Twelve
OLIVER
Eli told me this morning that we were going to be Mia’s backup for her date since AJ and Rory have dinner with some sponsors.
I hesitated to agree, but Eli didn’t give me the option.
He said to show up at Mik’s at seven and he would buy me a beer before she shows up.
What I didn’t hesitate on was the decision to take my bike.
She never responded to my text telling her to wear pants tonight, but I know she is far too curious to not do it.
I made sure to wear a darker shirt and double check my chain is on. She’s always playing with it. Mia might be going on a date with another guy tonight, but I have every intention of distracting her, call me petty.
Maxwell chewed my ass out this morning after she left for still not telling her that I’m the one who keeps stock of her favorite candy.
I also stock the cherries that we keep in the fridge at the gym too and her cherry flavored sodas.
She does a happy dance every time she sees her favorite things just magically appear.
I don’t care that she thinks it's my brother who does it. I love seeing those damn stupid dances. And that’s a problem.
I crave her. That’s the real problem. I just want my hands back on her skin.
And as always, I know the minute she walks through the door because the lighting in the room gets a little brighter.
Her date tonight is almost as tall as me, has dark hair and is dressed in a polo and jeans.
He leads her through my favorite dive bar by her hand.
Her hair seems less wild than usual and her eyes aren’t as bright.
She’s toned down in every way but her lips.
They’re still stained her favorite color.
I can’t help but to laugh out loud when I see that she is in the complete opposite of jeans.
She has on a shirt that I am pretty sure belonged to a man at one point because it is so big that it kisses the bare skin a few inches above her knee and thigh high boots.
“Why do you look like you just won the lottery?” Eli comes back from getting us new drinks and scoots into the booth.
Mik’s has always been our place to escape.
We try hard to get AJ to come with us but she rarely says yes.
And now that she has Rory, I’m sure it will be even harder to get her to come out with us.
Maxwell already has a girl in his lap laughing so hard she is crying.
I nod to where Mia is sitting across the bar at a high top, “because she didn’t wear pants.” Eli rolls his eyes as he places my glass of whiskey on the table.
“That makes no sense.” Eli is confused and that’s okay. He doesn’t have to understand. She didn’t wear pants because I told her to. She knew I would be here and it would get my attention. Which means she wants my attention.
“You’re not allowed to go over there and make that poor guy feel uncomfortable.” Eli instructs.
“Then you shouldn’t have brought me.” I shoot back before taking a sip of my drink, eyes still on her even though she hasn’t noticed me yet.
“He brought you because you were a big saddie today at the gym.” Maxwell pops his head over the shoulder of the girl still sitting in his lap. He’s always listening even when you think he isn’t.
“I wasn’t sad.” My defense lands on deaf ears as they both laugh at me loudly bringing attention to where we are sitting.
“No, you’re just being a dumbass. You can’t get upset that she thinks Maxie is more thoughtful when you are the one doing the nice things for her but you refuse to tell her it’s actually you.
” Eli, always the steady pulse of logic.
I know he’s right but he doesn’t have much room to stand on.
He’s just as bad with Devyn. They’ve chased each other their entire lives.
Forever the right person for each other, never at the right time.
I swallow a small sip of whiskey, letting it burn as it goes down. “She would hate it if she knew it was me.” I can’t take my eyes off her as she gives this guy one of her smiles. That just won’t do. I down the rest of my whiskey and climb out of the booth.
“Where are you going?” Eli calls after me, but I ignore him.
I get to the bar and flag down Grover. He’s been working here for nearly five years because his uncle owns the place.
Always wearing the same thing like it’s his uniform when I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing in his closet.
Black tee and half ripped up jeans that should probably be thrown in the trash.
He has earrings decorating his ears much like Eli and I’m pretty sure he dyes his hair black.
In a different universe they could be brothers.
I came in carrying a container of Mia’s preferred cherries and had him stash them under the bar in the mini fridge. He gave me a groan in protest but when I told him who they were for he gladly stocked them. Mia is everyone’s favorite.
