Saving Ever After (Ever After #4) (11 page)

“Thanks,” I
mumbled.

“I was
planning on taking Ivy for a hike out at Middlesex Fells, do you want to come?”

“Oh,” I was
surprised by the invitation, but I eagerly accepted. “Sure. I have no idea
where that is, but I’ll go with you guys.”

“It’s a
reservation, not too far from here. It’s a long hike though, and it can be a
little rough, so you’ll need good shoes and might not want to wear anything too
nice.”

“I should be
okay, and if I need to, I can borrow a pair of shoes from Sadie,” I said,
trying to mask a little of my excitement. The prospect of spending the
afternoon on a hike with Chris was almost too much.

“Okay, I’ll
load Ivy up and see if I can find some snacks to pack while you dry off and get
changed.”

I hurried
inside and straight to my room. My clothes weren’t a problem. I’d expected to
spend the weekend lounging around the house by myself, so all I’d packed were
yoga pants, tees and a hoodie. I swapped the pair of cotton shorts I had on for
the yoga pants and grabbed a dry shirt, and the hoodie just in case.

The only
shoes I had with me were flip flops, so I darted upstairs and raided Sadie’s
closet for a pair of old athletic shoes that looked like they would be good for
a long hike. I wasn’t sure what the recommended footwear was on a hike, but I
hoped these would do even if they weren’t meant for hiking.

Shit, I
wasn’t exactly meant for hiking or the great outdoors. I’d never been on a hike
in my life, but I was willing to do just about anything to spend the day with
Chris. I had a feeling it would be worth it.

And boy was
I right.

I didn’t
know days could be so perfect, but that’s exactly what today was. I’d never seen
the appeal of nature and hiking before, but it was definitely something I planned
to take up in the future, and it wasn’t just about Chris. It was beautiful and
peaceful and the only thing I had to worry about was not tripping and falling
on my ass.

Chris informed
me that the trails around there were classified as moderate, and even though I
wasn’t out of shape, it was exhausting. Ivy would run ahead of us and then come
bounding back. Occasionally we would stop and throw sticks for her if we were
in an open spot. We passed very few other hikers out there, so it was almost
like we were the only two people in that part of the world.

All of my
stress and troubles just seemed to disappear as Chris and I walked and talked
about the most random stuff. Conversation flowed easily between us, which I
hadn’t expected. I’d thought I would by awkward and nervous around him, but he
had a way of relaxing me with his easy going nature.

 Some of the
views at the top of points we climbed to were absolutely breathtaking. I’d
never felt that way about nature stuff before, just taking for granted that all
this beauty was here. I’d never taken the time to really look or enjoy it, but
Chris had a way of opening my eyes and making me appreciate what was right in
front of me.

 By the time
we returned to the house that evening, my legs were pleasantly sore, my belly
was starving and I was hoping for a hundred more days like today, like this
whole weekend.

Chris

“Shit, shit,
shit!”

I laughed as
I watched Mia panicking and cursing over the pot on the stove as it sizzled and
steamed in her face. She quickly turned the knob, shutting off the burner, and
turned her attention back to the second pan on the stove that was currently
smoking.

I tried to
stifle the laughter as I walked over to rescue her. “Having troubles?’ I asked
her.

She looked
up at me pathetically. “I think I burnt dinner.”

I eyed the
clump of rice stuck to the bottom of one pan and then the chicken that had been
cremated in the second pan. “I think you did more than burn it, Mia,” I
chuckled. “What happened? I thought you said you knew what you were doing.”

“Well, obviously
I lied,” she huffed.

“Obviously,”
I mused.

“I can’t
cook for shit,” she admitted, defeated. “I just thought it would be nice if I
made you dinner for letting me stay here and taking me on the hike. Chicken and
rice sounded easy enough. I don’t know what went wrong.”

“How much
water did you put in the pot of rice?” I asked her, grabbing the large box and
looking at the back.

“Uh, I don’t
know, I just put some in the pan and then dumped in the rice.”

I laughed, “Well,
I hate to break it to you, but it looks like you put in twice the amount of
rice for the amount of water you had, and you turned it up too high and boiled
out most of it.”

“Oh. Oops.”

“It also
looks like you didn’t put enough oil in the pan with the chicken and turned
that up too high as well.”

She looked
at me sheepishly, “I was supposed to put oil in the pan?”

I shook my
head, “You are a hazard in the kitchen, Mia. Go sit down and turn something on.
I’ll find something to make for us.”

“Sorry?” She
looked up at me with pitiful eyes as she bit her lip around a goofy half-smile.

“Yeah, yeah.
You know, if you didn’t look so pathetic when I walked in here to rescue you
from this catastrophe, I might think you planned to poison me with this
inedible mess.”

