♡
“What?”
She came out of her room and saw him sitting on the couch with a bowl on his lap. He knew how she hated crumbs on the furniture and yet there he was. She stared at him with her hands placed on her hips. This was such a repeating occurrence it was beginning to be the norm for him.
“You know what."
“No, I don't," Geo answered muffled by spoonfuls of cereal in his mouth. "So tell me.” He wiped the milk that had dribbled down to his chin with the back of his hand.
“Explain what the heck happened yesterday.”
He sighed, visibly exhausted. “It's a long story.."
Mina didn't care to stop asking for answers, even if it would make his hangover worse. He shouldn't be drinking in the first place, god forbid his liver gave him major problems if this action continued. Although Alden was the one who lead him to the bar she was the one behind the curtain telling him what to do. The guilt had not registered at the moment.
"And I don't remember it, so go write about someone else's feelings or whatever the hell you do," it was the answer she had gotten which infuriated her more than it should but also disappointed her. She internally asked herself why would he say such a thing, knowing that she had no bad intentions with him.
“Geo. Get off the damn couch,” She said in a calm but serious tone then lifted her arm and pointed to the right. "Eat in the kitchen."
She then stormed off into her room, brushed her hair up and left Harvey with his daily bowl of nutritious food and her brother to take care of. "Make extra noise around the house today, 'kay?" She whispered for only Harvey's ears to listen.
The day continued to pass by with little signs of the sun setting. Mina had to re-tie her ponytail up higher twice today from the sweat she was working up today. This week was going to be a hot one and there was so much to be done at the bakery, she was prepared to cancel an evening with Elijah any day this week.
She and Alden were taking over the catering for the fairly small order of a gender reveal party. It was the perfect chance to interrogate him since she had hit a dead end in finding the truth from her brother. They had to deliver two dozen pink and blue cupcakes, vegan chocolate custard cups and the mystery of the gender cake.
"Okay, so we sat at the bar and it was kind of crowded, to be honest, that place really needed more seats and their menu could use an update because—"
"Alden!" She exclaimed with her hand raised.
"Well it does, but anyway, we took a couple of beers after we settled on a truce to seal the deal of course." He opened the door for her and waited for her to slip into the van.
"Truce? What kind of deal? Why do guys always need a petty reason to drink." She rolled her eyes as she stopped walking and stood in his way.
"One question at a time, kitty." He reached her hand and placed his over hers so she'd stop moving them excessively while talking. "Why wouldn't we need a truce? Remember his hatred of me, he'd walk right out of that bar if I didn't buy the drinks."
"Okay, skip that," she snatched her hand back and climbed into the van. Alden hopped in and buckled his seatbelt after he looked at her safely buckled too he started the engine. "Now, what did you find out?" Mina started up again as he reversed out of the parking lot.
"I asked him about school, well about Delta Chi and how his initiation's gonna suck." Alden knew about fraternities and such as the men in his family have an unspoken rule to join once accepted into university. He had gone through initiation and the years after not too long ago. Delta Chi just so happened to be the same fraternity Geo was going to be a part of.
"And?" She looked at him again for more than that piece of obvious information.
"Oh and women."
That was another subject on its own. Mina had inquiries about her brother's love life but not enough to get involved if the person wasn't serious. Geo hasn't been on the market since junior year after his first heartbreak, is what she knew anyway. "And?"
"Other girls, not you though, he'd punch me if I brought you up in conversation but don't worry, you still have my heart," He winked. "...among other things."
Mina closed her eyes and leaned back. "Be honest and tell me he's not doing any stupidly dangerous things in college right now."
They had arrived at the bakery and had parked around the back entrance. He turned off the engine and rolled up the windows.
"I can't, college is the time to make stupid mistakes. Don't pretend like you never did." As many college students do, but not as many as Alden had.
"Whatever. You're no help so I'm going home." Mina unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door and grabbed her side-bag.
"Wait, kitty, don't be mad I did find out something."
"What is it?" Mina smoothly got out and held the door with both hands.
"He kept mumbling that he had a debt, like a lot of it but I couldn't get him to elaborate on that," Alden's face contorted into some confused state of scrunched up eyebrows, nose, and lips.
"Well yeah he's in college he's going to have some debt after." She slammed shut the passenger side door and opened the back door entrance of the bakery.
"Okay but the way he cringed at it was weird, I don't know, maybe it's just me or the drinks last night," he shrugged his shoulders and unloaded the empty containers from the catering van.
"Or both."
She went home around seven, delayed by a trip to the grocery store. Heidi had called her while she was marching out and they had been talking about her semi-vacation. It was a work vacation but that didn't make it any less exciting.
"You haven't slept together yet?"
"No"
"Really, not even when—"
"No"
"Wow," She could picture her friend's thick blonde eyebrows reaching her forehead for a second and then pout in confusion, "but it's been like two months"
"More or less yeah, that doesn't matter though. It'll happen when it happens." She finished her sentence with a sigh as she finished preparing her bath.
"Anyway, moving on to the present."
Mina was so proud of her best friend, “Remember to pay close attention to the designer and don't worry about those stuck up models, they have all their noses so high up they can't look down on you,” she said in what she hoped would calm her friend’s anxiousness.
