Mia
The doorbell buzzed, they were here.
"Mia, could you get the door for me?" James hollered from his room.
"Yeah."
I walked slowly and opened the door. A smiling couple greeted me.
I took their appearance in, they both were tall, Naomi had tan skin, she looked gorgeous with her black eyes and curly dark hair. Ryan on the other hand was buff as people say these days. He had chocolate skin and dark brown eyes like me and his hair was short, a military cut to be precise.
Ryan narrowed his eyes towards me as they both took in my appearance.
Naomi broke the ice, "Excuse me, we are James's friends. Where is he?"
"He's right here. " James answered standing behind me.
"Hey man." James and Ryan did their guy hug, James hugged Naomi then and gestured towards me.
"Mia, meet Ryan and Naomi, my friends and you both meet Mia, my new neighbor."
I waved awkwardly and smiled the best I could, never trust cops.
Naomi hugged me and I felt like my Melissa hugged me. It was strange. I quickly removed myself from her.
"Sorry, never been a hugger?"
"Yeah..."
She looked like she could sense my uneasiness like Melissa used to do.
MIA stop comparing her to Melissa you just met her!
I scolded myself.
"Nice to meet you." Ryan shook my hand and I returned it.
"Nice to meet you too."
"Naomi, what did you bring for dessert?"
"Apple Pie. We are going to share it like grown-ups and you will not eat it by yourself like you did last time." She replied sternly.
James made a face at her.
"James, step aside we are not going to stand here all day just because you didn't get all the pie to yourself." Ryan mocked.
"Stop rubbing it on my face, Ryan."
We all entered the living room.
"When are you going to get a dining table, James? Dinner at your place really gets difficult." Naomi said.
"It will mess with my decor. Sit on the couch and eat. What's the problem?"
"No nothing." Naomi sighed.
"Mia, when did you move in here?" Naomi turned to me.
"It's been a week."
"Settling into an apartment gets hard, you must be tired."
"Tell me about it. Even I have to tolerate James on top of it."
"Hey!"
Naomi and Ryan laughed.
Naomi and I sat on the couch and Ryan on the chair he dragged towards us from the kitchen. He placed both his and James's chairs opposite us on the other side of the coffee table.
Ryan helped James with getting the plates and serving us and they served themselves the last.
This was very new for me. Usually, when mom and dad were at home, mom would serve dad first, then us, and served herself the last. Something like that I had always seen at my other friend's place. But this, I was witnessing this for the first time.
"We all work together at the precinct. Where do you work Mia?"
"I just got a job at the local library."
"You like books?" Ryan asked.
"I do. I live for reading books."
"That's great! Even I love books."
Ryan replied enthusiastically.
"Nerds. " James muttered.
"You better take that back." Ryan narrowed his eyes.
"Or better let him say that. Embrace your nerdiness, if that's a word. These low mortals can not simply comprehend the level of knowledge we have reached." I smirked.
Ryan gave me a high five. We laughed at James who stuck his tongue out at us.
Dinner went by as they all teased each other from time to time. They didn't even think to spare each other. It was like I was witnessing world War 3, weapons replaced by insults and burns.
I laughed the entire time.
"Ooo burn. " James said with a devilish smirk on his face at the lastest burn that Naomi gave to Ryan.
It was getting late so they got up to leave.
"Come, Mia, we'll drop you at your apartment. I know it's right across from here but still." Naomi said to me.
"Um... Actually, I'm staying here tonight."
They shared a confused look.
"She locked herself out and the locksmith is out of town he'll be back on Monday."
"I know how to pick locks let me help you. " Ryan said.
"Oh." Naomi gasped.
"What happened, dear?"
"I had locked my cookies in a jar, I was going to eat those later. I know how James gets when he smells anything sweet. He basically comes to our house to eat the stuff I made for myself." She smacked James's arm while continuing the story.
"When I came back from my shift my cookies were gone, even the crumbs were gone. That night James and Ryan had the night off." She glared at her husband.
"The lock was picked by someone, and I was too tired to find my culprits. But now I'm not at all tired." She glared at both James and Ryan.
"Shit." They said in unison and backed away a little.
"You both!!!!" She screamed and ran towards them.
