"Her hand in his, he became her tomorrows."
- atticus
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( i added how old Mira was at each chapter bc of any confusion :)
Three Months Later (Mira's Eight Years Old)
Mira stood outside, staring up at the dark sky. Her favorite Cinderella doll in her hands as she looked at the sparkling sky.
"One star, two stars, three stars." She slapped her forehead, playfully laughing as she continued talking to the stars. "Oh my God, there's so many stars."
She laughed, a gentle laugh. Smiling up at the stars, smiling up at her mother. She was talking to her mother, telling her about her day.
It had slowly become a habit. Talking to the stars, it was something she did every night.
"I got a ninety-five percent on my spelling test today. Mommy, did you know my teacher said my sentences are getting better and I speak more clear now."
She looked down at her doll, brushing Cinderella's golden hair. "Stupid Aaron, he got a hundred percent like always."
Mira looked back to the stars, the shining stars. "I got unanimous wrong. I spelled it with two m's instead."
"Daddy promised me that he will take me to Disneyland for my birthday. And chocolate cake! He promise he buy me a chocolate cake with flowers. Daddy said after dinner he'll watch frozen with me today. Elsa is my favorite. But I still like Cinderella more."
"Cinderella is the best. Daddy said he'll buy me a new Cinderella dress. A sparkly blue one!"
She shivered, a gently breeze, the cool spring wind.
Her smile slowly fading as she stared up at the sky. Her voice barely above a whisper.
"Mommy, I really miss you." Her eyes flooded with tears, the stars blurring into yellow spots. "Mommy, I really miss you."
"Please, mommy, come home. I promise I'll behave. I won't hit Ryan and I'll eat my veggies, even zucchini's and I'll do all my homework. Stupid homework, Aaron always copies off of me anyway. And I'll clean my room every week. Please mommy. Please. Can you come back home?"
"I miss you, Mommy."
Seven Years Later (Mira's Fifteen Years Old)
"I hate you." Mira narrowed her eyes , glaring at Aaron as he gave her wink before looking back down at her phone.
"Lies. Come on, Mira. Everyone knows you secretly love me." He leaned forward, rocking his chair. "Now what's your password."
"Give me my phone." Mira reached for her phone, trying to snatch it out of his hands as he continued entering random numbers, trying to figure out her password. "You're going to lock it. Give it back."
"Stop being a stupid zucchini and give me my phone back." She glared at him, reaching again for her phone as he swatted her hands away.
"Tsk-tsk, princess. You really need to work on your insults." He gave her a goofy grin, teasing her.
"I hate zucchini's. Your last name is zucchini. Therefore, I hate you. It's like the basic rule of reasoning."
"That's some flawed logic but sure, whatever floats your boat."
Mira stood, crossing her arms, eyes narrowed as Aaron raised an eyebrow, still teasing her, enjoying the reaction he was getting out of her.
"Aaron, you stupid jerk, give me my phone otherwise I'll tell Ryan to kick your ass."
Shaking his head, he reluctantly handed her phone back to him. "You're a meanie."
"And you're a dork."
Mira sat back down, smiling as she took her phone from him. She looked down at her physics textbook before staring back at Aaron with a bored look.
"I think I'm going to get another Mocha." She looked up at the menu, debating whether or not she really wanted another drink. "Actually I want ice cream."
Aaron smirked at her, before grabbing his gray backpack. "What happened to 'omg, I need to study for my physics test. Shut up Aaron you're a stupid jerk who's so handsome and smart and gets a hundred on every single physics test.'"
"I do not talk like that. And I never said you were smart." Mira looked down at her physics textbook again, diagrams, formulas and a bunch of things she didn't understand. She slammed the book shut. "I hate physics."
She shrugged as Aaron gave her an amused look before stuffing her books into her backpack and standing up.
Mira rolled her eyes, walking ahead of Aaron, leaving him behind. There was a Baskin-Robbins just across the street.
She glanced at Aaron from the corner of her eye as he ran up to catch up to her. Almost nervously, shyly, she bit her lip before looking away.
