Alex’s POV:

Having Rian as my inside man into Mickey’s life put my mind at ease a little bit, emphasis on the word ‘little’. After all, this was Rian we were talking about. He didn’t have the best track record being around people of the opposite sex. And here he was, given the Everest sized task of keeping an eye on the most intimidating female on the planet.

I loved the guy like a brother, but his virgin band geek-ness was bound to drive a girl like Mickey absolutely crazy sooner or later.

Turns out, sooner happened quicker than expected.

It’d only been a couple days of Rian’s babysitting gig, and Mickey’s parents had asked Rian to keep an eye on their rebellious daughter for the day, as they had to go into the city for some important business thing that they couldn’t reschedule.

Rian had initially been hesitant to agree, as the last week of being around Mickey so much had scarred him, or so he’d said. “There are some things I’ll never be able to unsee.” He’d told me when I asked him what the hell’d the girl had done to make him second guess his decision to help keep Mickey on the straight and narrow.

“What did she do?” I repeated, a scowl on my face at Rian’s avoidance of my initial question.

“She did it, that’s what.” Rian replied, nose scrunched in disgust as he added a shiver for dramatic effect.

My eyes widened, that jealousy I’d been unable to hold back returning in folds. “What! With who?”

Rian’s thick brows furrowed as he shot back in defense. “I didn’t exactly stop to ask his name, Alex. It was awkward enough as it was, having to hear them bang in the shower. You really think I wanted to talk to the guy after hearing him moan over the episode of the Simpsons I was miserably trying so very hard to focus on?”

I pursed my lips for a second, the lack of identity killing me. “Well...what’d he look like? Did you get a good look at him?”

“I don’t know, man. He looked older, I guess?”

Normally, a solid lead. But with Mickey? That description meant shit. “Older. That’s a lot of help.”

“Hey, I’m trying here--”

“I know, I know.” I shook my head, knowing that at this point, identifying the man wouldn’t do much good anyway. “Anyway, you were saying her parents want you to hang with her on Saturday?”

Rian nodded. “Yeah, they’re going into the city for a while and want me to keep an eye on her. I said I’d do it cause her mom pays me and you know I’ve been saving up for that new drum kit for our shows. Still, I told Mickey if she tries to pull anything else I’ll tell on her.”

I let out a light snort at my friend’s choice of words. “You told her you’d tell on her?” Rian nodded, not finding anything wrong with that. “Dude, if you said that word for word, there’s no way in hell she’ll take you seriously.”

“But I am serious.” Rian pressed on stubbornly.

“I’m sure you are, bud.” I chuckled lightly. “But all Mickey sees is some marching band dweeb who can’t tell her to do shit, threat of telling on her or not.”

Turns out, I was right. Mickey didn’t give a flying fuck that her parents had put Rian in charge that Saturday afternoon. She didn’t give a fuck that they expected her to stay home until they got home, which could’ve been as late as one in the morning. And she certainly didn’t care that if she were to do anything outside of the house, her parents were one call away to squash any potential plans like a bug.

She was going to do what she wanted. Period.

Sure enough, a mere two hours after her parents had left for the city, Rian called me in a panic. “She’s gone, dude.”

“What? Who’s gone?” I asked, my mind temporarily clouding over as I’d forgotten his very important task over the weekend.

“Mickey!” He hissed into the phone, his worry and nerves clear as day as his voice shook. “Fuck, Alex. What am I supposed to do? Do I call her parents? The police? I don’t know--”

“Don’t call anyone, not until we know what’s going on, anyway.” I responded, knowing that getting anyone else involved could spell bigger trouble for Mickey than necessary. So, instead of panicking and getting any adults involved, I got up and grabbed my jacket and keys, figuring that I might be able to figure out what the hell was going on and maybe, just maybe, I could get through to Mickey this time. Granted, the last few times I’d talked to her she’d looked so pissed off her eyes looked like they were about to shoot fire into my very soul. But, like the idiot I was, that didn’t stop me. Seething gazes or not, I didn’t think twice about heading out into the rainy fall day to find the rebellious redhead, only barely remembering to leave my parents a quick note before bracing myself for the stormy weather outside. “Do you have any idea where she could’ve gone?” I asked Rian, my cell pressed firmly to my ear as I pressed on outside, ignoring the steady drops of water falling around me. “Maybe a club or something?”

