Mia Brooks picked up her bag and as she walked in the midst of the crowd at the airport, she saw her - Isabella Jones - standing by a car and holding up a sign that read 'MIA BROOKS'. "Isabella!" yelled Mia, attracting the attention of the people around her but Isabella didn't seem to hear her. "Isabella!" she yelled again, waving her arm frantically. She broke into an half run, dragging her luggage behind her as she shouted again, "Isabella!"
Isabella finally heard her and saw her. "Mia!" she screamed with excitement, waving her arms about as Mia came sprinting towards her. Letting go of her luggage, Mia collapsed into Isabella in a big hug. Isabella wrapped her arms around her, bubbling with excited laughter. "Oh my God, Mia!" she squealed, as they hugged each other tightly.
They finally let go of each other and Isabella looked at her friend over and over again. "Mia, you look..... exactly the same," she commented as she stared at her friend's dark skinned face, the mass of thick curly hair on her head, the huge and thick framed glasses balanced at the bridge of her nose. Yeah, Mia looked the same as she did four years ago, except taller and a lot more developed.
Mia flushed at her friend's words. "So do you, Isabella," she said sincerely. Isabella was still as pretty as ever with her blonde hair and pale white skin. Except..... "You changed your hair," she observed.
Isabella brushed back her long, straight, blonde hair that came to a stop at her waist. "Yeah," she grinned. "I straightened it."
"It's beautiful," Mia complimented.
"Thanks. And that's not the only thing that has changed," she said as she assisted Mia with her luggage. "I no longer go by the name Bella."
"Really?" Mia asked, waiting patiently as Isabella helped her out her bags in the car.
"Yeah. I mean, Isabella is still the name on my certificate and forms and all but everybody calls me Belle now."
"Belle?" Mia laughed. "Really? And how did that happen?"
Isabella slammed the door of the car closed after throwing Mia's bags into it, then, she walked back to Mia. "I don't know. I got to high school and it just changed from Bella to Belle, I guess."
Mia laughed again, walking to the other side of the car to sit while Belle opened the driver's door and hopped in.
"So," Belle said, as Mia got into the car and fastened the seat belt. "How excited are you to be back in L.A?" she asked as she started to drive out of the parking lot.
"Pretty excited," Mia replied. "I was more excited to see you though."
"I was excited to see you too," Belle said. "It's been so long. How many years now?"
"About four or five, I think."
"So so long," Belle repeated. "Anyway, I'm even more excited that you are coming to live with me," she said. "We are going to have soooo much fun!"
Mia simply smiled at her friend.
"My sister is so freaked to have you here. She's really excited."
"Cali? How is she?" Mia asked. Cali was Belle's younger fifteen years old sister. She was just eleven when Mia left L.A for Texas and now, Mia couldn't wait to see how grown Cali had become.
"Even more of a trouble maker than before," Belle replied. "My parents are quite excited to. Infact we are all very happy to have you here, Mia. We really miss you."
Mia stared at her friend fondly and smiled. "I missed you all too. I'm glad to be back."
"I bet you are. I'm so psyched. My mum took a day off her work so she could give you a big welcome. It's so nice," Belle chatted. "I have a lot of people I need to introduce you to. You will be glad to meet them. They are really lovely people."
"I hope one of these people is your boyfriend," Mia teased.
The smile on Belle's face disappeared. "I don't have a boyfriend," she said in a frosty tone, surprising Mia.
"Oh? It was a joke, sorry," Mia quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you. It was just a joke."
Belle's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "It's fine," she said tightly.
"I'm sorry," Mia said again and this time, Belle sighed.
"Don't mind me. I'm being such a tight ass again. Of course, it's a joke and I'm not mad at you, Mia. You don't have to keep saying sorry."
"Um, okay, then."
Belle glanced at her. "I'm happy you are here, Mia," she said in a clear, sincere tone. "Honestly."
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Belle brought the car to a stop in front of the house and they both climbed out. Mia stood by the car, looking at the house with a fond smile on her face. She couldn't count how many times she had slept over at Belle's house while they were kids. Most of her fondest memories were of Belle's house. She and Belle, running around the house, troubling Dave, Belle's older brother, trying to scare Cari. She remembered all the Halloween parties Belle's parents hosted. They were usually the bomb.
"Hey," Mia turned her head to Belle. "Do you still host Halloween parties?"
Belle laughed. "Yes but I'm the main host now. I host them majorly for my friends and school mates. Trust me, they are even better than the once we had as kids. Now, we can drink and dance and flirt with boys."
