Leila sensed a change in Mia's mood once they had returned from the cemetery. Oftentimes, when Mia visited her mother's grave, she would offer a quick hello to Leila and then retreat to her room, where she remained for hours on end. This time around, Mia seemed content continuing to strike up conversation with Leila. They ate lunch together, and afterwards, they stood side-by-side, cleaning the dishes.

As they did so, an idea came to Leila's mind.

"If you don't have any other plans today, why don't you come to my parents' house for dinner?" Leila suggested. Leila had extended the invite multiple times, and though Mia would decline, Leila still felt guilty leaving Mia by herself in the apartment every week while she went to eat a home-cooked meal at her family's house.

Though Mia was in a better mood than normal after returning from the cemetery, she was quick to decline Leila's invitation.

"No. That's okay. I don't want to intrude," Mia said.

"You're not intruding," Leila assured her. "My mom has told me to ask you multiple times. My family really wants to see you."

Leila turned to glance at Mia, noticing her looking uneasy. Her gaze was down toward the floor, and she shifted side to side.

"I don't know," Mia murmured. "It feels like I'm cutting in to your family time. I'm really okay just staying here by myself."

Leila usually backed down at this point, but she was feeling particularly persistent this afternoon. She locked eyes with Mia and once again stated, "Come on. My mom is going to come drag you there herself at some point."

Leila watched Mia's shoulders sag. "Okay. I'll come," she said at last.

"Yay!" Leila exclaimed. She set the last dish in the dishwasher and closed it. "I'll let my mom know. I think we're just having taco salad tonight if you're okay with that."

"That's fine," Mia answered. "Um, tell your mom thanks for the invite."

"Will do," Leila replied as she marched to her room to grab her phone.

That evening, Mia appeared uneasy in the passenger seat of Leila's car. Leila couldn't figure out why. Sure, it had been several years since the last time Mia had seen Leila's family, but Leila didn't think anyone in her family had changed much besides physically. They used to always welcome Mia with open arms when she and Mia were children. She was sure tonight would be no different.

Once they had arrived, Mia lingered behind Leila as she walked up the wooden porch steps to Leila's childhood home. For a moment, Mia stopped and paused.

"Everything okay?" Leila asked.

"Just having weird déjà vu," Mia replied. She picked up her pace to walk alongside Leila.

Leila herself felt slightly nervous as she went to open the door. She didn't dwindle on the thought long. Instead, she turned the doorknob and almost immediately found herself being greeted face to face with her mother.

"Lei, nice to see you," her mother said, immediately burying Leila in a hug. Leila's mother glanced up, her eyes locking on Mia. "And Mia!" she exclaimed. "Look at you! You're such a beautiful young woman now!"

"Hi Mrs. Sutherland. Nice to see you again," Mia muttered shyly.

"What's with this Mrs. Sutherland nonsense? You just call me Vivian. Come inside, come inside," she said enthusiastically, ushering the two in.

Leila kept close to Mia, not wanting her to feel overwhelmed as they entered into the living room where the rest of the usual dinner guests were sitting and watching a baseball game.

"Make way for the special guests!" Leila's mother exclaimed.

"Was your mother always this enthusiastic?" Mia muttered quietly beside Leila.

Leila herself was slightly embarrassed how big of a deal her mother was turning Mia's visit into. She shook her head at Mia and glanced out at the rest of her family.

"Um, I'm sure you all remember her – well except you, Shannon – but this Mia, my new roommate and childhood friend," Leila said. "Mia, I'm sure you remember my dad and my brother," she said, pointing to the two. She gestured toward the young woman sitting next to Gavin on the couch. "And this is my brother's fiancée, Shannon."

"Hey everyone," Mia said, giving a slight wave. "Thanks for the invitation tonight."

"Anytime," Leila's father replied. "Are you doing well?"

"I'm doing good," Mia replied simply.

"We heard your father passed away. So sorry to hear that," Leila's father said. Leila quickly glared at him, though he didn't seem to notice. She figured the last thing Mia wanted was to be reminded of her dead parents while eating dinner.

"Oh, um, thank you," Mia murmured.

"You're welcome here anytime," Leila's mother assured Mia. "If there's anything we can do for you, you just let us know."

"Thank you," Mia responded.

"Come on. Let's get some appetizers," Leila said, leading her to the kitchen. Gavin followed them, an empty plate in hand.

