mia blinks in shock for a moment, looking at sean kiss her, but then kisses him back. the music playing from the carnival's speakers shifts to 'loving someone' by the 1975, and as they are kissing, time seems to stop.
they both then release, and a soft expression falls over sean's face. it's silent for a second, but not an awkward one.
mia looks down and plays with her hands, trying to avoid sean's eyes. she says softly, "i guess that means you're not pretending,"
"i," he hesitates for a second. "i like you, mia. i never believed that soulmate shit, but you make me want to change my mind. and i wish something could happen between us, but you probably don't feel the same way because i've been nothing but a total jackass to you and-"
mia cuts him off and kisses him again.
sean looks at mia confused, and she lets out a laugh in response.
"i like you too," she responds.
a wave of relief washes over sean, and his entire face lights up, never having had felt such a way in his twenty years of living.
"let's get outta here, yeah?" he suggests, gesturing towards the exit.
"what about julian?"
"he'll be fine," sean promises.
"okay," a smile creeps across her face, and the two sneak past the worker again once the ferris wheel stops.
a little while later sean and mia find themselves inside the busy subway station.
"where are we going?" mia says as she rubs her hands together from the cold.
"no clue," sean says bluntly as he looks around the various trains they could take.
"what do you mean 'no clue?!'"
"i was trying to be cute and spontaneous, okay!" sean pouts. "wait- i know where we should go, but we have to get a little spooky first."
mia furrows her eyebrows at sean, unsure of what he has in mind.
"trust me," he mouths. he grabs her hand and leads her to one of the trains.
-
an hour later, mia and sean and walking through a dark alleyway with the only light coming from the neon signs from the liquor store a block away.
"sean..." mia says nervously, staying close as possible to sean out of fear. "are you sure about this plan...?"
the breaking of a branch sounds off behind them, and they both instantly jerk back and look.
"sean," mia's voice shakes.
"oh my god, what is that..." sean's eyes widen as he points to their left. mia's eyes dart to the direction, but she doesn't see anything. sean then grabs her shoulders and yells, "boo!"
"jesus christ, sean!" she yells and hits his shoulder. "i'm not speaking to you again!"
"after you just confessed your love to me?" he pouts and places his hands on his hips.
"first off," she points her finger to sean. "you said it first. secondly, we did not say love."
"maybe you just don't want to admit it," he shrugs and starts walking towards the store.
"whatever," she rolls her eyes. "can you tell me where we're going now?"
"getting costumes," he replies.
"why do we need costumes?" she asks as sean pushes open the door.
"it's halloween, why wouldn't we?" he says as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
sean walks to the back of the store and finds the section of halloween costumes with only a few left.
"jeez," he says, looking at the sad mess of fabrics in front of him.
"these are the leftovers, what'd you expect?"
"hey, this one's alright," he picks up a halo headband and places it on mia's head. he picks up julian's camera that's been sitting around his neck and points the lens and mia, "perfect."
sean then turns back to the pile and rummages through before finding devil horns.
"suits you," mia says.
"why's that?"
"it's like you're not even wearing a costume,"
"real funny," he rolls his eyes. "let's go pay."
on the way to the counter, sean picks up a bottle of wine. mia stops him and grabs his arm, looking at him warily.
"sean, you shouldn't be drinking,"
he looks at mia, his eyes meeting her worried ones. "i can handle myself, mia. it's one night. i'll be fine, i promise."
mia sighs but she can't protest further as sean hands the items to the cashier.
the exit the store, and sean pops open the bottle. he takes a swig, then hands it over to mia, smiling, "happy halloween!"
-
an hour later, mia and sean finish half the bottle and tossed it away somewhere they can't recall.
the two are walking along the sidewalk, when sean stops in his tracks. it's as if an imaginary light bulb has popped up above his head.
"come with me," he says, taking mia's hand again as he rushes off to whistle for the taxi passing by them.
they hop in, and the driver turns around, waiting for them to say their destination.
"times square," sean says.
-
they pull up to half a mile before times square, and sean pulls out a bag of candy from his backpack.
"when did you get that?" mia stares at the massive assortment of sweets in sean's hands.
"stole it from julian before we left the house," he says as he stuffs chocolate into his mouth. "makes up for not being able to trick or treat ...you know, being a twenty year old and all."
"i've actually never been trick or treating before," mia admits as she takes a piece of chocolate from sean.
"no way!" sean says in disbelief. "what kind of childhood is that?!"
"it just wasn't that big of a deal,"
"not that big of a deal?!" sean places his hand to his heart, pretending to be hurt by mia's response. "this just means we have to go next year."
"what makes you sure there's a next year?" mia jokes.
"you can't get rid of me that easy, mia mendoza," he teases. "i'm stuck in your heart forever." he places his arm around his shoulder and continues to chuck pieces of candy into his mouth.
the arrive in the middle of times square and are surrounded by the bright lights and billboards with advertisements flashing across them.
"i never really liked times square," mia says, contrasting to the look on her face as she looks up at the night sky above her.
"thanks for telling me now instead of in the car ride over," sean scrunches his face.
"it's just too many people, too touristy, too crowded," she then shifts her attention from the crowd over to the sky above. "but the sky looks way too beautiful tonight for me to hate it."
"yeah, it does look amazing," he says, keeping his eyes on mia rather than the stars.
"i wish stars existed like this daytime," she sighs, staring at the starry night above them.
"but you already exist?"
she looks back at sean. but before she can even respond, as if on cue, the music in times square changes to 'outro' by majid jordan.
sean puts out his hand in front of him, "may i have this dance?"
mia's expression softens as sean places his hands around her hips. she places her arms around his ever so gently, and it feels like everything in the world has fallen into place, even just for a moment.
they sway to the music, not minding the dozens of people passing by them and the blinding lights flashing down on them.
"thank you," sean says quietly to mia as they sway.
"for what?"
"being there for me," he says. "it means more to me than you know."
she doesn't say anything back but instead hugs sean tightly.
"thank you too," she whispers. "for being my soulmate."
-
hours later, sean and mia are walking around times square even if a majority of the shops are already closing.
sean's phone buzzes from his pocket, and he grabs it to check who it is. julian's name flashes on the screen.
"hey, what's up?" he answers.
mia looks at sean, seeing his expression instantly.
"where are you right now?" he says seriously. "okay we'll be there as soon as we can."
he ends the call, and mia stares back at sean worriedly.
"what happened?"
"we have to go now," he says coldly. "julian's in the hospital."
a/n
yuhh queen of cliffhangers and updating once a month
but!!!! next week is my last week of school so i'll be updating almost everyday and the book will end before new years! eep