Page 9 of Bad Habit
“Where the fuck are you?” Eli’s voice travels easily through the old house. He must have let himself in. Each of us still keeps a key to the house. Even though we are triplets and only minutes apart, Eli is definitely the middle child while Maxwell is the youngest. I came out first which burdens me as the oldest.
“Guest bedroom!” I’ve been standing here staring at the open format and imagining the suggested improvements from Mia since she texted me. This could be a good project for me right now with everyone else having their own roles at the gym. I’m not as needed there as I used to be.
“Why are you just standing here like that?” Eli shoves his shoulder into mine to glimpse at my phone screen where Mia’s text was still open on the screen. I quickly shove my phone into my pocket before he has a chance to be too nosy.
I’m too slow because I can tell by the twisted grin on his face he saw who I was texting. “Are you ever going to tell AJ you fucked her best friend?” I regret telling him about what happened between me and Mia. Technically he came over the next day and just some how already fucking knew. People think that twin telepathy is bad, it’s even worse being a triplet. They don’t just always know exactly what I am thinking, theyknowthings without any context at all. It’s exasperating.
“You know AJ likes it better when we don’t spill every aspect of our lives.” I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and my hand twitches withthe need to check it. “And it was a one time thing,” I remind him. I wouldn’t mind it being more than a one time thing but that isn’t a viable option. Flirting with Mia is harmless, riling her up is my favorite hobby, but touching her again? That’s too dangerous.
I nod for him to follow me out of the bedroom and make my way to the front of the house. He offered to come and pick me up for the surprise party that Mia wants to throw at Dad’s apartment. Maxwell should already be there helping her. She personally requested him to be there early since he is her favorite of us.
“Does she know that she’s the only girl you let spend the night here?” Eli’s voice was full of something deeper than when we were in the guestroom. He’s been worried about this blowing up since it happened. At first he called me an idiot. Then he decided he wasn’t surprised. Now any time he brings it up he tries to make it more than what it was.
Mia likes to pretend it didn’t happen. But I can see it in her pretty eyes every time I’m close to her that she remembers it vividly. I can’t stop thinking about it either. And life has been in fast forward with everyone working together to get Rory ready for his fight. I’ve barely seen AJ or been able to spend real time with her. And she’s the only one that I’ve ever been able to vomit all my thoughts to. Eli is great and I love him but he would give me the protective speech. Max would just be giddy because he adores Mia. AJ would just listen and help straighten out the fears in my head.
“You know she doesn’t. And she won’t.” A small threat lingers in my voice for him to keep it to himself that Mia is the only girl to stay the night here. When I bought the house, I knew that I would only let someone of importance be here because it meant so much to my mom. I finger my hair as I look for shoes. “She’s been on dates since then. So it meant nothing to her.” That’s a lie. It definitely meant something to her. It’s why she ran away and left my shirt behind.
Eli reached beside my couch handing me the exact pair of shoes I was looking for. He raises one of his pierced eyebrows, “Are you keeping tabs on her?” I don’t like the tone that fills his words. It isn’t like it’s hard to keep tabs on her, she isn’t a quiet person. And it’s not a crime to listen to conversations when they are happening right next to you.
“I just overhear things.” I shrug as we leave the house and get in the truck to head to the apartment.
When we pull up, Mia is carrying boxes two at a time up the stairs. The boxes are so big that they dwarf her frame and all I can picture is her falling backwards on the stairs. Stubborn girl. I move quickly to take the boxes out of her hands and notice that Eli is already grabbing the two left on the ground a few feet away.
“You could have hurt yourself.” I say, gripping the boxes.
“I’m sorry did I ask for your help?” She snaps.
“You shouldn’t have to ask for help, Mia. People should just give it.” I watch her mouth open and then close. I take that silent opening to leave her and carry the boxes up the stairs, Eli’s steps heavy behind me.
“Thanks, Eli.” Her voice is sweet for him, never for me.
“How over the top did you go for this?” Eli asks her as we reach the apartment to find Maxwell on the floor surrounded by balloons, his wavy hair all in a disarray, and his cheeks blood red. I almost drop the boxes from laughing so hard. He looks ridiculous.
“The answer is that she went so far over the top that we can’t even see the ground.” Literally. The entire living room floor is swimming in balloons.
“Get fucked, Ol. AJ will love this. No one has ever thrown her a surprise party. Did you know that?” She’s standing in front of me now. I set the boxes down and face her in all her feisty glory. She has her hands on her perfect hips and a scowl on her face that I’m sure she means to be scolding but only makes her lips push out in more of a pout. Then I take a second to appreciate her outfit before she can yell at me for staring.She’s standing in front of me in jeans and a super cropped band tee and new sneakers. That damn baby viper peeking out and what looks like a new tattoo under her boob on the other side. I hadn’t noticed that a few nights ago when we all watched the fight.Feed the soul.I read the pretty script lettering.
“She hates surprise parties. So yeah, I did know that.” I watch her nose scrunch up at my words. It’s true, AJ is going to be so overwhelmed if she walks in with the apartment like this. She loves hard but not big. Mia loves big and hard.
“She doesn’t hate them. She’s never had one. She just doesn’t know that she loves them. Everyone loves surprise parties. It’s the reason why they still exist.” She works hard to make her words sound confident but I watch the doubt spark in her eyes as it sinks in that AJ might hate this. And she will, but she will pretend she doesn’t because AJ is the best at recognizing the way that people love. She never fails to show up for the people she loves, and she loves Mia. She turns to Maxwell for confirmation. “Is she going to hate this?” My chest pulls at the doubt in her voice.
“Did Melinda make that chocolate pie she loves?” Maxwell is tying off yet another balloon and speaks without even looking up, fully focused on the task at hand. She shakes her head surely. He lifts a shoulder, “she loves pie. And she loves you. I think she’ll be fine.” Maxwell fails to reassure her enough.
She swings her body to face Eli and raises her eyebrows at him with the same question. “She will appreciate the love you put into it.” He gives her the truth without the harshness that would crush her spirit.
Then she turns to me and her entire body changes from doubtful and slightly sad to determined. She straightens out growing about an inch taller and her hazel eyes steel up. “How do I fix it?” I hold in the smirk that is fighting to make an appearance because I know how much she hates having to come to me for advice regarding anything AJ related.
“Are you going to actually listen to me?” I ask with full skepticism because the odds of her just doing what I ask are very low.
“Don’t be a dick.” Her words are soft and that softens my need to keep the fight between us alive.
“Get rid of the balloons.” I gesture to where they take up the floor. Maxwell’s mouth drops open entirely and he throws his hands in the air but I ignore him. “Too much unnecessary movement. It’ll put her on edge. Put the pie out on the counter when Melinda gets here so she knows there will be sugar. And have one of her playlist playing.” I can see the thoughts rolling through her head as she reworks her plan.
“I worked my ass off on these balloons. We are not throwing them away.” Maxwell whines.
I glance up at Eli for assistance but he just shifts his shoulders slightly giving me a look telling me that he has no idea what to do with the mass population of balloons in our dad’s apartment.
I grab a few garbage bags from the kitchen and toss one to each of my brothers then gently hand one to Mia. “We will use them for games with the kids tomorrow. Dad is making Rory take some time off from training and AJ will be holed up in the office getting caught up. So she won’t care. This way they aren’t wasted.” I’m looking at Maxwell, but I think everyone in this room knows that I am trying to make Mia feel better and couldn’t care less if Maxwell is still whining or not.
