Station 429

the night of mia

the night of mia

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"Are you excited?" Foster asked as Colleen made her way down the rock pile.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Dustin's sister is here tonight," he told her, almost shocked that she hadn't remembered.

"That's this week?" she asked, her eyes bulging out slightly. She had been anticipating this night for weeks now, and she didn't realize it sneaked up on her.

Foster nodded his head. "Yeah. Come on, everyone's inside." He led Colleen into the train, and sure enough, there she was.

Mia was hard to miss. Her beauty was striking, of pure innocence, as if nothing had tainted her. Her brown hair fell down her back in peaceful waves, her smile radiated outward, and she simply had the essence of light.

Everyone was gathered around her and Dustin, talking and laughing. She made conversation gracefully, not even stumbling on one word. Colleen was always jealous of people who could get there words out right, especially on the first time through. But it was hard to feel anything but kindness towards a girl like Mia.

All the kids already knew her from numerous trips she covertly made to the city. She was becoming a good liar (whether that was a good or a bad thing is up for debate) because her parents would not be pleased if they found out where she went. Recently, she had to limit her trips and spread them thinly because her parents were becoming suspicious.

"Mia," Foster said, and she looked over from where she was sitting next to Dustin, "this is Colleen."

Mia shifted her gaze to Colleen, pierced her with the same green eyes Dustin had. Colleen found herself shifting uncomfortably; she had never seen someone look so happy, especially under the circumstance of her visit. "Hey," she greeted with a smile. "Dustin's told me about you."

"Really?" Colleen asked. She looked to Dustin, who was smiling as well, albeit only slightly, and it made Colleen happy to see him that way.

Mia nodded. "Yeah. It's really cool to finally meet you."

Foster moved to sit down, so Colleen did too and ended up between him and Mia. "Good things?" Colleen joked.

"Oh yeah, totally," Mia replied with a light laugh, which caused Colleen to laugh too. Mia was really good at making people feel comfortable.

"So, Mia," Misty spoke after a moment's pause, "where do your parents think you are this time?"

"My friend Autumn's house," she replied. "Which I did pop in for a visit before this, so it wasn't a total lie." She shrugged, a somewhat ashamed look suddenly appearing on her face.

Dustin gave her shoulder a small squeeze, to which she smiled back at him. Colleen thought that they really did look like brother and sister. She wished she had that type of a relationship with someone in her family- one that required codependency and trust and a mutual understanding that they can be strong together. She wanted something like that so badly.

"How long are you staying?" Nathan asked.

"For my entire break, actually." Mia's face lit up again, filling up the small space.

"Will you be here long enough for the New Year's party?"

"Um, I should be here long enough for New Year's."

"Yeah, you should be. It's in two weeks," Dustin agreed.

"Awesome, then I'll plan on you being here," Misty smiled, then stepped outside to make some notes about what I assume to be party plans on her phone.