Xanax, Sorrow, and Love (A Mikey Way Fanfiction)

Sunset

My eyes slowly cracked open in the morning, burning from the sudden introduction of light from my thin curtains. The TV was on, playing some telenovela I didn't recognize and couldn't understand. The blanket was crumpled in a ball on the floor. Mikey was staring at me with a worried expression. "Wh-wha-what?" I mumbled, blinking to try and get adjusted to the light. I realized Mikey plugged the phone in by the couch and was holding it, reciever humming, his finger dangling precariously above the number '9'.

"You were saying weird stuff in your sleep," he said. "You weren't breathing, either." I stretched my arms, and pushed the phone reciever away from Mikey's face.

"I'm okay, Mikey, really," I groaned. I ran my hand through my hair. Ew. Greasy. "Mmph... I need to take a shower." I mumbled. My neck and back were killing me. Rolling my neck and twisting my back to try and pop my joints, I stumbled down the hall to the bathroom and got in the shower.

It wasn't until I was under the showerhead with the water running that I noticed I was out of shampoo.

"Damnit," I mumbled. "I'm out of shampoo." I cleared my throat. "MIKEY!" I yelled. May as well take advantage of someone else in the house then leave the shower, freeze, waste water, and have to mess with the temperature again when I got back in. That knob had two different temperatures and it was near impossible to get in the middle of them: Satan himself's throne or Siberian wastelands.

"What?"

"Could you get me a bottle of shampoo? Linen closet, bottom shelf, right next to the towels!"

"Okay,"

I heard footsteps muffled by socks go down the hall, the linen closet door opening and closing, and a knock on my door. "Just leave it in the hall," I said. "Thanks."

"Anytime," I heard footsteps go back down the hall, then the springs of the couch squeak. I jumped out of the shower, opened the door, grabbed the shampoo, and finished my shower.

When my hair was dry, I changed back into my clothes from the day before, because those were the only clothes I had left.

"I need to do laundry," I said, observing the current wardrobe situation in my closet.

"Let me help," said Mikey, who was sitting on my bed and flicking the bells on an old alarm clock on my nightstand. I laughed. "Sure," I replied, "And would you stop ringing that bell? It's driving me nuts."

"That was my objective," snickered Mikey.

"You're such an ass sometimes," I laughed.

As we were loading the clothes into the washer that was located in the guest bedroom I had no use for, Mikey was admiring my music taste that was displayed in the form of band T-shirts that I inherited from my cousin Thomas. "Metallica... Green Day... Godsmack... Misfits... Rancid... Iron Maiden... Hey! I have that same Anthrax shirt... Wow," he laughed. We finished getting all the dirty clothes loaded in a matter of minutes. It wasn't that difficult to sort colors because all I had was black, but hey.

I looked at the hallway clock when we were done. "Shit," I said. "I need to go to work."

"So do I,"

"You should go home after work," I said.

"Why?"

"Because you don't live here, and I'm fine by myself. I'm sure your pet gerbil that you told me about last week needs some company, too."

"Whatever," he said, and we left for work.

********

After a long and horrible day at Dollar General, I was about to go home when I saw the piece of paper with Mikey's address on it poking out from the cover of the mirror on my pull-down sun shield. I'll surprise him, I thought. I drove to the outskirts of town and through the nice suburb where Mikey lived. All the houses looked the same, two stories with a front porch and a cute tree in the yard, colors varying a little, some houses had a chair on the porch or a gnome collection in the rock garden. I stopped in the road when I saw the one that was supposed to be Mikey's house; the one with the weeds taking over the yard. I pulled the car next to the sidewalk. What if you walk in on him making out with some other girl? This wasn't planned, after all. You can't stand another heartbreak, you're too fragile. "No, I'll be fine," I said, and walked boldly up the drive, which luckily contained Mikey's car.