• The two incredible covers were made by articulateme - thank you so much, love, they are gorgeous! •

"This is so fucked up. I mean, seriously."

"Let it go, Caleb."

"No, seriously," Caleb said, holding up one of Mia's old board games. "Ouija boards are from the age limits of eight and up, but drinking ages are twenty-one. So you can summon demons before fifth grade, but you can't see a little titty at a strippy before your brain is finished developing? That's fucked up, America."

Both Zoe and Mia gave each other a saying glance, one that told that they both kinda didn't care. But apparently, to Caleb, the matter was very serious.

"Let's just watch a movie instead, okay?" Zoe suggested, getting up from Mia's couch to go to her DVD collection.

"Sure." Caleb finally agreed. "How about The Smurfs?"

Mia wanted to smile by the sour expression that formed on Zoe's face, but found that pulling on that particular muscle hurt.

It had only been two days since Eli left. Why did it feel like forever? And why didn't the pain fade? It still felt like her heart was shattering, over and over again, like the moment was stuck on repeat.

"What happened that night, Caleb?" Mia whispered, bringing both Zoe and Caleb's attention to her. "At the club. You said you went after him. What happened? What did he say?"

The smirk on Caleb's lips from before faded and slowly disappeared. Instead he looked down at the floor and cleared his throat. "I don't think we should talk about that, M."

That of course meant that something had happened. "Caleb, I have to know. He came back to me, and then come morning, he never wanted to again. Something must have made him think that..." Mia's tongue felt dry. "S-something must have changed his mind about me. Or someone."

Caleb cringed. "I swear I didn't say anything to him, Mia. Not like... ah, shit, okay, I said something. But I swear it didn't influence what he did."

Mia's heart stopped for a second. "Caleb. What did you tell him?"

Caleb sighed and leaned back into the couch, just as Zoe sat down next to him with a serious frown. "Alright, look. When I came to him that night at the bar, he was wasted. Pissed and wasted. He still thought you were the one who turned him in, so I started off by setting him straight."

"And then what?"

"He didn't believe me, of course," Caleb snorted. "He was so fucking high. Had coated on a few drinks, too. Even so, he's never not believed me whenever I've told him something. That made me realize... it wasn't that he didn't believe I was telling the truth. It was that he couldn't believe that you had been telling the truth."

"I... what?" Mia whispered, but then his words from their argument rang in her head.

'After everything I've been through, you should know why I don't trust people!'

"Mia, whether that thick head of his wants to admit it, he's got a thing for you," Caleb said, running a hand over his hair. "Actually, he's got a really big thing for you. Wow, that sounded so damn wrong, but you get it. He's crazy for you. Literally. In the four years I've known him, he's never been crazy like that. Guess it took someone special to break through to him and make him... crazy."

Mia blinked up at him, tears in her eyes. Crazy? Crazy... in... love?

But that couldn't be. She hadn't broken through to him... had she? Obviously she hadn't. Otherwise he would've stayed. Here. With her.

"He's scared shitless of love, Mia," Caleb continued, clearly reading her face. "He didn't want to believe that you actually truly cared about him and didn't turn him in. He just wanted you to be a quick fuck. That's my best bid."

Mia felt so battered. All these emotions, turmoils... she thought once he was gone, they would dial down, but no. They just kept on grooving.

"So then what happened?" Zoe now asked, maybe because she knew that Mia couldn't. "Did you convince him that Mia didn't do it?"

Caleb sighed. "I guess so. I told him how you had walked right into the facility and confronted them. How you had threatened them if they didn't release him. Then I told him how you pushed school off for a few days to... you know... handle things. That's when he just stormed off into the night."

And came here, Mia finished in her head. She could see how Caleb's words had influenced him to come here, but not how they could've scared him off. No, she did that herself.

Unconsciously, Mia grazed her wrist with her hand, the wrist with her tattoo.

It had been too much for him. Caleb said it himself, he was scared of love. She had tattooed him into her skin and then that next day... she'd said those words to him. The three one-syllable ones.

He had been set to go beforehand, but if he hadn't been, he sure was after that.

God, Mia thought and whimpered, feeling how Zoe changed seats and took the one next to her, wrapping an arm around her.

It had all been her fault. She had scared him off. Pushed him too hard. Maybe he had even felt like he had been exposed to another difficult experiment; Love. Could he take it on? Could he brain it?

He had concluded that he hadn't. So he fled.

"When do you go back to school again?" Zoe asked, after a moment where Mia just sat there and fought with her tears.

"Tomorrow," She replied and wiped her cheeks. "I can't postpone it any longer. All the others have already presented and handed in their pieces. I'm the only one left."

"They can't wait a few more days?"

"No, and I don't want them to either," Mia said, soldiering up. "I have to present my piece. I want to."

Zoe nodded a little and rubbed her back. "Alright then. We'll go with you, won't we, Caleb?"

"Sure, babe."

