Chapter #28The Truth Everyone Sees But Me by: Nostrum   Now it was Mireya’s turn to giggle nervously. Celosa, ¿yo? The thought darted through her mind, in the Spanish she seldom spoke, followed by a trail of reasons she felt it couldn’t be possible. She fixated on how Jeff seemed to talk so easily with Cindy. "Oh, please! I... I’m not jealous! I just... They could make a nice couple."
Lucy’s accosting look made her realize just how empty her comment sounded. "You and I know that’s not true." Despite her attempt to deflect the conversation, it was far too obvious that Jeff wasn’t comfortable talking with her. For one, he wasn’t standing out; she had noticed Mireya first before she noticed him. On the other, the fleeting look in his eyes—looking at her face, sliding downwards to her breasts, then completely away from her—suggested a story of its own.
Two conflicting thoughts crossed Mireya's mind. The first, reactively, focused on Jeff’s fixation on Cindy’s natural assets—her large breasts, her long platinum blonde hair, her toned hips. She could feel jealous of such a figure—even though she had nothing to fear on the leg side—but her eyes raced towards where Jeff’s own landed. Almost immediately, however, a stranger thought deflected the first one. What if Jeff was too intimidated to meet her? What if Jeff was simply nervous to face an old schoolmate—a beautiful one, at that—and he just wasn’t in his element?
She clung to the last one, trying to sound supportive. "He’s just nervous to meet her. He’s not good with girls."
Lucy chuckled, patting Mireya’s shoulder. "That’s true. He thought that only magic would make him interesting."
The comment captured Mireya’s attention—once again, her interest in Jeff’s secrets flared to the surface. "How come?"
"One day, he comes in with this booklet, wrapped in crumpled leather, and I think he 'found it’ - y’know, the book that caused all this trouble. He was really excited to find it, but when he said it was to work the spells on the professor’s notes, I was... Well, you can imagine. I faced him, asking him what he’d do when he finds the book—I wanted him to realize he was going in too deep, that he was, well, scaring me with his focus on getting that stuff, and he just ... Well, you can get a lot from him by pushing him."
"Yeah," Mireya said mindlessly, "I’m aware of that. Go on."
After a brief pause, Lucy continued her tale. "He then tells me he feels like he’s a nobody. I tell him that’s not it; I’ll admit he creeped me out, but when he was on his thing, he was super-focused. I could see from a mile away he was smarter than he gave himself credit for. But, he said he wasn’t one of the smart ones, that he wasn’t a jock, so he was nobody. I told him that all he needed was a change of look, a clean-up act, to reevaluate his life, and he’d get a girlfriend easily."
Absorbed into the gossip, Mireya made her own observation between laughs. "Yeah, he tends to paint himself like that. You should’ve seen his face when I took him—"
"For a date?"
It took barely a minute for Mireya to realize she had fallen into a trap. "It ... wasn’t a date! I was just curious to know about Jeff; he appeared all of a sudden, meeting his brother—"
"Nobody would be so curious about him. Look at him." Lucy pointed back at Jeff, blending in the background. "He’s kinda cute now, but he’s not somebody I’d pick up."
You wouldn’t say that if you saw him— Once again, Mireya’s fleeting thoughts betrayed her. "Try looking at him when he feels comfortable."
"I did,"Lucy blurted almost immediately. "I can tell you something else, though. I know he didn’t choose that outfit."
"We went to a store, checked out some things—"
"You chose that suit for him. You saw something in him that helped him make that choice."
Am I so easy to read? Mireya thought. I was just trying to help him look good.
"And maybe you were trying to make him look good. Maybe you were trying to help him, without interest."
"Exactly!"
"The way you two hold hands, though, doesn’t suggest that." Once again, Lucy seemed far too observative. "I know you said you didn’t have any interest back then, but I still feel glad that Will found someone he could feel comfortable around. He needs someone that points him out all the good things around him. Someone that gives him confidence."
"I agree,"said Mireya, after a careful pause. "He needs a friend."
"He needs someone that truly cares for him, and that means someone that’s more than a friend."
"And why does it have to be me?"
"Because you’re the only one that has really gotten an interest in him."
"I’m also interested in Marty’s - his brother’s - well-being too."
"Getting to know the family. Tell me something. Right now, you’d spend more time looking for Will’s brother, or with him?"
