At Dean's request, band practice was short. He wanted us to save our energy for the gig at Lila's tonight. All the guys seemed pretty hyped up except for Tatum, who looked like he had a lot weighing on his mind.
I had asked him about it, but he brushed it off, saying it was just nerves. Of course, I didn't believe him.
Either way, I let him know he could call me anytime if he wanted to talk, especially about Mari.
I wasn't saying that I am a relationship expert or anything now, but I knew what he was going through.
When it came close to the end of Mia's shift, I decided to walk and meet her at the café. It was a nice enough day to ditch the truck and the bike for some good ole fresh air.
I had been crossing the street to the other side when my phone started ringing. "Clocks" by Coldplay began playing through my jeans pocket, my mom's favorite song, and her ringtone.
"Hey, Mom!" I said excitedly. I haven't heard her voice in days.
"Oh wow!" she said sarcastically. "You remember me, do you? I wasn't sure if my only child, who carried in my belly for over nine months, went through an excruciating 17-hour natural labor just to have him never call me..." She took a swift intake of breath before continuing. "...Would recognize the sound of my heartbroken and distressed voice," she began to fake weeping.
"Mother, you do realize I've called you the past two days in a row. If anyone should be heartbroken, it should be me. My mother obviously has no time to talk to me. I even left you texts. "
"What! When?"
"The last two nights in a row," I replied.
"You lie!" Mom whispered harshly. "I didn't see any texts!"
I sighed. I knew Mom must have overlooked them.
"Look, I am telling you," she began to sing terribly. "There's no way, n-n-n-n-no way!!"
"MOM!" I said before she began singing the entire chorus.
"Oh! Hey, I found them," Mom said softly. I heard a few tapping motions from her end.
"Hmm..."
"In my defense, you see what had happened was," she paused.
"I'm waiting."
"I dropped my phone. The screen cracked on the side where my messaging app is. So, yeah. It's unbelievably bad. I'm surprised it still works. "
"How do you explain the missed phone calls?"
"Did I mention I love you?" She answered my question with one of her own.
"Mom."
"Okay, I must have looked at them. Then I made a mental note to call back, but then I got distracted every time. I forgot." I could feel her guilt through the phone.
"I believe you owe your only child, the one who taught himself how to make chicken noodle soup when you were sick, the same one who stayed up late to make sure you always made it home safely from work, an apology."
"I'm so sorry, my loving son. Will you ever forgive me?" she said, only half sarcastic.
I cracked a smile. "Ahh... I'll have to think about."
"I'll bake you banana bread with extra walnuts."
"You are forgiven," I said instantly.
We laughed. "So what's new?
"A lot of things," I said vaguely.
"Wow. That sounds so exciting. Thanks for telling me all about your new life," Mom replied blandly.
I crossed the next street. I could see the café now.
"Mom, I think... UMPH!"
I heard a tiny squeal as a little human crashed into me. I tried and failed to catch her before she got hurt.
"Ow ow ow ow owww!!" She whined with one arm, bracing herself and one knee to the ground.
Initially, I had reached out to grab her, hoping to hold her up, but she might have managed to scrape her knee a bit.
I stared down at the girl in the metallic silver helmet, kneeling next to her skateboard.
"Mom, I'll call you back later," I said hurriedly.
"Sure thing. Love you."
"You too." I hung up.
My attention went back to the girl who collided with me. "Hey, are you okay," I asked her.
She began to tilt her head up slowly.
Her maple syrup eyes scanned my face as I helped her up. She hopped on one leg for a few seconds before she stood firmly on both feet.
I think I've seen this girl from somewhere. I took in her long dark wavy hair, freckles, high cheekbones, and button nose. If I hadn't seen her somewhere before, I probably think she looked familiar because she reminded me of someone. I couldn't figure out who, though.
An adorable smile took over her face as she continued to peer up at me.
"You're Mia's boyfriend! Greyson, right?" she asked, looking like she already knew the answer to that.
I tilted my head. "Yeah. But who...how..." As soon as I had a light bulb moment, I snapped my fingers and pointed. "You must be Ella." I remembered seeing her face from the window a few days ago.
She nodded excitedly.
"Mia talks a lot about you," I told her, causing her smile to grow to a megawatt grin giving me a full view of her blue braces. I knew when those came off that her smile was going to be even more gorgeous.
I squatted down to her eye level. "Are you on your way to see her?"
"Yes. I know her shift is almost over."
"That's right," I confirmed.
