Crushing Bad

Chapter 23

"What's wrong?" I asked Mia, strolling towards her slowly with a concerned expression on my face.

She jumped when she suddenly noticed my presence beside her, clearly not expecting me. "Um. Nothing serious...it's just-" her chocolate eyes turned to stare right back at me with slight confusion.

"C'mon, tell me!" I raised my voice, not being able to control my bubbling curiosity anymore. She opened her mouth and then closed it as if unsure of what to reply. My gaze intuitively dropped towards the phone in her hand and I knitted my eyebrows together when I read the name 'Travis' on it, confirming that she had just been texting him.

"Did he do something?" I asked in a rush, the feeling of protectiveness promptly swarming over me.

"No. It's just that...I m confused why is he asking me to text him your number?"

I raised an eyebrow at her statement before looking down at the screen to see for myself. "I don't know," I replied in a low voice. "Maybe he just thought he would need it for future reference? I can consider us friends, right?"

"He told me it's important and he needs it quick," she told me, her voice a bit hurt.

She's jumping to the worst conclusion.

"Mia I swear," I began. "I have no idea as to why he is asking you for my number like this. It is weird but maybe he just needs something yeah?" I took her hands in mine, my voice tender. "But if it's because..." I hesitated before continuing. "You know I'd never do something that would bother or hurt you right?"

She did that thing again, the thing where she composes her emotions and builds a wall between her and a person to guard herself. Knowing her for years had me trained to realize whenever she did that. "Of course, I know that. It's alright, don't worry. I'll text him your number. You should talk to him," she forced a smile at me and beginned to type something on the device.

"Only if you want," I declared, watching her movements carefully. My phone beeped after a few seconds and I unlocked it to see that I had received a text from an unknown number and a message from Sam saying that they were at the food court.

The one from the unknown number was a simple 'hey', probably from Travis. "Is this his number?" I asked her, internally thinking about how quick the guy was being.

"Yeah," she answered, giving it a two second glance. I decided to mute my phone and closed it, slowly following after Mia's steps who had started to walk away. I'll see what he wants later.

"Wanna see what I got you?" I asked heartily, catching up with her pace as she gracefully stepped on the escalator that went up towards the food court.

"What?" She gave me sideways glance and I pulled out a red coloured box from one of my shopping bags, my face slowly breaking out in an excited grin. Her eyes immidiately lit up when she realized what the present was.

"Those high tops that you were looking for from a while," I revealed causing her mouth to drop open at my statement.

"Oh my god, no way!" She shrieked loudly, snatching the box from my hands in exhilaration since I was taking too much time to open it. "I can't believe this!" She added with a squeal. "When did you even go look for them?!" She asked quickly, not being able to control the broad grin that was forming on her mouth as she opened the lid of the box.

"When you were busy looking at those boring novels an hour before," I let out an amused chuckle as we approached the desirable floor.

Her expression softened, an affectionate smile making its way against her lips. "Thank you so much, this is so thoughtful," she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me towards her in a tight bear hug.