It could be because Mia was about to get caught red-handed by Carys' bodyguard or just because Mia has never been inside a boy's bedroom, she had sweat dripping all over her spine. She shrugged and focused on the words that were coming out of the boy's mouth.
"I'm sorry for him." Carys was clearly embarrassed. These days, one thing that Mia had caught on to was the simplicity and generosity that Carys carried. You would often find him grabbing coffee with nerds and hanging by the frat boys, never once did Carys flash his money before his fellow classmates even if he had enough for like all of them.
"No, it's fine. He's your security." It came more like a statement than a question out of Mia's mouth.
Carys just nodded and pointed at the bean bag right beside his window, an indication for Mia to take a seat if she liked. Mia took the offer and settled on the vacant fluffy space.
"Something is going on, my security is always on their toes and as much as it is annoying, it is most probably for my own good." Carys took a seat by his wooden study table placed right next to the bean bag. His eyes are fixated on Mia sitting right in front of him.
He sways left and right slightly on his office chair, like a child. Mia knows why exactly is his security extra conscious of the people near him. The mafia business makes so much noise that even the deaf would hear the least of it.
"What's going on?" Mia still asks. She wants as much information as she can get from Carys. With the audio tracker still in her pockets, there's a slight scope of her planting it right here in Carys' bedroom. Her original plan was to plant it in the living room so that she can get to his parents but something is better than nothing.
"I don't know." Carys shrugs. Mia nods.
"I am not even allowed to have friends over apparently." He still continues, "I overheard a conversation earlier saying that a freaking mafia is behind me."
The breakfast that Mia had is trying to come out of the safe place that is her stomach but she is a great actress.
"Mafia? Do you really think we have mafias left in the 20th century?" Mia gives out a dry chuckle.
"I know right?" Carys smiles a little. His lips formed the shape of a crescent moon, it is the kind of smile that encourages artists to paint a picture. This smile needs to be preserved.
"They even have a name," Carys finds Mia's eyes. "Pericolosa." He says.
"Yes?" It's a habit, like smoking cigarettes after a stressful day or finding flaws when you're standing in front of a mirror. It's a habit for Mia to react when people call her the name, Pericolosa.
"What?" Carys says, almost defensive.
"What? What did you say? Peri-what?" Mia knows how to play it off. Her breath is caught in her heart and strangely it hurts right in between her chest.
She gives out a dry chuckle, "What kind of name is that?"
"I know? What does it mean anyway? It's definitely not American." Carys chuckles too. "I went on the internet to know more about the certain Pericolosa but nothing came up. Apparently, it's an Italian name." He explained and rested his head back.
There's a jolt of panic rolling in Mia's eyes and she takes some deep silent breaths.
He knows about her. He knows her name. What else does he know?
"So, is your security working on catching this certain mafia?" Mia asks as casually as she can.
"Apparently," Carys answers vaguely. Mia certainly doesn't want to push her luck. Considering that his security already knows her name, the suspicion in Ron's eyes now seems more like a threat. Mia needs to get out of here.
"Let's work," she says and Carys sits straight up nodding.
The moments are passing like the sun taking a revolution, every time there's a sound downstairs, Mia's heart jumps in fear. It's like being a mole, in whack a mole.
When finally Carys pushed his laptop shut, Mia immediately sprang up from the bean bag pushing her own laptop shut. "I'll get going." She announced.
"Do-Do you want to grab lunch?" Carys is somewhat nervous whenever he talks to Mia and Mia obviously is very much noticing it all the time.
"I have to meet a friend." There's no way Mia is staying in this house for another second.
"Oh, that's alright." He says and takes a step back to clear the path towards the exit of the room.
Mia nods and starts walking towards the exit.
"Um, hey, bracelet girl," Carys calls Mia and she stops to look at him.
"Would you-" It looks like Carys is finding the right words, "Can you not tell anyone about the mafia bullshit?" He has panic in his eyes like he has let an important cat out of the bag.
Mia is obviously not an idiot to ramble about her own self to her classmates, "Of course." She replies.
"And I'm sorry about Ron." He says without missing a beat and there's shame cooking inside Mia. She nods.
"We can grab lunch next time. I mean, to go over the rest of the assignment." Carys proposes and there's something pushing Mia to say yes.
"We can," she says.
Carys lifts up the corners of his mouth to give Mia his infamous smile, the beautiful artistic smile. Mia smiles back but she is convinced that her smile is not as beautiful as the boy in front of her.
The journey back home for Mia was so slow, that she might even have ridden in a chariot. It had little to do with the speed of the car and more with the thoughts of a certain someone, with brown curls. She couldn't stop thinking about the way Carys had defended her as a friend. Mia thought and thought and thought, but she couldn't remember an instance where she had been called a friend. She taps the audio tracker in her pocket and dwells on the word friend for a little while longer.