Ella tore her gaze from mine as a frown replaced her smile. "I'm sorry, I crashed into you. I wasn't paying attention. I got a text." She held up her phone and waved it in the air. "And I wanted to take a quick peek at it. By the time I looked up, I had tried to swerve to avoid you, but it was too late. Sorry." She bit her bottom lip guiltily.
I rested my hands on her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze, "Don't worry about it. I'm all good." I smiled, hoping to reassure her.
I watched her eyes examine me for herself like she didn't believe me.
I did the same and stopping at the bloody scrape over her bare knee. Ella was wearing a helmet, elbow pads but only one knee pad. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if she was wearing jeans or something, but she had jean shorts that fell just above her knee, offering little to no protection.
"That doesn't look good." I pointed to her injured knee.
Ella tightly closed her eyes. "I'm trying really hard not to think about it because every time my mind regains awareness of it, I think it starts to hurt more." She let out a long sigh. "Of course the day, I think I'll be okay with one less knee pad is the day I get hurt." She opened them, gestured to her leg, and rolled her eyes. "Ridiculous."
I chucked under my breath. "I'm sorry." I grabbed her skateboard. "Can you walk?"
Ella hobbled towards me, twisting up her face. "I think I'm good," she mumbled in obvious pain. "As long as I don't think about it. That's proving to be a lot harder than expected."
I turned and squatted down in front of her. "Hop on," I demanded. I patted my back.
"No, no, no. I'm fine. That's not necessary." Ella stalled.
"I'd feel better if you let me take you to the café to get that bandaged. It's just at the end of the street anyhow."
"You have a point there."
"Yup. Come on," I insisted. "Don't be stubborn."
"I am not stubborn," Ella grumbled, hopping onto my back.
Not even a minute later, I opened the café door when Mia saw us; her eyes widened with panic and concern as she came running over.
"OHMYGOSH, ELLA! What happened? Are you okay?" Mia asked in a rush.
"Yeah, it's just a scrape," Ella replied nonchalantly.
Mia's eyes traveled down to her knee. "That looks like more than a scrape! You could have skinned your whole knee. Why aren't you wearing your knee pads?"
Ella wiggled her opposite leg. "I could only find the one."
"Then, at the very least, you should have worn pants," Mia told her.
That was true.
Ella sighed. "I know, I know."
"If you're done scolding her mom," Ella giggled while Mia narrowed her eyes at me. "I think we should take care of her scrape. You guys have a first aid kit, right?"
Mia took a deep breath, calming herself. "Yes. We have one in the back. Let me go grab it." She hurried down the hall through the employees' only door.
I looked over my shoulder at Ella, who had just gone quiet. "You want me to put you down now?"
I saw her shake her head in my peripheral. "Nah, I kinda like it up here. The view's great." We both cackled.
When Mia returned, we went to an empty table, and I gently placed Ella on top.
Opening the first aid kit, Mia bent down to examine her knee. She drew a sharp breath through her teeth. "So what happened?"
Elle's eyebrows pinched together as she looked at me. I knew she must have been feeling guilty again, but she had no reason to. It was an accident.
"We kind of bumped into each other. It was an accident," I told Mia, and Ella corroborated the story.
"Alright." Mia took out an alcohol swab. Ella cringed, automatically recognizing what it was. "This might sting just a bit." Mia held up her thumb and pointer finger an inch apart.
"Want me to hold your hand?" I said jokingly, but when she gave me a quick nod, I put her hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze. "It'll be quick. Promise." I winked.
Ella still looked uneasy as she removed some of her gear and put them next to her.
"Yup. What he said." Mia slipped on some gloves, cleaned her wound with the pad while Ella hissed, biting her bottom. Mia put the garbage into a paper bag then whipped out an antibiotic ointment and a cotton swab. She glanced at Ella apologetically before gently applying it. Ella looked away, tightly shutting her eyes. When Mia was done, she blew on the wound. "Luckily for you, we had a band-Aid big enough to cover your scrape."
Ella opened one eye, taking a peek at Mia. Mia smiled kindly. "The worst is over," she told her. She ripped open the band-aid and smoothed it on over her knee. "All done."
Ella admired Mia's handy work. "Thank you," she whispered with a sigh of relief.
Mia slipped her gloves off, tossing them into the garbage bag too. "No problem, beautiful." Mia stood up. "We should probably call your parents to come to pick you up. I don't want you to skateboard back home if your knee hurts."
