Alex’s POV:

“Hey, Mickey?” I spoke, breaking the silence in the room.

We were back home from our mini tour packed with adventure. Although her mom freaked out when she found out Mickey had been stabbed on one of the last days, she didn’t get grounded or anything, which was quite a surprise. Hence why Mickey came over on a Saturday afternoon with no trouble despite getting into a shitload of trouble on the trip. We were lying on my bed not doing anything, Mickey with an arm draped across my chest and the side of her face resting against my shoulder.

“Hmm?” she hummed in response, not moving an inch.

“This might sound like a random question…” I started, no longer being able to stand the wonder in me ever since that night. “But your friend--”

“Jordan?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded before continuing, “he said something in the car while we were waiting for you to come back. It’s a little personal, but he said you overdosed before…”

“Yeah… not exactly my smartest move,” she confirmed but didn’t give any other details.

“That must have been terrifying.”

“Well, it was for my parents. But I was too high beforehand to really remember anything. Fifteen-year-old me managed to get addicted to coke and took it a little too far. I felt great when I was still taking it, but after I had been admitted to hospital, I felt like absolute shit. Addiction isn’t easy to break out of. I went to rehab and got better, but now I stray away from it. I don’t need to fall back in that routine. It’s one of the reasons I had to redo a year at school,” she told me in quite a soft and calm voice. It was the first time she willingly told me about something without withholding anything.

“But why start in the first place?” I still asked. I just wanted to understand her.

“You’ve been to a party with me before.” She pushed herself up a little so that she wasn’t practically lying on top of me anymore and looked at me. “People encourage it and it’s easy to get hooked onto.”

“At least you’re not taking it anymore,” I said to turn it into something positive. It was a heavy subject, but that didn’t mean we had to keep a heavy mood.

“If I would have, my mom would have moved us out of here a long time ago. Trust me, it happened once, she won’t miss it again.” She rolled over, lying back on her back, making my side feel cold.

Sensing that this was the end of that conversation and missing Mickey being so close to me, I pushed myself up on my elbows and leaned towards her until I was almost hovering over her. After watching for a little while to check if she was okay with what I was planning on doing, I closed the space between us and pressed my lips against hers. Although I made sure to be careful with her stitches, kissing her was still one of the most exhilarating things I would ever do no matter how innocent. I still got that same feeling as the very first time. Only this time it wasn’t screaming at me to keep her around, it was screaming at me to make sure she wouldn’t just leave.

But our connection got interrupted by my mom shouting my name from downstairs, “Alex!”

I sighed and sat upright, looking in the direction of my door which was open ajar as per my parents’ request, before yelling back,“what?!”

As she started replying, Mickey reacted to me yelling way too loud. I couldn’t hear the first part of whatever my mom said since Mickey decided it was okay to hit me on the head with a pillow to show her annoyance.

While I missed the first sentence, my mom ended it with, “Jack’s here!”

“Okay, send him up!” I shouted back even though I wasn’t expecting him to come over at all. It did get me another hit to the head with a pillow from Mickey, though.

“What was that for?” I laughed while rubbing my head and trying to fix my hair

“You’re loud and I wanted to take a nap,” she grumbled and sat up as well because Jack was going to be here anytime soon, his footsteps were already loudly coming up the stairs.

Jack entered the room and immediately saw the red hair contrasting against my mainly black, white, and gray choice of colors for my bedroom. “Oh, hey, Mickey. Didn’t know you were here.”

“You would have known if you called beforehand,” I retorted, not moving from my position while he let himself fall down onto my desk chair.

“Okay, well, whatever,” he brushed it off as if he was the one that was supposed be annoyed in this situation. “Anyway, I guess I’ll just be able to ask you both this question I have… do you guys believe in love at first sight?”

“Oh my god, Jack,” Mickey groaned and rubbed her eyes before giving him a look that said she couldn’t believe what he was asking. “Is this about that one girl who comes to Rita’s a few times a week? Cause she’s not into you. She’s obviously into girls. If anything, she’s pining after me.”

“Umm, excuse me, no,” he shook his head at her, sounding offended. “And she’s so into me. So, shut up.”

“Has she ever shown up whenever you work a shift without me? Oh, and she stares at my boobs longer than it takes her to choose ice cream,” Mickey shot back, crossing her arms.

