For the next few days, the Macklin house was deafeningly silent. Miles didn't know exactly what happened but assumed another fight broke out between Mika and their parents.
After hours of weeping and feeling sorry for herself, Mika decided enough was enough. As her crying turned into dry heaving, she reached for her laptop and started job hunting immediately.
She was going to show them, to show her parents that she was a perfectly well-adjusted young woman that was capable of holding her own without their help. She applied to over 20 in a day and heard back from a couple. Since she still wasn't talking to her Mom or Dad, she asked Miles if he could babysit Adora for her while she went to her interviews. Miles was more than happy to look after his niece. Mika had never asked him to.
Mika forwarded Miles a long list of things he needed to know about the baby, down to what socks she preferred to wear. "Well, shit how long will you be gone? Do you want me to plan her wedding too before you get back?" Miles had said.
Mika did a total of seven interviews that day but luckily she didn't have to travel too far, she made sure the jobs she applied for were close by. For starters, she didn't have her license so she needed convenient busing and secondly, she wanted to be able to get to Isadora as fast as she could in case of emergencies.
Luckily, her efforts didn't go to waste because she got a call back from a small diner/cafe informing her that she got the job. Mika remembered feeling accomplished and a little sad actually, one out of 50 million steps.
))
Mika waited for Bose outside in the warm weather with Isadora. Mika constantly fixed Adora's attire worried she might get sick, but in the end, she decided to lose a few layers in fear that she might be suffocating the small child her her paranoia.
Mika had the utmost sad gaze in her eyes until she heard a car pull up. Mika closed her eyes and took a breath, Bose would surely know she was upset about something. Mika still hadn't told him about the adoption scandal and wasn't planning on revealing it anytime soon. She could not take any more drama rising back. If Bose found out about what her parents were up to and what they said to her, he would raise hell.
So Mika wiped small tears that were starting to form in her eyes and turned around to see Bose getting out of his car with a big smile on his face, which she returned. Today was the day Bose was taking them to go see the condo he was interested in. "Hey, hey," He greeted walking up to them and taking Isadora from Mika.
"Hi," Mika smiled as best as she could. "You alright?" Bose lifted an eyebrow at her.
Mika recalled that she and Bose promised to communicate their feeling to each other and not keep secrets, she felt bad for not sticking to it. But she decided to for his own good. "Yeah, i didn't get much sleep last night so I'm kind of out of it," Mika half lied.
"Oh, no worries we'll stop by for coffee on the way," Bose said as he started walking to the car. Mika followed Bose to the car and go in the passenger seat as Bose put Isadora in her car seat playing little games with her. Bose rubbed his nose against Adora's tiny one and the baby reached her chubby fingers out to his cheeks. Mika's heavy heart went light at that moment. At least one thing was going right.
))
The drive to the condo didn't take long and the realtor, named Mark, was already waiting for them. Bose introduced Adora as his daughter and Mika as his girlfriend initially but stumbled into using the word friend instead. The change of words felt odd for both of them.
Mika could tell she was in for a treat she entered the building and the lobby had an actual doorman. Mark was a nice man and did a great job at showing them around. At first sight, Mika gaped stepping into the condo. What she first noticed was how spacious it was. Shiny black wooden floors and window walls gave an astounding view of the city, smoothly painted cream and white walls, and marble kitchen decor. Her eyes couldn't focus on one thing until something else would catch her attention.
Bose grinned watching the awe in Adora's face as he held her, "You like it?" He asked her.
Mika couldn't ever imagine living in a such place. She noted to ask Bose later how much his trust fund was exactly. Mark informed Bose that he had to leave for another client and asked Bose to close up on the way out. Normally, Mark wouldn't have done that, but he was in a rush and he trusted Bose, after all, Bose was one of his closest friends' sons.
Bose saw the twinkle in Mika's eyes as she looked around the space, she was in her own little world until he pulled her out, "So? What do you think?".
"Um, i think it's insane, in a good way,". Mika smiled.
Bose put Isadora down on the floor to crawl around, he wasn't worried about her bumping into things because there wasn't any furniture inside anyways.
"It's beautiful, and it's close by and has a lot of extra space," Mika complimented, "But maybe too much extra space, it's just you after all, won't it make you feel a little lonely". Mika laid her hand on the kitchen counter while Bose propped himself up on his elbow on the counter, very close to her. Bose shrugged, "Well, you know, I'm thinking of the future,". Bose was subtle yet Mika understood what he meant. He was thinking about living here, with her and Isadora.
Mika hummed a response as Bose moved closer to her. She felt the air shift and his lips were inches from hers. Bose knew what he was doing, but he couldn't help himself, he wanted her. So bad. Bose was doing pretty well keeping to himself but when he was alone, his thoughts always went to her.
