Broken Promises

50 | blake

Mia and I end up at some coffee shop on the pier, as only minutes into our venture along the beach it had started to rain. The two of us had been virtually unprepared for the weather to change, so we'd ran into the first store we found open, laughing and dripping from the rain.

Upon entering the shop, we'd ordered iced coffees and taken a seat at a table next to the window by the front, glancing out of the glass at the dark night sky, watching the raindrops batter against the pane and leave behind jagged streaks of water.

"So much for girls night," Mia mutters, looking out of the window with a slight frown. "Maybe we should have checked the weather forecast first?"

I laugh. "I'm just hoping the rain will let up before we have to head back."

"Oh, God. There's no way I'm going all the way back down the pier in this rain."

"Well, at least we got coffee out of it," I joke, raising my cup.

"True." Mia smiles as she lifts her cup, as well, holding hers out to mine. "Cheers to coffee at six-thirty on a Friday night as we stare at rain, I guess."

I laugh as we connect our cups before taking long sips, setting them back onto the table in unison.

Across the table, Mia runs a hand through her wavy hair, and I notice the guy behind the counter not-so-subtly checking her out. She meets my gaze as she smiles, oblivious to the boy's eyes on her.

"So," Mia says, "you and Noah go to school together, right?"

"That's how we met." I smile at the memory. "I was his tour guide on his first day. You know, to show him around the school and everything. We didn't really start to get along until a little later, though."

"That sounds sort of like how I met Thorne." Mia's smile is wistful, as if she's thinking back on better times. "We had a chemistry class together as seniors. Trust me, we did not get along at first. I thought he was the most annoying person on the plant. I still do, except now I unfortunately love him, which makes it hard to stay irritated with him."

"You two didn't get along at first?" I question, genuinely surprised. Everything about Thorne and Mia seems easy and effortless, loving and gentle. I never would have guessed there was a time the two weren't like that.

"Absolutely not." Mia snorts, eyes shining with amusement. "Thorne was your average troublemaker—the kind of boy you'd find in some cliché Wattpad story, or something. I was the complete opposite, living in my own little bubble. I couldn't stand him at first. I felt like he was always trying to purposefully get on my nerves. You've heard him call me Sunshine, right?"

I nod in response to her question, waiting for Mia to continue.

"That nickname originated because Thorne was making fun of me. Basically, he told me he was going to call me sunshine because it was the opposite of my personality."

I raise my eyebrows at this, biting back laughter. Hearing about their rocky past only makes Mia and Thorne seem all the more perfect as a couple. The fact that they were able to come together despite their differences is heartwarming.

"We're an interesting couple," Mia admits sheepishly. "You'd almost think we wouldn't work together. But after everything we've been through . . ." Mia trails off, smiling down at the tabletop before shrugging. "There's nobody else I'd rather have by my side than him."

Shaking her head, Mia says, "Enough about me and Thorne. I want to hear about you and Noah. Tell me everything!"

"I don't know that there's much to tell." Suddenly, I feel shy. "We met his first day of school, when I gave him a tour. We didn't talk much after that. He was kind of a loner, you know? He kept to himself. Our dads are best friends, though, so that led to us seeing each other a little more. I don't know . . . I guess I could just see that he was hurting, and I wanted to help him with that. We became friends and . . ." I trail off, shrugging to make up for my lack of words. "And somewhere along the way, I fell for him."

Mia's eyes gleam with warmth, like the story makes her happy. "He's different now," she muses. "In a good way. When I first met Noah . . . he was lost. It was clear to see that he was struggling and needed someone to rely on, you know? He needed help. I was hoping Thorne and I would be able to give him that, but then he just . . . disappeared. Until today, I hadn't heard from him in almost a year."

Mia sips her coffee before continuing, saying, "He seems happy, Blake. I don't want to get all sentimental, but he really does. He's a different person now—because of you. You don't have to believe what I'm saying, Blake, but I mean it. Noah's a better person thanks to you. You're helping him realize that life is worth living. That it gets better."

I don't know how to respond to Mia's words; I don't know how they make me feel. Honestly, I can't say if I believe them or not. I mean, I know I've made an impact on Noah's life, just as he has mine. It's thanks to him that I'm healing in ways I never thought I would. But does it make me vain if I say that I'm healing Noah, too? I don't want to think I'm more important to him than I really am, don't want to credit myself for being the reason he's changed for the better. I don't even know if that's true.

"God, I sound like Charlie," Mia says under her breath.

"Who?" I ask.

"Back when I first started seeing Thorne, I met his friends, particularly a girl named Charlie. She pulled me aside the first night we met and told me that I was special. That I was changing Thorne for the better. At the time, I'd thought she was crazy. Looking back, though, I guess she was right. And Thorne changed me for the better, too. I guess you could say it was a team effort."

The two of us laugh, and Mia rests her hand on top of mine once the laughter fades.

"What I'm trying to say, Blake, is that the world has a funny way of working. For some reason, Thorne and I were brought together, and we helped each other in ways I didn't even realize at the time. I think it's the same with you and Noah. So, thank you, Blake. All I've ever wanted for Noah was for him to find happiness. And he has with you."

I'm not quite sure why Mia's words make me want to tear up. Maybe it's because it means a lot to hear her say something like that, or maybe it's because I know it's true. Noah is helping me heal; he's teaching me that it's still worth it to love, even at the risk of getting my heart broken. And maybe I'm helping him too, in teaching him that this world isn't always such a terrible place. There are stars shining in the sky even on the darkest of nights. You just have to look harder to find them.

When Mia and I rise from our seats after deciding it's time to head back, she wraps her arms around me and pulls me into a hug. I don't hesitate to wrap my arms around her in return, holding her close. It doesn't seem to matter that we've only recently met, somehow I know I have just made a lifelong friend in Mia McHenry.

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a/n: why is chemistry so hard omg