MIA
Mia
Your House.
Remember when I dropped you off that first time? You didn’t let me come inside because you didn’t let strangers into your home.
That was one of the first things that showed me you were different.
I sat in my car waiting for you, questioning my feelings because you’d already shaken the foundation I was standing on.
I’d never felt that way before and it scared the hell out of me. It made me feel like an idiot—it made me vulnerable.
When you opened the doors of your home to me, that’s when I realized you were letting me in—not just into your living room—but also into your heart.
This place became the place where we had the toughest conversations.
I don’t know if I’ve ever said this to you but thank you.
Thank you for listening to me, for talking to me…for being there.
You told me about your life but didn’t press to hear the details of mine. That was refreshing but also encouraging. You trusted me with your pain while you soothed mine.
Thank you for not kicking me out when I came to your house, drunk and rambling. Thank you for not taking my shit crap.
I remember the way you played with my hair as I told you about the demons that haunted me. I felt like I finally had someone to share my burdens with.
I never asked you to do anything; you did it willingly.
I would re-watch Magic Mike 2,000 times for you if it meant getting to sit next to you, to be near you, hear you laugh and have you rest your head on my shoulder.
Mia, I want you to know that sharing a bed with you is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
You make me better, Mia. You always have.
Love,
Colton
9
MIA
An hour and a half later, we’re almost ready to go. I get a flashback of getting ready with Kiya. Kaitlyn, similarly, insists on every little aspect of my appearance.
“It’s Monday! Do I seriously need to look like this?” I ask after she finishes with my eye-shadow.
“Do you see everyone else looking great?” she asks, pointing at Emma and Zoe.
I sigh. “Yes. But with all the makeup you’re putting on my face, I’ll probably stand out too much. I’ll look like I’m out there looking for something else.” I haven’t even looked in a mirror. Kaitlyn said I had to wait until she was done.
“Quit your complaining. Let me do your lips.”
“Can’t we just put Chapstick on them? I don’t want any color.”
Kaitlyn gasps. “Let me work!” she exclaims and the girls laugh.
“You guys are enjoying this too much,” I chastise.
“This is basically a replay of Emma and me earlier,” Zoe tells me and I smile envisioning it.
“It’s actually fun being on the other side,” Emma says, agreeing.
Kaitlyn looks at my face intently before declaring she’s done. “Go look at yourself now.”
I get up from the bed and walk toward my dresser. I’m amazed at what I see in the mirror. It’s not what I expected. I know there’s a lot of make-up there, but it looks so natural—not at all exaggerated. Even the lip color Kaitlyn used is barely visible.
“See? You’re gorgeous.”
The girls have come to stand in front of the mirror with me. My girls. My tribe. My sisters. “Wow,” I tell her, still in awe. “Thank you.”
“If you’re done checking yourself out, can you change in to the dress?”
“Pass it over,” I tell Kaitlyn.
She hands me the dress and I put it on quickly. It fits perfectly, hugging my body like it was made for me. Walking over to the full-length mirror, I appreciate the way I look.
Gorgeous.
Beautiful.
Like a girl with confidence and the power to overcome anything.
I know that part of it is the way I look, but the other part is the way I feel. I feel like I can take over the world, like nothing can stop me anymore. I’ve been through the ringer and have come out on the other side—stronger —and with someone I love who is just as strong.
“You look beautiful, Mia,” Emma says, closing the distance.
I turn to her. “Thank you.” The girls are watching me, and I feel something in the air—something I can’t quite pin-point—but I suspect it’s probably just feeling content. I only wish Colton was here.
“Are you ready to go?” Kaitlyn asks, looking down at her watch.
“Sure. Let’s go paint the town.”
“To Monday nights out!” Kaitlyn says, toasting with an invisible cup.
“To setting down the e-reader,” Zoe adds and we all burst out laughing at Emma’s expression.
“To real life romance,” Emma adds a few seconds later.
“To family,” I add because that’s what I’ve gained in the last two years.
We get lost in conversations from football to the fact that I’ll be graduating this year. I don’t know what the next chapter of my life will hold, but I’m excited for it.
Before I realize it, the car starts to slow down and a sign stands out. Eclipse.
“We’re going to Eclipse?” I ask.
Kaitlyn turns in to the parking lot. “Nope,” she answers sarcastically.
“Why are we coming here?” This club is not fun. It’s cramped, gross and always full of people.
“We kept hearing stories about this place,” Zoe says from the seat in the back. “We wanted to check it out.”
“I thought the stories would make you never want to come here,” I tell them.
Kaitlyn sighs theatrically. “Come on, Mia. It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Vivid images of you throwing up on that sidewalk come to mind,” I tell her, pointing at the place where the two of us sat while I held her hair back.