Bose craved the taste of her flavored lip gloss, the feel of her bare skin under his sheets, the way her nails grazed past his chest, the smell of her hair in the mornings, and having Mika wrapped around him in more ways than one. It was driving him deranged on the inside. Mika would be mad if she said she didn't understand, she felt the exact same way, but she was in her own head too much to act on it.
If Bose could steal just one kiss in this small moment, he won't miss the chance. Their lips brushed against each other and just when Bose thought they'd kiss, Mika spoke, "I need you to watch Adora on Monday,". Bose pressed his lips together and backed away, "Ouch," he dramatically slapped his hand on his heart. "Nice try," Mika playfully rolled her eyes.
Bose sighed, maybe next time. "Why do you need me to watch her, you've never missed a day of it being your turn with her, I would love to be with my girl but I work Monday," Bose explained.
Mika internally groaned getting ready to lie to him again. Bose didn't want Mika to work just yet, he knew that having a baby as a woman was already so draining and she would have a lot on her plate, he wanted her to solely focus on Adora and he would take care of everything else. Which he did.
If Mika told Bose she had a job she would have to tell him about recent occurrences. Luckily she prepared for this, "I'm doing a college-bound program that I've been interested in, and classes are in person, I know I should have talked to you first about how this fits into our Adora schedule but I just got so excited, about focusing on my education again," Mika fibbed.
She expected Bose to pick up on her lie but he didn't. In fact, he was quite happy, "Really? That's amazing, I'm glad you're finally getting back into your thing,". Mika gave him an affirmative smile, she felt even worse about lying now, "Yeah, I'm really starting to feel like myself again,".
"That's good, of course, I'll watch Adora on Monday and then we can discuss how to go about this new schedule,". Bose went on, "Thank you, I really appreciate it," Mika responded.
Bose smiled at Mika again, and then looked around at his future home, "Look at us, thriving, this calls for a celebration," Bose insisted as he reached for some peppermints in a glass bowl at the far end of the counter. Thriving wants exactly how Mika would describe her life at the moment. It was always one step forwards and thousand steps back.
Mika started thinking of ways to change the topic when noticed something as Bose was taking peppermints out of the bowl. When he leaned over his shirt was scrunched up and she could see a black stain on his skin. In instant confusion, Mika reached for the hem of his shirt and lifted it a little bit to see a fairly big tattoo of a feathered skull and right behind it an ace card.
"Bose O'Brien, when the hell did you get a tattoo?!" Mika pleasantly staggered.
Mika let go of his shirt and Bose scratch the back of the neck, it wasn't that he forgot to tell her but he would have rather kept it to himself.
"Oh, that old thing?" he nervously laughed and Mika lifted her eyebrow trying to contain her laughter, the tattoo was cool but she never expected Bose to be into that.
"So the week where we had that huge fight and broke up, Miles took me out to cheer me up. We got wasted, more me than him, and the next thing i know I'm at a tattoo parlor ranting to the guy about you, he tells me that getting this tattoo would be a symbol of letting you go and telling the universe to screw off, but it turns out it was just the most expensive thing he could charge me for," Bose explained.
Mika looked amused, she's never had a guy get drunk tatted over her. Probably because Bose was her only guy. Mika giggled, "Well if it's any consolation, I think it looks hot," Mika flirtatiously said bringing her hand up his shirt, caressing the art on his abs.
If she didn't stop teasing him, their agreement on being friends would go to hell.
Bose groaned at her touch. "Just let me have my way with you for just three minutes," Bose's voice was laced with desperation. It made Mika go weak, every part of her. "I might give you six," she whispered. "Six" Bose pleasantly repeated. "Yeah, one for every ab," Mika sly bit her top lip hesitantly. Mika was upset with herself for giving in. Nearly five months they've been apart.
Mika looked to the right and saw Isadaora happily pressed against the transparent wall with a toothy grin on her face in awe at the view. Then Mika was reminded of a couple of days ago, then a couple of months ago. Every time she got too happy something went wrong. She still has a lot of fucked up shit she's dealing with and throwing Bose back into the mix isn't going to help her, or Bose or Isadora.
She looked back at Bose and his eyes were filled with lust. Mika got caught up in the moment she didn't mean to turn this into something it wasn't. She never wanted to be the type of girl that would lead a guy on. Mika wasn't ready for them to be together again.
She noticed her hand had grown hot under his shirt and quickly took it out and apologized. "Uh, we should get going, it's almost time for Adora's nap," Mika played with her finger and turned away to go get Isadora before he could see her chocolate blush. Bose was left standing there and he felt like a jerk and a idiot at the same time.
The car ride home was quiet, Mika sat in the back with the baby. She was too ashamed to sit with Bose upfront after their tendinous moment earlier. She let her mind drift to how she would have to work harder to get where she wanted to be and who she wanted to be for Isadora.