The question fell like a ton of bricks. Every question seemed to force her to react, but giving her enough time to think and reconsider. Damn, she thought, admiring her technique. She’s good. "I don’t know what to say. Of course I want to be with him, but I’m also worried about his brother. They suffered so much—"
"Forget for a moment about what happened to them. I’m glad that, despite all that happened, Will seems to have found his way. I’m asking you. What would happen if something happened to him?"
"I’d ... look for him, of course. Or ... figure what happened. Someone has to tell Marty—"
"And if something happened to both, but at different places? Who’d you look for first?"
Mireya wanted to say "both", but her thoughts played a different tale. Jeff. He’d know how to look for his brother. With a heavy sigh, she accepted the reality. "I want to say ‘both’, but I know Jeff would probably—"
"Your mind says one thing, your heart says another." Lucy pointed at Jeff and Cindy for one last time. "Don’t think about it, just say the first thing that comes to you. You think they’d make a good couple?"
This time, her thoughts felt scrambled. Maybe? She’s beautiful—and looks like Lucy—and maybe he has a thing for her?—Makes sense; they knew each other—Maybe he has something for Lucy?
"You’re overthinking it," Lucy warned.
"Maybe he still has something for you?"
Though the reply obviously surprised her, Lucy quickly deflected it. "Maybe. But he knows deep down that can’t happen."
"It can happen with Cindy."
"He knows it won’t, because he barely knows her. He knows you, though. You took him out of his comfort zone; you’re constantly worried about him, you took him on his first date, and showed genuine interest on him. Even if Cindy made the move, I know he’d say no."
"Because he’s interested in me?" Mireya’s response felt heavy, even to her.
"Because he’s interested in you. But he won’t make the first step; as we know, he’s too shy to make the first move. He’s scared that you won’t accept him. But you and I know that’s not true, because you really care for him."
"As a friend."
Lucy shook her head with suppressed giggle. "You’re the one that’s always saying that, because you’re trying to hide your own feelings. Think about it. Would you give Will his privacy when he’s with someone else? Or would you hover around him, looking to see if that girl’s the right one for him?"
The questions were starting to irritate Mireya. "Well, of course I’d check up on him! Because—" She stopped almost instantly, even though her mind continued. He’s fragile. He’s suffered so much, he needs someone that can understand him, and support him—
"And again, you’re trying to hide your feelings."
"It’s just—! He’s suffered so much. I couldn’t bear seeing him with someone that’ll break his heart."
"Those are the words that someone that loves him very much would say."
"I could say the same thing about Marty. They suffered a lot."
"Well yeah. I mean, you’re thinking of him as—" Lucy paused, puffing a smile. "You think of Jeff as a sister would."
"Exactly!"
"Well, lemme tell you something, as someone that has a sister. You don’t shower a sibling with the same love you shower him. I bet, not even a brother."
Lucy’s words rang true. Mireya was pretty harsh with Vanessa, acting almost motherly to her. The same was true about Marty; she knew he needed a motherly presence, and she naturally inclined to that part. But something was different with Jeff. Though she could scold him, and face him, she was too critical of his opinion about her. And though she could share things with her sister, she still hid things from her—the same way Jeff hid to his brother about him being one of the Stellae. Even if she could justify it, the fact that she revealed things to Jeff that she wouldn’t dare to share with her own blood, let alone anyone else, made her rethink.
And in that flow of thoughts, more things became clearer. It wasn’t just sharing things. Helping him clean his act, for one—was it to help him, or because she wanted him to stand out only to show him off? Was she interested in his life story because it was an interesting mystery, or because she was far too interested on him? Lucy’s remark—He's kinda cute now—and her reaction, a purely defensive one. He wasn’t just "cute"; she had revealed a beauty hidden deep within, one that only she could notice.
Handsome, smart, driven, sensitive, bold... She could see in Jeff all of these qualities. Qualities she found desirable on a man.
Lucy noticed Mireya’s look, and patted her shoulder. "That’s the look of someone who realized the truth." The words startled the latter from her trance. "I should know. It’s what happened when I realized I loved Taylor. He needs someone like you, Mireya. Think if you need someone like him."
Seeing as Lucy moved to meet someone else, Mireya was left alone with her thoughts—and the possibility that, perhaps, she didn’t see him as a friend, or as a little brother. You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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