Mia Pt. 02

"So" he said.

"So" she said.

"What's up, buttercup?"

She smiled, turning to face him, cupping her head in her hands, the grass tickling her cheek. "This place is really nice"

He nodded, looking at the sky.

"How'd you find it?"

"I used to come here when I was still in uni, it's quiet; I like it" he paused, before adding "and I met this girl who would come here with me and then suck my dick over, behind that hill" he pointed with his hand lazily.

Mia laughed, turning on her back to look up at the sky again. "How's Carmen?"

"Who?"

"Carmen, red hair, amazing rack, ate too many tic tacs".

"Oh, Carmen!" he thought, "I don't know, I dropped her ages ago".

"Nice, you're such a pig" she said in a deadpan voice.

"Like you're any better" he smirked.

She smiled to herself. "Fag?"

He reached up into his jacket pocket under his head and pulled out a box of cigarettes, taking one out and placing it between his lips before throwing the deck in her direction. Feeling his pocket for his lighter, he picked it out and lit the cigarette, holding his hand out to Mia so she could take it from him. She lit her own and inhaled deeply, her hand falling to her side.

"I fucked him" she said into the air to no one in particular, a hint of distress in her voice.

"Who?"

"Caleb. Matthews." She said sardonically.

He turned to face her, "Who?"

"Remember the guy I told you about at school? The one I'd drool over?"

"Yea, the teacher" he took a long drag of his cigarette.

"Him" she said plainly.

"Him?" he repeated. "You fucked a teacher?"

She nodded, blowing rings of smoke into the still air.

"Annnnnnnnddd?" he said intently.

"'Annnnnndd' nothing. He doesn't want to see me again"

Zeke laughed, "That's new. Is that why you're in a shit mood? Because this guy fucked you then cut you off?"

Mia pouted, "He didn't just fuck me".

"Then?"

"I let him fuck my ass" she said quietly.

Zeke spat out smoke, howling loudly as he laughed.

Mia kicked at him, catching him in his side. "It's not funny! That shit actually hurts!"

He was crying with laughter, tears streaming down his cheeks. He wiped at his face trying to calm himself, and managed to quiet down before succumbing to another fit of hysterics.

"Ugh". Mia grunted, slapping at his head. "Shut up".

Her phone started ringing. She looked over at the red faced boy, kicking at him again. She checked her mobile, it was her mum. She answered. "Ma?" Mia listened to her mother talk before speaking again, "I'm with Zeke". She listened again then turned to her friend. "Do you want to come to dinner?"

He shrugged, "Ehhh, I dunno".

"Mum says you have to".

He nodded, puffing on his cigarette.

"Yea, he's coming... Ok, see you in a bit. Ciao". She hung up and looked at the time. It was 6 o'clock. She stood, shaking herself off to be rid of any grass that might have been stuck on her. "Come on, let's go", she said, making her way back down to the car.

Zeke stood, collecting his cigarettes and putting on his jacket, following her. He opened the door and dropped in, then started the car. He turned to her, a serious look on his face, fixing his eyes on hers, he asked "Did you like it?" before a wide, toothy grin spread across his face.

Mia groaned, trying to contain her smile, "I shouldn't have told you".

He laughed softly as he navigated the car out of the park, "Seriously though," he chuckled, "He's a lucky guy, you have one of the nicest asses I've ever seen" Zeke breathed another laugh, nodding to himself.

Mia rolled her eyes at the comment but allowed a smirk to appear on her face.

**********

Caleb sat at his desk, spinning his pen between his fingers as he looked over his lesson plans for next week, but all he could think about was Mia.

He placed his pen in his mouth and started to chew. Thinking back to her brown hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders as she walked away from him. Her skin tight leggings hugging her firm ass.

Then he remember as she pressed her lips against that McAvoy boy, and his blood began to boil.

A loud crack sounded and he realised he'd bitten into his pen. He threw it at the bin and packed his things away.

***********

It was chaos when they entered the Accardo household. Everyone was in the kitchen. Mia's dad was at the sink straining spaghetti as her mother yelled at her sister about treating her brother right. Mia looked to her brother, he was holding a bunch of tissues to his nose, his t-shirt stained with blood.

Zeke turned to Mia, raising his eyebrows at her questioningly. She shrugged her shoulders in return then walked to her dad, and kissed his cheek, "What happened to the dweeb?"

