miranda awoke quickly from her raging nightmare. ever since her mother had passed away in the housefire last month, miranda's night terrors had been frequent, to say the least. she awoke each morning, breaking the nightmare, on someone's couch or air mattress. ever since the passing of her mother, miranda had no choice but to couch surf.
this morning, it was daniels couch she awoke on. throughout the past few weeks, daniel had been miranda's angel in disguise: feeding her, letting her sleep on his couch, stuff like that. good friend stuff. but daniel was going out of town today, and he wouldn't be back for a month. his family was heading out on vacation to who knows where, so now miranda was going to have to find a new safe haven.
when she awoke, daniel was sitting on the floor near her. daniel always woke up early. he was reading an old looking book with yellowing pages and a tattered cover. miranda attempted to look over his shoulder to see what he was reading, but he quickly pulled away before she could see.
"what the fuck danny? what are you hiding in that book of yours?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
"none of your business miranda," he said, pulling the book further away from her.
miranda immediately made a dive for the book. daniel quickly got up and ran away from her grabbing hands. daniel was fast, but unluckily for him, miranda was faster.
"ah hah!" she said, grabbing the book from daniel and opening it to the page he was on. "let's see what danny is hiding in here!"
daniel winced, slowly backing away from miranda.
"daniel..."
"yes miranda?" daniel winced once more.
"YOU READ ROMANCE NOVELS?!?"
daniel rolled his eyes at miranda and snatched the book out of her hands. he was no longer in the mood to talk about this.
the two of them walked to daniels fridge in attempt to find something for breakfast. after searching, both of them came up with nothing.
"shit," said daniel. "i thought my mom went to the grocery store."
miranda looked at him for a moment, thinking. "we could just go get coffee?"
"sounds good to me," says daniel. "but i hate coffee. i'm getting tea."
"whatever daniel."
☽
after ordering their drinks at the quaint coffee shop near daniels apartment, the two sat down at one of the outdoor tables. the two sat in silence as they awaited their drinks, but it wasn't a bad silence. to miranda, daniel was the type of person where silence speaks more than words.
just as the two were relaxing into the quietness of the patio seating, the laughter of two women broke the silence. they were walking down the sidewalk, and their laughter grew louder as they grew closer. miranda closed her eyes and waited for their voices to fade, but instead of fading, their voices stayed.
"oh my god!"
this caused miranda to open her eyes and see the girls. there was a fair skinned brunette girl with bright green eyes and a pretty tan skinned girl with thick curls. they seemed pretty happy to see the two, or at least daniel.
"dannie, is that you?" exclaimed the brunette. she didn't wait for daniel to answer, and instead ran towards him with her arms open for a hug. daniel walked into the hug, and then he hugged the other girl too. the group caught up with each other for a while, and then daniel looked over at miranda.
"rose, mabes, this is my best friend miranda."
only then did the two girls seem to notice miranda. she shrunk backwards into herself, trying to mask her embarrassment, but instead knocked over a metal chair.
the tan skinned girl, who miranda assumed was mabes, and daniel, both broke into hearty laughter. the other girl, who must be rose, came to help miranda pick the chair up off the ground.
"hello," she said, extending her hand out to miranda. "i'm rose."
miranda looked up at her and immediately began to blush. she couldn't stop looking at her eyes. her bright green eyes could hold the whole world inside of them. miranda took roses hand and shook it, with a flimsy handshake that even an elementary schooler could beat.
rose noticed mirandas handshake, or lack of one, but didn't say anything about it. instead, she pulled up two chairs for her and mabes, and they sat down at the table with miranda and daniel. the group of four really hit it off, despite miranda's awkward lack of social skills.
after ten minutes of talking, the subject somehow steered itself to miranda's living situation.
"...and i'm leaving today, and miranda doesn't really have anyone to stay with yet, so we have to figure that one out."
rose looked up from her nails with a smile. "i have bunk beds. you should stay with me miranda!"
miranda's heart rate escalated. there was no way that she could stay with rose. she hardly knew her, and she was concerned about the feelings she was already having for her. but, before she could object, daniel decided to take matters into his own hands.
"oh my god, that would be a great idea! miranda, after we get our coffee, we can go back to my apartment and get your stuff, ok?"
it didn't look like she had a choice. "ok."
"so it's settled!" said rose. "be over by six. we have things to do miranda."
this was certainly going to be someinteresting next few weeks.