Mia smiled and turned back to look at the house. Belle's house wasn't the biggest house there was but it wasn't a small house either. It was large enough for the family and a few extra people and yet small enough to be homely and comfortable. To Mia, it was the perfect house.
"Are you coming?" she heard Belle asked and when she raised her head, she saw Belle almost halfway to the door, holding her luggage.
"Right." Mia hurried towards her.
"I think you should go in first," Belle said and Mia shrugged her shoulders.
She pressed down the door knob and pushed it open.
"Surpriseeeeeee!" A couple of voices scream and she shrieked in fright.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, her heart beat doubling as she stared at the few people standing before her. There was Belle's mum, Cali, Dave and a couple of teenage girls Mia wasn't sure she recognized. Mia turned her head to Belle who was grinning satisfactorily. "Oh my God, Belle!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's a surprise, duh."
"Come here honey," Belle's mother said, her hands stretched out. Mia readily walked into it, hugging her warmly. "It's so good to see you again, Mia."
"And you too, Aunt Lisa," Mia answered as Aunt Lisa hugged her tightly. When they finally released each other, she turned to Cali. "Oh my goodness, Cali, you are such a big girl now!"
Cali grinned. "Hey Mia," she said as Mia pulled her into a hug.
Then, Mia turned to Dave, grinning. "Hey big bro."
Dave rolled his eyes but smiled. "Mia, welcome back," he said calmly.
She nodded, still grinning. "Thank you, Dave."
"Come on in," Belle said, holding Mia's hand and dragging her in. "Let me introduce you to the girls," she said as they all walked in to the living room. She stopped in front of the three girls. "This is Neha," she said, pointing at the Indian America girl. "I'm sure you remember her. She was one of our classmates in the third grade."
Mia couldn't remember who Neha was but she said nothing and simply smiled. "Hi Neha. It's so good to see you again."
Neha gave her a nice smile. "And you too, Mia. It's amazing to have you back and you look gorgeous."
"Thank you."
"And this is Alexa," Belle said. "You don't know her. She came in two years ago."
Mia smiled tightly, giving a wave. Alexa simply nodded her head in reply.
"And this is Kate. You should remember her. She was our friend in middle school."
Mia smiled. "Yes, I remember Kate, actually. It's so nice to meet you all again and...Alexa, it's nice to meet you. So," She glanced around. "Is this party just for me or are we celebrating something else?"
"It's for you, silly," Belle answered. "And this isn't really a party. It's just me, my mum, my brother and sister and.....well, mum told me to find a couple of people who knew you in middle school. Kate and Neha are the only ones who don't hate my guts, so, here they are. And I invited Alexa because she's my friend and I think you should get to know her. So, there."
Mia stared at Alexa who was just scrolling through her phone, not paying attention to them and she raised her brow. It didn't seem like Alexa was interested in getting to know her. But, whatever.
"Hey, Mia," Cali called and Mia turned around and saw her holding a plate of cookies. "Mum said I should give this to you girls. She is trying to whip up some juice for us."
"If she can whip up alcohol, that will be nice," Alexa answers in a dry tone without raising her head.
"Unfortunately, she can't," Cali answered tightly, causing Mia to raise a brow in wonder. Seemed like Cali and Alexa don't get along.
Mia reached out her hand to pick a piece of cookie. She popped it all into her mouth at once and chewed slowly. "Wow, this is so good. At least, one thing here hasn't changed and that's Aunt Lisa's baking skills."
"Right?" Neha answers as she chewed on a cookie too.
"Where's Uncle Josh?" Mia asked Bella.
"Oh, dad's at work," Cali answered. "He is very happy to know you are here though. He was fully in support of the surprise party."
Mia nodded. "Okay."
Finally, Alexa raised her head from her phone. "What do we need to do to lighten this goddamned party up? I'm fucking bored."
"We could help Mia unpack," Belle suggested.
"Wait....I don't think that's a good idea," Mia started to say. She wasn't sure she wanted random people sticking their hands in her bags and going through her stuff but none of the girls was listening to her.
"Sounds like a good idea," Kate said.
"Nope," Alexa answered, popping the 'p.'
Bella rolled her eyes. "We will play whatever song you want while doing it? It would be a good way for Mia to bond with us all."
Mia wanted to say she didn't want to bond with anyone yet, she just needed sometime alone with Belle. She would have preferred if Belle alone had offered to help with her bags. But, as she stared at the girls, she realized she didn't have much choice.
"Fine," Alexa answered curtly.
"Alright, come on girls," Belle said. "Grab a bag and Mia, I'll show you to your room," she added, climbing up the stairs while the rest of them each took one of Mia's bags and climbed up the stairs.