I OPEN my eyes to find Stavo staring at me. I smile and cover my face with my hands.
"Stop." I laugh and hide my face under the bed sheet covers. I can literally hear the smirk on Stavo's face.
"Why you being so shy?" He laughs, "you definitely weren't shy last night."
My mouth drops. I can feel my cheeks growing red and feeling myself getting embarrassed. I uncover my face from the sheets, "excuse me. Neither were you."
He laughs and plants a kiss on my forehead. He wraps his arm across my bare body under the duvet, and pulls me closer to him. We continue cuddling silently until he breaks the comfortable silence.
"I want to take you out." He says.
I pull away and look up at his face, "What?"
"I want to take you out... on a date." He repeats but this time much more quieter.
"Mm, you do?" I smirk. "And where will we go?"
"That would be a surprise."
"Isn't that exciting?" I smile and peck his lips.
"Very." He grabs my body and rolls me under him. He uses his elbows to support himself. I giggle to myself and he has the worlds biggest smile on his face. Stavo leans in, as do I. Our lips are about to touch but the sound of an alarm ringing on Stavo's phone interrupts us.
"Ah, crap. That's my 7am alarm," He huffs as he looks at his phone that sits on charge on the bedside table. "You going school today?"
"No, I'm gonna check up on Brooke and then around 12 to 1, my mum has the therapist dude coming over." I answer him.
"I hope they both are okay."
"Me too, Gus. Me too." I let out a sigh and kiss his check. Stavo's brown eyes stare deeply into my blue ones. I place my hand on his chest and trace his prominent abs.
"I'm thinking about showing Audrey my graphic novel." He plays with the blonde hair on my head.
"Really?" I question surprised. I remember the way she reacted when she saw those drawings on his screen. The way her eyes just scream in horror.
"Yeah. She's— I don't trust her but she has to know before she actually goes around thinking I'm the killer." I grab his hands that were lying on the bed. I play with his fingers and look up at him.
"Yeah, that's smart. Do you want me to be there?"
"No, no. It's okay. You have things to do today."
I give him a slight nod and look at his eyes to see if he actually is telling the truth. I squint my eyes and he smirks, "it's okay." He repeats.
Okay. If he says it's okay, then it's okay. I give him a show of my pearly whites before giving him a peck on his lips.
"I'm going to go shower. If you're gone before I finish then—" I stop talking and lean forward. I attach my lips to his and eventually pull away. "Bye."
"What! You're not even going to invite me?" He questions just as I was able to slip out of bed and the comfort of his arms.
"What, to shower with me?" I ask and he nods. "You have school."
"I have school in one hour and a half. If we keep the touching to a minimum, I will have 10 minutes to get ready. "
I let out a small laugh and sigh, "fine."
I look over to Stavo who looks like a kid on Christmas morning and he's beside a Christmas tree that's decked out in presents and beautiful ornaments.
Detailed metaphor? Yes.
*+*
I grab my phone off my bedside table and get comfy in bed. I open my phone and scroll through my contacts and call up Brooke. I wait a couple of rings until I hear her voice.
"Hey M!"
"Hey, Brookie."
"What's up?"
"Not much. I was just wondering how you were doing."
"With the whole Jake thing?"
"Yeah. What else would there be?"
"Uhm Nothing..."
I furrow my eyebrows. She's acting weird and dry.
"Brooke, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Brooke..."
"Okay, Fine. I'm hanging out with Audrey."
"Oh."
I don't care that they're hanging out, I don't own Brooke and I will not tell her who she wants to hang out with, but I do wish she just told me earlier.
"I.. I'm sorry."
"B, it's fine. I wished you told me instead of hiding it but it's okay. I don't hate her, she just hurt me, it's all good."
"I know, but still... look, if what I was doing wasn't important, then I wouldn't have done it. But, Mia, I'm sorry."
"Wait, Brooke. What are you doing? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, I just did something stupid with Branson and I guess, I just needed her help."
"Oh, B. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know. I didn't want to bring you into this."
"Brooke, whatever you're into, I am too."
"Thank you, Mia."
"That's okay. Anyways, I'll leave you to it."
"Sorry, babe. I'll see you later. Bye."
"Bye." I end the call with Brooke and lay on my bed with a sigh. I have three hours until it's 12, so I can probably have a little catnap until then.
_-_
The sound of ringing the doorbell awakens me from my catnap. I throw on my baby blue silk robe, to cover up my nightgown I wore after my shower with Stavo. I quickly allow my legs to take me down the stairs and through the living room to answer the door.
I open the large wooden door and come face to face —well, my face to his upper chest— with my mother's therapist. Dr. Zeb Cabot or just Zeb. He wears a black button up shirt and black dress pants. He pairs the outfit nicely with a brown coat and shiny black shoes. His pair ing blue eyes somehow put mine to shame. His dark skin screams perfection.
Zeb has been coming over to help my mother out ever since the death of Piper Shaw aka the time when every person in Lakewood found out she was the Lakewood Slasher. Piper has entered our home as both herself and as the Lakewood Slasher. When my mother found out that her son murdered her husband, two murderers have been also been in our home, she felt so vulnerable and scared. She called up a therapist and basically went mute after that.
