MIA

Trees reflected off the surface of the calm lake, creating a mirror-like image on the water. Birds chirped everywhere around, adding to the peaceful setting. The sun fell just at the right angle, completing the magical scenery.

Mia took the picture.

"Can I see?" Samantha asked, her hand entering Mia's field of vision.

"Sure." Mia handed the camera to the woman. They were the same age, yet Sam seemed older. Perhaps it was because of the two-year-old she had at home. Her face was covered in worry and Mia seriously hoped it wasn't due to the kid. Because that would be depressing. Samantha smiled, her short, brown hair covering her blue eyes as she stared at the picture.

"You should sell these. They are good." She mumbled, never removing her gaze from the pictures.

"No one would buy them." Mia said.

"What!" A chirpy voice reached them. "We live in the Instagram age, everyone's obsessed with pictures, they'd buy them." Christa skipped to the small dock, her blond hair swaying in tandem. The contrast between the two woman was apparent. Where Sam was thin and tall, her figure hidden behind the brown vest, Christa was shorter, perkier and in a white bikini.

Once upon a time, they were four girls, ready to take on the world with their bare hands, full of life and adventure. But life, as always, had other plans. Now, so many years since high school, Sam had a kid, Lucy was getting married in a month, Mia began her law career and Christa was still holding the record for the highest number of vodka shots drunk while riding a mechanical bull.

The number was eleven. She fell down and broke her ankle on the twelfth.

"You can promote me on your Instagram page, then." Mia said, taking the camera back from Sam. Surely, her pictures were good, but she never thought of that as something she could actually do for a living.

"You've no idea how many customers you'd have in one day. Just take a picture of me on this dock, come on." Christa ran to the edge of the dock and posed for the camera, her breasts almost falling out when she leaned forward. Mia laughed out loud.

"Classy, Christa." Sam murmured.

"Provocative." Christa corrected and turned her ass to the camera, jiggling it while Mia took the shot.

"Chicas, the cocktails are ready!" Lucy's voice came from the small, wooden cottage, owned by Mia's father. He wanted it to be cosy, so the entire interior was covered in wood and decorated with the pictures of their family. An occasional wooden animal sculpture peaked behind the huge leather couches, created in a way to almost swallow a person. In contrast, huge, white rug covered the floor.

No one was allowed in with their shoes on.

Lucy was on the porch, serving her famous triple alcohol cocktail, designed to drown the sorrows and destroy the liver.

The porch overlooked the lake and the view was fantastic, so the girls gladly came here when they had time. Or at least Mia hoped it was for the view and not solely for the alcohol. Girls sat around the oak table, each taking the orange-red drink.

"What's in this, Luce?" Sam asked, suspiciously looking at her glass.

"Love in a bottle, my darling. Drink it up." Lucy saluted and girls mimicked her move.

"So, Mia," Christa leaned onto her elbows, a wide smile spreading over her face, "tell us about your new boyfriend!"

Mia almost choked on her drink.

"Christa!" Lucy jumped in immediately. "I told you not to say anything!"

"You already told her?" Mia asked.

"What do you mean, new boyfriend?" Sam joined.

"What? She was gonna talk anyway!" Christa defended herself, causing Lucy to shake her head in frustration.

"I'm sorry, but she basically guessed." Lucy said.

"That's okay. She's right, I'm gonna spill the beans anyway." Mia sighed. Having girlfriends was sometimes difficult, it required repeating a story over and over again. Even if one didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on! Gimme those beans!" Christa demanded, earning a slight smile from Mia. There was something extremely lovable about Christa, perhaps her ability to look at everything like it was an adventure.

"It's nothing, okay? I just met a guy-"

"Mia!" Sam interrupted right away. "Why would you do that to Jeff?"

"Nothing happened, alright?"

"Yeah, right, nothing happened. She just wanted the D!" Christa smiled widely and Mia warned her with her eyes. "Okay, sorry, sorry."

"Nothing happened," Mia repeated, "because I have a boyfriend and he has a girlfriend. Wanna guess who's his girlfriend?" A devilish smile appeared on her lips almost against her will as she watched the girls' eyes widen. "Virgin Mary!"

"What? No way!" Christa squeaked.

"Virgin Mary from high school?" Lucy added.

Mia nodded: "And how do I know that?"

"Oh, my God, you went to her house for dinner!" Lucy remembered, drinking from her glass way too quickly. Fortunately, Sam was the one that drove to the lake and she didn't really like alcohol.

"Yes. Which means I saw Xander again." Mia leaned onto her hands. "I don't know girls, we agreed to be friends or whatever. And pretend nothing happened, but-"

"So, something did happen." Sam concluded and Mia noticed she was the only one that was giving her the angry stare. Mia sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Do you think I should be with Jeff?" She asked after a while.