"Already getting seconds?" Leila asked.

"Hey, shut up. All the wedding stuff stresses me out," he said, beginning to pile some more tortilla chips onto his plate. He shifted his gaze to Mia. "How have you been doing?" he asked.

"Oh! Good, I guess," Mia said. "Congrats on your engagement."

"Thanks," Gavin responded. "Bet you didn't think I had it in me."

"Does Shannon know you used to eat crayons as a kid?" Mia asked.

"Sh! Quiet down!" Gavin exclaimed. "Jeez, Lei, don't bring your childhood friends over again. I don't want to remember all this embarrassing stuff."

Mia rolled her eyes. "When are you getting married?" she asked.

"In the fall."

Mia smiled. "That'll be pretty. Fall in Maine is something else. I'm looking forward to experiencing it again."

Leila was happy to see them conversing. Mia still appeared to be on edge, but now that the basic introductions were over, the attention was no longer solely focused on her. As Gavin returned to the living room, Leila glanced at the staircase behind her.

"Hey, you should see my old room," Leila said.

"Is it still painted that gross purple color?" Mia asked.

"You know it," Leila replied. She hoped getting Mia away from the others for a bit would at least allow Leila herself to calm down a bit as well.

As they headed up the staircase, Leila felt that same sense of déjà vu Mia had mentioned earlier. They'd spent many times running up and down these stairs as children. Occasionally during sleepovers, they'd even race their sleeping bags down them in the morning. As they headed up toward Leila's bedroom, they both walked with a familiar ease. Leila wondered how many hours they had spent total in Leila's room growing up.

"The posters are new," Mia said once she stepped into the room. "You used to just have fairy lights and some pictures taped on the wall."

"Yeah, I changed it up when I was a teenager," Leila explained. "The layout is still the same as when we were kids though."

Mia nodded. She reached for the knob on Leila's bedframe and pulled it off. After a brief moment, she laughed to herself. "Glad to see you never fixed this," she said.

"Some things are better off staying the way they are," Leila replied as Mia shoved the knob back into the bedframe.

Mia continued glancing around Leila's bedroom, pointing out various knickknacks she remembered and the ways in which Leila's room had changed. Leila found it amusing, though suddenly, she felt saddened to know they could never look around Mia's childhood bedroom with the same sense of awe and nostalgia. Mia's old room had been lost with her mother.

A knock at the door made Leila jolt. She opened it, finding Shannon at the entrance.

"Hey, dinner's ready," Shannon announced. She glanced forward at Mia. "I'm Shannon, by the way," she said, holding her hand out. "I didn't really get to properly meet you earlier."

"Mia," Mia said, shaking her hand.

"I'm a little jealous this family knows you longer than they've known me," Shannon admitted.

"Oh, I mean, that was a long time ago," Mia said.

"Still, it's nice to meet another honorary family member," Shannon said with a grin.

"Oh, uh, I'm not—"

"Come on. Let's go eat," Leila interrupted.

The seats at the dining room table had been rearranged to place Mia next to Leila. Leila found it strange, but she didn't hate the change. After all, she had always expected there would be another seat beside her someday, although not in the same way as she had been hoping. Mia was just her roommate, nothing more.

As they dug into their meal, the conversation shifted to Mia, just as Leila expected it would. Her parents asked the usual questions of what college Mia had gone to, what she was doing now, what she was hoping to do in the future. Leila hoped Mia wasn't overwhelmed by all of it. Leila briefly glanced over at her, finding Mia's shoulders were no longer stiff like they had been when they first arrived. Perhaps she was finally relaxed, or the glass of wine Leila's mother had poured for her was helping.

"We were just talking about your mother the other day," Leila's mother said to Mia. "She was such a kind soul. We still miss her."

Mia smiled weakly. "I miss her too," she said. There was quiet as Mia took a sip of wine and set the glass back down on the table. "I heard you all would visit her gravesite sometimes. Thank you for that."

"No worries at all," Leila's father responded.

"We wanted to make sure your mother was looked after while you were gone," Leila's mother explained. "We always knew you'd come back someday."

Leila noticed Mia twitch beside her. She supposed it was still painful talking about her mother, so Leila tried to divert the conversation away to something else.

