Stop stalking that man!(This one’s from Crystal standingten feet away from me. I flag for discussion in the kitchen.)
So many heart emojis!
What you need a white girl for, Max?
Maybe I should have waited a few more days to let him cool off, but there it is. I’ve played my hand. I want Max. I think he wants me. All day today, I’ll try to look casual and trustworthy, just in case he’s watching.
Feeling dreamy, I wander into the kitchen. Crystal’s mom is making breakfast and the smell of sausage fills the whole apartment. With her mom cooking and me wearing one of Crystal’s old basketball T-shirts, it really feels like we’re having a high school sleepover or something. “You must be Mia. Would you like some sausage?” Crystal’s mom asks.
“Nice to meet you, and thank you so much for letting me sleep on your couch last night. But no sausage for me. I’m a vegetarian.”#Brenda.
I zero in on Crystal. “What’s with the cyberstalking comment?”
“OMG, girl. All the posts, tagging him all over the damn place. It’s like you’re Beyoncé asking him out with 150 backup dancers. Plus you got haters.”
She doesn’t understand. “I’m risking public ridicule. It’s JumboTron-sized love. It means more that way.”
“The dude is a lab geek and you’re screaming from the rooftops after knowing him for five days.” She gives me a hard, soul-searching look. “And girl, you still got stitches in your damn head.”
“Uhhhh…” She has some good points.
“Just try not to scare him, Mia. You’re kind of an intense person, in case you haven’t figured that out already.”
I exhale and accept her wisdom. Don’t scare Max, don’t scare Max, don’t scare Max.
Crystal hands me Kai. “Will you give him a bottle while I eat?”
I hold him like a bomb, which confirms my suspicion that I have no experience with children. Crystal laughs at me. “My God. Relax.”
I look into his fat, adorable baby face. “He’s so cute…but I’m never having kids.”
“Yeah you will.”
“You think I’m maternal?” Maybe Crystal sees something in me that I don’t see in myself.
“No, I just don’t think you’re that good at birth control.”
“You have a point. I don’t even know if I’m on it.” Bad sex with JP flashes through my mind and I cross my fingers that I have an IUD or am naturally infertile.
Crystal gives me a look and I backtrack. “Not that a baby is the end. Babies are the beginning…”#not.
She shakes her head. “You just have to be woman enough to handle it.” I think she’s trying to convince herself with that statement but I give her a big “Whoop whoop, you go girl” kind of reaction.
In the interest of looking like I’m not spending all day obsessing about Max, I post a pic of all of us in the messy kitchen. Crystal looks like she’s going to try to kill me a secondtime (that joke is never going to get old) and Kai looks angry.
“Hey, do you have to work this morning? Because I have a proposal.” I wait for her to respond.
She looks up from preparing more bottles for Kai. The planning it takes to be a mom. Geez. “What’s that?”
“Let’s go shopping. My treat.” After paying Crystal, I have twenty-five grand left in the Crown Royal bag. About another ten needs to go to the bank, and I owe Max for his “work,” but I definitely have enough for new clothes. I’ve been wearing the same dress since I left the hospital. It’s done good, but it’s time to retire it.
After washing a couple of dishes, Crystal says, “Shopping sounds great. I have the day off. Actually, I have all the days off. I just quit Walmart, so we better get GoldRush off the ground for real.”
I squeal and Crystal pretends to look exasperated.
Crystal’s mom leaves the kitchen, muttering something about loud vegetarians.
Crystal bundles a sleeping Kai in a BabyBjörn and we ride the bus to the mall. We immediately buy lattes and take a selfie with them. Did you really have a coffee if you didn’t post it online? I might be Mia 2.0, but some things haven’t changed.
