by Harper Bliss
“You did say that I was objectively pretty.” Mia angled her body more toward Lou, and Lou didn’t feel any inclination to flinch away from her. “Could you possibly try to clarify that for me?”
Lou pouted and tried to think of how to get herself out of this. “It means that I think you have the kind of face that a lot of people would automatically swipe right on. Very symmetrical. Good teeth. I don’t know, you have that wholesome look about you that a lot of people find attractive.” Oh Christ, she was only digging herself in deeper.
Mia chuckled. “You might as well have said I look bland.”
“No, bland is definitely not it.” Lou pretended to give Mia a thorough once-over. “Maybe it’s your hair. It just falls really nicely and it looks like it does of its own accord. It projects a kind of ease, and so does your body language.”
“Holy moly, have I just gone into therapy without knowing?” Mia asked. “On Tinder, no one would have a clue about my body language.”
“Of course they would. The way you hold yourself in the picture. The smile. That’s all part of it.”
“You sound like an expert.”
“Hey girls. Do you need a refill?” They both held out their glass eagerly. “The cake will be out soon. Get ready to sing ‘Happy Birthday’.” She winked at them both, then went about refilling a few other guests’ glasses.
“In my line of work, I get to observe a lot of people.” Lou tried to pick up the thread of their conversation again to defend herself. “I find body language fascinating.” Lou was beginning to think of Mia as fascinating as well. She sipped from her freshly refilled glass. That dream was still doing her head in.
A hush traveled through the small crowd gathered in Micky’s living room. Amber exited the kitchen with a chocolate cake chock-full of candles. A few people started singing “Happy Birthday” and Lou and Mia joined in. A round of applause followed for the birthday girl, followed by a short speech in slurred words thanking everyone for coming and urging them to stay for a good while longer and be merry.
In the hustle and bustle of the singing and cake distribution, Lou had gotten separated from Mia, who was now talking to Kristin. Lou was tipsy enough to talk to just about anyone right now, but when she saw Amber, she naturally gravitated toward her.
“You and Mia looked pretty chummy just now,” Amber whispered in her ear. This sounded like something so unlikely for Amber to say, Lou cast a long, thorough glance into her boss’s eyes. Dilated pupils. Watery gaze. She’d never thought she’d see the day, but Amber was just as far gone as the rest of them. It was that kind of party.
“Yes, well, isn’t it better like this?” Lou asked, not expecting an answer, saying it more to herself than as a reply to Amber. Because it was infinitely better this way.
Amber held out her glass of wine and Lou clinked hers against it. Maybe she only felt this way because she had drunk too much, but even if that was the case, she wanted to enjoy the feeling of a heart free of grudges and animosity for as long as she could.
When people were starting to leave and the group dwindled down to about a dozen, Lou thought it a good idea to go home.
“Afterparty at my place,” Amber shouted, after which Martha threw an arm around her and guided her to the couch while hushing her.
“I hope not.” Mia had walked up to Lou. “I’m bone tired.”
“Thank goodness we haven’t started doing classes on Sunday yet. I’ve never seen her like this.”
“Everybody needs to let their hair down.” Mia shot her one of her smiles.
A commercial smile, that’s what it was, Lou thought. She wasn’t Amber-level drunk, but a good few of her inhibitions were lowered, to the point that she found herself turning to Mia fully, looking her in the eye, and asking, “Do you want to go out some time?”
Mia narrowed her eyes. She barely smiled, yet her entire face lit up. “How about I walk you home instead? Make sure you get there in one piece.”
“Is that a no?”
Mia shook her head. “It’s an ask-me-again-when-you’re-sober.” She put an arm on Lou’s shoulder. “Okay?”
“I’m really not that drunk.” Lou leaned into Mia slightly. “And don’t you have a bus to catch?”
“I’m staying at Kristin and Sheryl’s. Come on.” She took her by the hand and walked her home.
