Best Defense

The Last Chapter! Goodbye.

...Mia Queen POV's....

I took off the high-heeled pink satin shoes I was wearing and enjoyed the swish of relief as my toes indulged in the thick beige wool rug. Those shoes seemed like a good idea this morning but I forgot how much time standing was involved in the ceremony all day, and now my leg joints are crumbling. I took a glass of tea and stepped out through the door in the dining room to the private courtyard in Jason's family cottage, walking into the middle of the grassy field.

I was trying to type a daisy with my toes when a pair of shiny black shoes appeared in my vision area.I raised my head and faced Jason. He smiled calmly, his rolled up shirt sleeves matching the atmosphere around us that was serene.

"The look of the day was good. Crystal loves your saxophone game."

"thank you. By the way, your bongo game is also cool. When did you set it up?"

Jason threw himself into the grass and sipped some tea. "Sunday ago. Just by phone. We haven't trained until today when you were getting ready. Valerie, the cellist, she's Crystal's college friend and it was her idea to play Feeder's song because my sister and Will loved it." He plucked a piece of grass and weaved with his fingers. "You know, for me that kind of thing isn't easy."

The change in topic was happening so fast that my brain took a while to catch on. I thought he was still talking about the conversation earlier, I smiled. "Well, I do think you dare to do it too, knowing how much you love your exercises."

"He? Oh, not about bongo. I mean..." Jason gestured to the surroundings. "This. Seeing my little brother make a big leap in his life, while I..." His voice slowly shrank and he cleared his throat. "Change and I don't go along."

such an outspoken attitude was arguably not something strange between us, but it had been a long time since Jason was this open to me. "So soon or later, I think we all have to get through it."

Real nice. Now I sound like an advisor on a daytime TV show.

"Hm."

The swarms of bees on the hedges around us seemed to raise the volume of their loudspeakers by eleven as we tried to chat.

"Oi! You two! How long do we have until we need to return to the pavilion?" taylor exclaimed from the French-style doorway.

Somewhat surprised, Jason jumped to his feet, his movements impressed as if he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't. Taylor's grin confirmed he saw it and the incident will most likely be touched on endlessly from today.

"May I not interrupt, huh?" said Taylor.

"No, Mia and I were just chatting." Jason pulled the grass off his pants. "It looks like if we get there at seven, we still have enough time to check things out before the nightly reception starts."

"Good." Taylor blinked at me. "Please go back to how it was."

Jason buried both hands in his pocket and then looked down at me. "Basic sucks." He fell silent again and I remembered the heavy silence between us at Christmas, when it was as if there was a wave of restraint that could not be spoken of.

It was that silence that was responsible for my rejection, believing in my attitude as an affirmation of his feelings for me. But those assumptions proved extraordinarily wrong back then, and now I've been thinking about them.

I felt my arms start to creep, and I stood up. "It looks like maybe I'll take a nap before we get back on duty."

"good. Maybe I'll join you..." His eyes widened in shock, "Hm. I mean, his sleep, no. hmm..."

Nice try, Jason. "Your face is flushed."

Stares switched. "No, really."

"Don't worry, I don't take it as an invitation right now. You know, we could've done it if you wanted to attend my funeral tomorrow morning." The fast-flowing beauty was delicious, even if it was just a mask I hurriedly put on to cover my own embarrassment. "By the way, the bed is single, so there's only room for me..."

His face was getting red. "Love! I can't believe you're talking like that!"

"Little down, why the hell? We have to laugh about Christmas at some point, and admit it, I should be the one who's more entitled to be upset about it."

"But you're just expressing your feelings. That's no reason to regret yourself."

I don't know if he's booing or not, but anyway his tone irritates me. "I don't regret myself for anything. I was just trying to get back to our original condition before I yelled at you that day."

"Oh."

"Yes. So have mercy on me a little bit and at least let me joke about my mistakes." I started walking back inside, but Jason grabbed my arm.

"What if it's not a mistake?"

I glared at him. "That's obviously a mistake!"

Her voice softened. "But you look so sure about that at Christmas..."

I shook my arm out of his grasp. "Jason, enough! Now you're the one who can't accept jokes anymore, huh? This is not fair." I bent down to pick up my empty glass, straightening my body back up until my face was only inches away from his face. "I thought you wanted us to come back as we were? Well, I'm trying to do that."

Jason did not answer. Suddenly she looked fragile, in a way I had never seen, as if one more word from me would crush her into a hundred million pieces.

It won't produce anything for now. Jason began to doubt my honesty about how I felt about him. I softened, pulled myself up and patted his chest lightly. "sorry. I really need to sleep. See you later." I walked away and could feel him watching my every step.

***

"You want to toast?" matthew asked, the next morning. It was 07:30 and I decided to venture into the kitchen after my entire night of sleep was interrupted. I was surprised to find Matthew there.

I refused his offer, my stomach was nauseous. "Tea, if there is."

