Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 59

When Mira woke up, she rubbed her eyes until they burned, blinking them into focus. She couldn't believe her clock as the red numbers glowed 8:42pm. Sighing, she threw her covers off of her as she climbed out of bed. Peeling her black dress up over her head, she threw it in the corner of her room, never wanting to see it again. Her legs itched from sleeping under the warm covers in her tights. Scratching her thighs, she pulled the tights off, tossing them into the corner along with the dress. Her chest hurt every time she took a breath, reminding her that she had thrown up her breakfast at her mother's funeral service. She quickly changed into a long sleeved pajama shirt and a pair of pajama pants printed with candy canes.

She walked into the hallway, hearing the sounds of Jay's parents talking to her Dad and Lexi. Walking past Ara's room, she peeked through the cracked door and saw her sister fast asleep in bed, with Coco curled up on the pillow next to her head. Mira continued her trek downstairs, finding the adults and Jay sitting in the living room, laughing about something she was certain had to do with a story from their own days at Francesc's.

Alexis, who was sitting on one of the couches with Mike, spotted her first. "Mira, you're awake!"

Nodding, Mira stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. She looked over at the other couch and saw Gary and Hailey sitting together, while Jay sat by himself in a loveseat. "You're still here?" she questioned her friend.

Jay shook his head no, straightening up in his seat a little bit. "Figured I'd make sure you were alright, considering you yakked on my favorite pair of trainers."

"Shove it," Mira retorted, her voice without her usual malice when making such flippant remarks. "Be glad it was your hideous shoes and not your lap."

"Yes," Jay agreed "Thank you for not vomiting into my lap. I never would have let you live down that one."

"Can we please stop talking about vomit?" Mike asked, a bit wearily as he attempted a smirk as he nursed a whiskey. "Are you hungry at all?" he asked Mira. "I can warm something up for you."

She shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Alexis stood up from the couch, walking over to her. She pressed her hands to Mira's cheeks, then another to her forehead as Hailey and her father had done earlier that day.

"Just making sure you didn't have a fever," Alexis said, kissing Mira's forehead. "You'd been asleep for so long, I thought you'd come down with something."

Mira shook her head. "It was just….overwhelming," she whispered, ducking her head slightly as wisps of her long black hair fell in front of her face. "I though Nana and Papa were coming."

"They were here," Alexis replied. "They left after Ara and Marv went to bed. But, they said they'll come by tomorrow to see you."

"Okay," Mira said, holding the ends of her sleeves in the palms of her hands. "Lexi, do you think my body would be able to stomach some tea with honey in it.....in the special way you make it, I mean?"

Alexis smiled and nodded at her. "I'll go get you some."

After Alexis got Mira a mug of tea, she sat back down next to Mike, putting a little bit more space between them than there was when Mira came into the room. Mira went ahead and sat beside Jay, taking a grateful sip from her mug.

As the adults went back to their idle chitchat, Mira nudged Jay as she held her mug carefully. Blowing on her tea, she took another sip and inconspicuously nodded in the direction of her father and Alexis. "Have they been like that all night?" she whispered.

Jay shrugged. He hadn't really given it much thought. "They've sat like that since after dinner," he mumbled back. "But they've just been talking."

Mira frowned slightly, watching as her father lean over to put his empty glass on the coffee table, and when he retreated, he managed to scoot next to Alexis so that their legs were touching.

"Look," Mira whispered. "He's practically on top of her."

"He's not practically on top of her," Jay whispered back. "They aren't sitting any closer than we are."

"Uh, no, Jay," Mira countered. "Our legs aren't touching."

"We ought to get going," Hailey said, standing to her feet, before Jay could reply to Mira. "We're going to pick the kids up from Mom and Dad's in the morning, and maybe we'll come by after that? For breakfast?"

Mike nodded. "Sounds alright."

"Dad?" Mira quickly asked. "Can I spend the night at the Greene's?"

"Mira.…" Mike said with a sigh. "Why can't you just sleep here?"

She finished her tea, Jay taking the mug from her and placing it on the coffee table. "I don't know if I'll be able to fall asleep here."

"You slept here just fine. For several hours, as a matter of fact," Mike countered.

Mira felt herself get teary eyed, which she tried to avoid while swallowing the lump in her throat. She didn't know how to tell her Dad that she only snuck over to the Greene house when she wanted to escape her own house. It had started back when her Mom would be particularly mean to her, causing her parents to fight over it. But, it was where she wanted to go now, because before when she came home she was already asleep......now, even though she slept and was still tired, her mind was on, and she wasn't sure she could shut it off here.

So, Mira resorted to her defense mechanism - which was a little bit of sass laced with defiance - and said, "You know I'll just sneak over there anyway. At least I'm asking this time."

Mike groaned, dragging his hands over his face. "Your sister is going to be upset if she wakes up and you aren't here."

"My sister is sleeping with a cat right now, who will be there when she wakes up. Trust me - she won't notice. I'll come back over before breakfast."

The father-daughter duo stared at each other for a moment, with Mira refusing to cave while Mike was too tired to fight.

"Is this alright with you guys?" he finally asked Hailey and Garrett.

Garrett nodded. "She's always welcome. Is it alright with you?"

Mike sighed and looked over at his daughter. "Be back here at eight o'clock sharp."

"Nine."

"Eight-thirty."

"Deal."