I could hear Rian let out an exasperated sigh as he replied, “Maybe? I don’t know.” The phone crackled for a second or two before he added, “For all we know, she snuck off to go to the house of the guy she was boning.”

I swallowed, my throat thick as I knew this to be an unfortunate, not to mention probable possibility. But before the jealousy arose once more, I shook my head, my brain moving on as I’d recalled something Rian had briefly mentioned when we were talking about his time with Mickey. “Wait. She shouldn’t have been able to take her car, right?” I asked, not seeing how she could’ve been able to get very far without the red pickup truck she drove to and from school. “Don’t you have her keys?”

“Yeah...about that...”

My stomach lurched. “Don’t tell me she took the keys.”

An awkward, uneasy silence fell over Rian for a second before he huffed, “Okay, fine. I won’t tell you.”

I groaned at his smart ass remark. “Fucking hell, dude--”

“I swear, I wasn’t paying attention for five minutes, that’s all--”

“Well apparently that’s all it takes.” I shot back, pressing my shoulders into my car seat in agitation as I thought of what our options were. We could call her parents, which would lead to Rian getting in trouble for not keeping a closer eye on the one thing he was supposed to keep an eye on. If we called the police, Mickey could very easily end up jailed, you know, given all the illegal things she’d been known to do. Mickey already hated me as it was. I didn’t exactly want to add to the list of reasons why, and being the reason she got arrested would be a biggie.

“So...” Rian’s nervous voice pulled me from my thoughts and back into reality. “...what are we gonna do?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to take this one step at a time. “Let...let me drive over to your place and hopefully I’ll figure out what the fuck we’re gonna do, alright?”

This seemed like a good enough response for Rian, his voice shaky. “Okay, okay...”

“Deep breaths.” I reminded him.

I could hear an immediate gulp of air on his end. “Okay.” He repeated.

“I’ll be there in fifteen.” I said, then hung up the phone call before flipping my car into reverse, backing out of my driveway and towards Rian’s place around two miles away. I made this trip often, as our band practice was located in his basement, so I knew exactly how long it takes to get there from my house. Yet, as I made my way down the wet, slick roads, I couldn’t help but drive a little faster than normal, my mind on the girl causing this whole mess in the first place. I knew that if I wanted to, I could stop giving a damn, especially considering her constantly pushing me away ever since our one moment together, but my worry wouldn’t fade.

Where was she? Was she safe? Both valid questions, though the answers were even more complicated thanks to the gloomy weather currently blanketing the Baltimore sky. Her old rust bucket of a car was scary to drive on a good day. I could only imagine what it was like on stormy, slick roads like I was seeing in front of me, the rain so thick I had to lean forward and squint my eyes to see, and that was with the windshield wipers working on full.

I continued on my short journey to Rian’s place, my heart pounding in my chest as my eyes kept scanning for the girl with fire-y red hair. I wasn’t hoping for much, figuring that wherever Mickey went, she had hightailed it out of the neighborhood ages ago. But, as fate would have it, just ten minutes into my drive and a half mile away from her house, I found a certain rusty ass car pulled over on the side of the road, and a flash of red graced my eyes as I realized she was in the drivers seat.

I let out a breath of relief, pulling my own car over just behind hers as I prepared myself for what I was going to say. After all, I was the last person, other than her parents, maybe, that she’d want to see. Before I could stress myself out over this fact, I grabbed the door handle, pulled my hoodie up so it covered my head from the rain, and hopped out of my car, stomping over to her car door with purpose. I knocked on her window, watching as she visibly jumped, her eyes darting towards me in shock and even through the rain speckled glass I could see that she’d been crying. I pulled back slightly, taken aback as this side of her was certainly not what I was expecting.

Then, her lips pulled into a firm frown as she yelled through her car door, “Alex? How many times do I have to tell you to leave me the fuck alone?”

