The Boy Next Door

[22]

I woke up to a nice fresh breeze. Apparently Mia had opened the balcony door. Also, she wasn't in bed, which kind of made me a little worried. What could she be up to? A warm scent of Chocolate chip pancakes filled the room as I walked downstairs to the kitchen.

"Mia, what is this," I say.

"Well since you invited us all here, the least I could do was make pancakes for everyone, so do me a favor and go wake all the people up," she says while waving the spatula in the air.

"Whatever you say, princess," I say.

I go upstairs and bang on all the doors. Of course, the one to utter something was Blake.

"Hey, it's the weekend let me sleep," he says through the door.

"Okay well don't blame me for not waking you up, and by the way, Mia made pancakes," I say.

"Chocolate chip?"

"Yes, now get your ass downstairs," I say while giving one last pound on the door.

"Fine," he says and groans.

I walk back downstairs and take a seat at the high counter top and watch Mia flip the pancakes. "They will be down in a minute."

"Okay well more for us then," she says and pops out a little smile.

I take a minute and just stare at the beauty in front of me. I can't believe I got so lucky, even though I still don't know what is going on between us. I can't believe she has put up with me. I feel like I have known her forever even though it has only been a month.

"Ace why are you looking at me like that," Mia says while waving the spatula in front of my face.

"You're just different that's all," I say.

"Different in what way," she says.

"Let's eat these pancakes I'm starving," I say trying to get away from that topic.

"Ace that is the second time you have left the conversation like that," she says.

"And."

"And so why can't you tell me why I am different."

"Yeah, Ace tell her why she is different," Blake says from behind me.

"Yeah, maybe another time," I say. "Let's eat."

"Agreed," Mia says.

I really couldn't have asked for anything more. All the people in my life are great and have been through shit with me and I couldn't be more thankful.

****

We spent the rest of the breakfast talking about the most basic shit ever. Blake and Gracie lead most of the conversation, but then it usually ends up with us staring at them while they fight about who's right. This is what I needed after Todd called me, a great talk with my friends and some good ass pancakes.

"Wow these were so good," Blake says while shoving the last bit of pancake into his mouth.

"Yeah, these were fantastic, I think I might go into a food coma," Gracie says while holding her stomach.

"Thanks, guys," Mia says and starts collecting the plates.

"Here let me help," I say and gather the ones she couldn't carry.

"Thanks, Sterling," Mia says.

We end up doing the dishes while everyone else cleans up the table and washes it down.

"Okay, guys I think I'm going to head out," Blake says. "Grace you ready."

"In a minute Blake," Gracie yells back at him.

"God what is with women," Blake says to me. Mia and I look at each other with a very confused expression.

"Thanks, Ace, for letting us stay," Alexis says. "Blake, are you leaving?"

"In a minute I need to wait for Gracie," Blake responded.

"Okay well, I am going to go, bye guys," Alexis says. We all waved goodbye to her.

Finally, Gracie comes downstairs "God took you long enough." Blake complains.

"Whatever let's go thanks guys," Gracie says.

"Yeah of course," Mia says.

They both exited the house and now it was just me and Mia.

"Hey what's wrong with you," Mia asks.

"Nothing's wrong," I say.

"Ace, don't play that card now," she says and points her finger at me "I know something is up."

"Nothing is wrong Mia I swear," I say.

"Come here," she says, and I do. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I do the same to her waist. She truly knows how to make a person feel better.

"Thank you," I say.

"You're welcome," she says, and let's go. For a split second, we both stared at each other until she looked away. "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

"Yeah, that would be great," I say. This house is massive, and I never have anybody over because it's just too big to clean but with two people it shouldn't take that long.

"So where should we start," Mia asks.

"How about you do the downstairs, and I will check the upstairs, and whoever is done first goes and helps the other," I say.

"Sounds great," Mia says.

****

"Okay we are done, that was a lot," Mia says while catching her breath.

"Yeah, it was, and that's why I usually never have people over because it's exhausting to clean," I say while plopping onto the couch.

"Ace," Mia asks softly.

"Mia."

"What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

"Uhh, I was thinking about playing basketball and then just sleeping."

"Well would you want to hang out, I know we already did but I mean I have nothing going on, so I was wondering if you wanted to. Of course, you don't have to I was ju-"

"Mia," I cut her off. "Of course, I will hang out with you again. What do you have in mind."

"Well we do have physics homework so we could go to the coffee house and work on that together, but then I wanted to go thrifting." She says.

"That sounds perfect, I will pick you up in 30. So go and look pretty." I say.

"Okay you do the same Sterling," she says with a soft giggle.