Mia's clumsy nature has her no stranger to messes, but this is something else entirely.
She just wants to get her ex-boyfriend and long-time family friend, Colin, off her back. That's why she lies and says Silas, the guy she just met, is her boyfrie...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Love is too loud.
At least that's what Mia thinks, because it's all she's ever known.
She shouldn't even be thinking about this right now as she squats behind the counter at her campus's local coffee shop, a sleeve of plastic cups in hand. She's supposed to be stocking the supply beneath the register, but she got distracted when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. And now here she is, huddled down, reading the surprise text from her ex-boyfriend, and thinking about her love life.
It's non-existent now. In fact, she might be a little intimidated by it all after Colin.
He was always so boisterous about their love. Always wanted to share it with the world and shout it from the rooftops, like in all the movies. She liked it at first, as any smitten sixteen year old probably would. But as time went on and as the excitement of a first relationship wore off, she began to notice the things she didn't like.
Like how in public, he was exceptionally affectionate, almost to the point of smothering, but when they were alone together, he would be too absorbed in other things to pay her much mind. Or how he'd tell her over and over how much he loved her, but his actions never quite matched his words.
When she voiced her concerns, he told her he didn't do these things on purpose and that he'd be better, but the years passed and nothing changed. Maybe it went on so long because they went to different colleges after high school. But even after doing things long distance and only seeing each other once a month for three years, the feeling still didn't go away.
It felt to her like he thought their love was only good when it was seen by other people. Put up on a shelf to be ogled over and then stuffed in a drawer when there was no one around to admire it. No one but her anyway. But he disagreed, said that wasn't true and that he loved her. Oh, he loved her so much and she meant the world to him and he didn't know what he'd ever do without her. But she ended their relationship a year ago, and judging by the all the pictures of him with various women he posts on his Instagram, he's been doing just fine.
Just to be clear, she's not jealous. And she's not harboring any hard feelings.
She's known Colin forever, it seems like. His parents and hers have been friends since before either of them were born, so she basically grew up with him. She has lots of memories of them playing together while their parents chatted about boring adult things in the other room.
He's not a bad guy, just not the right guy for her. So even though she and Colin dated for four years and the breakup was awkward, they're still friendly. With how close their families are, they have to be.
She sighs and reads over the text again.
Hey! Long time no text! Gonna be on your turf tomorrow. Got time to see me? GO PIRATES!
