To be continued... || Mick Schumacher

Sechzehn | Sixteen

An hour late.

Over the past few weeks, everything had been fine. No more late calls, or delayed calls. It wasn't just Mick who called anymore, Lotte showed initiative from her side. Of course, there were ups and downs, not everything was perfect, but it was good. The calls were fun, they had FaceTimes dates. They cooked together, or watched a film together, go out for a walk, played a game online or just chatted. They had found their ways to deal with the long-distance.

Mick was walking through his neighbourhood with Angie, emptying his head and enjoying the sun. It was evening, the sun had just set, and it became chilly. He put on his hoodie and looked at his phone one more time.

Still nothing.

They were supposed to call an hour ago. First, Mick waited ten minutes. But then he called, and she didn't pick up. His thoughts went immediately to that day in Melbourne, Australia. Did her internship really push her to her limit, or was she picking something or someone else over him this time?

A sigh rolled over his lips, and he tightened his jaw. The tears were swimming in his eyes, it sucked to have a long-distance relationship. It was a challenge. Mick was prepared for the difficult moments, he knew it wouldn't be easy, but this was a difficult kind of effort. Travelling around the world had never been easy, but this was awful. There was no base. Due to the constant changing (also regular) situations and time-zones, it was hard to keep up with everything.

And he missed her so much.

Mick couldn't just pick her up and take her out for dinner. Or a drive. Or something else. Lotte wasn't living around the corner or one city away. She lived five counties away: Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and was based in the Netherlands. Mick knew Lotte wanted to come over, but her own schedule would make it impossible. And calling sick every time... Explain that to your boss and uni. It also wasn't like Mick could skip a weekend, that was the impossible of the impossible.

"Let's go home," Mick said to Angie and decided to take the shortcut route.

He blinked the tears away and sniffed. He deeply breathed in and out. There was disappointment, but for some reason, he tried to make up a reason why Lotte didn't call. Perhaps something happened, or she forgot it. She's human, after all.

When he came home, he grabbed something to drink. Mick also made sure Angie had something to drink in her tray and gave her a small sweet.

"Good girl," he smiled and stroked her head.

Mick walked over to the couch and sat down. He turned on the TV, there was football tonight. His eyes had a quick glance on his watch for the time. Just a few more minutes. He turned on the news for the last couple of minutes and shut down his mind.

Five minutes into the football match, his phone started to ring. Mick grabbed it and looked at it. A frown came on his face; Colette was calling. Colette never called. Maybe once in Lapland last year, that was why he saved her number in his phone. But why would she call now? He looked at Colette's name, and a questionable look came on his face.

"Hey, Co," Mick said friendly when he picked up the phone.

"Mick..." That wasn't Colette. "I'm sorry for not calling or texting you."

He sat up and straightened his back. "Lot," he worriedly said. Her voice sounded thick, like she had been crying. "What is going on? Are you okay?"

"No," Lotte replied and sniffed. "I came home and...and I found Co on the floor." It was silence. "She looked dead, Mick," she cried.

"Lot, calm down. What happened?" Mick held in his breath, she was in a panic.

"Co..." Lotte tried to talk, but she was losing everything. Sobs filled the phone. "She passed out on the kitchen floor. She isn't healthy. She is...is malnourished. It looks bad."