Chapter 12: Making Progress
"Thank you," Mia said, blushing as she accepted the roses. Sure enough, no girl dislikes receiving flowers.
"Pizza!" But as soon as Mia took the roses, her mother snatched the pizza box from Jake's hands. "Pepperoni pizza! My favorite!"
This was excellent timing; Jake had already won over Mia's mother perfectly.
Sure enough, after grabbing the pizza from Jake, Helen immediately pushed both Jake and Mia out the door, slamming it shut with a bang, followed by her enthusiastic command, "Go out and have fun, you two!"
"My precious daughter, you've got to seal the deal!" Behind the door, Helen leaned against it, clutching the pizza box to her chest like a prize, praying silently. She really worried about her daughter's romantic prospects.
Outside the door, Mia smiled awkwardly at Jake. "Haha, my mom... she doesn't usually act like this with pizza..."
"It's okay, I really like her." The fact that she'd already pushed her daughter out on a date right after meeting him showed just how worried Helen was about Mia's social life. This mother was genuinely concerned.
In any case, Jake was certain that Mia's mother didn't dislike him at all.
This was great news; with this kind of support, Jake believed his pursuit of Mia would be much smoother.
"Since your mom claimed the pizza, how about we go get another one?"
Jake's suggestion was immediately accepted by Mia. "This time I want to try the four-cheese."
"You're going to be so full!"
The two chatted casually as they walked toward the pizza place down the street.
Watching Mia become increasingly less shy and more relaxed around him, Jake felt genuinely good about this.
It had to be said that Anne Hathaway, who played Mia in the real world, was incredibly charming. Although she wasn't as sultry as Angelina Jolie, nor as stunning as Jessica Alba, and even her wide smile wasn't exactly model-perfect, she was still incredibly appealing. She possessed the qualities guys hoped for: cheerful, fun to be around, and genuine. You could spend time with her and never get bored.
Even in terms of looks, she was only slightly less striking than A-list Hollywood beauties. Jake especially remembered Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, whose sleek and alluring presence had captivated him completely.
In this film, Anne Hathaway was just around twenty years old, at her most youthful and energetic stage, and coupled with her status as a princess of Genovia, she was easily the most outstanding character in this world.
No wonder she became an overnight sensation with this movie.
The guy in the story who liked Mia—Josh Bryant—was self-absorbed and shallow, and most importantly, the two didn't even end up together in the sequel. Since they were destined not to work out, Jake naturally decided not to let him complicate things for Mia.
He thought to himself, "Mia's going to be mine!"
"What's wrong, Jake?" Finally, after being stared at by Jake for so long, even the somewhat oblivious Mia felt a little self-conscious.
"I just realized, Mia, you're actually a hidden beauty," Jake said, suddenly stopping and looking directly into Mia's eyes.
"No way, I'm just an ordinary ugly duckling," she said, her tone somewhat melancholy. No one willingly embraces being an ugly duckling, and Mia was no exception.
"I'll be here when the ugly duckling transforms into a swan."
The atmosphere between them slowly became charged with tension.
Watching Jake's face draw closer and closer, feeling the warmth of his breath on her skin, Mia couldn't control her racing heartbeat.
They were getting closer and closer. This was the first time either of them had faced this situation, and the nervous energy mixed with anticipation drew their attention to each other's lips, as if both wanted to know what that wonderful sensation of kissing would feel like.
Mia was nervous. She was a teenager and had longed for the experience of kissing someone for ages, but she'd never had the chance. Jake's warm breath on her face made her heart pound, and she involuntarily closed her eyes.
But after waiting what felt like a full minute, she opened her eyes to find Jake already standing several feet away. She asked, confused, "Jake?"
She didn't know if she was more confused about why Jake hadn't kissed her, or why he was suddenly so far away.
"We're at the pizza place," Jake said, pointing to the storefront right next to them.
Mia realized that this guy in front of her seemed even more oblivious to romantic moments than she was. Had he not kissed her because she wasn't pretty enough? Or...? "Were you nervous just now, Jake?"
"Of course not!" Jake denied it immediately.
Although he admitted that his heart had raced for a moment, he wouldn't call it nervousness. The reason he hadn't kissed her was because he wanted to kiss the more polished, confident Mia—after her transformation. The current Mia, with her frizzy hair and oversized glasses, just wasn't quite there yet for him.
These thoughts couldn't be spoken aloud, so Jake didn't mind letting the girl misunderstand a little.
After buying a pizza, the two sat in a small park in San Francisco, eating and chatting, both avoiding any mention of what had just almost happened. Jake noticed that Mia could no longer maintain eye contact with him for long; her cheeks would flush if she looked at his face for more than ten seconds.
"Where have you been these past few days? I thought this was just a brief stop for you, and we might never see each other again," Mia asked, taking a bite of her pizza.
Jake didn't mind Mia's casual eating style; it wasn't annoying at all, but rather endearing and natural.
"I was in New York," he said, though he added mentally, in a frozen wasteland version of it.
"New York? What's it like there?"
"The weather's been crazy, not many people around right now, but it's full of opportunities."
"My mom says everyone there is super ambitious," Mia nodded in agreement. "The weather's probably bad because it's been so unpredictable lately." Mia was completely unaware that they were talking about entirely different things.
The two didn't dwell on it.
After finishing their pizza, they walked around San Francisco. When Mia learned that Jake didn't know how to drive, she enthusiastically volunteered to teach him.
"This is my baby," Mia announced as they arrived at a garage and stopped in front of a beat-up convertible Mustang missing its top.
"I just bought it and it's already in the shop," Mia said, patting the hood affectionately. "But this is my first car, I love it. It was my fifteenth birthday present."
At that moment, a somewhat lanky, gentle-looking guy walked over. "Hi, Mia."
"Hi, Michael," Mia greeted him warmly, and of course, she didn't forget to introduce him to Jake. "This is Michael Moscovitz. His band practices here, and you've actually met his sister, Lilly."
Oh, so this is a rival, Jake thought, nodding knowingly. He extended his hand to Michael. "Hello, I'm Jake. I'm a friend of Mia's, just visiting from out of town."
Michael, maintaining his shy and awkward demeanor, mumbled a greeting and quickly retreated back toward the garage.
"Is he always that shy?" Jake asked.
"Pretty much every time I see him," Mia said nonchalantly, clearly not picking up on anything.
That's because he has a massive crush on you, Jake knew but didn't say aloud. Of course not—why would he create more competition for himself?
"So, you ready to teach me how to drive this thing?"
"Absolutely! Though fair warning, the clutch is a little tricky."
While Jake was making progress with Mia, Michael, who had been watching from inside the garage, saw them laughing together and could only regretfully turn away...
"This car needs some serious work," the mechanic said as he approached them. "Parts and labor will run you about a hundred fifty bucks."
"A hundred fifty?! That's so expensive!" Mia's face fell.
This was no small sum for a high school student.
"Let me take care of it," Jake stepped forward at just the right moment. Aren't guys most impressive when they're solving problems? Even though Jake wasn't using a credit card, the way he casually pulled out cash was smooth enough.
"Thank you, Jake," Mia didn't refuse. Perhaps it was because Jake had shown her so much attention today, but Mia actually hugged Jake's neck and kissed him on the cheek.
Jake noticed the mechanic give him a subtle thumbs-up and nodded back in acknowledgment.
Touching the spot where her lips had been, Jake smiled, then climbed into Mia's car as she started teaching him the basics of driving stick shift.
This day was only just beginning...
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