“I’ve got one of those too!" Emma says from the backseat. “Minus the throwing up part.”
Kaitlyn laughs. “Alright, alright, I have a problem.”
“I need a story too,” Zoe says. “That way, I don’t feel left out. Kaitlyn, do you think you’ll be close to throwing up tonight?”
Shutting off the car and removing the key, Kaitlyn turns to Zoe. “It’s always a possibility.”
“Give me a heads up!”
“Are you looking to replace Jesse? Remember, every time I get drunk, people fall in love,” she says with pride in her eyes. I shake my head.
“Can’t we go somewhere else?” I feel overdressed. This place is more of a night club—and the clothes I’m wearing, although form-hugging—are more elegant. “I thought we were going to like a formal dinner or something?” I add.
“It’s 9 PM, Mia. Who has dinner this late?” Kaitlyn argues.
“Who goes out to a club this early?” I counter.
She pins me with a questioning look. “When do you ever go to a club?”
“Exactly!” I tell her with a smile.
Emma and Zoe both open their doors, not expecting me to win my fight against Kaitlyn. If they want to check out this place, fine, but in a couple of minutes, they’ll understand too.
I get out of the car, looking around the parking lot. I notice there aren’t a lot of cars, but that makes sense. It’s Monday, a holiday, and too early for people to be clubbing.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Kaitlyn says, bringing my attention back to the girls who have gathered around me.
My heart skips at the thought of another letter. “It’s not another letter,” Kaitlyn warns, reading my mind.
“Okay,” I tell her, unable to hide the disappointment.
“Jeez, you don’t sound too excited to see me,” I hear. My head jerks up to find a gorgeous Kiya rounding the corner.
I squeal. “Oh my goodness! Kiya, what are you doing here?” I exclaim, throwing my arms around her.
“That’s more like it,” she says, hugging me back.
“What are you doing here?” I repeat
, pulling back. I take in her appearance; she looks more beautiful than ever.
Kiya points at Kaitlyn. “She told me we were having a girl’s night. I couldn’t say no to that.”
“You flew all the way here for a girl’s night?” I ask.
“Blake’s got a meeting—did I tell you he’s trying to be a sports analyst?” She waves away her own question. “We’ll get back to that later. The point is, we’re in town and I wanted to hang out with my girl.”
“Girls,” Kaitlyn corrects.
“Yeah, yeah.” Kiya waves her off. “You look gorgeous,” she tells me.
“I did that!” Kaitlyn boasts.
“She was already beautiful; you just applied some makeup and picked out a dress,” Zoe says.
“Good job!” Kiya adds and I shake my head.
“I feel like I ended up living with another version of you,” I tell Kiya. “Except this one can’t cook.”
“I’m learning!” Kaitlyn protests.
“Now you know how it feels,” Kiya says with a smile. Her hair is up in a bun, her dress falling below her knees. Her heels are lower, but she looks beautiful. As always. Gosh, I missed her.
“I missed you,” I tell her.
“I missed you, too.” Kiya hugs Kaitlyn, Zoe then Emma. “I missed you girls too.” She hasn’t known Emma for long, but when she learned someone finally reeled in Zack, she was stoked. She said the woman who did that deserved her respect. She was equally in awe that it would be someone as sweet as Emma.
“If you ladies didn’t notice, it’s cold out here, so let’s go inside,” I tell them, feeling the wind pick up.
“Let’s do it,” Kiya says.
“Oh, wait. I forgot something in the car,” Kaitlyn adds and we all wait for her to go and retrieve it.
We chat for a few more seconds before Kaitlyn is back with us, another envelope in her hand.
“This is the last one.” She hands it over, the word ‘Eclipse’ on the front.
Now it makes perfect sense.
10
MIA
“Want us to meet you inside?” Kaitlyn asks.
I turn to her and nod. I need to take this in—right in the spot where it happened: the place I first met Colton.
The girls walk away and I wait for them to be out of sight before I carefully open the envelope. I start to read the words slowly, savoring this last letter.
Mia,
Eclipse.
I’m an idiot.
Simple.
This is the place where things could’ve started a lot sooner for us.
I remember getting a phone call on a bad day–a day that seemed to be getting worse by the second. The caller told me to come here.
This place was the beginning of us.
And while I wish your first impression of me wasn’t as bad as it was, I’m glad it happened.
It gave me the chance to see the fire behind your eyes—the fierce beautiful woman I get to call mine.
It all started here.
Oddly enough, Kaitlyn’s drunkenness was beneficial.
I’m not sorry for running in to you.
I’m not sorry for not apologizing.
