Page 4 of December Wishes
“Down at the bar having a guy’s night with some buddies.” Ari pulled a pair of chicken breasts from the bag. “We’ve got the place all to ourselves tonight.”
Mik slumped down into one of the chairs at the table. “Let me guess. This was part of your grand plan? Get your roommate out of the house so you can get loud with me?”
Ten years ago, such a cheeky joke would have sent Ariana Mura under the nearest bed in absolute embarrassment. Now, however, she turned around and gave her girlfriend an enthusiastic two thumbs up.
Mik should have figured.
That was only one wild example of how their dynamic had changed over the past ten years. Ari wasn’t the only one who had changed since high school. Mikaiya wasn’t exactly the socially aggressive cool-girl-athlete she had been at Clark High School. Going to college in the city and making a 9-to-5 name for herself, never mind navigating a depressing dating scene, had brought her ego down a few notches. It had also made her slightly neurotic, as Ari loved to remind her every time Mikaiya kept reparking her truck in the supermarket lot until she was happy with her alignment. Or how she couldn’t stand to have her closet in disarray, when her high school bedroom had been a mess and a half. Ariana may have looked different and acted a bit more confident, but deep down she was still the same girl who never bothered to clean her room and wanted to believe in love.
She had also learned how to cook better, but that wasn’t a surprise, either. If there was one class Ari had excelled at in high school, it was home economics, which for some reason made her acquaintances laugh now.I guess that’s because they don’t know the real her like I do.Those were the facts that made Mik smile whenever she worried that she and Ariana had still grown too far apart.
“So I’ve been thinking about something,” Ariana announced when she sat down to have dinner with her girlfriend. While this was far from a romantic date, Mikaiya appreciated the normalcy of sitting down to dinner with someone who knew her so well. It was different from having dinner with her grandmother, or Skylar. They didn’tgether like Ari did. They didn’t have the complicated history with Mik. Ariana and Mikaiya may have had their crap to sort out, but it had been far from a bad year of getting to know one another again and making up for missed time over the past ten years.
God only knew what Ari was thinking, then.
“Yeah?” Mik asked. She poked at the baked chicken and the creamy mashed potatoes. While it may not have been the best homecooked meal she ever had, it sure beat yet another night of takeout pizza.I love you, Sky, but oh my God.Skylar getting that job at the pizza pit was both a boon and a curse upon the Marcott house.
“We’ve been back together a year, yeah? I mean, I think it’s been going pretty good, especially now that people have stopped treating us like some weird anomaly.”
Mikaiya snorted. “You’re not wrong.”
“We also got no complaints about where the other person is in their life or, you know, what we get up to in private…”
“I’m never going to get used to you so blasely referencing sex like that.”
Ari acted as if she heard nothing. “You think it’s time we take the next step?”
Mik dropped her fork. “Excuse me?” she whispered, the heat draining from her face.
“I’m talking about living together, Mik. Don’t know what you think I mean.”
Marriage, dumbass!What the hell else could it mean? For Heaven’s sake, they had been “engaged” when Mik skipped town a decade ago. This was a couple that did not casually talk about moving in together without marriage being on the table.Because, deep down, we’re still two idiot kids who don’t know anything about the world.
“It makes sense, you know,” Ari said, almost defensively. “We’ve both got the income. If we cohabitate, I can put you on my insurance instead of you paying so much for your self-employment stuff. We already spend most of the week together. Hell, you’ve got so much crap on my side of the sink that I keep getting crap about going femme on the guys!”
Mikaiya held up her hands before Ari could really get going. “I’m not opposed to it, okay?” she said. “Honestly, I’ve thought it a couple of times myself over the past few months, because what you’re saying is true.” Especially the health insurance part. Seriously. “But I never brought it up because, you know… my grandma…”
“I’ve thought about that, too. I know she needs family living with her. I also know she’s got a lot of medical problems I know a bit about. Which is why I was thinking…” Ari scratched her head, a sign that she feared Mik’s upcoming reaction. “Maybe I should move in with you and your grandma. Having an EMT around would be good for Abby, and it’s not like she doesn’t know me well.”
Mik looked down at her half-eaten food. “I’m sure my grandma wouldn’t mind if I put it that way, but what about Skylar? We’re already at full capacity in that house. Even if you move into my room, that’s gonna be a cramped house.”
“What’s brilliant is that Skylar could take over my part of the lease here. I’ve already talked to my roommate about it.”
Sighing, Mikaiya pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t think Skylar could afford the rent here. She doesn’t make much at the pizza parlor, and she’s got student loans like I do. Right now she’s living rent free at my house.”
“Whoa. I had no idea. I thought she was paying for something, at least.”
“She provides a good amount of food…” That was one way of putting it. “But my grandma’s social security and my income goes to most of the bills. Not saying that having you around to help out wouldn’t be huge, especially for me and my stupid loans, but Skylar…”
Ariana folded her hands in front of her plate and briefly gazed out the darkened kitchen window. “As long as you’re on board with the idea, eventually. It’s okay if we have to wait. I just, you know… I was also kinda worried that you would hate the idea of living together. I’m ready for a change. Not only in our relationship, but in my life. Having you come back to town was the shakeup I needed, I guess. Now I wanna make my next set of plans.”
“When did you become the super responsible one?” Mik asked.
“When I had to be.”
That was all she said about that, but Mik knew what she meant.When I skipped out on you, and suddenly you had to figure things out all on your own.She reached across the table and took Ariana’s hand. Forgiveness may have been given, but Mik would spend the rest of her life trying to make it up to the girl whose heart she had broken.
“We’re gonna move in together before you know it,” Mik said. “And I can’t wait.”