“Was that supposed to be a pep talk?”
Heidi was chosen to go on a trip that could lead her to what she'd been aiming for all year.
Mina heard Heidi's snorting laugh through the phone and mentally rolled her eyes all while sporting a smile.
Heidi had been given a chance to prove herself at V&S through an all paid expense trip for a photo-shoot. She was still just an assistant but was told she had much potential. The fashion industry was at times a world of being excessively proud of oneself and having the claws to reach the top, so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her.
“Kind of, now get your butt on that plane and show them the Heidi St.Clair I know and love.”
“Yes, ma'am!”
She heard some ruckus on the other end and then a chime before a voice announcement. “Ok here I go..love you too, I'll see you in two weeks.”
“Bye, bring me back something!”
She was met with a click of the call ending after a short laugh.
It was time to self indulge, she talked to Harvey about her worries and stressful weeks to come. It wasn't as if he was complaining, he wasn't leaving the bathroom anytime soon. She deserved a bubble bath tonight and silence only she could break.
Her phone went off, but she decided to ignore it and just let herself have this moment of peace.
When she came back into the room feeling a sense of relief from everything she found a couple of missed calls and messages from different people. Two from Elijah and three from her mother. The texts that were long and held too many exclamation points were of course from her mother.
Elijah had asked for permission to come over to her apartment. Her mother, on the other hand, was demanding she answer the phone or call her back immediately. It was a sort of emergency about the bakery’s catering for an upcoming charity event. She remembered how important this was when her parents started checking all the ingredients in the pantry and their menu items as if it was their first ever order from customers.
She called her mother and was told to come in earlier tomorrow to speak details with the client about the charity event. All the caterers needed to be well rested the day before that event and on time. Apparently, if this charity went better than great the hostess would consider them a go-to catering business for the future.
Then she proceeded to text her boyfriend the address and number for the intercom to her floor.
Elijah had arrived just as she had finished fixing her hair into a long braid, after applying a grand load of coconut oil on the tips and ends.
"Hey," She kissed his lips before he could speak.
"What's that?" She smiled at the bag in his hand and his face lit up at her passionate greeting.
"A toy," he answered.
She giggled at his attempt to be mysterious for a change. It didn't quite suit him or his bright attire. Nothing about khaki jeans and a teal polo scream mystery to her.
"For your cat."
"Oh well in that case," She looked from the cat's tower to the litter box. "Harvey, where are you?" She sang as she opened the door to her room and he ran out of it.
They watched as Harvey chased a battery-powered mouse all over the floor. Mina couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sight.
Not a minute later they heard a thud come from inside her room. Mina went to check on what made the noise while he stayed as to not stop Harvey's play time.
"Oh, it's just my notes and stuff," she divulged when he asked what she had brought back in her hands. "A box fell from one of the shelves that was filled with them."
"Can I take a look?"
"Sure," she smiled and gave him the notebook slowly. It was the one that started with doodles and ended with the plot of her writing contest.
"So an article about love huh?.."
"Yeah I know it's a work in progress but it's not as if it has to be realistic or based off of myself..." She jumbled words her words out self consciously about the subject.
He thinks for a moment and hands her the notebook back, "Can you write me a poem?"
"A poem? I haven't written one of those in a while, I don't know.."
"You can do it, just write anything that's in your head right now." He smiled at her, his marvelous smile in encouragement.
She sat at the kitchen table and took a pen to her notebook. Written words were somehow much more satisfying than typing on a keyboard. It was nice to work on penmanship every now and again.
She came back to the living room and crossed her legs with her pen and paper on top.
She wrote him a small poem of three lines and drew a heart at the end. It was a haiku built with words from her head and from her life.
"Read it to me, I want to hear you say your words. That's romantic right?"
She chuckled feeling semi-insecure at the request. She sat up straight in her seat and cleared her throat. In a serious tone, she resided her haiku to him. "Living the good life, attitude, gratitude, love, living in the now."
"Is that a haiku?" Elijah gave her the thumbs up for her work and asked for the notebook.
"Yup."
"Let me try," He strived to write one on the paper below hers but it ended up being a syllable too long.
"Mina, do you want..." He began looking at his lines once again.
"Do I want, what?" She interrupted him.
"Want to have dinner with me...tomorrow at my place?"
She pretended to think it through to make him sweat a little. She never had anyone offer to cook for her so it was a nice thing to look forward to.
"Okay, but I'm bringing the dessert," She pecked his lips and gave him a dazzling smile.
They turned to the television to see an introduction of a movie playing. The screen went black and the audio came out low from the speakers before becoming increasingly louder.
That's when they heard the deep groaning and saw the man in only the clothes god gave him. Her eyes widened like the ones on an animated cartoon.
Harvey jumped gracefully off the couch and ran to his tower. Mina shifted her legs under her to lay on the arm of the couch and Elijah sat with his back pressed and arms spread wide to the back of the couch. As she stared at the television she almost missed the quick movement of his leg bounce and then stop.
The awkwardness in the atmosphere around them confirmed it. They were not even close to feeling the need to be intimate towards each other yet.