Ignoring her question, I replied simply, my voice much calmer than the mess of emotions I was currently feeling, “Rian told me you snuck out.” I paused for a second as I peered briefly around her truck to make sure she was the only one in the vehicle. She was. “Looks like you got real far.” I smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “For your information, smart ass--” She glared at me, motioning towards the front of the car. “My engine died.”

Ah. So that explains her on the side of the road. As for the crying...well that would take way more work to get anything out of her. Instead of pressing her too much, I just replied honestly, “I’m surprised you didn’t call that boy toy of yours.”

Her eyes continued to bore into mine, as if she was rueing the day she decided to talk to me, my presence alone a thorn in her side. “I would have, but as I was checking on the engine, I slipped and dropped my phone in a puddle.”

I raised a brow, realizing I suddenly had a way in. “...well. I have a phone. And a car.” I smiled back at her gloomy, unimpressed features.

“Is this your way of capping off my shit-storm of a day, Gaskarth?”

“Oooh, it’s Gaskarth now, is it?”

“Or dumb ass.” She shot back. “If you’re being an extra pain in the--”

“I’m not trying to rub it in your face, Mickey.” I cut her off, leaning closer to the window in hopes she’d open up, just a little. Just enough to let me in. “I’m just trying to help, that’s all.”

I was met with silence, as if she was trying hard to find my ulterior motive. In her eyes, the only guys who were nice to her were ones who wanted to sleep with her. So now that we’d been there done that, the fact that I still wanted to help her out after everything must’ve mystified her. “You aren’t going to take me back to my house and tell on me, are you?”

I shook my head. “Your secret’s safe with me.” I let my lips curl up in a small smile. “I promise.”

She continued to sit in her car, debating whether or not she should trust me while I stood outside her car, the cold rain water beginning to freeze my bones. I curled my hands up into a tight ball, my muscles contracting in an attempt to keep some warmth.

I waited as long as I could, but when my hands began to shake from the cold, I tapped on her window again, “Not that I’m trying to rush you or anything, but it’s fucking freezing outside so if you don’t mind making your mind up soon, that’d be great.”

She scrunched up her nose, her eyes narrowed at me for a second or two before she snatched her bag from her passenger seat and shot out of her car. I barely dodged her car door, backing up just enough to allow her room to get out. She shut the door roughly and, keeping her back towards me, swiftly made her way towards the passenger side of my car. “Well?” She snapped when I’d failed to move fast enough behind her, momentarily frozen from pure shock that she was actually agreeing to do anything with me.

“Oh. Right.” I stumbled for my keys and pressed the button to unlock the car. As soon as it was open, Mickey tossed her bag inside and got into the passenger seat with a huff.

I got back into my car to find Mickey with that same annoyed scowl on her face, arms crossed and staring straight ahead. I peered at her, uncertain of what exactly we should do next. “So...why’d you sneak out?”

“Like hell I’m telling you.” She snapped back on automatic.

“Just thought I’d ask.” I sighed, oddly getting used to her stand offish replies. “It’s just, uh...” I bit my lip, hesitant to bring it up, “...I noticed you were crying when I pulled up and--”

“Drop it, okay?!”

I threw up a hand in innocence. “Hey, you don’t need to tell me why. I was just going to say that if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here for you, Mickey.”

She just stared at me, no name calling or angry response this time. Just silence. Maybe this was an improvement, after all.

“You don’t even have to talk.” I quickly continued. “If you just wanna hang out in absolute silence, we can totally do that. If you need to cry on my shoulder, we can do that too. You don’t have to do anything but stop trying to push me away, because it’s not going to happen, got it? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m stubborn as fuck.”

She huffed, and, just as I was about to look away and start the car, the corner of her mouth curled up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss it kind of smile.

I saw it though.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

I let my shoulders relax a bit as I eased back into the driver’s seat, starting my own car with a roar of the engine. “Now. We can go back to your house and let Rian give you a boring ass lecture or we can go for option number two and have some real fun. What do you say?”

Notes

I updated! What a shock, I know! Thank you everyone for being so patient with me. My life has been...nonexistent as I've been working soooo much :\ Ugh. I gotta pay to see the boys in ATL somehow, right? lol. Enjoy!