Chapter Twenty
Mia woke in Kristin and Sheryl’s guest room, which was about the size of her entire studio in Newtown. The first thing she thought about was Lou. Clearly Lou had asked her out because she was drunk, and Mia was pretty sure the invitation wouldn’t hold in the cold, sober light of day. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little smug about it.
She got up and found both of her hosts already sitting at the breakfast table. They both looked much more chipper than Mia felt. She hadn’t been as wasted as Amber or Lou, but she’d had her fair share. She wondered how Lou would describe her if she saw her now.
“Good morning.” Sheryl pulled a chair back for her. “Sleep well?”
“Very well. I could easily live in that room. It’s beautiful and so big and it has its own bathroom. What more can a girl ask for?”
“You’re welcome to stay here whenever you want. Call it a special Pink Bean employee perk,” Kristin said and, without asking, poured her some coffee. She knew Mia took it black and strong.
“It’s cheaper than giving you a company car,” Sheryl said. “And we definitely want to keep you, so we must keep you happy.” She winked at Mia.
“Seriously, Mia.” Kristin sounded as if she meant it. “The room is yours whenever you need it.”
“Thank you so much.” Mia would definitely take them up on the offer. The number of times she had just missed a bus, arrived home late, and ended up having a quick meal at the fish and chip shop below. “An hour of extra sleep in the morning will do wonders for my performance at work.” She smiled widely at them. Then her phone beeped.
The message was from Lou and it just read: Ouch.
Mia chuckled. “Someone’s having a rough morning.” She showed Kristin and Sheryl her phone screen.
“From Lou?” Sheryl asked. “You two seemed to be getting along well last night.” Of course Sheryl would have noticed.
“Let’s just say we set aside some of our differences. And Lou was pretty far gone.” She hesitated for a second, wondering if she should confide in her employers, even though the fact that she was sitting at their Sunday breakfast table clearly meant they were becoming friends. “She even asked me out.”
“She did?” There was genuine surprise in Kristin’s voice.
“I told her to ask me again when she was sober.” If Mia wanted advice on how to proceed next, she knew she would get a much more straight-forward answer from Sheryl than from Kristin. “I’m not even sure she will remember,” Mia said.
“She texted you. She remembers,” Sheryl said.
“Do you like her?” Kristin asked.
“Things are a bit, er, complicated between us.”
“So I’ve noticed.” Mia hadn’t expected such a sharp reply from Kristin. Maybe she had a headache as well.
“I do… like her,” Mia admitted. She remembered the flirty conversation they’d had last night. In fact, she’d run it through her head several times during the night.
“Then you should probably reply something,” Sheryl said.
Mia saw them exchange a glance.
“Things like this excite Sheryl a great deal,” Kristin said. “Please excuse her.”
“What’s more exciting than budding love?” Sheryl exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it that,” Mia said.
“You’re getting carried away, babe,” Kristin said in her stern voice.
Mia studied her phone. She should reply. She was eager to find out if Lou still wanted to go out with her. If the offer still stood, she would give her a resounding yes.
She texted back: Do you need me to bring you some pain killers?
&
nbsp; Not even a minute later, the reply came in: Can we meet some time today? I would like to apologize in person.
Mia didn’t know what Lou would need to apologize for. They agreed to meet at the Pink Bean a few hours later. She summarized her text conversation for Kristin and Sheryl.
“Ah, a first date at the Pink Bean. That’s truly the reason we wanted a coffee shop. We’ve done a pretty good job of it so far.” She smirked at Mia. Kirstin shook her head.
Mia had borrowed one of the Jane Quinn books Sheryl had recently bought and sat reading, waiting for Lou to arrive. She saw her scuttle past the big window before she entered the Pink Bean, head held down, as though she had engaged in the most shameful activities last night.
Despite what Sheryl had said, Mia didn’t consider this a date at all. It wasn’t even two friends meeting up for coffee, because Mia wouldn’t go as far as to suddenly define her relationship with Lou as friendship.