"Fuji is getting more used to being in the same room with Mia," Leila explained. "I think soon enough he'll let her pet him."

"Hey, better than me," Gavin grumbled. "That cat won't let me come near him without hissing at me."

Mia laughed slightly. "Oh, don't worry. He absolutely hates my boyfriend whenever he's over."

"Oh, you have a boyfriend?" Leila's mother asked. "Is he from here?"

Mia nodded. "Yeah. We've been dating since late spring. We met shortly after I moved back here."

"Leila never mentioned your boyfriend," Leila's father said.

Leila dug her fingers into her skirt, silently begging her parents to stop speaking. She had never felt the need to bring Mia's relationship up. It had never had much importance when it came to their roommate relationship.

Leila's mother began to speak. "You should really give Leila some pointers. She's been really struggling with dating. Of course, it'd be slightly different—"

"Mom!" Leila exclaimed. She forgot that once her mother had a few glasses of wine, she liked to overshare. Leila knew her mother was about to make the point that Leila exclusively dated women, but Leila still had not found the courage to share that fact with Mia, and she certainly wasn't ready to have that conversation at her family's dining room table.

"How about we have dessert?" Shannon offered, thankfully ending the romance conversation.

Leila let out a sigh in relief. She noticed Mia staring at her oddly, but she stood up to help collect dishes before Mia could question her.

After stuffing themselves with peach pie for dessert, Leila felt like she was waddling to the front door. She forgot her mother always cooked an extra amount of food whenever new guests came over.

"Thanks for inviting me," Mia said as they stepped out the front door and onto the porch.

"Come again next week if you'd like! And the weekend after that!" Leila's mother exclaimed.

"I'll see," Mia said, laughing some.

As they descended the steps down toward Leila's car, Mia remarked, "I forgot how friendly your mom is."

Leila laughed uneasily. "Yeah. She's a little overbearing at times. Hopefully that wasn't too painful for you."

Mia climbed into the passenger seat. "No. I mean, I was a little nervous at first. It's been so long after all, but your family acted like nothing changed."

"You should come again next weekend," Leila said.

Mia frowned. "Well, I can't commit every weekend. Sometimes I have a work shift or Julian and I will go out."

"I get it," Leila said. She started up the engine, beginning to drive away from her parents' house. "I hope you'll stop by sometimes though."

"I will," Mia promised.

Leila smiled, and they drove away into the night.

...

Leila found herself in her parents' house again. Strange, she thought. Hadn't she just left their house after dinner?

The house was eerily empty, and while the layout was the same as her parents', when she walked down the upstairs hallway, she noticed the bedrooms all appeared different and lacked the familiarity of her childhood. Confused, Leila kept walking, then came to a pause at the top of the staircase.

Someone was humming down below. Leila stopped and listened. It sounded like...but why...why would she be here?

Leila slowly descended the staircase and turned the corner, finding Mia standing at the sink, washing dishes. She hummed quietly, occasionally singing a word or two. It had been a long time since Leila had heard her sing to herself.

Mia turned her head at the sound of Leila's footsteps. "Oh, you're awake," she said.

"How long was I asleep?" Leila asked.

"Longer than normal. You must've been having a good dream," Mia said. "Can you help me dry the dishes?"

Leila nodded. As she stood behind Mia, she found it easy to enter into the rhythm of drying dishes. Neither said anything to each other, but the silence was comfortable and peaceful.

Oh right, this is just something normal we always do, Leila thought.

"What do you want to do today?" Leila asked when she put the last dish away in the cupboard.

"I don't know. Whatever you'd like," Mia said. "Also, come here."

Leila scooted closer toward her. "Huh?"

Mia grasped Leila's arm, pulling her down closer toward her. Then, she stood on her tiptoes and let her lips gently graze Leila's cheek.

"I forgot to give you your good morning kiss," Mia said.

Leila's eyes shot open. Fuji was standing on top of her legs, his green eyes reflecting in the darkened bedroom.

"Mmroww."

"Fuji! Go back to sleep," Leila grumbled, forgetting her tabby cat at times liked to wake her during the middle of the night. She heard his paws hit the floor of the carpet below and watched as he curled up in his bed across the room.

Leila shut her eyes once more, her dream suddenly coming back to her in pieces. She noticed her limbs shook slightly, and her heart was racing.

What was that all about? she wondered to herself.