Alex’s POV:

I saw Mickey waiting on the curb outside the house she told me to come pick her up from. The only people around were drunk party-goers smoking and making out with each other, but they didn’t seem to take any notice of Mickey just sitting there all by herself. I was fully prepared to park my car, get out, and go up to her there to see what was going on. Instead, without even taking a glance in my direction, she got up and rushed to the passenger side. It almost seemed like she would have gotten into any random car that stopped here.

She put on her seatbelt and still continued to practically ignore me, so I assumed that meant to just drive. I knew better than to push it by now. If she wanted to tell me, she would do so when she was ready. It might take awhile, but it would eventually come out. I was going to respect the silence.

However, there was one question I did have to ask and couldn’t just leave. “Where am I driving you?”

She sighed and wiped away her last tears before rolling her head in my direction. “I’m staying at Michael’s, just take me there.”

“Would you like to come to mine instead?” I asked, knowing just how much she didn’t like being there.

“No, it’s fine. I promised him I would stay with him. It was my choice.”

I nodded and adjusted my course so we would end up in the right place. Mickey really was trying to change. Here she was, going out with her old childhood best friend (which obviously didn’t go well), improving her relationship with her mom, being more open, and even trying to include Michael a little despite all he did.

After a few more moments of silence, Mickey suddenly spoke up. “No matter what anybody tells you about tonight, do not believe them.”

“No?” I frowned, keeping my eyes on the road, but sensing this was when Mickey was going to spill everything. “Why not?”

“Everybody has their own twisted view of it, everybody was drunk. I was the only only one thinking straight– and now Olivia has it out for me.”

Although it wasn’t the right question to ask, it was the only one that come out of my mouth. “What did you do?”

“No, no, I didn’t do anything,” Mickey shook her head, but didn’t get mad at me. “I was just trying to be her wingwoman. You know, like I sometimes do for Jack.”

“Right.”

“But then this guy comes onto me. He’s one of those dudes that just thinks he can kiss any girl who he lies eyes on. Olivia saw and she blew up on me; said a few things that are probably true, but I don’t want to think about.”

Sure, my heart dropped a little at the fact that she shared a kiss with another guy and that it wasn’t just one of her random overly-drunk kisses she would give to anybody without meaning, but the way she said it really did tell me that she did not want it to happen. She didn’t sound disgusted, but she sounded way too casual and annoyed about it.

“So, Olivia is mad at you for that dude making a move on you?” I investigated. “That makes no sense.”

“She thinks I did it on purpose and wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain what actually happened.”

“That just sounds way too much like a romantic comedy fall out scene.”

“But I’m pretty sure there is no making up here,” she scoffed and ran a hand through her hair. “All I wanted was to reconnect with my best friend, but she’s no better than Heather.”

“Oh, wow, the Heather-label. That must be bad.” I sucked a breath in. I could easily agree that my ex-girlfriend was not a great person.

“People suck. This is why I don’t do friends.”

“But it’s how you met me.” I shrugged and sneakily grabbed her hand before swiftly raising it to my mouth and giving it a short kiss.

She pulled it back and teasingly slapped my leg. “Fuck off.”

“Hey, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“I wish,” she snorted.

“I know you don’t mean that, my ego is way too big for that,” I retorted.

She didn’t reply back and just stared out of the window to her right. Although she was silent and staring off into the distance, I knew she wasn’t mad. Her body language just didn’t say so. She wasn’t hiding behind her hair to create a physical barrier between us, her hands weren’t balled up ready to throw a punch, and her legs were relaxed instead of standing their ground. But she was thinking.

About what? I didn’t know.

It was times like this when I wished I could just read her mind. You know, times where her eyes drifted off and she was obviously in her own world without her guard up. It was like there was this whole other complicated world inside her mind. I sometimes got glimpses of that reality, but how I wished the explore it further. Just to understand.

She started laughing and rolled her head to look at me.

“What’s so funny?” I chuckled, getting a brief glimpse of her.

“Nothing.” She shook her head and tried brushing some hair out of her face. “The alcohol’s just starting to hit me. Michael’s going t’go insane.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that.” I tried comforting her by stroking her arm. “I’ll be there with you. He won’t do anything.”

“Fuck me,” she groaned with another laugh following soon after.

“I won’t let him do anything, and if he does, we can go to mine.”

“No, Alex. He doesn’t ever do anything,” she scolded me, “he’s just going to be disappointed. Just give me a few minutes to sober up.”

“I think you’ll need a bit more than a few minutes if it’s just started to hit you.”