“Can I have a napkin and a pen?” Grover tosses them down on the bar top never missing a beat while making the drinks. “Has the deadly blonde and dick ordered yet?” I ask him as I uncap the pen.
His eyes raise over my shoulder to where Mia is sitting.
I knew he would know exactly who I’m talking about.
Mia isn’t the girl that you miss walking into a room.
He barely shakes his head no. Good. I finish writing on the inside of the napkin and grab an empty tray from where a waitress abandoned it on the bar top.
“Do me a favor and send some water over to them? But make sure this napkin is given to her.”
“Whatever you want man.” Grover agrees and flags over one of his waitresses.
I go back to the booth, still in the perfect eyeline of where she’s sitting. I watch the waitress set down the drinks and she keeps the napkin to the side of the glass. Smart. And I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about the ink bleeding from a sweaty water glass.
Oliver: I would check the inside of your napkin
I send the text and keep the screen open while I wait for her to see it. She glances down and a small smile ghosts the corner of her lips before she smothers it. She doesn’t respond but she does slip her napkin stealthily into her lap.
He looks like he smells like vanilla. That’s what I wrote on the napkin and it got the exact reaction I wanted out of her. He might have made her smile but I made that loud sound of laughter leave her body.
Mia
You’re ridiculous.
Oliver
I bet he gets you the wrong drink.
Mia
He’s nice.
Oliver
You hate nice.
Mia
I hate you.
Oliver
No, you don’t.
She glances up and meets my eyes directly as if she knew where I was the whole time.
I sip my new drink that one of my brothers must have gotten for me and grin at her over the rim.
I can feel the frustration rolling off her body from here.
She gives her attention back to her date.
Who I’m sure is recapping his day in the office of whatever boring ass job he works at.
The smile she gives him this time is forced, I can tell the difference.
And I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t overflowing with pride that burned through my veins that I affect her enough to have to fake a smile with him.
I watch as they both look over menus and he starts pointing things out to her. She always gets the same thing though. I’m confident that he will order everything wrong. And Mia will let him.
She likes to test the guys she goes on dates with to see if they are predictable or not.
She’ll want fries with buffalo ranch and a cherry margarita.
Always. Sides and appetizers are the superior meal.
She told me that once and now every time I look at a menu, sure enough that is what looks the most enticing.
I let my fingers run over the ridge of the glass as I watch her date speak to the waitress, Mia never even opens her mouth.
Her eyes flicker to mine and I can see the moment that he orders the wrong drink for her because she has to fight the drop of her smile.
She’s too strong to let it actually drop though.
“Are you going to just stare at her all night?” Maxwell asks, and I just now notice the girl he has had with him is missing. I never saw her leave because I’ve been too consumed with the girl across the bar.
“She’s staring too.” I argue.
“You two fuck with each other too much to not just fuck each other.” Maxwell has a different tone than he normally does. It's an annoyance mixed with exhaustion.
“They do that too.” Eli shares as he raises an eyebrow at me. He’s been lecturing me more lately about not playing games with her. But I’m not playing. Everytime I have her in my hands, literally, she quickly leaves. She just hasn’t given me the reason why.
“We’re not talking about this.” I shut them down. They aren’t wrong and I normally always talk with my brothers about everything, but this feels too precarious to risk talking about with them.
“Can we talk about how we don’t know anything about her?” Eli makes a solid point but I don’t care.
I know the important things. I know that she healed something in AJ.
I know that she puts her heart and soul into everything she does with the gym.
I know that she works so much because she doesn’t like the quiet.
She’s the opposite of AJ with that. AJ is okay sitting with her mind and closing others out of it.
Mia has to surround herself with noise and business.
If she stops then she doubts. And she hates feeling weak.
“Yeah. Like does she have family?”
“Why did she move here?”
“Does she like her family?”
“Did she go to college?”