In a panic, they both ran into James's room and Naomi entered behind them.
A second later I could hear some screams. Sounded like male yelps.
I dashed to enjoy the free show and man let me tell you it was worth it.
There I saw James and Ryan clinging to one another and on the other side of the room, I could see Naomi ready with 3 heavy books to throw at them.
I laughed, I laughed just like James had laughed at me all this time.
"Ryan, I'm not laughing at you just so you know."
"Mia!" James exclaimed.
"Do you need any help, Naomi?" I asked with a grin.
"Thanks for backing me up, Mia. Let's kick some ass shall we?"
"Why not? why not?" I rubbed my palms.
"Wait!" They shouted.
"Should we listen to them, Mia?"
"I don't think so." We laughed.
"Wait, please Naomi, Mia, wait please."
"What?"
"I know I helped James and it was wrong I promise he forced me. I'm innocent."
"Hey! What the hell man! Naomi, I didn't force him I swear. He was more than ready to help me. I'm telling you, trust me."
"I know James, you can't help your sweet tooth. I will forgive you only if you promise not to break in into my house anymore to steal anything I baked."
"I promise! I promise!"
"And as for my dear husband, I'll deal with you at home. Wait till we reach back. Till then help Mia get into her apartment."
"Yes, yes of course." Ryan ran outside James's room.
He was standing just near the main door waiting for me.
"I don't think you'll be able to open those bad boys. She has got some pretty strong bolts attached to her door. I already tried with the local lock picker. That's why she's waiting for the professionals" James said.
"I should have just kept my mouth shut. " Ryan grumbled.
"That you should have done, stupid. " James muttered.
"How will I eat my favorite cookies now?"
"Maybe you could buy them, they are available in the market too you know?" I said.
"I have to spend money then. Also, they don't taste like Naomi's cookies."
"I'll bring cookies for you, you big baby. The real question is where will Mia sleep? Would you like to come with us, Mia? I'm sure our couch is much more comfortable than his."
"I'm taking the couch don't worry. She'll take my bed."
"Ryan, am I hearing it correct?"
"Even you heard that? I thought my ears are ringing."
"James, you are giving Mia your bed to sleep in? Your? I mean the bed you love with your whole heart?"
Did they seem surprised? Why were they so surprised?
"Yeah.." James rubbed the back of his neck.
Ryan and Naomi looked at him in bewilderment. They then looked at me. They then looked at each other. As if they were having a conversation without saying anything. Then they nodded with a knowing smirk.
"James, you are giving Mia your bed, the same bed that you never compromise with. The same bed without which you can't really sleep. That's something." Naomi looked at us with awe in her eyes.
"We should go and leave them to enjoy themselves shouldn't we?" Ryan asked Naomi.
"We should. I can hear the wedding bells."
"James and Mia sitting under a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g." Ryan sang.
Before any of us could say anything they left.
My eyes were wide, I looked at James even his eyes were wide.
I felt my face hot. Even James had a shade of pink on his cheeks.
"They love to tease me, don't worry about it. They're stupid."
I nodded.
I needed to distract myself from this thought.
I went to pick up the plates and made my way to the kitchen.
"You don't need to clean up. You must be tired go sleep."
"The least I could do is help you clean up."
I placed the dishes in the sink and turned the tap on to wet them when James came behind me. I could feel his presence, he had such a warm aura around him.
"I'll do the dishes, you do something else."
"Okay."
I turned around to look at him and said, "Thank you for letting me stay here James. I appreciate it."
"It's nothing trust me." He smiled.
"I can sleep on the couch I have no problem."
"No." He replied a little too quickly. He blushed when he realized that.
"I mean I don't mind you taking my bed. I can't let a lady sleep on a couch where I myself sleep on a fluffy, warm, snuggly, heavenly bed."
He had a dreamy look on his face. He really loved his bed. I felt special that he wanted to give up his bed for me.
We worked in silence and the room was cleaned within minutes.
I waved at him and he waved back. We both had a content smile on our faces. I went inside his room and gave him a blanket and a pillow.
He took it from my hands and our fingers brushed a little.
It felt like electricity poured through me. It looked like he had the same effect.
I went inside his room and closed the door behind me.