Everything In Between

three

THREE

The cellphone rings for the fourth time in a row, and with a groan Meera parks her bicycle at on the shoulder of the isolated road to fish it out of her pocket. All the snow has disappeared as fast as it had arrived, and almost all the ice has melted. It's only natural that now is the time Meera's starting to come down with something. Pip had forced her to go home after a close call of Meera almost sneezing into the pizza toppings.

"Hey, Amma."

"Meera! Why weren't you picking up your phone?"

"Um, because I was trying to stay alive?" Meera mumbles softly.

"What?"

"Doesn't matter, I picked up now. What's up? Did you need something?"

"Yeah, could you pick up some milk and also a sack of red potatoes on the way home, please?"

"I'm going to be needing a bigger basket for my bike, Amma. Or a car. I mean, whatever works best for you!"

"Hush, just bring the groceries back quick, I need to start cooking."

After saying goodbyes, Meera hangs up, sneezes, and gets back on the bike. The grocery store is only a few blocks away from where she is, but it takes longer than usual because everything about her is so sluggish.

Sloppily tying the bike to the rack outside, Meera grabs a sack of potatoes on the way to the dairy aisle. She leans over to pick up a carton of two percent milk. Someone beside her clears his throat, and she starts, fumbling with an apology.

"Oh, sorry," she says softly, straightening to see Theo leaning against the cooler's glass door. "Never mind." He's clad in his black apron, tan button up underneath it popped at the collar.

"I'm suffering from the severest case of deja vu, right now," he blinks with a lazy grin, hand running through his dark hair.

"And why is that?" Meera humors him, mimicking his stance against the glass. It's ruined when she sneezes incredibly hard and his brow rises in mild surprise and maybe some amusement. Theo nods behind her, where a woman looks at them with poorly veiled impatience. "Oh, sorry," she says again, sheepishly shuffling away and towards the self-checkout. Theo's long legs easily fall into step with hers.

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"How we met?"

"Um, we met when we were born? We've literally spent our entire lives together, our parents are friends?"

"Yeah, but how we met met."

"Refresh my memory," Meera says, scanning the potatoes.

"You were over at our place--"

"Because we've known each other forever."

"--and Toni really wanted cookies with milk and Mom was making us do everything for her because she was on her period. And we didn't have milk, so we walked all the way to the store and you picked up some two percent milk. And that was the first time we really talked to each other."

Meera pays, then turns to raise her brows at him. It's true, Meera and Theo hadn't been close at all until they started middle school together. Before that Meera would always hang out with Theo's older sister, Toni. She was Meera's number one idol for the first ten years of her life, with long, glossy brown hair and a perfect pout, and nails that never chipped. Up until Meera and Theo started having classes together (and going on milk runs together), he had just been the annoying brother who shot at them with Nerf guns and attempted sneak attacks.

"Ah, yes," Meera hums, inching towards the exit. "Except we didn't even become friends until, like, a year after that. So." Theo rolls his eyes in a grand way. Theo always sasses people in a grand way. "Question, don't you have to be working right now?"

"Oh, shit, you're right," says Theo. "I'll bring some soup around later, okay? We have some left over from dinner last night. You aren't leaving your bed to see me until you're better. I'm not getting sick again because of you."

Meera swallows, sneezes, then frowns. "Excuse me, who said that you're who I'd visit anyway?" He crosses his arms and stares at her straight on. She forces herself to keep her eyes on his face instead of his grandly toned forearms. "Okay, fine, whatever." They both know that she doesn't enjoy the presence of most people. With a final nod, he scoots around her, hand at the small of her back. Meera sneezes three times in a row, partly from surprise, partly from her cold, partly to cover up how much her body temperature just rose. 

// i've been updating consistently (since yesterday)!! can i get a wutwut

WHAT DO YOU THINK SO FAR THOUGH?????????????????????

thanks for reading ily

- ana x