mhm, sure," the black haired girl hums sarcastically in response.
"do you think i would just give away weed? that stuff isn't cheap, you know."
mia rolls her eyes, a small smile on her face. there's a buzz in the pocket of her sweatshirt that brings a hopeful twist to her stomach. using the hand that isn't being painted, she pulls out her phone and sees a new text from josh.
yoshua💕 : just got to the hotel & no show tonight so if you wanna facetime we can
yoshua💕: miss you lots xo
yoshua💕 : oh and also you look really good today
after her eyes scroll through the texts, mia takes a split second to decide what she wants to say before replying.
👑princess mia👑 : you haven't even seen me today
yoshua💕 : don't have to
yoshua💕 : you always look gr9
👑princess mia👑 : thanks dood
👑princess mia👑 : i can talk now just give me a sec
yoshua💕 : sick
she reaches into her purse and takes out her tangled up earbuds. after propping her phone up against the manicure desk, she plugs her earbuds into the phone and then calls josh.
he answers on the first call.
"hey!" greets the grinning boy, his vibrant pink hair in a wet, curly heap on his head. "what's up? what're you doing?"
"getting my nails done with luke," she replies lightly while waving one hand of rose gold painted nails at the camera.
josh makes an intrigued noise. "those look so pretty. oh! before i forget to say it - happy valentine's day."
mia smiles affectionately, her cheeks blushing. "happy valentine's day."
"i bought you some flowers, they should be getting there today. i made sure to get express shipping so that you'd have them today."
"that sounds expensive," she cringes, thinking of the cost for the overseas shipping.
shrugging, he replies, "eh, it was worth it. you're worth every penny. and tonight when you're not busy i wanna talk to you about something. what are you doing later?"
mia purses her lips in thought. her plans with luke are sort of open ended, but he did mention something about the mall earlier. "shopping i think."
"hey, do you have that thing where you can put your credit card info on your phone?" asks josh, which mia finds sort of random.
but she answers anyways. "uh, no."
"well i do," chirps josh. "and since it's valentine's day i want you to go shopping on my treat. so i'll send you my credit card stuff and you can put it into on your phone. sound good?"
"wait - seriously?" asks the brunette with a disbelieving tone. they might be engaged and all but mia hasn't even begun thinking about grown up stuff, like sharing money and bills.
he confidently nods his head and sets his phone up against the bedside table. with the view now showing more than just josh's head, mia can see that he just got out of the shower due to the towel wrapped loosely around his hips.
"are you trying to torture me?"
josh, picking up his suitcase and setting it on the big comfy bed, frowns innocently. "what d'you mean?"
"your towel," mia clarifies with an obvious tone. she finds it hard to believe that josh doesn't know what she's talking about. "how low it is. you do the same thing with your shorts on stage."
"s'comfy," he insists with a small shrug.
the black haired girl lets out a disbelieving huff of air. "yeah okay."
"i'm telling the truth!" josh laughs, the same smile on his face that makes mia feel like her stomach is jello.
"you can't honestly tell me that you don't know how low you wear your shorts. i mean when i see pictures of you from the shows it's like your dick is about to play peek-a-boo with the crowd."
like a melody, josh's laughter vibrates through the earbuds as he nearly tears up from the fit of giggles that come out of his lips.
once he catches his breath, he wipes under his eyes and then traces his hands along his defined abdomen and the pronounced v-shaped indentations of his hips. "maybe i like showing off, just a little bit."
"just a lot," corrects mia.
josh doesn't even deny it. he wants to, but he knows mia's right. "next time you're at a show i'll make sure to have my shorts extra high up just for you, okay babe?" he teases, hiking the towel up so it's almost covering his belly button. "should i wear it like this instead?"
"god, no, the other way was better."
he gives her a cheeky grin and lowers the white towel to its previous position, maybe even a little bit lower just in spite of mia. "that's what i thought."
mia rolls her eyes with amusement at the cheeky boy with hair as pink as cotton candy and a smile like the cheshire cat. josh is rare in the way that he manages to balance adorable with alluring at the same time.
"i gotta go," she tells him when realizing that the manicurist is finished with her nails.
josh's smile falters. "oh, okay. text me."
"i will," promises mia. "and i'll let you know when i get home so we can facetime again."
giving her a thumbs up, the male pulls out a pair of boxers and a tee shirt and lays it out beside his suitcase. "sounds like a plan, pretty girl."
she smiles fondly at the name. "alright, see ya later. love you."
"mhm," hums josh. one of his hands reach for the front of his towel while the other leans towards his phone, thumb wavering over the end call button.
he grins. "oh - babe?"
mia can tell where this is going, yet she feigns innocent. "yeah?"
"love you too," he says smoothly, eyes disappearing in the crinkles by his cheekbones.
he swiftly drops the towel and hangs up the call about a millisecond after the towel hits the ground.