"Your sister thought it would be a good idea to throw the remote at his face"

Mia laughed, and her father gave a stern look. She held her hands up in apology. Raphael was usually a very lenient man, but he never condoned violence. She turned around to face Zeke who was standing behind her, "She's always throwing shit" she muttered.

Mia's dad looked back at the person his daughter had spoken to and broke out into a wide smile. "Zekey! How you been kid?"

Zeke laughed quietly and put out a hand for him to shake, "Good, I guess" he nodded as Raphael took his hand and pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tight and lifting him off of the ground. He laughed, returning his hug.

"Rapha! Put the boy down and bring the food to the table" Mia's dad looked up at his wife, and forced a frown.

"So serious, my love!"

She shot him a look that let him know she wasn't in the mood for joking. "Lucca, go and change your top. You," she said, addressing Gaby "sit, now". Gaby huffed and took her seat at the table. She made her way to where Zeke and Mia stood, smiling warmly at Zeke as she kissed both his cheeks and embraced him. "It's so good to see you, we ask about you all the time but Mia just tells us you're busy," she tousled his hair "grey already? My, my, aren't we getting old?"

He laughed, then mock sighed "life and its woes".

She smiled, "Go and sit down".

They sat down at the table, Zeke taking off his jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair before taking a seat beside Mia. Lucca trudged in a few minutes later and sat at the end of the table, his shirt now clean, but his face still slightly pink.

"Right! Let's eat" Raphael said, as he reached for a piece of bread and took a bite out of it whilst dropping a load of spaghetti and meatballs into his plate.

**********

Once dinner was cleared up, Zeke followed Mia to her room. She fished out a pack of cards from her bedside drawer and threw them at him as he sat down on the bed. "Deal" she ordered. He emptied the deck into his hand and started to shuffle.

Mia turned her back to him and pulled her hoodie over her head before shrugging on a t-shirt. She pushed down her leggings, dragging her thong down too, revealing her bare ass and legs, as she reached for her jogging bottoms.

Zeke looked up from the cards and smiled, then threw one at her ass "Do you mind?"

"Get over it" she mumbled, as she yanked her bottoms on. She jumped onto the bed and sat down in front of him, crossing her legs. She watched as he dealt them both seven cards each, then picked them up.

"So what are you gonna do about this Matthews guy?" he asked casually as he put down two cards. Mia shrugged. He looked up at her momentarily, "What do you WANT to do?"

She bit her lip. "I don't like being told no". She placed a card on the pile.

He chuckled, "That much I know". He put down two Jacks. "Pick up ten".

She put down a two, "Twelve," she paused, "bitch".

Zeke groaned and started counting twelve cards from the deck. There was a knock at the door, and they both looked up to see Mia's mum's head peak in. She entered the room. "Do you think I could talk to Zeke for a minute?"

"Sure" he said pleasantly.

She looked at Mia, "Alone".

"This is my room" Mia said.

"My house" Giada shrugged back, smiling.

"Ugh, whatever". Mia uncrossed her legs and stood on the bed before jumping off to leave the room.

She made her way downstairs to the lounge and fell onto the big couch next to her brother. "What's on?"

"Two and Half Men".

She grabbed his chin and turned his face toward her, looking at his nose and his lip carefully, then his eyes. The remote must have hit his mouth because his lip was cut slightly. She let go of him. "Should fuck her up next time".

Lucca laughed, shaking his head. He wasn't half as violent as his sisters were.

Some 30 minutes later, Zeke slumped down next to them. Mia shimmied over and snuggled up against his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. "What did mum want?"

"Just to talk".

"About?"

"Stuff" he smiled.

She pinched his thigh, "don't be so cryptic".

They heard someone walk into the room, and they all looked back to see who it was. Giada was walking toward them slowly, they all turned back to the screen. "I'm going to sleep" she said as she approached, "I want you in bed before 11, capisce?"

Lucca answered "K".

"Mia?" she said.

Mia mumbled "Yea".

Giada stood behind them and leaned down to kiss Zeke's silver hair. "You're welcome to stay the night, or however long you want" she said to him affectionately.

He smiled, feeling awkward but filled with gratitude. "Thank you, mama".

She kissed his cheek, "prego", and left to go to bed.

"Kiss ass" Mia whispered.

Zeke laughed softly "asshole".

"Are you gonna stay?"

"Yea, might as well, it's late and I don't feel like driving back".

"I think your pyjamas are still in your room".

