St. Elsewhere
Part 10
"As if that would really happen!"
"No! It's true I swear to god he was a total psycho!" Sean protested adamantly, a grin across his face.
Mia laughed and gave up arguing with him, and proceeded to take sip of her lime soda.
She and Sean were having lunch in a tiny brightly decorated restaurant just off the high street. He'd arrived perfectly on time with a bright smile adorning his face and a sunflower for Mia in his hand. He had pretty much won Mia over at that point and carried on doing so for the rest of the time they were together.
They talked about anything and everything. Music - despite not sharing many common bands, Mia had never heard of Glassjaw and Beethoven eluded Sean. Their day-to-day life: crazy tour experiences on Sean's account and embarrassing slip ups that had happened to Mia on stage at various occasions.
However one thing that never came up was the word family.
If it had Mia would have frozen up and then most likely bailed out on Sean.
But it never came up and so it didn't come to that.
The answer phone message that Mia's mother had left frightened Mia because it kept bringing up the same issue again - one that she had unashamedly been avoiding for about two months; an issue that Mia couldn't easily share because it would evoke pity.
She had been incredibly shaken up last night. She plummeted from her high about as low as it could get in a matter of seconds. She was so grateful for the fact that she could see Sean the next day and that was what got her through the night.
Sean, for his part, knew something wasn't quite, but he knew better than to push her into admitting something that she really didn't want to. His mother had taught him well.
"You know I'm really glad you agreed to come today." Sean suddenly said.
"What made you think that I wouldn't have?" Mia asked curiously wondering where this conversation was going.
Sean hesitated slightly, cursing himself silently for voicing that thought.
"I just thought you wouldn't want to waste your time …" Sean trailed off.
"Well I'm here and that's all that matters." Mia said simply putting an end to that conversation with a smile, leaving Sean grateful and at the same time incredibly embarrassed.
He was grateful for the fact that she genuinely waned to spend time with him, otherwise she would have said no, but on the other hand he was embarrassed for having doubted her.
"So tell me about yourself," Sean said as means of distraction.
"What do you want to know?" Mia asked with a small smile, tacking a stab at her Cesar salad.
"What ever you want to tell me." Sean said grinning.
Mia swallowed her mouthful of salad and underneath the table scrunched her napkin up in her hand.
This was what she had been dreading.
"I'm not that interesting," Mia said with a playful laugh. "Born and raised in Oxford, ballet boarding school at the age of eight and now I'm at the Royal Ballet here. My life's not half as exciting as yours."
"I doubt that very much." Sean said grinning. "Being in a band isn't all it's cocked up to be, it's hard work."
"Isn't everything like that?"
"Touché my dear." Sean said laughing.
- - -
It's funny, that the minute one thing in your life starts heading in the right direction, another thing decides to breakdown.
For Mia this was exactly the case.
Her private life had suddenly taken a massive a gut wrenching leap forward and she was thankful for it, however Mia had to pay for this improvement with the worsening of family problems.
It was five days after The Blackout's concert in the Barfly.
It was five days after Sean had walked Mia home.
And they'd seen each other every day since. For lunch, for a quick drink after Mia's ballet classes or before sound checks, and once even for dinner at Mia's apartment where they had set the smoke alarm off attempting to cook lasagne.
Mia was truly happy for the first time since she'd come back to London for the second time.
But as the pessimists would say: happiness never lasts. And it always happens to those people who deserve it least of all, to those people who have had their fair share of misery and who don't need it to keep them company.
"No! It's true I swear to god he was a total psycho!" Sean protested adamantly, a grin across his face.
Mia laughed and gave up arguing with him, and proceeded to take sip of her lime soda.
She and Sean were having lunch in a tiny brightly decorated restaurant just off the high street. He'd arrived perfectly on time with a bright smile adorning his face and a sunflower for Mia in his hand. He had pretty much won Mia over at that point and carried on doing so for the rest of the time they were together.
They talked about anything and everything. Music - despite not sharing many common bands, Mia had never heard of Glassjaw and Beethoven eluded Sean. Their day-to-day life: crazy tour experiences on Sean's account and embarrassing slip ups that had happened to Mia on stage at various occasions.
However one thing that never came up was the word family.
If it had Mia would have frozen up and then most likely bailed out on Sean.
But it never came up and so it didn't come to that.
The answer phone message that Mia's mother had left frightened Mia because it kept bringing up the same issue again - one that she had unashamedly been avoiding for about two months; an issue that Mia couldn't easily share because it would evoke pity.
She had been incredibly shaken up last night. She plummeted from her high about as low as it could get in a matter of seconds. She was so grateful for the fact that she could see Sean the next day and that was what got her through the night.
Sean, for his part, knew something wasn't quite, but he knew better than to push her into admitting something that she really didn't want to. His mother had taught him well.
"You know I'm really glad you agreed to come today." Sean suddenly said.
"What made you think that I wouldn't have?" Mia asked curiously wondering where this conversation was going.
Sean hesitated slightly, cursing himself silently for voicing that thought.
"I just thought you wouldn't want to waste your time …" Sean trailed off.
"Well I'm here and that's all that matters." Mia said simply putting an end to that conversation with a smile, leaving Sean grateful and at the same time incredibly embarrassed.
He was grateful for the fact that she genuinely waned to spend time with him, otherwise she would have said no, but on the other hand he was embarrassed for having doubted her.
"So tell me about yourself," Sean said as means of distraction.
"What do you want to know?" Mia asked with a small smile, tacking a stab at her Cesar salad.
"What ever you want to tell me." Sean said grinning.
Mia swallowed her mouthful of salad and underneath the table scrunched her napkin up in her hand.
This was what she had been dreading.
"I'm not that interesting," Mia said with a playful laugh. "Born and raised in Oxford, ballet boarding school at the age of eight and now I'm at the Royal Ballet here. My life's not half as exciting as yours."
"I doubt that very much." Sean said grinning. "Being in a band isn't all it's cocked up to be, it's hard work."
"Isn't everything like that?"
"Touché my dear." Sean said laughing.
- - -
It's funny, that the minute one thing in your life starts heading in the right direction, another thing decides to breakdown.
For Mia this was exactly the case.
Her private life had suddenly taken a massive a gut wrenching leap forward and she was thankful for it, however Mia had to pay for this improvement with the worsening of family problems.
It was five days after The Blackout's concert in the Barfly.
It was five days after Sean had walked Mia home.
And they'd seen each other every day since. For lunch, for a quick drink after Mia's ballet classes or before sound checks, and once even for dinner at Mia's apartment where they had set the smoke alarm off attempting to cook lasagne.
Mia was truly happy for the first time since she'd come back to London for the second time.
But as the pessimists would say: happiness never lasts. And it always happens to those people who deserve it least of all, to those people who have had their fair share of misery and who don't need it to keep them company.
♠ ♠ ♠
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