Her eyes-widened as Aaron reached for her hand, holding onto her hand. Her cheeks flushed a light red as she tried to pull her hand away from him.
"Stop annoying me."
"Nope." He popped before making faces at her.
"You're a stupid idiot." She shook her head at him, laughing.
"I guess that's better than being a stupid zucchini." He mumbled before looking at her, giving her another goofy grin.
And Mira froze.
His light eyes, dark hair. The summer day. The light wind. And the way he smiled at her, the way he looked at her.
And maybe more than anything, it was the way he made her feel.
Without another thought, she did what she had wanted to do for a long time now.
She kissed him.
Eight Years Later (Mira's Sixteen Years Old)
Mira smiled, gently, staring back at her father. His voice was gentle, soft and caring. And more than anything, she loved it when he told her stories about her mother. The only few memories she had left of her mother.
"Your mother, I had to beg her to go on a date with me."
Mira bit her lip, playing with the pasta on her plate. She moved a piece back and forth with the fork before looking back at her father, a distant look on his face.
"I practically had to convince her to go on a date with me."
"The cafe right?"
Mira didn't say anything, glancing at the ring on her father's finger. The ring he refused to take off.
"Yea, she wanted blueberry muffins. And she kept talking about her ochem final." He pushed his plate aside, his voice barely audible. "I was so nervous. I dropped my fork on the floor. And your mother, she just laughed it off."
Mira smiled, wanting to say something else, wanting to know anything, something more about her mother. Instead she looked up at the front door slammed shut.
Ryan walked in a few minutes later, giving her a slight smile, ignoring Andrew and grabbing a glass of water.
"Where were you?" Mira squirmed in her seat as her father stood up. She hated days like this. She hated it when Ryan came home late, she hated it when he came home high. She hated having to sit there and watch them fight, to watch them scream at each other.
She looked up at her brother, his eyes dark as he ignored their father, pouring himself a glass of water before turning to walk away.
"Ryan!"
Mira fidgeted, pushing her own dinner plate away.
Her father still screaming. "I told you to be home by nine. Where the hell were you and...and why do you smell like smoke?"
Mira jerked up, staring at Ryan, in disbelief. She froze as her father's voice trailed off, staring at Ryan as his steps stumbled, his eyes red as her brother didn't respond.
Ryan had lied to her. He'd promised her he was going to stop. He had promised her he was going to change. And he'd come home again, the same as always.
"Fuck you."
She flinched from the bitterness in her brother's voice as he screamed. Mira scooted down, further into her chair, the tense silence surrounding the three of them.
She could hear Ryan's heavy footsteps as he stomped away. She looked back at her father, his eyes sad before standing up, her chair screeching.
"I'm not really hungry anymore."
Before her father could say anything, Mira turned around, running up the stairs and opening the door to her mother's room. She flopped onto her mother's bed, sobbing.
And Mira wanted nothing more than her mother. She wished with everything that her mother was still here with her today.
Nine Years Later (Mira's Seventeen Years Old)
Mira stared at the ocean, watching the blue waves smash against the sand. She broke off a small piece from the chocolate-chip cookie, offering some to Aaron.
"Did you make these?" She asked, her mouth full. "These are so good."
"My mom made them." He smiled, his gray eyes sparkling whenever he looked at her.
Mira looked down at the cookies he'd given her."Every year, why do you give me cookies on the day that my mom died?" She asked, almost hesitantly.
"I don't know." Aaron shrugged. "I guess, it's just our thing. I just, I don't know we were like what seven or something and I remember you were crying during lunch so I gave you the cookies my mom packed me for lunch."
Mira smiled, placing her hand on top of his. She looked down at their hands, her eyes welling with tears as she whispered.
"I miss her."
She didn't say anything as Aaron scooted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her.
For some reason, Aaron made her feel different. A good kind of different. Everything with him was so easy. He cared, more than anything. And he was always there for her. Maybe that's why it was so hard for her to not fall in love with him.
More than anything, she was scared of getting her heart broken. Falling in love would only result in her getting her heart broken.
But Aaron, he was different.
She may not admit it, she refused to admit it, but fuck, she was already in love with him.