"Of course-" Sam began.

"Not!" Christa interrupted. "Want my honest opinion? Jeff's boring and he looks like he only ever does missionary. I'm surprised you've made it this long."

"Christa!" All three girls shouted at her in unison.

"What? I'm telling it like it is."

"You don't really want to listen to Christa's advice, do you?" Sam's face was painted in frustration, even a slight but of disgust, which Mia didn't appreciate. It made her feel dirty.

"Well, Christa's been changing boyfriends like you've been changing diapers, so there's that." Mia said bitterly, earning a sudden silence.

"But Jeff loves you, and you love him." Sam murmured, a shadows of sadness crossing over her features. "I can't understand you'd want something more than that."

"It's not about that." Mia sighed, the weight on her chest beginning to hurt again. "I mean, it's not about someone else. Lately, I've been feeling like Jeff doesn't quite understand me."

"How can you say that? Jeff is a wonderful boyfriend who did nothing but support you throughout your final year of college. For God's sake, Mia, he even found the job you currently have!" Sam frowned, deepening Mia's feelings of guilt.

"Sam, come on." Lucy jumped in, using her serious voice. Of all four of them, Lucy had the strongest authority. Perhaps because she was the most emotionally stable one. "Mia is sharing her dissatisfaction with her relationship. It doesn't matter how much Jeff loves her right now, if she's not happy, she's not happy."

But Mia was already overwhelmed by guilt. Of course she appreciated everything Jeff did for her and she knew he loved her with all his heart. Was that all that mattered, though?

"Oh, let's cut the crap." Christa's said, more roughly. "Jeff found that job for you even though you spent the past year telling everyone you're not sure you want to be a lawyer. He basically pushed you into accepting your faith, under the pretence of being a good boyfriend. Not once did he listen to your wishes and your desires. Dump his ass and get it over with."

"Because you know so well what love is." Sam murmured, rolling her eyes at Christa. "Love is compromising, supporting and finding solutions together. Not running away as soon as you don't get your way."

"What's your problem with me today?" Christa asked, adding to the tension around the table. Even Lucy's triple cocktail wasn't enough to relieve them.

"You're acting like a spoiled brat, that's my problem. You claim you know so much yet you weren't able to keep a serious relationship for more than three months." Sam got off the table abruptly, catching everyone by surprise. She took her drink and walked over to the dock, leaving the girls confused.

"What did I do?" Christa asked, her eyes wide.

"I'll go talk to her." Mia said and grabbed her drink. Christa may have been the fun one, but the most realistic one was surely Sam. And her opinion was invaluable to Mia.

She went over to the dock, drink in hand and sat next to Sam. The water was chilly, but warm enough to dip one's legs in it, so Mia did that. Sam was staring at the water, playing with the hem of her vest. Mia nudged her with her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Mia. You know I love you and support you, I shouldn't have reacted that way." Sam turned around, showing her tear-stained cheeks, surprising Mia.

"Hey, please, don't cry. It's alright. What's wrong?" Mia hugged her friend with one hand, realising something else was happening under the surface.

"I think Mike's cheating on me." Sam cried out, tears falling from her eyes, pain flashing all over her face. "And I can't gather the strength to confront him because of Milo."

Milo was Sam's two year old son, she got pregnant when she was twenty one and abruptly married the father, pressured by her folks. They could not let the child be illegitimate. Mia hugged her friend tightly, hoping she was wrong.

"Why do you think he's cheating?" Mia asked, hoping she didn't sound insensitive.

"He keeps spending his nights out, never returning my calls. And I can't..." A painful cry escaped her lips before she gathered herself. "I can't raise Milo on my own."

"I'm so, so sorry." Mia uttered, feeling her own eyes burn with the upcoming tears. "We'll help you, you know that, right? No matter what. We'll always be here for you."

"Just don't tell anyone yet, please. I need to find out what's really happening." Sam wiped her tears away and composed herself.

"Of course. You tell everyone when you're ready. I'm so sorry to have bothered you with something so trivial as my insecurities in Jeff. If I had known, I wouldn't have mentioned anything." Mia said.

"No, Mia. Your problems are your own and they should not be in the shadow because of mine. All I want is for you to be happy. And Christa and Lucy, even though I'm sometimes mean to them." Sam smiled slightly.

"Well, you were kind of mean to Christa."

"Opinions are like genitalia, Mia. Everyone has them, not everyone knows when's the right time to pull them out. Myself included."

Mia laughed out loud and hugged her friend again.

"That's the Sam I know and love."