Call Me Yours

Chapter 16 - Cold Coffee

Mia
~~~
I couldn't believe this. My Mom had dragged me over to the couch, she didn't seem to notice that 5 minutes prior to this I was having my 15th breakdown of the day in the back of a cab.

"Those pictures you sent me were so beautiful, honey."

"The pictures?"

I was still in shock, it hadn't even crossed my mind that Dante had taken my phone when he'd stolen me that night. Had he really been texting my Mom pictures of fucking Bali while I was in one of his fancy ass bedrooms in his mafia mansion only an hour away. And she believed it? This couldn't be true.

I stared at my Mom in disbelief and she interrogated me. I could tell her the truth about all of this but she'd for sure call the police. Was it even worth putting her through all that stress? Plus, they were the mafia, surely if I called the cops on them that would put an immediate hit on both me and my Mom. It wasn't worth it, I decided. And now here I was in the midst of all this shit lying to my Mom about how I'd lost my phone halfway through the alleged trip to fucking Bali.

"Were you not mad? That I didn't ask you, I mean?" I was genuinely curious as to how my Mom was okay with the fact that I supposedly disappeared to Bali one night without even telling her beforehand. Dante must've been so convincing, that little shit.

"Oh honey, I was at first, but after you explained to me how stressful things have been for you lately, I totally understand. You're so hardworking and I know you never get a break. I was just so happy for you, you really deserved it. You must feel so much better now?"

"Yeah, Mom. I'm like a whole new person."

I literally wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this all was, surely this wasn't happening to me right now. I'd expected to come back to police everywhere, a nationwide manhunt. Instead I was on the couch telling my Mom about palm trees and beaches. I fucking wish I'd just been in Bali. In fact, what I wouldn't give to be in Bali right now.

"Hey, Mom, I'm super jet lagged, I think I'm gonna call it a night but I'll talk to you properly tomorrow." I couldn't even think straight right now, I needed some time to myself to process what the fuck was going on.

"Okay, goodnight honey."

It felt so surreal walking back up the stairs of my own home and walking into my bedroom, it looked exactly as it had a few weeks ago. My bed was messy, my school bag still laying by my desk full of unfinished assignments. I fell onto my bed just wanting to close my eyes and erase the past few weeks of my life.

I'd showered and changed back into my own comfy clothes, what a relief that was. I'd climbed into my bed, ready to fall asleep, but my brain had other ideas. My mind was full of buzzing thoughts and questions, stopping me from sleeping. Was Dante alive? Had Alessandro just tried to kill him? If he was alive, was he going to come back after me, or was I free?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next two weeks, my life seemed to be finally falling back into place. I'd finally caught back up with school work, I had to make some stuff up to my teachers about how I was super sick, and I told this same lie to my friends. They'd been super worried about me, and I had to lie to them about my phone breaking.
I felt bad, we never kept anything from each other, but I couldn't risk telling them about what had really happened. Riley wasn't the best at keeping secrets and I couldn't tell Sasha and not Riley.

Speaking of Sasha, I came back to school ready to knock Sebastian's stupid ass out but it turned out he'd broken up with her a week ago. On the one hand I was happy for her, he was clearly disloyal and frankly, a prick. But Sasha had been with him for over 3 years and she was heartbroken.

I'd spent a much needed night with both my best friends where we watched movies and ate snacks all night and tried to forget about all our worries. They had no clue how many worries I was trying to forget.

I'd managed to keep my job by begging Andrew, but he was on the edge with me and I knew I'd have to work a little more enthusiastically than usual to make sure he wouldn't fire me. I needed the cash.

~~~

"Why is my coffee cold?"

I'd be working for 3 hours today and I'd already had a long day at school. I'd promised myself that the next person to make a stupid complaint was going to make me quit my job, never mind Andrew firing me. Breathe Mia, breathe.

"I'm so sorry. I'll get that heated up for you."
I put on a fake smile, trying not to snatch the cup of coffee out of this stupid man's hand and knock him out with it.

I took the coffee into the back of the diner and dealt with it. Andrew had switched my shifts so I wasn't even with Riley anymore. He really wanted to punish me. He'd also changed shifts so I got the last shift and had to lock up. Everyone hated locking up.

About an hour later it was finally 5 minutes until closing time, I waited for the last person to get up before letting out a long sigh of relief. Finally. I carried their plates into the back of the kitchen, putting them in the dishwasher and switching it on. I turned the sign on the door to closed and walked into the back room, pulling off my ugly apron, I'd had to buy a new one after I'd inconveniently been kidnapped in my last one.

Just as I was about to leave the room to lock up in the front I heard the jingle of the bell above the door, alerting me that someone had entered.

Could they seriously not see the closed sign?
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself so I didn't go off on whoever it was and lose my job.

"Hi, I'm afraid we're-"

I stopped mid sentence as I realised who it was that had walked in.

"Ciao."