“Just a few minutes,” she repeated in a mumble as her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

It took more than just a few minutes, but I couldn’t just take her to Michael’s like this. Taking her to mine would be betraying her. So, I did the only thing I thought I could do at the time. I just drove around with no real destination. It was just road after road without an idea where I was. I managed to keep it up until Mickey woke up again. She was a little confused, but definitely a lot more sober again.

I took her to Michael’s house just like I promised.

“I could really go for some pizza right now,” Mickey sighed as I turn off the car and she took off her seatbelt.

“There’s nothing stopping you from ordering some.” I pointed out and took the keys out of the ignition.

“You’re really smart sometimes,” she exaggerated in all seriousness and was the first to leave the car.

I followed her closely as she just walked into the house without knocking or unlocking the doors first. Here I was, trying to prepare myself for whatever was to come, and she was acting so casual.

Michael was in his chair watching TV while Mickey went straight for the phone. He didn’t even acknowledge us coming in. He was too invested in whatever was playing on the TV that was placed way too close. I was surprised he wasn’t passed out with how many empty beer bottles were surrounding him.

“What’s up, Pop?” Mickey greeted, finally catching his attention. “Alex and I are just going to order some pizza and be up in my room.”

His eyes moved from Mickey’s figure right to me. I could just tell he was judging me. He wasn’t even trying to hide it with his squinted eyes and scowl. Honestly, I was no longer afraid he was going to do something to Mickey. Rather, I was scared he might actually do something to me.

“I don’t think so,” Michael grumbled and turned his head back towards the tv.

“Ugh, but I really want pizza,” Mickey whined. “I won’t even use your money for it!”

“I don’t give a fuck about your pizza,” he scoffed while stuffing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it. “I give a fuck about you taking that boy up to your room. I raised ya better than that.” He looked at me. “What you goin’ to be doing to my daughter, huh? You just goin’ to be taking advantage of her like that.”

I felt like I needed to defend myself, I couldn’t just let somebody talk about me like that. But something else was telling me that actually saying something would make the entire situation worse. This guy wasn’t up for hearing me out.

Mickey shook her head in disbelief. “It’s Alex, he drove me home. I’m just offering him some pizza to thank him.”

“Those boys always expect something in return like you’re some slut. Is that what you want them to think, that you’re some slut?!”

“Oh my god,” Mickey breathed out and pressed two fingers between her eyebrows out of frustration. “He’s my boyfriend, nothing 'slutty' will be going down. He’ll leave after we finish the pizza and I go to bed. I’ll keep the door open if that’s what you fucking want.”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” Mickey rolled her eyes and ordered the pizza.

While we were waiting, we had to stay down in the kitchen-slash-living room. Michael was still too afraid something would be happening that he did not want happening. To say it was awkward was an understatement. As soon as the pizza arrived, Mickey and I couldn’t be up in her room any faster.

“Told ya he wouldn’t do anything.” Mickey poked as she sat on the floor and opened the box in front of her.

I sat down with her and looked at the door that was wide open. “Isn’t this an invasion of privacy?”

She shrugged and picked up a slice. “At least we’re up here. It’s all good intentions. It’s not like we’re doing anything that he shouldn’t see.”

“Hmm.” I gave a single nod with a frown and took my own slice. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but there wasn’t anything I could do at that moment.

After finishing my slice, I decided to ask something that I had been wondering since Mickey woke up in my car. “Do you remember anything of what happened tonight?”

“Yeah,” she nodded and took a large bite of pizza. “I remember everything. I didn’t drink enough to ruin my memories.”

“Yeah? You’ve told me that before and then failed trying to recount everything.”

“I went to the party with Olivia. We met her brother and this guy she’s into. I tried to be a good wingwoman, things went wrong. He tried to get with me, Olivia got super mad. You came and picked me up, I told you what happened, and I fell asleep.”

“I’m proud of you,” I joked with a chuckle.

“Not too loud!” Mickey shushed my laughing. “Michael can’t think we’re having too much fun here."

I left that house with much regret. I didn’t want to leave Mickey all alone in there. She kept saying that Michael ‘didn’t do anything’, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it.

Notes

I'm back home for Christmas and am ready to slowly write again. I'm hoping to get out some updates, but we'll have to see how productive I am. I wish I had more motivation (I always get it at the weirdest of times. like at 4am or when I don't have my laptop around).

Anyway, what can I say about this chapter. Alex is awesome for understanding without much hesitation, and Michael's still a fucking asshole.