Zeb has been slowly trying to, I guess, unmute her. Is that the proper term? Anyway, it has been a month and honestly, he's done much more than I ever could. He also forces her to take her PTSD pills, which I'm unsure if that's appropriate to basically force her but it helps.
I give Zeb a smile and open the door wider for him to enter the house, "hi! Come in."
Zeb gives me a nod before elegantly walking himself turn to the living room. I shut the door and quickly follow after him.
"How have you been, Mia?" He asks and I give him a small smile.
"Good, thanks. You?" I reply making small talk as he prepares his briefcase.
"Mm, good," He answers. "But how are you, really?"
"Zeb, you're here for my mother. Not me, remember that." I tell him as he stops sorting out his briefcase and turns to look at me. He raises his left eyebrow and shakes his head, a small smile on his face.
"I know, but I can't bare to imagine how you're feeling about Piper Shaw's copycat." He says, bringing up the recent events about the new Lakewood Slasher.
I roll my eyes, "I'm fine, really."
Zeb is a nice guy. He's wonderful, honestly! However, I do just wish he would mind his business which is obviously hard considering his occupation...
"Are you missing something?" Zeb asks when he notices me walking towards a couch on the opposite side of him. I laugh before I'm even able to sit.
"My mom," I walk away and rush up the stairs. I knock on my mother's bedroom and open her door after receiving no reply. My mom stands by her window, staring off at nothing. I walk towards her and place a hand on her shoulder. "Zeb's here." I wait a couple seconds for a reply, or even a twitch, but nothing. I let out a sigh and drop my hand, however, within a second, my hand is immediately taken in her cold white ones. She holds it tightly, her focus still on the windows.
I let out a big smile and an airy chuckle. She held my hand. This was the first time where she's done this. This is the first time where we've had contact. Whenever I saw her anywhere, it was always quiet. Not a single movement in her body except for when she moves from her bedroom to the bathroom, to the kitchen, and then back to her bedroom.
A couple weeks ago she would always recall the last conversation she had between her and my dad before and after he left the house but now she's stopped that. I told Zeb, he said it's progress and that she's finally letting go of her final conversation with dad.
The most progress she has made is contact. She's holding my hand and I really don't want to let go, and I think neither does she.
"Mom, we should go see Zeb." My mom slowly looks away from the window, and her lifeless blue eyes look straight at mine. My eyes are probably sparkling right now due to excitement and happiness. Her hand drops from mine and she walks away. I turn my body around and watch as she exits her room. I look down at my hands and stare at the hand she held so tightly in mine. I feel my eyes growing watery but I look up at the ceiling, begging for them to not fall.
I lower my head when I blink the tears away and follow the footsteps of my mother. She takes a sharp left and walks toward Zeb who is seated on the grey couch, his phone in his hands.
"Welcome back, Eve." Zeb greets my mother when he hears our steps on the wooden floor. He places his phone into his back pocket and grabs his notepad and a recorder from his black briefcase.
My mom sits at the couch opposite him. I walk over to the couch that's to the left of her and sit down. I wrap my arms around myself and Zeb looks at me. I give him a slight nod and he sighs before looking back over to my mom.
"How are you feeling today?" Zeb asks my mom who doesn't respond. "Eve, I'm going to ask you some questions about the trauma and how you've been since then. I understand that you may not feel like answering, just know that if you ever do feel it difficult to answer, let me know."
"The trauma that you dealt with was the loss of a loved one and the life was taken away by your son, is that correct?" Zeb stares at my mother, his eyes watch her carefully. Although my mother never answers, she'd usually give facial expressions away which helped Zeb when writing his notes. I couldn't see the look on my mom's face but I'm guessing whatever she did or didn't do, was good enough for Zeb because he instantly writes something on his notepad.
"Do you remember what you were feeling and thinking at the time?" My mom doesn't reply however, her face moves up and down. She's nodding... Zeb gives her a slight nod and looks away from his notepad and back at the woman in front of him.
"Did the trauma occur at your own residence?" Her head shakes.
The murder happened at a park which was two streets away. A park that my parents would always take me and Ansel.
"Has any legal action result from this?" Once again, her head shakes.
The police are trying their best to arrest my brother but they are just unable to find him. I think they gave up.
"I'm going to ask you some questions now about who, if anyone, you blame for the occurrence of this trauma. These questions are asked because it is quite helpful to me in our work together to understand how you view this event and how you have responded to it."
My mother doesn't do anything.
"Do you blame someone for the occurrence of the trauma?"
Mom nods and she looks down.
"Who?" She shakes her head. Zeb pauses for a moment before repeating the question. "Who?"
Mom shakes her head once more, "I'll remind you once again, I hope that you answer these questions in order for me to be able to understand you and help you get on your way."
"Who do you blame?"
Mom looks up at Zeb, her eyes growing teary. She raises her finger and turns it to face herself.
She blames herself for my father's death. She blames herself for Ansel shooting dad...
_
Authors Note:
I'm sorry for the filler chapters twice in a row but it helps the plot. As much as I hate fillers, it brings Mia closer to mommy dearest!
JESSE WILLIAMS AS ZEB CABOT
Let me know your thoughts on the chapter!