Can You Hear the Ocean?

Chapter 18

Mia hummed to herself as she set up her laptop for an evening call with her college friends. She'd cleared all her drawing utensils to the side and made herself a warm cup of tea. She expected the call to go late in the night. With her friends' busy schedules, their calls happened less often these days, meaning there was always too much to catch up on.

Mia thought back to the last time they'd spoken. She'd been living with Abby at the time, just trying to survive day-to-day life. While her friends knew about her current housing situation, she looked forward to sharing all the details with them verbally.

As Mia opened her laptop, she was greeted by a chorus of hello's.

"Once again, you're never on time," Alana teased

"Sorry, I couldn't find my charger. My desk was a mess," Mia complained.

"Ooh, is this the new bedroom?" June asked.

Mia glanced behind her. "Oh. Yeah, it is. You want a tour?" she asked. Her friends all joined in a chorus of agreement, and Mia briefly stood up and rotated the laptop around her room. There wasn't much to see. The walls were still pretty bare save for a few drawings, and all her furniture was laid out the same as when she had been living with Abby, but her friends ooh-ed and ah-ed all the same.

"I mean, the window is bigger, so there's more sunlight that gets in, but that's really the only difference," Mia explained.

"I'm mad you didn't call us when you were still living with Abby," Phoenix admitted. They punched their hands together in a fist. "I would've beaten her up for kicking you out."

"I mean, I should've seen it coming," Mia mumbled.

"Getting kicked out was absolutely not your fault!" Alana exclaimed. "She shouldn't have rented to you if she knew she was going to get engaged soon!"

"I mean, it's fine now," Mia said, not wanting to dwell on Abby any longer. She hadn't seen Abby since and never planned to again. They had no reason to cross paths, save for the off-chance of running into each other at the grocery store or the like.

"I mean, I've got somewhere to live now, right?" Mia said.

"This is your childhood friend you're living with?" June asked.

Mia nodded. "Yeah. She had an extra room and really kindly rented it out to me. Thank God we get along much better than Abby and I did, so...it hasn't been bad at all. She even invited me to dinner at her parent's house the other night. It was weird but also really nostalgic. It's been a long time since I've been in that house."

"Glad you found somewhere you're comfortable," Phoenix said. "Just know you're always welcome to crash on my couch if you ever need somewhere to stay for a bit."

"No, no. That'd be the last thing I would want to do. I wouldn't want to inconvenience any of you," Mia said. She knew it was a fault of hers. She'd only told her friends about the Abby situation after she'd agreed to move in with Leila. For some reason, she needed to protect her independence. Telling them she was struggling felt like defeat for her, especially after they'd given her such a sweet send-off to Maine. Returning to New York after a few months away would have left a bitter taste in Mia's mouth.

"So why didn't you and Julian just make plans to live together?" Alana asked, breaking Mia from her thoughts. "I thought you were planning to eventually."

"I did not say that!" Mia argued.

June cackled. "What was it you were texting me when you first met him? Him being the one and all that?"

Mia felt her cheeks burn. "I was drunk when I texted you that. And we talked about it, but I don't know, we felt like it was too soon, and we didn't have enough money, and..." Mia let her voice drawl off.