He pretended to be offended. "If there's me in the kitchen, there's always tea." Matthew held up a rose-patterned tea pot and poured me a full mug. As I sat at the large kitchen table, he looked worried. "You okay, Mia?"

"I'm so tired. Less sleep last night."

"I guess because his bed is foreign. I did too. That's why breakfast is so early. But you seem to have a lot of thoughts."

"Don't know. Maggie and I slept around two and it seemed like the others followed not too long after us. But Jason and your brother-in-law are still awake a lot longer. I woke up at four to go to the bathroom and still heard their voices in the sitting room."

Last night, after a beautiful evening reception, returning to our warm cottage was a boon. Jason opened two bottles of wine for us accompanied by plates containing the rest of the buffet dishes and we relaxed, chatting in the warmth of the rest of a successful appearance.

Of course, it would have been the perfect ending for today had my conversation with Jason not been repeated in my mind. During our nighttime appearance, there was nothing in his way of interacting with me, as if nothing had happened.

"What time do we have to get out of here?" I asked Matthew, I need a distraction from Jason's problem.

"Middle of the day, it seems. There's plenty of time." He pointed at me with the edge of his toast. "You should eat something. Don't pass out when we put things in the van later."

Jason didn't show up until nine. It looked amazingly fresh considering the late-night chat with Sean, who appeared to be in a mess and grumbled half an hour later. "Either how you do it" he murmured in a row into the kitchen and slammed the door of the closet door until I noticed a cup of tea and led him to the chair.

Jason smeared the butter on all three pieces of toast and joined us at the kitchen table. "How do we do what?" He blinked at me and immediately my appetite disappeared.

Sean scratched his messy hair. "You know what? You look too fresh after last night's drinks, and that sucks! You drink more than I do, Jason."

"It's definitely thanks to good genes" Jason said. "Did you see how much my parents drank last night? I guarantee they'll be as fresh as a daisy this morning, maybe even making breakfast for everyone."

I left them chatting then went back to my room to finish packing the bags.

"Baked bread might be a better choice, but it's up to each one, anyway." Jason leaned against the door frame. His annoying grin was back on his face.

"Oh, that's so funny" I said cynically. "Aren't there any guitar players you should entertain?"

"Sean will be fine after taking a bath and rediscovering her talisman." He stepped into the room. "I'm more worried about you."

I closed my eyes hoping that as hard as he could he would catch the signal and step aside. "I didn't sleep well last night, that's all."

Face grim. "Oh? How can?"

"Of course."

"Excess adrenaline from last night maybe? Or did you eat something wrong?"

"Jason, I don't know!" I snapped, then hurriedly returned my expression. "sorry. I'm not friendly when I'm sleep-deprived."

"Oh, I see," Her forehead wrinkled. "I, hmm. will go..."

I watched her step as she moved away from me, my heart felt heavy. Yesterday I was sure we were doing well again, but now it feels as if a new complication is waiting in line to overlap.

It was about ten minutes after Jason came out of my room that my brother came over with an annoyed look.

I'm clucking. "My problems alone are endless, now it must help people's problems." I intentionally hardened my voice to insinuate her, yet she didn't seem to care.

The panda bit the toast in her hand as if it could take away her frustration, which I guess was related to my sister-in-law.

"Men are not to be expected!" He grunts. "What bread is this? Why is everything so upsetting so early?"

I watched his movements as he threw the bread into the small trash basket in the room, then rambled again. "I don't believe this! Just imagine, I waited for him to fall asleep and when I woke up... You know what, sissy? Ex-vomit everywhere. This is really the worst day!"

"Oh."

"Mia!"

"What?" balaku.

Suddenly his face shrieked and he shook his head. "No."

"good. Don't bother me."

"Okay."

"Okay."

We looked at each other for a while, then as if understanding each other, Panda and I hugged each other.

"Mia, I love you. One thing you should know about life is that the world is vast, beautiful, and wonderful. There are so many things you can find, but the most important thing is a journey within you, to find the truth that is in you, to find what makes you happy. I want you to be happy. I want my sister to find her happiness. Make yourself happy, Mia. Don't be burdened by my situation anymore, because I'm fine. Really, I'm fine, sissy."

"There's Sean coming with me. You, Mom, and Edward have been quite busy taking care of me all this time and it's time for you to enjoy life. I want you guys to be happy. You deserve to be happy. We deserve to be happy. And believe me, I'm really happy."

...~TAMAT~...

***

Hi, guys! This is the end of the story. All the problems are clear and if it's about Jason and Mia, I don't think it needs to be updated again. Or do you still want to know the continuation?

By the way, I've released a new book. It's My Love Journey's, please open my profile. But for a while still slow update.

Thank you for liking and commenting so far. I appreciate that! And I hope you like this book and the next books I'm going to write on this platform. Last but not least, Thank you!!!

Much Love!😘