BEFORE WE KNEW IT, weeks had flown by and spring break arrived. Milo finally asked me to be his girlfriend and I calmly accepted, although on the inside my stomach was doing somersaults while my brain was sent into a frenzy.
Meanwhile, everyone else was more than thrilled to be escaping their dorm rooms and returning home to their families, packing their essentials into bags or suitcases and taking a road trip back home.
I, on the other hand, didn't have a reason to return back to that little island I called home as my parents decided to go on vacation for two weeks in Peru, finally having the freedom to travel around the world like they always wanted. Ava was bummed to hear the news that she would return home by herself but came to terms with it quickly.
When I told Milo that I wasn't going to return back home, he chose to stay up in California with me. I insisted that he should go back home and see his folks but he refused, stubbornly denying to leave me alone and claimed that he'd miss me too much, which cast a smile on my face. As he had already visited during fall and winter break, he decided that he'd just video chat with them.
So here we were, sitting in his dorm while video chatting his mom through Skype, our fingers intertwined as our hands rested on my knees while Milo rubbed small circles with his thumb on my hand. When his mom first saw me, she gasped, making me nervous for a second, then smiled at the two of us, melting away my uneasiness.
"Oh, look at you, Hadley. It's been so long since I've seen you, how have you been?"
"Hey, Mrs. Jensen. I've been good. How are you?"
After exchanging pleasantries and small talk about college life, that's when the real questions she's been dying to ask spilled out.
"So I see you two have found each other again," she smirked. "When are you going to pop the question to her, Milo?"
Both of our eyes widened as our postures grew ridged, Milo stiffer than me. "Relax, mom. We've only been together for a couple of months," responded Milo as he quickly regained composure.
"Months? I think we all know this has been a thing for about...three years now?" She replied, that smirk never dropping from her face. Our eyes widened at her expression again and Mrs. Jensen laughed at our faces, "I'm just kidding, it was only a joke. I'm happy for you two though."
Milo's phone rung and saved us from enduring some type of awkward tension between the three of us. "I'll be right back. I ordered some pizza and the delivery guy is outside the building."
With that, Milo slipped on a light jacket and put on his shoes before heading out, taking his keys and wallet with him.
"Hadley, is he gone?" Mrs. Jensen asked through the screen, talking a bit more softly as if Milo would hear her. I nodded and smiled, waiting for her to continue.
"He talks about you a lot, you know?" She said, her smirk clearly audible in the inflection of her voice if I had my eyes closed, making me blush.
"What does he say about me?" I said as calmly as I could while my pulse picked up speed, curious as a smile was glued to my face.
"Good things but nothing I ever doubted. Sometimes when I'm on the phone with him, he tells me about his day and when he gets to the part about you, I can hear his smile."
My cheeks grew even redder as my chest tightened and my brain flooded with dopamine.
"I know I'm embarrassing him more by telling you that, but what I'm trying to say is, thank you for taking care of my boy," Mrs. Jensen thanked with a smooth tone, her expression relaxed and content as if she knew this was bound to happen.
Just as I was about to tell her that it should be the other way around, I heard Milo's keys jingling through the hall as he got closer while I tried to recompose myself as if I didn't just look like a bright red strawberry seconds ago.
A moment later, the door to Milo's room and the aroma of fresh pizza spilled into the room, causing my stomach to let out a low grumble. "Okay, what kind of embarrassing stories did she tell you while I was gone?" asked Milo with a smile as he observed my facial expression, assuming my face was a bit flush because I was laughing.
"Not many," she chimed in, "just the one about how you ran around the yard naked when you were seven while trying to avoid taking a bath, but then for some reason decided to go skinny dipping in the neighbor's pool." My jaw dropped and I began laughing as his cheeks gained some pink.
"Okay, well we'd love to continue chatting but our pizza just arrived and we have to go. Call you again soon, love you," said Milo quickly, the three of us saying goodbye to each other before Milo ended the call and closed down his laptop.
"It's a good thing Mr. Harrison was a dude," I heard Milo whisper under his breath as we made our way to the kitchen and I smiled and bit my lip, containing my laugh.
∞
AS AVA RUMMAGED through her closet for the past half hour trying to find a "decent outfit" as she put it, Ava pulled out a white crop top with a lace collar and jean shorts. Even though the small phone screen limited what I could see of Ava's old room back home, I could see heaps of clothing scattered on her floor as I continued to tell her about Mrs. Jensen's words from the other day.
"And while he left to get our pizza, she told me that she could hear his smile through the phone whenever he talked about me," I grinned as I pictured Milo smiling while talking to his mom on the phone. Ava turned around from where she was standing in front of her full-length mirror and made a face that read aww.
She placed her outfit on her bed and sat down at her vanity where I was on her phone screen, her expression showing some gravity while she smiled. "You know, I'm happy for you. I can see that he makes you really happy," said Ava calmly as she crossed her arms.
"He does, A. Even though I haven't dated many other guys, Milo's so...different, but in a good way," I admitted shyly as I looked down and mindlessly twiddled my thumbs.
"You're smiling again," Ava sang as I felt my face heating up, to which we both chuckled at. "And by the way, I've always been on Team Madley."
I looked at her amusingly, an eyebrow raised as a soft smile played at my lips. "You know why I called you two Madley?" She paused before continuing, "Because you two are madley in love."
Feeling my warmth spread to my cheeks, I rolled my eyes at Ava's cheesy joke while wearing a giant grin, laughing the joke off.
"So where are you two going this time?" I asked as I tried to change the subject to Ava and Hunter.
Unbeknownst to her, Hunter decided to travel to Oahu with Ava for spring break, surprising her at the airport. Since they arrived, Ava's been showing Hunter all of her favorite local spots and today, they decided to go to the Dole Plantation and attempt to find their way out of the world's largest Pineapple Garden Maze.
"Oh yeah. Good luck with that." Sure, the maze was fun but after walking around in the sun for an hour or two, I began to feel defeated while Ava and a bunch of our classmates at the time continued to search for a way out when we visited the maze in tenth grade. Ava knew what she was getting herself into, but I'm not so sure Hunter did. "Does Hunter know you two are going there?"
She shook her head and smiled, "It's a surprise. I told him to dress comfortably and bring some water though, so that should be some type of hint of where we're going."
"It's hot everywhere in Hawaii. You could be eating shave ice and you'd still feel hot," I replied as I laughed thinking about Hunter's reaction once they'd finish the maze under the scorching sun.
"Sorry, Hads. I'll tell you how everything goes when we're done, but I need to go. I was supposed to pick up Hunter from his hotel ten minutes ago," Ava urgently said as she realized what time it was and gathered her clothes on her bed.
"Oh no, it's fine. Have fun," I wished Ava as we said goodbye to each other. I closed my laptop screen and sent Milo a text.
heyyy
wyd?
Just finished work
wanna come over and watch something together?
we'll be the only two here
Be over in 5 ;)
bring food with you
Make that 20 then
I smiled down at my phone, reading his text, and plopped onto the bed.
Even after I placed my phone to the side and stared up at the ceiling, I still couldn't wipe off the silly grin lingering across my lips.