Of course, the idea of somebody hitting on my girlfriend didn’t sit right with me. But then again, I was a teenage boy. The thought of Mickey with another girl put a grin on my face. If was definitely an image I was keeping for later.

“Okay, fine! Jeez!” Jack put his hands up in defense, but quickly changed his mood again as he stated, “but seriously, guys, what’s your answer?” We both shrugged, causing Jack’s eyes to jump to me. “Alex?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess…” I frowned, very unsure of my answer. “Although, that would mean only being in love based on somebody’s appearance. I guess you can tell you might love someone based on appearance and then talk to them and then find out if you actually do like or love them. But then again, I do like to think it’s real.”

“Okay, okay,” Jack nodded like he was conducting a survey. “Mickey? What about you?”

“I believe in love at second marriage,” she said in a tone that might trick you into believing she was actually being serious.

“Huh?” I questioned, confused where she managed to get an answer so direct yet so strange from.

“Well, according to studies, I should be scarred by my mom and father divorcing,” she shrugged, making clear she didn’t even believe in the first statement, “and my dad also had been married once before… so… but I’m not even sure if I think love is a real thing. And, no, that’s not because of the whole divorce thing.”

“You’re not sure if love exists?!” Jack asked, more shocked that I was.

I always assumed Mickey to be that kind of person based on what I already knew about her. If she didn’t do friends and boyfriends, then she most definitely didn’t do love. Even though she did break the first two rules she had, something told me the whole ‘love’ thing was a little harder to break through… if that was even possible.

“I mean, why would I? You don’t know you’ve reached true happiness until you no longer feel it,” she started to explain without trouble for the second time that day. “You don’t know true pain until you really do hurt. So, why would I know what love feels like if I’ve never experienced it?” Before we could ask her to explain any further, she stood up and went out of the room. “Anyway, I’ll be right back.”

“The fuck?” Jack whisper-shouted at me.

“What?” I asked back.

“She doesn’t believe in love! You, Alex Gaskarth, a hopelessly romantic manwhore is dating somebody who doesn’t believe in love!” He exclaimed as if it was something that was impossible. “First of all, how did you manage to sleep with her without tricking her into thinking you’d fall in love and live happily ever after? And second of all, how are you dating if you know this relationship will never progress?!”

“She didn’t say she didn’t believe in it. She said she doesn’t know unless she feels it herself.”

“Alex, you sound like one of those girls you used to sleep with.” Jack rolled his eyes and started imitating the voice of one of those girls. “‘I know he always sleeps around, but I will be the one to change him!’”

“It’s not like that. Why even bring it up now?”

“You seemed quite lovey-dovey at the end of the trip, there. You might think we don’t notice, but we do. There’s a difference between the ‘let-me-take-you-out-for-a-milkshake’ Alex and the ‘I’m-comforting-you-after-you’ve-been-stabbed-and-want-you-to-put-all-your-trust-in-me’ Alex.”

“Look,” I sighed, not wanting to deny the truth but also not believing he used the best example, “I know what to expect from Mickey. I won’t do anything stupid.”

“It hasn’t stopped you before,” he pushed. “I’m not saying you should end it with her. I’m just warning. You’re my best friend and I don’t want you to end up with a broken heart.”

“I won’t end up with a broken heart!”

As if on cue, Mickey walked back in, luckily not having heard any of my conversation with Jack. I didn’t need Jack to tell me what Mickey could be like. After all, I was her boyfriend. I knew her better than Jack. If anything, I knew even better how much I could end up getting hurt. But I also knew just how much potential she had.

She sat back on the bed, holding her shirt up just a sliver and holding a tissue to where she had been stabbed.

“You’re bleeding?” My eyes went wide at the sight, immediately worried.

“Yeah, accidentally scratched it while going to the bathroom. It happens all the time, no biggie,” she disregarded and looked between me and Jack. “So, what did I miss?"

Notes

A shorter chapter that may seem like a filler, but might be important for later on ;)
A little contradicting foreshadowing going on here.

Also, I'm on a roll again. So many new chapters! But I feel like nobody's reading anymore after my inactivity for a while. I mean, it is my fault. Have I lost you guys?