“I must have
skipped my cooking lessons to play video games instead. It’s too bad you didn’t
do the same. Then you might actually be able to beat me,” she teased and
bounced off in the direction of the living room.

“Watch
yourself, Mia, or you might just go hungry tonight.”

I heard her
soft, airy laughter and couldn’t stop my lips from curling up into a smile. I
couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such ridiculous fun just hanging out
with someone. It should have felt weird that it was Mia, but oddly it didn’t.
Spending time with her these past two days was not the hassle I’d expected.
When she was just herself, no alcohol and nobody that she was trying too hard
to please or impress, she was funny, sweet and bad ass at video games. Not at
all the high maintenance diva she came across as sometimes. Laid back Mia was
great. A little too great. And definitely trouble. For me and my peace of mind.

It was bad
enough that it was impossible to ignore how devastatingly pretty she was, but
Mia in a wet t-shirt . . .

I had to
shake my head. That rigged sink was the stupidest prank I’ve ever pulled, not
because it wasn’t hilarious or didn’t get her good. Because it was, and it did,
but then she’d turned around in that thin little slip of a shirt all plastered
to the front of her and I’d had to mentally restrain my eyes to keep them from
going there.

Then, like
an idiot, I went and did it again with the damned hose. Obviously I hadn’t
learned my lesson the first time. Yep, that girl was trouble and in ways she
didn’t even know.

I don’t know
what I’d been thinking inviting her on the hike earlier, or if I’d even been
thinking at all. I just knew that being around this Mia, the real Mia, was not
a hardship at all, and I’d wanted her to go. I hadn’t been ready to cut off our
time together. That had nothing to do with how good she looked wet.

This was
dangerous. Mia was dangerous, and my head began to fill with reasons why
forming any sort of friendship with her wasn’t right. Getting close to her was flat-out
wrong. Regardless of how fun and sweet Mia was underneath all the other shit
you had to see through to get to her, it didn’t change all that other shit. She
was still a troubled kid in a difficult place in her life.

I knew she
could get through it all, because the fire in her had also come out this
weekend. I’d seen moments of strength and determination in her. She could be
fierce when she wanted to, I just didn’t think she knew it. I didn’t think she
knew who she really was.

Just from
the glimpses I’d caught when she let her walls down, I knew that the day she
finally figured it out, figured out what was inside her, the world better be
ready for it, because she was going to be a force to be reckoned with. And when
that happened, she was going to knock some lucky bastard off his feet, and if
he was smart, he’d do everything he could to get back up and sweep her off
hers. And hang onto her, because when you got something like that in your life,
you did not let it go. You cherished it and protected it. And Mia deserved all
that. It just wasn’t for me to be the one to give it to her.

Knowing
that, it wasn’t fair to her to let this thing go any further when I knew she
was emotionally vulnerable and harboring some kind of feelings for me. That was
only too obvious in the way she watched me, the looks and smiles she couldn’t
hide. The ones that made something in my chest swell up just a little, every
single time. The ones that I wanted to hang on to, but weren’t mine to keep.

She was also
Sadie’s little sister and I knew how inappropriate it would look to everyone if
Mia and I spent any more time together. Not to mention what Katrina would think
of it.

Katrina. My
girlfriend. Who I cared a lot about.

 I shouldn’t
have had to remind myself of that fact, and yet, except for the few times she’d
called or texted me, I hadn’t been thinking about her nearly as much as I
should have been. It wasn’t fair to Katrina that I was enjoying time with
another girl, no matter how innocent I wanted to believe that time was. Over
the last two days, I’d found myself having thoughts like wishing Katrina
enjoyed playing video games with me, or that she’d at least try them once in a
while instead of complaining every time I turned my game system on. I’d also wondered
how she would react to some of the pranks I’d played on Mia, if she would take
them as well as Mia had, dishing it right back.

Those
thoughts weren’t healthy or fair to anyone. It wasn’t right for me to compare
the two girls, or fault Katrina for being who she was. I knew all too well what
it felt like when someone important in your life wanted to change you into
something else. I wouldn’t do that to her, but I also realized as I stood in
the kitchen, cooking dinner for me and Mia, that I couldn’t stay here with her
anymore because of the affect she was having on me.

I stirred the
Spaghetti noodles, satisfied that they were done. Then I drained the water from
the pan and popped open a jar of sauce, dumping it into the small pan. I found
some veggies and lettuce in the fridge and pulled them out to mix up salads, and
tried to tell myself it wasn’t disappointment I was feeling because of the
decision I’d made.

I served Mia
her food in the living room, dropping onto the couch with my own plate and
salad. I’d made up my mind that after dinner I would tell her something came up
and ask her if she was okay watching Ivy through tomorrow. I had a key to Katrina’s,
so I could crash there and come back tomorrow night after Mia returned to her
dorm, and stay until Ace and Sadie came home Monday.