Because, while it’s possible that if I had, we’d have started chatting sooner, it’s also possible that me apologizing would’ve been just that and you would’ve forgotten me forever.
I like that I made you angry enough to remember me.
Angry enough to keep me in your thoughts.
It gave me the chance to get into your heart.
So sorry, not sorry.
You make me better, Mia. You always have.
Love,
Colton
11
MIA
I hold the letter close to my chest after I reread the words a second time. Wishing Colton was here, I open up my side bag and deposit it inside.
Just as I close up the zipper, someone bumps in to me. “Excus—” I’m about to say when the guy who bumped in to me turns around to face me.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Colton says with a smile on his face.
I don’t say anything in response because I can’t find the words. My heart summersaults as he opens his arms wide and I walk right into them.
He lifts me in the air, spins me around, and hugs me tightly. Slowly, he places me back on the ground, his chin resting on my head for a beat before he faces me again.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I finally tell him. “Weren’t you at a meeting out of state?”
Kissing me softly, he says, “I couldn’t miss our anniversary.”
I bring my lips to his once again. “I love you so much. Do you know that?”
“I love you.” He plants a sweet kiss on my forehead. “Did you get my letters, Ms. Manners?”
“I didn’t peg you for such a romantic,” I tell him. Yet again, another tear escapes my eyes.
His eyes zero in on mine. “For you, I can be anything.”
I laugh gently, wiping away the tear. “I got them. I have them all in my bag actually,” I tell him. I wanted them close because it made me feel closer to him.
“Did you like them?”
“They’re so special, babe. I… You’re amazing.” The wind starts to pick up and I begin to shiver.
Colton runs his hands over my bare arms. “You’re cold. Let’s get inside.” As we walk, he tells me, “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. Your sister made me get all dressed up.”
“Then I definitely needed to be here. I gotta keep all the guys away from you,” he says, pointing at Eclipse.
I pat him on the chest. “You sound like a caveman.”
“You always make me revert to one.” He brings his arms around my waist. “Let’s get you inside and warm.”
“Do we have to? Can we just go somewhere else?” I want to just be with him. I saw him yesterday, but today I missed him like I hadn’t seen him in years.
“You want to do that?”
I nod. “But we can’t because Kiya came for a girl’s night. I shouldn’t ditch them,” I tell Colton, even though I really want to. I’m sure they’ll hold it against me forever.
“Let’s go inside then. We’ll hang out for a while, and I’ll get all caveman like and carry you out of there,” he says with a smile and I chuckle.
“You’re too much.”
“But you love me,” he says, running a hand through his hair. He usually only does this when he’s nervous or anxious. I watch him intently as we slowly walk toward the front entrance.
“I do.”
“Good,” he says, taking a deep breath. I wonder if the meeting went badly. I should ask him about it, but I don’t want to bring it up unless he does first. For now, I’m just happy that my wish was granted—that he’s here.
COLTON
I feel Mia’s stare and I look down to find her watching me with concern in her eyes. Calm down, Colton. She’s going to think something’s wrong with you, I tell myself. I give her what probably comes out looking like a weird ass smile. To cover it up, I give her a kiss.
We reach the front door of Eclipse. “Are you ready?” I ask her, but it’s a question I’ve been asking myself for weeks now—months even.
“I’m ready,” she says with absolute certainty.
Man, I love this woman. I take a deep breath and open the door.
12
MIA
I walk into what appears to be an alternate universe—one full of the people I love. I take in every person in the room, my mouth open in awe. Emma, Zoe, Kaitlyn, Kiya, Blake, Chase, Nick and Zack. Finally, I turn my attention back to Colton.
He just looks at me and smiles.
I look around the room once again and take in the fairy lights decorating the space. They run along the walls, filling the room with a soft glow.
This place looks nothing like it usually does.
Nothing like the place I walked into two years ago.
It’s beautiful. It’s devoid of the extra bodi
es pressing against one another, the loud music thumping through the speakers, the sticky floors… none of that’s here.
Only the bartender.
My friends.
And Colton.
I turn back to him, finally finding words. “This is beautiful.”
“Better than the first time?” he asks with a smile on his face.
“Absolutely.”
He walks away from me and toward our friends, who are all standing in a semi-circle, facing us. Facing me.
“You guys did all this?” This is a truly special anniversary. I can’t believe Colton got everyone together—to celebrate this day with us.
“It was Colton’s idea,” Zack says, his arm around Emma.
“There’s more,” Colton says and my attention is back on him. His hair is slightly disheveled from him running his fingers through it.
“More?” How could there possibly be more?
Emma clears her throat and I turn my attention to her. “We haven’t known each other for very long, but you’ve become one of my closest friends.”
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