He nodded.

Zeke had been fairly young when he first met the family; a delinquent 15 year old who thought he was above the law, his mum bearing the brunt of the consequences his actions brought and it wasn't long before she was made to see the inside of a courtroom because of her disobedient son. As a lawyer, Giada was referred to his mother and she offered to take them on pro-bono.

It all went well, but his mother still seemed to be at the end of her tether with him, and had decided he was too much for her to handle, wanting to put him in care. Giada again came to the rescue and offered to take him into her own home, where he stayed until he was 18 and old enough for university; the fees and accommodation for which Giada had paid for herself. She'd tried to get him to speak to his mother and keep in touch with her, but he'd refused.

After university, he could have decided to come back after he graduated, but he chose not to. Feeling like he'd already taken far too much from them.

And though he no longer lived in the same house, he still felt he was part of the family. Mia's mum's kindness had ignited within him a fierce loyalty to the Accardo's, and he'd been close to them ever since.

Another episode of Two and Half Men had finished, and it was nearing 11pm. Lucca turned off the TV, and they all went to get ready for bed.

*************

It was the end of the week, and the school day was nearing to a finish. A hand shot up "Mr Matthews, I'm done", he strolled over to the little pale faced girl and looked over her work.

"Great, Hannah. See if you can get this done before the bell" He placed another sheet in front of her and watched as she got down to work. He walked to the front of the classroom, watching the clock, there were 10 minutes left until the end of the day.

At 5 to 3, he stopped, calling out "Right you guys are done, don't forget your homework for next week, and have a good weekend! You can go".

He ushered the young teens out of his class as they packed their things and started to leave. Closing the door behind them, he returned to his desk. He opened up this morning's register and clicked on Mia's name. She'd missed his class again but had attended all her others. He clenched his jaw reflexively, not knowing what to do.

She'd not been to his classes the past two days, and she would ignore any time he would call after her if he saw her. She was definitely avoiding him.

An email notification popped up at the bottom of his screen, it was Mr Levitt wanting to talk to him again. He picked up his blazer and shrugged it on before making his way to Mr Levitt's class. The school was mostly deserted now, all the students having left. As he walked through the Maths corridor nearing his office, he saw a girl lumbering slowly in front of him, her head bowed as her nose was buried in her phone. It was Mia.

He hesitated, not knowing whether to try again or not. "Mia!" he called out. She continued to walk as though she'd not heard a thing. "MIA" he tried again, but she ignored him. He quickened his pace before someone else called out from behind him. "Mia". He watched as Mia froze.

Mia bit her lip. She'd been ignoring Mr Matthews, but she couldn't bring herself to ignore the next voice she'd heard. It was Ms Evans. Had it been anyone else, and she would have ignored them too, but she didn't have it in her to disrespect her favourite teacher. She turned around, to see Mr Matthews walking towards her and Ms Evans a few paces behind him where she stopped. She started to speak. "Caleb do you want me to-"

He shook his head, "No, I've got it".

Ms Evans gave Mia a firm look and then turned on her heels to continue on her original path. Mr Matthews watched her go, as he turned back to face Mia, she was gone too. He clenched his hand into a fist and fought the urge to punch the closest door.

He inhaled deeply, and breathed out, doing his best to compose himself before continuing to Mr Levitt's room.

***********

Mia's phone buzzed. It was Louise. "Are you coming tonight?"

"Where?" she replied.

"Dre's party! Duh!"

"Lol. No."

Her phone vibrated again, but she ignored it. Turning to her sister, "we should get pizza".

Gaby nodded, "I'm game".

"Lucca?" she asked.

Her brother nodded.

Mia turned to Zeke.

"Yea, sure" he said. He'd spent the past few days staying with them and you could tell he was getting comfortable again, sitting sprawled out on the pit couch in his jogging bottoms and vest, chewing on a lollipop stick.

It was another 40 minutes before Mia's father walked into the lounge with four large boxes of pizza. "That's a lot of food" he said, as he passed the boxes to Lucca. He opened the top box and took out two slices of the hot pie, catching strings of cheese in his mouth as he took a bite. He held up the slices and nodded, "Thank you kindly" he said in a terrible Southern accent, and went back to his office.

Lucca looked through all the boxes, opening them slightly to find his. He pulled out the box that contained the margherita and then pushed the remaining three boxes to Gaby. She took the one with the two missing slices and passed on the other two to Mia and Zeke.