“Thanks for
dinner, this is really good.”

“No
problem.”

She stood
and set her dish aside, disappearing in to the kitchen and returning with two
glasses of milk. She set one down in front of me.

“Oh thanks,”
I said, realizing I’d forgotten to get us anything to drink.

She just
smiled and returned to her food.

It was
funny; now that I’d decided to leave to prevent any misunderstandings or
awkwardness between us, things felt awkward in a way they hadn’t before. My
awareness of Mia had changed, and with it so had my ability to relax around her.

She’s just
Mia.

Just Mia.

That didn’t help
because I’d gotten to know
‘just Mia’
enough that it only made me want
to know more. And once something, or someone, gets in your head, it’s hard to
get them out. I didn’t know how to get Mia out. Maybe because I didn’t know how
the fuck she’d gotten in to begin with. She’d snuck up on me.

She wasn’t
supposed to be like this. She wasn’t supposed to catch me off guard and flip
every notion I had of her. It would be so much easier if I could still just see
her as Mia, Sadie’s troubled, aggravating, but slightly endearing little
sister.

She’d
stopped being endearing right around the time she handed me my ass with an Xbox
controller and then taunted me.

We finished
eating and then Mia offered to clean up the kitchen. I should have taken that
opportunity to tell her I was going, but I put it off. I told myself that one
more hour wouldn’t make a difference. I didn’t relish the idea of walking into Katrina’s
empty apartment. She always offered for me to stay there when she was away, but
I had never felt comfortable. As much time as I spent there, I could never
bring myself to think of it as our place even though Katrina referred to it
that way. In my mind it was still her place.

Mia rejoined
me from the kitchen, settling in to finish the movie she’d turned on while I
made dinner. I made no move to leave, deciding just to stay through the end of
the movie. Sometime between the car chase in the middle and the final fight
scene, my eyes drifted shut and I fell asleep. When they popped back open a
while later, the movie was over and I was alone in the living room. The sound drifting
down into the living room told me exactly where Mia was and what she was up to.

I followed
the noise up the stairs and to the closed door of the music room. With the
light soundproofing Ace had done, the beat coming through the door was soft,
but as soon as I pushed the door open I was blasted with the awful racket and
one of the funniest, and if I was completely honest with myself, sexiest sights
I’d ever laid eyes on.

Mia was
sitting behind my drum kit in just her damn tiny shorts and tiny tank, sticks
in hand, wailing on the drums. Arms flying, head banging, hair flipping all
over the place, and her foot was just going to town on the kick drum. It was
complete and utter chaos. No timing or rhythm or anything that actually
resembled music. It actually hurt my soul a little, and made my ears want to
bleed, hearing that jangled clash and clamor coming from my babies. Still, I
could have stood there all damn night watching her let loose.

She had yet
to look up and see me standing in the doorway. She was so completely lost in
her wild drumming, and although I couldn’t understand the noise she was
creating, I understood the feeling. She was letting go of everything, she was
completely free, unrestrained, an intense explosion of movement, and I was
fucking enthralled by it.

In that
moment, I felt so fucking in sync with her that it was scary. She looked
exactly how I felt every time I picked up my sticks, like there was just
something inside of her that she desperately needed to get out, and that was
the only way to release it. Unlike Mia, I had the skill and knowledge to turn
it into something people actually wanted to hear, but still, it felt like I
could have been watching myself play.

I’m not sure
how long I stood there watching her, before her hands finally stilled and she
glanced over, breathing heavy, limbs drained and weary with exhaustion because
she’d just poured every fucking thing out. I knew that feeling too.

“Oh, hi. Sorry
if I woke you up, and for uh –” she set the sticks down and stood. “I shouldn’t
have touched your drums. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be
sorry. Looked like you needed that.”

“Uh, yeah,”
she chuckled lightly. “Maybe I did. Just sorry you had to hear it. Sadie didn’t
leave much musical talent in the gene pool for me.”

I laughed, “That’s
alright. Sometimes the music isn’t about the music. It’s just about getting something
inside of you out.” I shifted uncomfortably, realizing now more than ever, I needed
to get away from Mia, because she was so much more than
“just Mia”
, or
‘just’
anything. Every real, honest little bit of herself that she exposed to me,
drew me in deeper. I needed space between us. A lot of space. Entire rooms and
walls and houses and streets and miles between us to stop these thoughts that
were barreling down on me.

 “Feel free
to mess around with whatever, but you break it, you buy it,” I teased, and then
took my chance to get out of there. “I uh, something’s come up at Katrina’s and
I need to head over there for the night. Will you be alright here with Ivy
until I can come back sometime tomorrow?”