Chapter 8
Monday morning and the first day of half term; Miku was spending her morning making a large breakfast to make up for the dinner she skipped last night after a large and fulfilling lunch. Had her mother been home, she probably would have been scorned for using the bacon as it was deemed 'expensive' but Miku knew it was simply because her mother didn;t want to spend money on more food than necessary when alcohol equally filled her stomach.
She subconsciously sang a sweet tune as the meat fried and the thought occurred to her that she would possibly be ok with giving Luka a little insight to her voice. If it made the pinkette happy, Miku would do it, just to see her smile at the end of it.
The tealette enjoyed the rare moment of a full English breakfast in peace. It seemed times like these really were a luxury for her. Although she disliked spending long periods on her own, she knew it was better than having the wrong company. Her mother's in specific. She hated feeling that way about her though, she did love her, but her mother just made it difficult to feel any other way about her.
Her blissful moment alone soon came to an end when she heard a distinctive chiming of keys just outside the front door. In a flash of panic, she shovelled in the last mouthful and put the dish and cutlery in the dishwasher out of sight.
"...Miku? Are you home?" a sickenly sweet voice hollowed through the house and the tealette peeked her head around the kitchen door.
"Yes, mother, what is it?" she asked curiously. Suddenly her hands were full of her belongings including her long thick coat, handbag and a carrier-bag full of...alcohol...
"Put that away dear" she bluntly requested. It sounded more of a demand that shouldn't be questioned though, and Miku only too quickly complied as her mother walked into the kitchen. Miku gulped, the aroma of bacon still lingered and it was obvious she'd eaten some. She was shocked to find that the older tealette left the kitchen without calling her out on it and opted to not bring it up either. If her mother asked, she'd come clean, but she wouldn't unnecessarily mention it.
The silence was somehow awkward, Miku had to break it somehow, "Did you have a good night at work?".
Her mother huffed and rolled her eyes as if she was already fed up with the young girls presence. Although subtle, Miku got the hint and meekly backed away. She supposed the only way to avoid possible yelling is to keep a safe distance and stay in her room until the older woman had gone back out or was out of her mind on booze.
As her foot reached the first step of the stairs, she was frozen on the spot by her mother calling again, "Miku! Where do you think you're going?" she asked in a strict tone. The tealette removed her foot from the step but didn't venture closer to her in the other room, only moving to peek around the doorframe.
"Um, to my room?" she answered, more of a request than a reply.
She faintly heard her mother click her tongue, "No, you're not. You're gonna make me breakfast. You had bacon and eggs right? Make me some" she snapped, already pouring herself a shot of whiskey.
Miku gulped, it was 9:20am, this was an early drink even for her. She hadn't expected things to turn out like this as soon as she came through the door. Usually Miku had time to get out the house before things turned sour. She could almost foresee how this morning greeting would unfold as she nervously informed the older woman that she had had the last of the bacon for her own breakfast.
Her mother threw back another shot of whiskey, "You what?" she snapped.
Oh dear...Oh dear...
"I- I can go out and get so-" she began shyly, hoping to calm the approaching storm but to no avail.
"I work day and night to support us and I come home to find you've eaten all the food!?" she yelled, already slightly tipsy at the strong drink.
Miku frowned, technically, there wasn't a lot of food to begin with, so using the word 'all' was a bit exaggerated. On top of that, she rarely even ate at home because this argument always ensured.
"Don't look at me like that!" she scolded, noticing Miku's furrowed eyebrows and tense expression that immediately changed to once of concern.
Miku observed as her mother gulped down a half glass of the overpoweringly strong smelling whiskey. It made her gag just watching the older tealette's face scrunch as the heat of the alcohol trailed down her throat.
"Y-ou 'lil...good 'fer nothin'...ungrateful...p-est!" she slurred as she attempted to force her words out with a shout.
Miku knew it wasn't really her saying that, but it still hurt. It didn't mean that her mother didn't mean those things, as she once told her daughter, 'a drunk man's words are a sober mans thoughts...'.
A lesson well learnt in Miku's case.
She stepped forwards to confront the older woman, "I'll get some bacon now, I'll get it now and make some for you as soon as I get back..." she pleaded as if she wanted to be forgiven for an innocent act.
Her mother hiccupped upon taking another gulp.
"Dun' bother ya 'lil brat...jus' ge' out...".
Miku's eyes squinted, trying to decipher the drunk woman's words, "I'm...I'm sorry?" she asked, requesting her to repeat herself.
She was responded with a hefty sigh, "I said, GET OUT!". The older woman bellowed so loudly it startled the poor tealette and she clkutched her chest to calm her rapidly beating heart. She cautiously stepped backwards, not understanding the seriousness of her mother's words.
"NOW!", she added.
All too quickly Miku had thrown her shoes on and left the house, still in her shorts and vest top pyjamas. Careful to mind that her emotions didn't affect how harshly she closed the door upon leaving. Tears threatened to fall as her eyes watered, but she refused to let that woman get the better of her over something so innocently stupid.
She crossed her arms, sighing as she hurriedly stepped down the front steps of her garden and suddenly bumped into something soft and warm.
"Fwuah!" she grunted, her face muffled by the object. She pulled back and her eyes focussed on the two large lumps level with her eyes. They widened at the realisation of what it actually was. Her teal orbs wandered upwards to meet with icy blue eyes, kindly staring down at her blankly.
"Oh...Miku..." the blonde smiled widely at the unexpected greeting.
A flustered tealette looked left and right to see it anyone noticed her voracious yet unintentional greeting.
"Ah, Lily-san...sorry..." she meekly apologized.
The blonde swatted her hand to dismiss her, "Don't worry about it, and just call me Lily" she requested. Miku smiled and softly nodded in acknowledgment.