"NO, NO, NO, NO!" Ella shouted in response, making an X with her arms repeatedly. "It's fine. Don't worry about me," she said more calmly.
Mia frowned. "It's definitely not fine."
"I don't want to call them!" Ella blurted out.
Mia looked torn. "Then how about we take you home?" she suggested instead.
We had a little time before I needed to be at Lila's for my gig, so I wouldn't mind dropping her off. I just wanted to make sure she got home safe.
Ella kept trading looks back and forth between the two of us. "Nope. Not necessary," she said.
"There's that stubbornness I was talking about earlier," I mentioned to Ella teasingly.
She pouted. "Listen, guys, I appreciate the offer, but," She was preparing to hop down to her feet. But I stood in her way.
I had an idea. "Okay. I'll make a deal with you freckles."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Freckles?" she repeated with confusion.
"Yes, freckles." I lightly tapped the tip of her nose, causing her to erupt into giggles. "How about I buy you something to eat, anything you want, and then you'll let us drive you home."
"OH!" Mia said in surprise. "That's a good deal! You better take it quick. I would!"
"I mean..." Ella's eyes softened. "How can I say no to free food?"
Mia busted out with laughter.
"Sounds a lot like somebody I know." I looked to Mia with a smirk.
Mia, without a doubt, would never say no to free food.
***
We spent an extra hour at the café, chatting it up with Ella. This girl was something. Her personality meshed with ours perfectly. Our interests were pretty much the same, minus her love for art. I couldn't draw to save my life, but we both had a creative side and could appreciate how different people liked to express themselves. I never thought I'd have something in common with a 12-year-old, but here I was.
I saw why Ella and Mia got along so well. At one point, I was just listening and watching them converse. They had a connection. I couldn't explain it, but they were probably sisters or something in another life.
I chuckled in my mind at the thought. Only I would think up something like that.
When it was time to go, all three of us walked to the apartment together. I had left the keys for the truck at home. I came back down and found Mia and Ella laughing about something in the lobby. Their laughter died down a bit when they saw me, but they smiled in my direction, and I felt my steps falter.
All I could think about was two sets of practically matching brown eyes staring back at me. My eyes shifted between one and then the other. My teddy bear brown eyes that warmed my heart to the maple syrup ones that held so much light. I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't a bad feeling, but I couldn't quite explain it either.
"What's wrong?" They both asked, then exchanged looks with each other as if to say, "Stop reading my mind."
I shook my head. "Nothing. I just had a strange feeling of sorts."
They both looked confused, and a bit worried.
I shook it off and gave them a warm smile. "I'm just weird," I said with a shrug.
"Nothing new there," Mia quipped, making Ella laugh under her breath.
I rolled my eyes. "Anyways." I walked towards them. "Let's get you home, freckles."
Ella lived about 25 minutes away from us. Her neighborhood was nice. It had an old-timey feel considering it was smack dab in one of the historic districts. The houses here were massive, with a decent amount of space between neighbors. Each house had its unique design. Some you could tell had been renovated to look more modern while others have been kept well enough to maintain their old-fashioned charm.
"My house is coming up on your left. The all brick one with the navy blue door," Ella informed me.
I pulled up in front of it, and both mine and Mia's jaw dropped. Now, this was the kind of house I'd buy for Mia and me.
"Ohmygosh! I love your house. If I didn't love my dad, I would ask you to ask your parents to adopt me," Mia jested.
Ella laughed in the back seat, unbuckling herself. "Yeah, we haven't been living here long, but it's been great so far." She opened the door and hopped down to the sidewalk, turning back to grab her gear and board. "Thanks again for the ride, you guys!"
"No problem!" Mia and I both said.
"And good luck tonight, Grey," she told me, picking up the nickname Mia always called me. No complaints here, though. I liked it.
"Thanks. See, I'll see you around."
"Bye!" Ella waved, slamming the door shut. She jogged up the walkway to the front door. We watched her slip a key out of her pocket and unlock it. Opening the door, she turned and gave us a final wave goodbye. We returned it before she went inside.
"She's pretty dang adorable, isn't she?" I said to Mia before driving off.
"I know, right? Those cinnamon eyes can get to anyone."
"Maple syrup," I corrected her.
"What?" Mia asked, laughing.
I got more specific. "Her eyes are the color of maple syrup. Not cinnamon."
"I think they change colors like mine," she said, thinking about it. "But most of the time..." She leaned over to me. "They look cinnamon," she whispered like it was a secret.
I shrugged. "Whatever you say, teddy bear eyes." I winked.