“Wow, that was…” I start, but Mia jumps right in.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she pants. “That was… I didn’t know it could be that good.”
That heats up my chest, completely warming me to her with her kind words. But it just reminds me that she’s guarded, something has happened to her. I want to ask her, to learn more about this beautiful woman, but at the same time I don’t know if it’s a good idea. If I’m going to keep my distance then I suppose that means I can’t learn about her too.
“Shit, I better go.” She suddenly seems to realize where she is. “This is…”
I grab her hand and hold her before she races off, I don’t want another encounter to end on uncertain terms.
“Don’t panic,” I reassure her. “This is what it is, okay? No pressure, nothing to worry about, okay? It won’t get weird.”
She nods slowly. “Okay, thank you, Noah.”
I hope she understands and accepts it, she doesn’t look certain, but I have to let her go to grab her clothing so she can dress herself.
10
Mia
My paint brush flickers across the canvas rapidly, my emotions bursting free as I go. The songs on the radio play loudly, filling me with glee. I do feel a bit weird about what happened in the gym, that isn’t me at all, but you know what? It was awesome. I enjoyed it, he enjoyed it, what is there to complain about?
Thank goodness he said that part at the end about things not being weird. That’s helped me. Now I can look back on the memory with happiness, I can just think about how awesome it felt, I don’t need to worry about how he will see me now. It’s all good, it’s going to be fine.
“Knock, knock.” Kayleigh wanders into my apartment as if she belongs here. “Hey, are you ready for our run… woah…” Her eyes nearly pop out of her head. “You’re painting again?”
“Yeah, nothing serious, just for myself.”
“This is awesome, I love what you’ve done there.” She walks over to the painting. “It’s amazing. You really should start putting yourself out there again. Work as an artist. I know you aren’t happy in that bank.”
“Oh, no this isn’t something that I’m doing with an aim to work at it again.”
“Why not? You need to have more confidence in yourself.”
I shrug and immediately shut the idea down. “No, I don’t want to be criticized…”
“What got you back into painting again?” She presses her hands to her hips and narrows her eyes at me. “I’ve not known you pick up a paint brush in the last year. Soemthing has changed.”
“I don’t know… doing this marathon, going on a journey…”
“Our fundraising page is doing really well by the way, which is great.”
“I know.” I smile widely. “I’ve been checking it loads. I keep promoting it everywhere as well.”
“Hmm, I noticed a big donation came from Noah…”
“What?” I grab my phone and check the page. “Oh wow, he really has given us a lot.”
“Is there something that you want to tell me because I’m pretty sure there is.”
I gulp down, trying to prepare myself for what’s to come next. She’s going to have a lot to say.
“Yeah… me and Noah slept together.”
“I knew it.” She bangs her hands together in glee. “I knew it was coming. When did it happen?”
My cheeks flame. “At the gym.”
“In the gym? Inside the actual gym? You did not!” I nod to let her know that actually I did. “Holy hell, that’s awesome. Did you sneak off or something? How did that even happen?”