here's to life

Stopping for a moment, Mila had to think fast to give him an answer since she really didn’t even have one for herself. Turning slowly she shrugged “I’ll figure it out.” She said calmly and quickly “I have other family and if that doesn’t work out. Hotels are always an option.”  She smiled softly. Taking him in again for a moment she began to rethink how it sucks she hadn’t gotten to know him more. And maybe all she was doing was running from her problems as usual. But in the moment it just felt the easiest. “Give my sister my love”

Duncan nodded mutely, not sure if there was anything he could, or even should, say to try to convince her to stay. It was crazy to think that a day that had ended up like this had started with him hanging out bored at home, but there they were. “Yeah, ok,” he finally agreed, his gaze remaining fixed on the spot where she’d been standing after she left until Simone came back. “Your sister took off,” he filled her in, settling back into a comfortable conversation once the awkwardness had dissipated somewhat. But now that Mila was at the forefront of his mind, Duncan couldn’t shake the feeling that talking to Simone wasn’t half as entertaining as the old texts with her sister had been. 

Mila nodded in agreement at his statement. “Yeah there really wouldn’t be any point. Just more trouble than it needs to be”. 

She sighed and shook  her head as she thought for a moment. “No, you don’t have to do that” she replied. “You were invited here and I know it probably means a lot to my sister and I’m sure you guys have a whole thing planned.” She turned and grabbed her bag, draping it over her shoulder. “Plus… I know my sister and your apartment flooding is a pretty bad excuse, she’ll never believe it. I didn’t really want to be here anyway, so it kinda works out”

Duncan’s stomach twisted when Mila turned down his offer to leave, arguing instead that she should be the one to go. He didn’t want her to leave on his behalf, especially since he was arguably the one intruding into her space. And if he was honest, now that they’d had a chance to meet in person, he didn’t want her to leave in general. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t get his brain or his mouth to work to make a protest as she picked up her bag. Instead, all he could think to ask was “Wait, where are you going to go instead?” 

Mila quickly shrugged at his question as she didn’t want to keep harping on how difficult the relationship between she and her sister was and she also didn’t want him to feel sorry for any other problems she was dealing with.  “I don’t know, being embarrassed, looking stupid maybe?” she uttered, “ Overall Its kind of a long story, and tonight’s events are just don’t really help.”

“I already assume we aren’t going to tell her about this?” She stated in a question “I’m sure if we did she’d find some way to rub it in. I’m just not sure what to do at this point. I really want to get through the rest of this night as painlessly as possible”

  There was a moment of silence while Duncan tried to figure out what he could even say given the circumstances. He couldn’t help but be curious about the smaller details of the situation that Mila was alluding to, but he wasn’t in any position where he could push it then. “I’m not planning on telling her if you’re not,” he agreed after a moment. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” 

Sure his loyalty probably should have been to Simone, considering she was his girlfriend and Mila was the one who’d stood him up, but in a weird way he felt more invested in Mila’s side of things. “I can go,” he offered. “So you don’t have to deal with it. Fake an emergency call and say my apartment flooded or something.” 

Duncan was right, it was really all a huge coincidence. It sucked but it was a coincidence none the less. Sighing deeply, Mila ran her hands through her hair and re thought about the whole situation. Was it really fair to be upset with him? or her sister for that matter. After all it was Mila’s fault that their date didn’t happen but then again the thought of why he couldn’t return her messages after that still lingered in her mind. 

“You’re right, and I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable” she said softly. Its honestly just a lot to take in, it seems just the other day we were having these great and random conversations, next thing you know they stop and then when I finally meet this guy who seemed honestly amazing…” she hesitated, once again replaying the entire scenario in her head as she was trying to come to terms with it. “Nevermind, I’m sorry again. None of that really matters. Its just another thing I have to get over.” She said with a tight lipped smile.

It was hard watching the conflicted emotions play out across her face, especially knowing that, despite his statement that it was all a coincidence, Duncan couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for the awkward situation they both found themselves in. After all, if he hadn’t let boredom get the best of him and followed Simone to her parents’ house, at very least he and Mila would still have been happily unaware of the complicated situation they were in.

“Don’t apologize,” he cut in quickly, shaking his head. “I’m not uncomfortable - well, not any more uncomfortable than I made myself, really.” It was hard to listen to her talk about the easy connection they’d developed, knowing that he’d been a jerk in ignoring her messages after she skipped out on their date, and especially when she cut herself off. Lashing out and ignoring her had seemed like the better option in the wake of their failed date, giving him the upper hand in not getting hurt by being more invested than she was, but now that he was confronting the person on the other side of that decision, he had to admit it had been stupid and short-sighted. “...another thing you have to get over?” Duncan questioned, hoping she wouldn’t view it as him prying. 

