Can You Hear the Ocean?

Chapter 31

Leila swirled her beverage in her hand as she sat at dinner with her friends; her thoughts swirled with it. For the past week, Leila felt like she was treading on eggshells every time she and Mia were together, which wasn't very often, considering Mia spent the majority of her time with Julian. When Julian wasn't lounging on her couch, Leila would come home to an empty apartment, a sign Mia was out with him. Mia's texts warning Leila of his presence had practically become nonexistent, leaving Leila to wonder what scene she would walk into each day she returned home from work.

In a week's time, Mia had somehow become a completely different person. Leila desired to blame it on Julian since they were spending so much time together, but Leila would be a fool to admit that she had not noticed that even in the moments she was alone with Mia, Mia was cold and distant. While they were never rude to each other, the friendship Leila had worked so hard to build up appeared to have vanished in an instant. No longer brave enough to confront Mia on what had happened, Leila treated Mia as any other normal roommate and continued on with her life. 

Ashlynn and Elena's loud, reverberating laughs brought Leila back to the present. Normally, Leila would be embarrassed by how loud they were after a few drinks, but instead her attention was turned to outside the window, where pedestrians walked up and down the street. At one point, she saw a couple from behind that looked eerily similar to Mia and Julian, but the man turned at the last minute, and she realized it was just a pair of strangers.

"Woah. You look like you're glaring daggers," Ashlynn said, finally noticing Leila's silence.

"Sorry. Had a bad week," Leila murmured.

"That's why there's alcohol, silly," Ashlynn said. "Let me flag down the waiter for another cocktail for you."

"One's enough. I can't hold alcohol well," Leila said.

"But you're so tall," Elena pointed out.

"Never been good at keeping it down," Leila repeated.

"What's the matter?" Elena asked. "You've been sulking since we came here."

"Yeah. It's like you don't even want to see us," Ashlynn complained.

"Ignore her," Elena said, quickly shooting a side glance at Ashlynn.

"Julian's been over all week," Leila said. "Every time I'm in my apartment, it feels like he's there."

"I thought you said he wasn't over that often," Ashlynn said.

"He seems to be over all the time now," Leila complained. She took a large sip of her drink and slammed it down on the table. "He just gets on my nerves! He's an absolute asshole! He's never considerate when he comes over, and he always acts like I'm in the way in my own apartment. Yet Mia can't get enough of him."

Elena frowned. "What changed, then?"

"I don't know," Leila murmured. "I...I thought they had broken up last weekend. Mia was really upset, but the next day, he was on my couch like nothing had happened. I don't know."

"Tell Mia then," Ashlynn said. "You're going to be miserable if you just put up with this."

Leila grunted.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Mia hasn't been talking to me as much," Leila said. "I don't think she's mad at me, but she doesn't seem happy to see me either."

"Did you two fight?" Ashlynn asked. She gasped suddenly. "No. Don't tell me! You told her how you feel?"

Leila narrowed her eyes. "No." She glanced at her drink, watching the icecubes slowly float on the surface. "I'm not that stupid. I mean, I got a little snippy with her about Julian being over. Maybe I shouldn't have. I should've just been more direct, but I'm bad at confrontation."