“Hey.” Lou gave Mia a limp-wristed wave.
“Sit down and let me get you a coffee,” Mia said.
“Thanks.”
Mia headed to the counter and glanced at Lou while the coffee was being prepared. The way she sat there slumped over was in total contrast with how Lou usually carried herself. It struck Mia and made her consider how luminous Lou looked every other day of the week.
“Here you go.” Mia put the coffee in front of Lou. “Nothing like a cup of Pink Bean coffee to perk you up.”
Lou cradled the mug in her hands. “I feel like I said some impertinent things last night.”
“You did nothing of the kind,” Mia was quick to reply.
“I asked you out.” Lou gave an incredulous chuckle.
“After you told me how objectively pretty I was, so there’s nothing wrong with that. You eased into it.” Mia wasn’t sure Lou was up for a joke, but she didn’t exactly know how to handle this situation, so she went for it anyway.
“Oh Christ. Don’t remind me.” Lou examined the contents of her cup of coffee.
“Good to know you’ve changed your mind about how I look then. That’ll teach me to be so smug about myself all night.” She had a big smile at the ready for if Lou dared to look up.
“I don’t mean it like that, Mia.” Lou glanced away from her coffee cup. “Surely you know why we can’t go out.”
“You’re the one who asked.” The coffee didn’t seem to be perking up Lou at all.
“And you’re the one who said to ask you again when I was sober,” Lou replied snippily.
Was this about Mia not saying yes immediately? Not jumping at the chance to barge through the door to forgiveness Lou was leaving wide open? “Yes, and here we are. Both of us stone cold sober.”
Mia could tell Lou was warring with something in her head. She could guess pretty easily what that would be. She tried her warmest, most symmetric smile. Just to see if it would unsettle Lou more. To test a theory.
“I enjoyed talking to you last night. I really did. And maybe we can be friends. I don’t know. We can hang out, I guess. But I can’t go out with you,” Lou said.
“Would it really be such a hardship to share a meal with me?” It wasn’t so much the sting of rejection that got Mia’s hackles up, but that she was starting to get sick of being cast in the role of villain. If anything, she’d believed last night would have at least coaxed Lou’s thoughts about her in a different direction.
“No, I mean, we can have dinner. But as friends. I wouldn’t want you to think I was interested in anything more than that.”
“There really isn’t much chance of me doing so, Lou. Trust me, you’re making that very clear.” Mia leaned over the table, making Lou lean back. “But for the record, if you’d asked me again today, I would have said yes. And to take matters even further, I think we would have fun on our date. Because I get the distinct impression that, in spite of yourself, you actually quite like me. And that’s the real problem here.”
“So what if I like you? Sure, you’re attractive. Any fool can see that. And you’re nice to me. Now.”
“Fine.” Mia pushed her chair back. She didn’t feel like this right now. This was ten steps back in whatever it was they were to each other now. “As long as that’s the only way you can see me, then there is nothing between us. No date and no friendship either.”
“Please.” Lou’s voice shook. “Don’t go.” She dragged her own chair closer to the table, as if to give the good example. “I overreacted. I’m prone to doing that sometimes.”
Mia pulled her chair closer again. It was too hard to walk away from Lou in the state she was in right now. It would have made her feel like a coward.
“Why don’t we hang out today? I could do with a greasy breakfast.” Lou straightened her back for the first time since she’d arrived in the Pink Bean.
Was this Lou asking her when she was sober? And did it count when she was clearly so hungover?
“If you don’t have plans, of course,” Lou added.
“I go by Annie’s Bookshop every Sunday. She always has a new recommendation ready for me.”
“What are you reading now?” Lou glanced at the Jane Quinn book Mia had cast aside when she had arrived. “Is that one of Jane’s?”
“It’s research now, I guess. If I’m going to be working with them… I can hardly sell coffee in their shop without having read one of her books.” Mia leaned over the table. “Jane has quite the loyal following. I honestly had no idea. There’s so much we could do with that in the shop.”
