Relief crashed through me, like waves rolling ashore and smoothing out the sand.This was the reassurance I needed to push forward on the terrifying path of romance and it was both odd and lovely that that reassurance came from Faye herself.
It was so different from my previous experience with love.Back then, with Agatha, it had felt like I was traversing a treacherous cliff to get to her and that one misstep might throw me off course and ruin the whole thing.With Faye, it was different.I wasn't moving towards her, it felt like we were going on this journey together.The journey of figuring out how to navigate these new feelings and the change in our relationship.
It felt so right, I could actually look forward to the next time I would see her without a thousand worries spinning around in my head.
FIVE
I wipedsome milk from the counter, only half paying attention to my job and the customer area.My phone buzzed in the front pocket of my apron and I pulled it out right away, my excitement falling when I realised it was a reminder that my phone subscription had renewed.
An amused teenage chuckle came from the side.
"I saw thatttttt," Mila sang, grinning as if she'd just discovered an exciting secret."Who is getting you so excited that you're checking your phone every three seconds?"
I put my phone down."That's my private business."
"Is it Faye?"She bounced closer, grinning from ear to ear."Did you finally make a move?"
"I'm not discussing my love life with you," I said, thinking I should reach out to my friends from uni again so I had someone I could talk to who wasn't my teenage cousin.
Mila laughed."Oh, so thereissomething to discuss, huh?"
Damn it.
"Shouldn't you be on your own phone?"I pointed at the device in her hand."Isn't there a new trend or challenge or something that you need to partake in?I saw there's a new dance that's in."
"What dance?"Mila asked with a curious smile.
"I don't know what it's called."I stretched out my arms and rotated my hands while swaying back and forth just like how I'd seen in the viral videos, only realising that I was making a fool out of myself when Mila burst into giggles.
"Now that would go viral," she said, attempting to put her straight face back on but not managing."And you're behind.The current dance is more like...this."
A hugely popular song came out of Mila's phone and she snapped her fingers along the beat, queuing herself up before she lunged herself into the fast-paced dance as if she'd been dancing her whole life.
It actually looked good?
"Have you been practising that in your bedroom?"I asked, only half-teasing.It was actually kind of impressive how smoothly she did all the movements.
Mila paused the song and took a bow."No, I'm just naturally gifted."
I snorted."You must get that from the other side of your family then because I don't think there's a rhythmic bone on the Greendale side."
"My grandpa is good at capoeira," she said."It's a martial art that's mixed with dance."
"I know what capoeira is," I assured her, as always amused by how she seemed to think I lived under a rock at the ripe age of twenty-eight.As clever as she was, people knowing things outside the scope of what was trending online seemed like a foreign concept to her.
"Just checking."She adjusted some of her tight black curls."You never told me who slid into your DMs."
"And I'm not going to," I replied.
Mila raised her hand."Hi, Faye!"
I spun on my heels, my hand flying up to my hair to push it back into shape.Instead I was greeted with air, sunlight, and the devious cackle of my cousin.
"You tricked me," I said, turning back around.I couldn't even be mad, I was the one who fell for the bluff when I should've seen it coming.
"I don't know why you're trying to hide that it's Faye when you two are clearly obsessed with each other."She raised her hand again, waving it with extra exuberance."Hi, Faye."
"I'm not falling for that again."
