Mia had a tradition. Every day, at 9:45 PM, she would S.C.R.U.B. What started out as a healthy nightly routine quickly spiraled into a compulsive nightly obsession. She would stand in front of the bathroom mirror and scrape off the crap and refute any ugliness in her brain. Maybe it was just her screwed up way of meditating.
She would start with a shower. Fifteen minutes. No more, no less. She would shampoo her hair with a quarter-sized amount of banana shampoo. She would scrub until she could hear her hair squeaking. And then she would rinse and repeat because that's what the bottle told her to do. And then she would do it again because the bottle never said when to stop and good things came in threes. Then she would scrub every inch of her body with a washcloth saturated with coconut body wash. And then she would do it again. And then one more time for good measure.
Next in line was dental hygiene. It didn't matter what kind of toothpaste she was using as long as it burned. That's how she knew it was working. She would run the toothbrush bristles in every single direction imaginable until she was positive not a single millimeter of plaque remained. Then she'd spit. And then she'd do it again. And again.
And then she would wash her face. She would wash her face the same way she mixed cake batter: thoroughly so as to avoid any diseases, and probably while enhancing her upper arm muscles.
Refuting the ugliness was the difficult part. Mia's brain was different. She'd known it since she was little. She just... didn't forget anything. Well, that's not true. She forgot important things. She'd forget her name when a potential employer asked her what her strengths were. She would forget how to breathe when she met anyone who was over six feet tall. But she never forgot any of her mistakes. No, she remembered every stutter, every trip, every awkward pause, every mispronunciation, everything. She remembered waving back to someone who actually wasn't waving at her when she was five. She dubbed this 'the ugliness'. And in keeping with the spirit of acronyms, she had to refute it.
"Mia Cooper," she said to the mirror for the thousandth time. "Nobody remembers it but you. So maybe you accidentally squeezed his arm when you meant to grab your glass of water." She sighed, but refused to break eye contact with the mirror. "Maybe he didn't even notice it," she added, knowing that it wasn't true. "And maybe you almost fell off the arm of the couch and your dad had to catch you. That happens all the time. It's not a big deal just because it happened in front of a boy that you barely know. It's fine. It is... And maybe you went on about how severely outdated the game of Jenga is when nobody cared. It's fine. Nobody hates you. People love you. Do not let any of today's occurrences ruin your sweet dreams. Good night."
Even though she S.C.R.U.B-ed, she still felt antsy that night when she climbed into bed. It was like she was forgetting something, but for the life of her, she could not think of what it was. Well, obviously. If she could remember what she was forgetting, then she wouldn't be forgetting. After half an hour of fitfulness, she decided to get up and make herself some sleepy time tea.
"What are you doing up?"
Mia jumped out of her skin and fell off the ledge between the hallway and the living room.
"Oh God, Mia," the voice said again as he helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?"
Mia let out a sigh of relief when she discovered the voice belonged to her father. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered and made her way to the kitchen. "What are you doing up?"
"I wanted to finish my book," Sheldon replied, motioning to the couch where a book laid open. "But you didn't answer my question."
Mia put the kettle on and sat on a stool. "I couldn't sleep. Something feels off."
"Well I'm having trouble reading," Sheldon added. "Your phone keeps going off."
"Huh?" Mia asked.
"You left your phone on the coffee table," he answered nonchalantly.
A light bulb went off in her head. "That's it! That's what I was forgetting," she mumbled to herself and crossed the room.
Sure enough, one text from an unknown number: mia?
And that was all he wrote. And he wrote it half an hour ago. God, she could have been talking to him for half an hour.
She quickly typed out a response: Luke?
Sheldon chimed in as he watched his daughter fuss over her phone. "Do you have a pen pal in a foreign nation with a different time zone?"
Mia realized, once again, that she wasn't alone. "No. No, it's just a... a friend?"
Sheldon took a step towards her. "But you don't have any friends."
Mia sighed and slipped her phone into her robe pocket. She would have refuted him, but he wasn't necessarily wrong. "I think I do now."
The dad smiled and nodded his head. "Well, that is a very interesting development."
"I know," she commented, sitting down on the couch.
Sheldon wasted no time in sitting down next to her. "Well, who is it?"
Mia had a special relationship with her father. He understood her in a way that nobody else did. He knew her condition. She was cursed with... acquaintances. Never friends. People sat with her at lunch. People asked for her help with homework. People said nice things about her. But they never asked for her number. They never invited her to their houses. They never partnered with her on field trips. She was just... there.