Mila chewed at her bottom lip in nervous suspension, just praying for the time they were alone to speed up. She looked over to him when he started to speak and with a quick glance around to make sure no one was near or coming, Mila swallowed hard trying to keep her composure in her voice. “Which part? the part where my almost Tinder date is sitting in my living room about to have dinner with my family becasue he’s now in a relationship with my sister? or the part where I now have to sit here with you, oh and also pretend I don’t know you for my sisters sake and I’m sure as a huge favor to you… Yup, its happening. This is all very much real” she quietly shot back 

The words she shot back at him were harsh, and Duncan couldn’t deny that they stung a bit, but not a single one was untrue. He shrugged a bit helplessly, struggling to come up with a proper response. Nothing seemed sufficient, though, now that the full absurdity of the situation had been voiced so clearly. “I should...” he started to offer to leave, but trailed off when he realized he would either have to explain his sudden departure to Simone himself or leave Mila with the responsibility. Neither one was an appealing option. “Look, I’m sorry. But it’s not like I planned for any of this to happen. It’s all just a huge coincidence.” 

“Oh yeah? Good things I’m sure” Mila replied sarcastically while giving her sister an even more sarcastic smile. Feeling like the day couldn’t get any worse, Mila’s sister proved her wrong. “I’m going to go grab mom and dad, you two can sit here and talk about how great I am” Simone joked before leaving the room. Mila’s heart pounded out of her chest with nerves, she did not want to be alone with him. At least not now, what would she say?  What was he going to say if they even said anything at all? She took a seat continuing to pretend not to know him. It was hard, especially when it came to not looking his way, he looked even better in person than he did in his photos.

The tension between the sisters didn’t go unnoticed by Duncan, and he remembered Mila mentioning that they didn’t always get along so well. Her earlier messages made so much more sense now that he could put them in perspective, knowing how competitive Simone could be. He wanted to protest when Simone excused herself from the room, to beg her not to leave them alone, but there was no way he could think of that didn’t involve explaining his sudden inability to handle a conversation with Mila. The silence stretched on once she left, filling the room with an uncomfortable tension made worse by the fact that he was afraid that if he looked at her, he wouldn’t be able to stop staring. Finally, unable to handle it any more, Duncan decided to speak. “This is really happening, right? I’m not having some kind of weird fever dream?” He asked, careful to keep his voice low enough that her parents and sister wouldn’t hear. 

It was hard for Mila not to just stare at first, it was almost to good to be true and the awkward and uncomfortable feeling would only get worse if Mila didn’t just pretend not to know him so she decided to play along.  Clearing her throat and flashing a large and sweet smile, Mila reached out her hand to shake his. “Nice to meet you, Duncan. I’m Mila. Its nice to finally meet you”  she replied“I mean, I’ve already heard so much about you is all.” she added quickly. 

Duncan’s mouth felt dry, and it was only through deliberate effort that he was able to keep from gaping at Mila in surprise. Thankfully, she went along with the pretense that they didn’t know each other without question, and he breathed a sigh of relief to himself that he wasn’t on the hook to explain anything to Simone. “Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” he stated as he reached out to shake her hand, quickly trying to separate out the things he actually knew about her from what Simone had told him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Mila was running a little late to dinner, traffic was bad and she wasn’t really in a rush to see her sister and hear her brag about her new boyfriend, followed by sarcastically asking why Mila herself doesn’t have a date. She could already hear the conversation play out in her head. The pissing match between the two of them was definitely her least favorite part of Christmas at her parents. Finally arriving, Mila hurried inside to greet everyone and get warm. “Mom? Dad?  I’m here! Sorry I’m late” she shouted out as she walked further into the house, she made her way into the living room only to get a pretty unexpected surprise. “Hey, Simone…” she started before noticing a familiar face cuddled next to her sister on the couch. Her mouth went dry and her heart skipped as she couldn’t find the words to form the rest of her sentence.

Duncan perked up when he heard the door open, though he didn’t move from his spot at Simone’s side, his arm resting over her shoulders. He assumed it was the arrival of the sister she’d told him about, and the voice that carried through the house all but confirmed it. Glancing up as she walked into the room, Duncan started to introduce himself, but the words died on the tip of his tongue as he instantly recognized the familiar face. This couldn’t be happening. He blinked hard a few times in hopes that somehow this was just his mind playing tricks on him, but each time he opened his eyes again it was the same thing. As time dragged on, he knew that Simone was bound to wonder about the awkward silence; clearing his throat, he finally managed to put together a clumsy “Hey, I’m Duncan” as a greeting. He just hoped Mila went along with the pretense for the time being.