See The Good

ELEVEN

When the doorbell goes, Mia throws me a blanket before grabbing the pizza and grabbing her own blanket. We eat and drink, still in silence. The longer I stay silent the harder it is for me to speak, a vicious circle.

'I'm sorry' I whisper, looking at Mia as I do.

'For what?'

'Punching things, scaring you. I didn't mean to scare you' I whisper, gropping my gaze back down. I feel her hand grab my chin lightly, pulling my face back up to meet hers.

'It is my fault Conor. I know I pissed you off, and I am sorry. I wish we could start again, I misjudged you.'

'I wish it was that easy.'

Mia stood up, placing her pizza on the coffee table and walking out of the room. For fuck sake, I try and apologise and still manage to fuck things up. I put my pizza on top of hers, heading up the hallway to find her. Suddenly she appears from a doorway.

'Oh hey! I'm Mia, nice to meet you' she smiled, holding her hand out for me to shake. Oh fuck this. I push her hand away and pull her into a hug.

'I'm Conor, nice to meet you too.' I smile over her shoulder, a genuine smile. This girl has a fix for everything. If only she could fix me. We stay there for a good few minutes, just holding each other. I don't want to let her go, afraid of hurting her again.

Eventually we break apart and head back into the living room to finish our pizza. Mia appeared with another bottle of some spirit or another, both of us already pretty drunk and the sun starting to come up. But fuck it.

***

Within and hour we are both completely and utterly arseholed, laid on the living room floor talking like old friends. Surprising what a second chance at 'hello' can do. We are talking about my life in Land before I know it, I spill everything. I am too drunk to filter what I say, and it all comes tumbling out before I can stop it.

Mia says nothing, propped up on her elbows and just listening, concern etched across her face. When I finish she still says nothing, standing and pulling me up before putting me on her sofa. she sits beside me and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me into her shoulder. No words needing to be said, actions speaking a thousand words. We stayed like it for two hours, holding back tears as she rubbed my back, holding me close. Once we hit 6am I insisted that Mia went to bed, pulling her into a hug this time and tucking her head into the crook of my neck. Within a few minutes her breathing grew louder and I realised she had fallen asleep. I gently picked her up, careful not to wake her as I carried her into her bedroom before placing her into bed and tucking her in. Then I went back to the living room, wrapped myself in the blanket and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.