(miya's p.o.v)
We were waiting in line at McDonalds. I was looking at the menu debating on if I wanted a strawberry banana smoothie or a hot fudge sunday.
"What do you want," Carl asked, searching through the menu. "I think I'm gonna get the strawberry banana smoothie."
"Yeah, me too," I decided. The people in front of us finally finished their order after nearly 10 minutes.
"Hi, can I take your order," the lady at the counter said with a big cheesey smile on her face.
"Hi, can I get two strawberry banana smoothies," Carl asked the lady.
"Would that be all," she asked. He nodded, taking his wallet out of his pocket. "Alright, $3.75." He pulled out a five dollar bill. The lady, Janet it said on her name tag, handed him a dollar and 25 cents back. I walked out of line and waited over by the cash register where they would give us our drinks.
"So, I didn't get to catch up with you when I got back. Tell me what went on while I was gone," he chuckled.
"Ah, well, not much really. You already know about Jason and Ash and Dominique. Oh, I joined the soccer team. We start practice again in the summer. That's all really," I told him. Honestly, nothing really happened while he was gone. "What about you? What happened in military school?"
"Lots of learning," he laughed. I laughed along with him. His smile is so perfect, I can't get enough of him.
"Like what," I asked as a boy, the name Chris on his name tag, set our smoothies down. I mouthed a 'thank you' as we grabbed our smoothies and sat down.
"I learned how to shoot every gun in the book if that counts," he said.
"Sounds interesting. I've always wanted to learn to shoot a gun," I said, taking a sip of my smoothie.
"Maybe you'll let me teach you sometime," he said, taking a sip as well.
"Yeah? You'd really teach me?"
"Of course. Miya, I would do anything for you." My heart began to race and I felt butterflies began to flutter in my stomach.
"Yeah, I'd like that. I think that would be fun."
•••
We decided to go to Walmart instead of just sitting at home and doing nothing for the rest of the day.
We are walking through the toy asiles. We came across one of the carts for disabled people. It was just sitting in the middle of one of the asiles.
"Is anybody using it," Carl asked. I shrugged my shoulders, looking through the neighboring asiles.
"I don't see anyone," I said. He smiled and got on it. He pressed the button to make it move and ran into one of the rows.
"Oops," he said, making me laugh. I pulled out my phone and decided to take a picture. He made a funny pose and I pressed the camera button. I laughed at the picture.
"Okay, this is going on instagram," I said as I closed the camera app and opened up instagram.
"Oh, no you're not," Carl said.
"Says who," I teased. He smirked as he got up out of the cart and tried to grab my phone. I turned around and ran in the other direction. I kept running until he grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arms around mine. He pulled my phone out of my hands. "Hey, give me my phone back!"
He turned around and started tapping like crazy. I tried to reach infront of him to grab my phone back, but he kept jerking away.
Carl finally turned around and gave me my phone back.
"There, problem solved," I looked through my phone to see that he deleted the picture.
"Hey! I liked that picture," I whined. "Why'd you delete it?"
"It's just a picture," he shrugged it off.
"No, it's not just a picture, Carl. It's a memory," I said. I don't know why I'm getting so butt hurt about it, but I am.
"Miya, we'll have plenty more memories together. I'm not going anywhere," he said, holding my shoulders. I nodded my head and pulled him into a hug.
"We should get something for the baby," I said, pulling away and looking him in the eyes.
"That's a great idea," he agreed, sending me a perfect smile.
We make our way to the baby asiles, his hand intertwined with mine. It felt like old times. Like when we went to Party City to get stuff for his going away party. Like how we used to walk down the school hallways with our arms wrapped around eachother without a care in the world. That's because we truly loved eachother. We still do, it's just harder to show for some reason. Maybe it's because we've been gone from eachother's lives for so long or maybe it's because we just don't know how to show it anymore. Maybe it's both.
"Do you know if they're having a baby shower," Carl asked.
"Not sure. Probably, unless Fiona still has some stuff," I answered.
"We can look up in the attic when we get back," he suggested. I nodded, agreeing to the suggestion.
•••
We got back to my place. I've got to be honest, all that shopping is exhausting. I jumped on my bed and kicked my shoes off. I looked at the time on my phone. It read 2:43 pm.
"Got back just in time. Kate and Lip should be getting back soon," I said, putting my phone on charge.
"Yeah, do-do you want me to go," Carl asked, standing in the doorway.
"Um, no. Why would I want that," I asked, sitting up on my elbow.
"I didn't know if you wanted some you time or something," he shrugged, taking another step into my room.
"No. I hate being alone. It's boring and I always feel so unsafe. That's why I sleep in Lip and Kate's room sometimes," I told him.
"Really? You sleep in their room," he asked, not believing me. But, it's true. Ever since Carl went to military school I've always felt alone and misplaced, if that makes any since. I found myself unable to sleep at night. So, one night I slept in Kate's room on the chair next to her bed. I realized that I just didn't want to be alone.
"Yeah," I anwered. "What about you? You like being alone?"
"Sometimes. It gives me time to think and stuff, you know? But, it is better when I'm with someone. Like you. I like being around you. It makes me happy," he admitted. My heart melted at his words. How could he be so sweet to me?
I stood up and slowly walked over to him. I couldn't take it anymore. I have to kiss him. I have to. But, before I got the chance to make the first move, he placed his hands on my cheeks and smashed his lips against mine. I kissed back, stepping closer to him. I grabbed his waist, pulling him closer.
The kiss was deafening, electric. It felt like the time at the party, but better. I feel like the world his shaking right under my feet. Like an earthquake is happening right at this very moment, but we don't care. We're together and in this moment, it feels like we've just taken a breath for the first time since he left.
We both slowly pulled away at the sound of the front door opening downstairs. He smiled as I rolled my eyes at his cheesiness. I grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the bed. We sat down and I quickly turned on the TV. It was already on Cartoon Network playing the Amazing World of Gumball. Kate walked in revealing a single Walmart bag in her hand.
"You know, it's funny. I saw these two kids who looked exactly like you guys at Walmart today," she smiled. I looked over at Carl.
"We stayed here all day," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Mhm, here," she threw the Walmart bag at me and walked out. The bag was full of candy and snacks. I took out a Reese's and threw it at Carl. Then, took out a bag of hot Cheetos and began munching away.
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a/n: boring chapter, BUT we got to see some Ciya action. (Ciya = Carl + Miya....? does that sound okay? btw you pronounce Miya like 'Maya' not 'Mia' i didn't know if you guys got that confused or not, lol.)