Page 37 of Night and Day
“A short girl with blue hair?” Mia suggested, studying his strange, orange perm.
Deke’s laugh echoed in the kitchen. “I’d be up for that!” He raised his brow. “She’d be cute, though?”
Mia tilted her head. “Well, if you’re literally looking for an opposite, then maybe not.”
Deke’s laugh morphed into a hiccup. He nudged Izzy across the table. “Your girlfriend thinks I’m cute! How do you like that?”
Mia felt her shoulder hike up as Izzy shrugged, still attached to her side. “That’s okay. She thinks I’m hot.”
Mia hid behind her coffee cup, searching for a new topic. Her gaze landed on the wall clock, already edging to 1.30pm. “Is anyone else hungry? I’m happy to cook something.”
Izzy got up. “No, I’ll do it.”
Deke also stood up, hastily cleaning the wayward bird seeds off the table. “I’m heading out to do laundry. I’m going to a singles night at my aunt’s church tonight.” He gestured at his sleeveless Pokémon shirt with its sprinkling of stains.
Mia jumped up to help him with the clean-up, but Izzy took the wipe off her hands. “It’s his bird, let him do the cleaning.” He dropped the wipe in the sink, pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair, inhaling deeply.
Deke finished cleaning and winked at them. “All done. I’ll leave you to it.” He took Casanova and headed out the door.
As the door closed behind him, Mia turned to Izzy, almost scared to look at him. “Okay. We can stop pretending now, right?”
Izzy he took a step back, breaking the contact. “Yeah.”
Mia bristled. Losing his touch felt like a cold breeze. “You must be tired of having me in your space all the time? I can go out, or downstairs...”
“Okay. I can bring the food down when I’m ready.”
Mia gathered her shopping bags and hurried downstairs. Gosh. She needed a cold shower. It wasn’t just the throbbing between her thighs. Something about the way Izzy talked, like he wasall in, like she washis, both excited and scared her. It was fake, but he wasn’t. This is how he was wired, the exact opposite of every aloof guy she’d ever dated back home. They insisted on ‘seeing how it goes’ and ‘taking time to get to know each other’. She’d felt on trial, most of the time; living together to prove she was good enough, worthy of commitment. With Mikko, she hadn’t even advanced to that stage. How this bearded giant acted made no sense, yet she craved it with her whole being. Mia swallowed the hard lump that had climbed higher in her throat, her constant companion since she’d met Izzy.
It’s fake, she reminded herself, heaving her shopping bags onto the couch. They were fake dating.Fake.
Waiting for Izzy to cook, Mia took another shower and changed into fresh clothes. She washed her old ones in the sink and hung them in the bathroom, hoping they’d dry quickly.
As she stepped back into the lounge, she found Izzy sitting on the couch and a plate of sandwiches and a bottle of apple juice on the coffee table. She joined him, leaving a respectful gap between them. “These look amazing. Thank you!”
“No problem.”
They ate in silence, keeping their distance. It made sense. Yet, the distance between them distracted Mia almost as much as his touch and words had before. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow and the opportunity to be together, acting like a couple. Okay. She’d officially lost the plot. Thank goodness he couldn’t read her mind.
“Should we watch a movie or something?” she asked. Was there a ten-hour trilogy she could suggest that would distract her enough to survive the night?
“I have to get some work done, but I can join you later.”
He fetched a laptop and a pair of headphones off his desk and placed them in her lap.
“Great. Thank you. I might just listen to some music. Do you have those playlists...?”
She opened the lid and browsed the application icons, searching for Spotify. She hoped he’d step in and guide her, but Izzy stood firmly behind the couch. “Yeah, search under applications,” he said, retreating to his desk.
They spent the afternoon in their own little worlds, headphones on. After a while, Mia relaxed, almost forgetting he was there. Listening to the new music on Izzy’s playlists stirred inspiration in her gut. Checking that Izzy had his headphones on, she began humming a melody and wrote some lyrics at the back of her debt notebook. Excitement took over, and she snuck her guitar out to try some chords. Time flew as she immersed herself in the act of creation.
At dinner time, Izzy ordered sushi, and they ate on the couch, an arm’s length away from each other, keeping up friendly, albeit pause-filled, chatter. Mia used the opportunity to learn about Izzy’s family. She tried to set aside her first impressions – the concerned voices she’d heard through the door during the intervention – and get to know the real people. In turn, she told him about her own family, her sister Kati she missed terribly and her parents who lived up north but were planning a long trip to see the baby once she was born. Compared to Izzy’s, her family was far less involved in her life, yet she sensed their expectations. Maybe the only difference between them was that Izzy had the courage to defy those expectations, whereas she’d always met them. Until now.
Still, Izzy didn’t seem resentful. Hearing him talk about his family in a warm, loving tone calmed her nerves about the Sunday lunch.
“There’ll be lots of food,” he warned her. “So get ready for that.”
Mia pulled a face. “Ugh. I need to go for a run or something.”