Not that she'd admit it anytime soon.
"I miss her so much." Mira looked back to the ocean, the lights of pier, the bright sun.
"Mira, you don't have to." His voice caring. Because he did. Aaron cared. He cared about her. Always.
"I really miss my mom, not just today. Everyday. I miss her every single day." She looked down, her eyes clouding with tears. "It's so stupid but you know, sometimes I still pretend like she's around. I pretend and wonder what life would be like if she was around."
"Sometimes when I go home from school, I imagine her standing in the kitchen, asking me how my day was. And other times, I pretend like she's there, walking into my room at random times, asking me if I want anything."
Mira looked down at her hands, tears falling down. "But she's not. As much I pretend, my mom's not here. She's gone."
"And I barely remember her."
"I can't remember the sound of her voice. I don't even know what her favorite color was or what she liked to do. I don't know...I miss my mom."
Her lips trembled as she shook, wiping her tears away furiously as Aaron brushed her hair out of her face.
"God, I was so fucking stupid. She was dying and I...I kept showing her this stupid doll my grandma had bought me. I kept telling her something about Cinderella and sparkly dresses."
Mira rubbed her eyes, before looking back out to the blurry ocean.
"I mean, I was eight when she died. I'm seventeen now. And you know, I think that's the hardest part about losing someone you love. You have to spend the rest of your life wondering what-if? Wondering what if things had been different. Wishing that things in fact had been different."
"And for me, it'll always be like that. For the rest of my life, I'll always wonder how things would be if my mother was still around. And every day, I still wish she was."
Ten Years Later (Mira's Eighteen Years Old)
Mira awkwardly folded her arms over her chest, covering her chest. It wasn't as though her black bikini reveled much anyway. But she still felt insecure, a little awkward. Biting her lip nervously, she awkwardly kicked some sand around.
She hated parties. She hated drinking. Yet, again, she had reluctantly agreed only because Aaron had asked her to.
Insecure, just a little.
She wasn't good at these kinds of things. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. So she walked around, small circles, kicking sand and sending it flying.
Instead, she wished she was at home. It was Saturday evening and she was sure her father would've loved another movie marathon. Hell, even doing her calculus homework on a Saturday night would've been more exciting than the stupid gathering Aaron had dragged her to.
Mira glanced around looking for Aaron. She slowly made her way over to him and his group of friend.
Insecure. She felt.
She folded her arms again, covering her chest, staring at everyone else around her, comparing herself to everyone else around her. Maybe she was too small. She nervously rubbed her cheek, a pimple that refused to go away for a few days now. Maybe she should've worn make-up. She wasn't that pretty. And guys, guys like Aaron, she didn't know much when it came to relationships to begin with.
But as Aaron wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him, taking a small sip from the red cup before smiling at her. Mira Hayes knew that all things aside, Aaron Zielinski made her feel wanted. He liked her, just the way she was.
And that, that was most certainly all she needed.
Fifteen Years Later (Mira's Twenty-Three Year Old)
"Arron! Get out!" Mira ran to the bathroom and slammed the bathroom door shut. "I'm naked." She screamed as she locked the door. He wasn't supposed to home for another hour. That was the only reason she had decided to try her wedding dress on.
"I've already seen everything." Aaron played with the door knob, teasing her as she slammed her hand against the door, telling him to leave.
"I'm wearing my wedding dress. Please, I don't want you to see it until we actually get married." She pleaded with him until he reluctantly walked way.
"Fine. But we're already married. We got married like a long time ago." He whined before turning around, asking her another question. "Aren't we supposed to have dinner with your dad tonight?"
"Yes. Now get out."
Mira cautiously stepped out only after hearing the door close, making sure Aaron had actually left the room. She froze, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
Her mother's wedding dress. She had it altered. But it was truly beautiful.
She bit her, shyly. She felt like a princess in the white gown.
Mira twirled around, laughing, holding her hand up, the diamond ring.
This, this was her fairytale ending.
This, this was her happily-ever-after.
Aaron Zielinski.
He was her prince charming, her happily-ever after.
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And that's Mira :)