Lou shook her head. “You might have to up your powers of persuasion. Jane isn’t too fond of the public eye. And that’s putting it mildly.”
“How would you put it non-mildly?” Mia was intrigued.
“She doesn’t like people very much.”
Mia chuckled. “I truly couldn’t tell when I met her, but now that you mention it, I’ve been going to that shop for years and I’ve hardly ever seen her.”
“So it wasn’t a coincidence that I ran into you there on my way to my, er, hot date?” Lou flashed a smile at Mia.
Mia shook her head. “You did make Annie question me, though. The way you were skulking near the entrance until I left. She asked if we’d had a one-night stand gone bad.”
It was Lou’s turn to shake her head.
Mia searched for a sign of something on Lou’s face. She obviously disapproved of what Annie had implied. “Does this mean you’re suggesting we spend the rest of the day in Newtown?”
“If you like.” Mia huddled over the table. “We could catch a movie this afternoon, if it won’t be too traumatic for you to return to that particular cinema.”
“Meredith was the one hung up on me, remember?” Lou leaned over the table as well and their faces were as close together as they’d ever been. “As long as you promise me you won’t be called away for a work thing.”
“I just had breakfast with my bosses. They said something about dinner at Kristin’s parents. I don’t think they’ll need me for that.”
“Speaking of dinner, I need to be back in Darlinghurst by seven for dinner at Phil and Jared’s tonight.”
“Ah, the two gays who were always so friendly and then mysteriously turned on me.”
“I’ll let them know you’re actually not too bad.”
“Just in case you’re measuring their friendship by where they get their coffee after you told them about me, they still come here.” Mia ventured a smile. Could they crack a joke about this already? Perhaps it was the only way past the thing that stood between them.
“It’s okay. I gave them permission.” Lou had a sly grin on her face. “And just so we’re clear. This is not a date.”
“Just hanging out,” Mia confirmed. “Are there any rules I should abide by? I wouldn’t want our hanging out to inadvertently turn into a date just because I cracked a smile at the right—or wrong—time.”
“Just keep the flirting to a minimum,” Lou said. “Shall we go? I’m starving.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Lou hopped off the bus after Mia. If she’d been alone, she would have gotten an Uber, but Mia insisted on taking the bus because she was showing Lou around her neighborhood and bringing her into her life and that couldn’t be an authentic experience if they didn’t take at least one bus.
They walked from the bus stop to The Larder, next to the cinema where she’d spotted Mia a few weeks ago, when she had still been so full of rage.
Mia ordered a salad but Lou needed fatty foods and the feeling of something really solid in her stomach after last night’s excesses. She devoured her eggs benedict with avocado, while Mia scoured the newspaper she’d bought for the best movie they could watch together afterward.
“Don’t tell me you’re a blockbuster girl,” Mia said, looking up from her newspaper. When she glanced at Lou like that, with that grin on her face, her eyes so clear and kind, Lou forgot she was actually Mia Miller. She was the woman she had drunkenly asked out the night before. God, the wave of anguish—followed by one of nausea—that had washed over her when she woke up, head banging, and realized she had.
“If I have to see one more superhero movie in my lifetime, it will be one too many.” Lou put down her fork and considered whether to share this information with Mia. Why the hell not? “My ex was a comic book nerd and she dragged me along to every Marvel and DC movie that has come out in the past years. There have been many, and I hated almost all of them. Give me a French film with Isabelle Huppert any day of the week instead.”
“Do I detect a touch of snobbery?” Mia put the paper down.
“It’s not snobbery. Seeing a great movie is one of the biggest pleasures in life, but they don’t seem to make many good ones anymore these days. Especially in America. It all seems so aimed at the lowest common denominator. Is it snobbish to want more than that for my entertainment?” Lou had given Meredith a similar rant during their date, which Meredith had gone along with. It was kind of a test to see if some of their preferences—and ultimately their personalities—would match.