The older woman eyed Miku up and down with a questioning look, "Why are you...?" she began. Miku looked at herself and gasped before using Lily's body as a shield from the world. Lily chuckled, "I didn't know you were quite the exhibitionist!" she teased, it caused Miku to blush immensely, "I'm...I'm not!" she cried in embarrassment. "I was in a hurry!" she added.
Lily dropped her playful smile, "...I know you were...", her lips curved upwards but only faintly, as if in a comforting manner.
"What? How?", Miku questioned.
Lily pursed her lips and looked away awkwardly, "I heard your mum shouting again" she sheepishly confessed. Miku's eyes dropped and she removed herself from behind Lily, holding herself.
The silence had broken the conversation and cheery atmosphere to which Lily just had to break, "Do you wanna come inside?" she kindly asked, pointing to her apartment complex.
Miku faintly smiled before nodding softly.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Here ya go", Lily said, offering Miku a well needed cup of tea.
"Thank you very much", Miku responded with a wide smile. She sipped at the hot beverage and her insides melted at the delicious taste.
"It's wonderful!" the tealette beamed, "Actually...I think this is the best tea I've ever had!" she added enthusiastically.
Lily chuckled, "Really? Thanks, Luka thinks it's pretty good too".
Her eyes widened and she sipped again, "L-Luka? You know Luka?".
The blonde rested her feet up on her sofa, "Oh, yeah, you didn't know...".
Miku sat silently, waiting for her to continue, "She's an old friend and neighbour, she lives across the hall" she pointed to her front door.
Miku's mouth slightly dropped, "She is? Oh, what a coincidence..." she mumbled, still dumbfounded.
"Oh right, you're seeing each other now or something aren't ya?" she nonchalantly asked. Miku's face turned beet-red and she placed her tea down calmly.
"N-no, we aren't Lily. We just met a couple of days ago. We're just friends", the tealette felt the need to clarify to the blonde the relationship between the two before it was quickly misconceived.
Lily slightly frowned, noticing her obvious raging blush, "Oh?" she said in a playful tone, leaning closer. "But you want to be more than friends right?" she inquired.
Miku's heart pounded against her ribcage just thinking about it. She didn't know, she was so inexperienced with these kind of things that even her own emotions confused her.
"Of course not!" she falsely exclaimed. Lily smirked and shrugged away the remark, now adopting a serious expression. "Luka told me about your date, she had a lot of fun y'know?".
Miku twitched and stared intently at the blonde. "A...date? She called it...a date?" she had to confirm it before her mind went into overload.
Lily nodded casually, "Yeah, she did".
The tealettes eyes widened. That one simple confirmation had frazzled all of Miku's doubts away. Surely, that meant Luka liked her, maybe not intimately, but just to be liked by Luka as a person was good enough for her. Her heart felt light and her stomach flipped in giddiness, the feeling was still so alien but she decided she liked it. On top of that, for Lily, -apparently Luka's long time friend- to inform her that she had had as much fun as Miku did herself, only made her happier and she couldn't control the smile that spread across her features.
"You like the ring to that?" Lily teased with a grin plastered on her face. "You wanna go out with Luka?" she added. Truthfully, as much as she enjoyed teasing, she had an underlying reason for it; she wanted to find out how Miku felt about Luka before her friend had her heart crushed again.
Just as a bewildered Miku stumbled over her own words, there was a knock at the door.
"Yeah...?" Lily yelled from the sofa, no intention of getting up to answer it.
The door swung open to reveal a half-asleep pinkette with bedhead. She trumped inside with fluffy panda slippers scraping the carpet,
"Geez, why can't you open the door for your guests like a mannered woman?!" she mumbled, wiping her eyes. Upon removing her hands she noticed a certain teal sitting politely and very quietly on the other sofa. Luka blinked and looked over to Lily, dumbfounded.
"Oh, Miku...!" she greeted a little unnerved. She hadn't expected to find her here of all places. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
Lily scoffed, "Now look who's being ill-mannered!". Luka rolled her eyes, seemingly telling her she was in no position to be judging other peoples politeness.
Miku sat terrifyingly silent, hoping that Lily wouldn't mention the circumstances leading up to her arrival at the blonde's apartment. Lily caught her eyes and smiled knowingly.
"Miku here happened to run out of sugar...". Said girl rolled her eyes, 'How cliche' she thought. Luka frowned at her unconvincing story but opted to ignore the reason behind Lily's obvious lie.
Miku turned to Luka, admiring her beautiful 'just woke up' form. Her messy bed-head and sparkling blue eyes made her look downright gorgeous. How could someone look so good without even trying?
Luka noticed Miku's stares and became self-conscious. "Uhm...Miku, you're staring too much" she whispered, slightly embarrassed. Miku must've thought how repulsive she was, her hair was messy from last night, her pajamas were mis-matched and wrinkled, surely she had bags under her eyes and Miku...well she looked just perfect in her revealing tank top and short shorts. Before Luka herself was caught ogling the younger girls body she decided to just accept that the tealette had seen her in a less than presentable manner and sat down next to her on the sofa.
"We are going to the cinema in a bit, would you like to join us?" Luka asked, smiling as usual. At that suggestion, Lily perked up with a devious idea.
"Oh, thank you but I wouldn't want to intrude. You're going out together anyway. It'd be rude if I third-wheeled" she politely declined.
"Nah, don't worry about it", Lily added.
"Come on, we'll let you pick the film..." Luka pleaded, wiggling her eyebrows playfully. Miku giggled, "Only if you're sure?".
"Of course" the pinkette reassured her, gently placing her hand on top of Miku's comfortably. Her fingers seemed to instinctively melt between the gaps of Miku's own fingers and she gently squeezed.
Continued in Ch. 9