Zeke looked at Mia and Gaby as they ate their pizzas. "You're not going to be able to finish those".

Lucca looked up to see who he was talking to, before smiling and shaking his head, "They never do".

The girls ignored them and continued to eat, watching the screen as Ethan Hawk tripped on something Denzel had given him. Training Day was on.

************

It was almost midnight when Mia's phone rang. She looked at the screen before answering. "Yea?" she listened, "do you really have to?" there was a pause, "fine, I'll see you in a bit". She hung up, turning to Zeke, "Come on, let's go".

He stared at her, puzzled "Where?"

"McDonalds" she said without hesitating.

He protested, "But-"

Mia cut him short, "Please?"

He paused before sighing and getting up.

Mia ran upstairs and into her room, quickly flicking through dresses in her cupboard before pulling out a black one with an open back and long sleeves, and stuffed it into her bag before running back downstairs. She stopped in the kitchen, looking around, then hurried to her mother's office but that was empty too. She skipped to her dad's study, "Where's mum?"

He looked at his watch "Sleeping probably", he looked up from his desk; Mia was wearing shoes and a jacket, "its midnight, where are you going?"

"McDonalds; junk craving".

"With who?"

"Zeke"

He was sceptical, "ZEEKKE!" he shouted. Zeke appeared in the doorway behind Mia, he was putting his jacket on. "Where are you going?"

"McDonalds" Zeke shrugged before adding, "want anything?"

Raphael nodded, "Toffee sundae", then returned to his work, "be quick!" he called after them as they left.

They climbed into the car, "where are we really going?" He asked as he pulled out of the drive.

"Watford" Mia said, typing into her phone.

"And what's there?" Zeke asked.

"Some kid at school is throwing a party".

He looked at her, she was wearing light grey jogging bottoms, a white t-shirt and her brothers jacket; air maxes on her feet. She didn't look like she was ready for a party, "go on" he said.

"Rachel's there, someone threw up on her dress but she doesn't want to go home because she's wet for some guy and doesn't wanna leave without starting something".

He nodded. Mia didn't have many friends, but she was good to the few she did have. She wasn't always present, but was always there when needed somehow, reappearing at just the right moment. The few she chose to open up to, couldn't help but love her despite her cold nature, and they wound up relying on her for a number of things because she was yet to let any one of them down. Rachel was one such friend.

He drove quickly, getting there in half the time it would have taken someone else. They parked a few doors down from Dre's noisy house. It was a quiet neighbourhood, but the air was thick with music and the babble of party goers.

Mia made her way through the throng of teenagers to the back of the house and into the garden where Rachel said she'd be. She saw her sitting on a wall that was home to a flowerbed full of purple pansies and beer cups. "Rach?"

She looked up, her dull face brightening. Rachel started forward, spreading out her arms as she went to hug her friend.

Mia held out her own, pushing Rachel away from her, "don't, you stink" she laughed, looking at her dress that still had the remnants of the vomit she'd tried to wipe away. She pulled the dress from her bag and threw it at her and watched as Rachel quickly peeled herself out of the one she was wearing and slipped on the clean one.

She looked down at herself, "it's a bit tight" she thought aloud.

Mia shrugged, smiling.

"MIA!" a voice shouted from near the house, they both looked, it was Mark, and he was treading towards them.

"I'm gonna go find Chris" Rachel said, as she walked by Mia, kissing her cheek "thank you, you're a life saver", then looked at Mark before mouthing "He's cute" to her friend with a smile, then she was gone.

"Mia! You came! I didn't think you would", he leaned down to kiss her lips, but she turned her face away from him. "What's wrong?" he asked, worried.

Mia looked around the garden, biting her lip, her gaze met Zeke's, he was standing on the deck, a bowl of popcorn cradled in one arm as he threw bits into his mouth. She turned back to Mark.

"Mark you're really lovely, but I think we should just stay friends".

He stared at her then swallowed, "Do you kiss all your friends on the mouth?"

Mia winced, she could see she'd hurt him. She glanced at Zeke again, an amused look on his face as he watched. "I wasn't thinking" she said to Mark.

"Whatever, man. You know for someone so smart, you really are stupid". He walked away, pushing past anyone that was in his path as he went back into the house.

Mia sighed and walked to the deck where Zeke stood.

"Who was that?" He asked, setting the bowl down and scarfing a final handful of popcorn.