Page 93 of Too Sweet
“Don’t assume, Nico. Mia only went out with two guys her age, everyone else was at least five years older, so I expected this.” He gets up, opening a cupboard to pull out a bag of peanuts. “Listen, you’ve not been dating long. It’s all fresh, so we’ll save the heavy for later, alright?”
I bob my head, spinning the glass on the breakfast counter. For over an hour, we talk about work before he asks about the skydive. Mia flips onto her side halfway through my story. I’m surprised she hasn’t woken up yet. We’re not exactly keeping our voices down.
“She did very well. She screamed for ten seconds after we jumped out but stopped when she looked around.”
“I’ve seen the pictures,” Jimmy says, slurring his words a little. The long-haul and time difference must’ve taken a toll on him. “I assume you’re staying the night?”
“If that’s not a problem. I’d rather not wake Mia every couple hours to check on her.”
“It’s fine.” He crosses the room, pulling another bottle from the drinks cabinet. “You need to try this. Just one drink.”
“I should get Mia to bed before we start another bottle.”
He waves me off. “Yeah, do that and come back.”
I get the bed ready before moving Mia. Thankfully she’s already in her pj’s. Jimmy and I don’t stop at the one drink. When I finally crawl into bed around two in the morning, I know I’ll wake up with a banging headache.
∞
Mia
First day of high school
“Holy shit!” Jake yells when I stop by the lockers. “Someone did some growing up over the summer. You’re not fat! You need a new nickname.”
I don’t look his way. It never ends well. I open the locker, shove my bag inside and take the books I need for my first class—Chemistry.
“Are those...” he says, feigning surprise. “Are thoserealboobs you’ve got there, or have you stuffed your bra?”
Students laugh, the sound like thousands of tiny needles pricking my nerve endings.
“You won’t talk to me, huh?”
I close the locker and grab the earphones, putting them in my ears and hating Aisha for putting makeup on me. I feel like I’m wearing a mask. Like I’m trying to fit in when I stopped hoping to long ago.
If the likes of Jake are the people I’m supposed to fit in with, then I’d rather be a loner.
I crank up the volume and make my way to class, eyes on the floor, steps small. I don’t even make it to the end when the music stops playing, and I see Jake from the corner of my eye, scissors in hand and a wide grin.
He cut the cords.
I grit my teeth, adamant not to show him how much it hurts me to be robbed of the one thing I find comfort in.
“What isthat?” he cackles, smearing the raspberry lip gloss across my lips and face with his thumb. “That pouty mouth of yours would look great wrapped around my dick,” he states. “Yes! Fucking EPIC! That’s your new nickname. Blow Job Lips!” He scans the crowd of onlookers and starts chantingBJover and over until not a single person within earshot isn’t chanting with him.
There’s no stopping the tears that pool in my eyes. There’s no stopping my instincts when I turn on my heel and run out of the building, bailing on my first day as a freshman.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Mia
A SLAP LANDS ON MY ASS while I’m on my way out of the college building. Laughter erupts behind me, and without thinking, I spin on my heel to find a guy I don’t know, wagging his eyebrows.
My mind flares, my pulse soars, and a feeling I’ve only felt a few times whips across my nerve endings: courage.
Before I can think through my next move, my hand sails through the air, landing on the guy’s face. I don’t have enough strength to make his head turn, but the slap must sting because he holds his cheek, eyes growing wide.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” I say, pushing down the panic threatening to diminish my courage when I recognize the two guys cackling nearby.