That distracted Mia. She blinked up and glanced at Caleb who grimaced, and then looked at Zoe who blushed pink. "Did he just call you babe?"

"Uhh..." Zoe said, swallowing loudly. "He's just, uh... messing around. He calls me weird names, you know that."

"He's never called you babe before, just smurf."

Zoe kept crisping. "It's something he's started recently—"

"Oh what's the point, Smurf, she's on to us and you're a horrible liar," Caleb said and rolled his eyes, pushing a hand through his hair. "We're fooling around, okay?"

Zoe let out a shriek. "Caleb!"

"What? She had us figured, Smurf."

"No, she didn't! We could've saved—"

"Guys," Mia broke through, feeling that strange pull on her face. Now she was smiling. "It's okay. I've been secretly rooting for you. You're cute together."

"See?" Caleb said triumphantly and sat up in his seat with a big smirk. "We're cute, Smurf. By the end of the week we're going to be relationship goals – I'm betting my black hole on it. Okay, I gotta find a new name for it, it just sounds wrong now, and a tiny bit racist."

Zoe rolled her eyes, then looked at Mia. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you. I know I should have, but it just never seemed like the right time, and—"

"It's cool," Mia said, putting a hand on her arm. "I don't care as long as you're happy. How did it happen, if I may ask? When, too."

Caleb and Zoe exchanged a look. Mia saw how Zoe's eyes darkened warningly as Caleb's face grew smug. "Well..."

"Don't you dare!" Zoe said, sitting up on her knees on Mia's couch.

"It was right here, after you drove off to check out C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S for the first time," Caleb said, quickly dodging when Zoe threw a fat pillow after him with a howl. "We did it on your couch!"

"EW!" Mia exclaimed and jumped up off it, grimacing. "Seriously?!"

"I'll murder you!" Zoe scolded after Caleb who had fallen of the couch, cramping from laughter. "I'm so sorry, Mia. We didn't mean for it to happen—"

"—I did."

"—it just sorta did and I'm so sorry," Zoe said, blushing furiously. "W-we cleaned up after ourselves, promise."

Mia still felt a little weird about the two of them having done the whoopi on her couch. She ate here. "Alright, I, uh... It's fine. I'm buying a new couch, but it's fine. So are you like... boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"More like Smurf and Mr Awesome," Caleb said, finally catching his breath. Zoe scolded at him. "But yeah, yours work, too."

"I'm happy for you guys," Mia said, sitting down again. She gave them both a smile. "Really."

"I'm still figuring out if I can tolerate him or not, but... I think we're happy, too," Zoe said, eyeing Caleb with a small smile. He gave her a little wink back.

"That's great, you two," Mia smiled, feeling genuinely happy for her two friends, if not a little jealous. It made her think of Eli even more, how... how they had never been like that and how they never would. "How's the job hunt going by the way, Caleb?"

"Oh, another thing we forgot to tell," Caleb immediately grinned widely. "I got a job; Assistant Computer Software Developer for this little security firm. Boring as fuck, but the pay is good and it could be a stepping stone to something bigger." He said and pulled out an acceptance letter from his pocket, a letter Mia instantly took and read.

"Congratulations!" She cheered, skimming the page. Then frowned. "I'm sorry, does this say Zachary Montrell?"

"Oh, right. I had to change my first name." Caleb said, frowning, too. "I've pissed off a loooooot of people in the tech world, so... yeah, it's better if they don't know it's me. Start calling me Zac."

"Oh well that's still great, Zac," Mia chuckled. "Congrats. It'll be good for you and Elana, some stability."

"Yeah, God, I think so, too."

"So, M... what are you going to do with your presentation?" Zoe said after a moment. Mia now noticed how Caleb kept giving her small adoring glances. Had he always done that? "Do you think you're ready, so soon after..."

She didn't have to finish the sentence. Mia knew what she meant. "I am. I mean, I think I am. I can't wait for you guys to see it."

"I can't believe you haven't showed it to us yet," Zoe sighed. "We don't even know what you drew. Is it good?"

Mia smiled a little to herself. "It's beautiful."

~~~

"So, Mia. Here we are again. You think you're ready this time?"

Mia looked up at Valenches who not unlike last time sat leaned up against his desk, looking calm as always. "Yes, I am. Sorry it's taken so long."

"No apology needed," Valenches brushed off with a smile. "I'm sure it'll be worth the wait. I assume you've handled everything you needed to with your friend?"

If by that he meant scaring him off, then yes. "Yeah, I did."

"That's good. Why don't we start, then?"

Mia nodded and then swallowed. Here went nothing. "Alright."

Valenches sat up. "Good. Then Mia, please present your work. What have you chosen to call your masterpiece?"

Fiddling with the edge of the silk sheet that covered her easel and canvas, she took a deep breath. Time to show him to the world.

"I call it... Genius."

• • •

Surprise-surprise, right? Not.
One chapter left.
And then an epilogue.