She smiled at him. "Luke."
"Special Ed?"
Nope. She was not going to let him critique the first contact in her phone under the age of forty. "No, pretty sure his name is Luke," she replied coldly, returning to the kitchen to fix herself that tea.
Sheldon sighed and followed her. "You're right. My apologies. Congratulations."
Mia grinned again and fixed a mug for her father, as well. "Thank you," she said, rounding the corner and giving him a hug from the side. "Goodnight, dad."
"Goodnight," he responded, kissing her on the head.
As Mia walked back to her room, mug in hand, she felt her phone buzz again. It took everything in her not to spill her tea all over the comforter as she removed the device from her pocket.
Luke: oh thank god. for a second i thought you just gave me a fake number
Mia smiled and pulled the white comforter up to her chin. She was having another fight with the heart in her stomach.
Mia: Don't be ridiculous. I would never lie to the kind people at Target.
She hit send before giving herself the proper time to evaluate. That came immediately after. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest as she waited for his response. What if he didn't understand? What if he'd completely forgotten that she'd given him that receipt? Oh God. What did she buy? Why didn't she think to look what she'd bought? What if it was a receipt for... oh God. When was the last time she bought tampons? Oh God, please let it be anything but tampons.
Luke: hahahahah
For a brief moment, Mia debated whether or not she was cut out for the whole 'friendship' thing. She'd only sent him a total of two texts and she already didn't know how to respond.
And then something miraculous happened.
Luke: so tell me about this whole history deal
Oh thank God. That was something she could reply to. That was something she knew about. She decided to take it from the top.
Mia: How did you know I was lying about the biophysics thing?
She'd been keeping the history secret for a year. As soon as she saw 'colleges and universities with impressive STEM programs' in her father's search history. A whole year, she'd told her family that she would be studying biophysics and they didn't seem to suspect a thing. But then Luke calls her out on it within a minute of finding out.
Luke: i saw you and uncle leonard doing that whole glare exchange at dinner. i did that with my brother all the time before i left
Mia: I only told him because I thought he could just tell my mom and dad for me. It came back to bite me, though, because he refused and now he looks at me like that every time someone brings up the topic.
Luke: at least he's keeping your secret though
Mia: Yeah...
Mia felt bad giving him a one-word response, but she felt so uncomfortable with the conversation. She didn't like throwing Leonard under the bus and she didn't like thinking about how she was lying to her parents.
Luke: i'm positive your parents would love you no matter what you studied
That was enough of that.
Mia: So did you leave on good terms with your family?
Luke: uhhhh... not really. i don't think i'll be going back anytime soon anyway lol
Mia sighed. Her father always called her out when she tried to mask her disappointment with humor. And that 'lol' wasn't fooling her. She let it slide.
Mia: So tell me more about this special education thing. I only made it to the end half of your speech earlier.
Luke: it was hardly a speech haha. i just got excited. what do you want to know?
Mia: Everything. Take it from the top.
Luke: when i was little, i wasn't really great at talking to people. and so by the time i was like twelve i convinced myself that i didn't have a soul or something stupid like that. i started being really dismissive and rude and impatient... the dean of students at my school made me take a 'special friend' at the community center. (btw: special friend is community center speak for 'kid with down syndrome'). his name was john and he was so... good. and every time i spent time with him i wanted to be good too. i became more patient with everybody. and i knew that i wanted to work with kids like john for my career. my parents and especially my grandma are very survival-of-the-fittest type people and they thought i was crazy
Mia was completely enthralled by this boy.
Mia: I'm really sorry to hear that.
Luke: it's fine. you wanna hear the craziest part?
Mia: What?
Luke: guess what i told them i was majoring in
Mia: Tell me.
Luke: history
Mia had never typed the letters 'lol' in her entire life and she wasn't about to start now, but she really did let out a small chuckle. Before she had the chance to respond, he had texted her again.
Luke: oh god, i didn't know it was so late already. i'm sorry for keeping you from sleep
Mia: I'm not tired at all.
Did that sound needy?
Luke: me neither
That was all the encouragement she needed. She wanted to keep talking to him. Furthermore, she wanted to laugh at loud with him.
Mia: Has anyone showed you this apartment building's roof yet?
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Next chapter: The Roof
