apartment 23 // mitchel cave

14

angeline's p.o.v.

i woke up the next morning on an unfamiliar sofa in an even more unfamiliar room. the stench of alcohol lingered in the air and i noticed that christian was passed out on the floor next to me. he was wearing a sailor hat. i laughed to myself, i didn't know this side of christian. i made a mental note to get to know him better.

i sat up on the sofa and looked around, the only light in the room was from behind the curtains. other than that it was pretty dark. i could make out mitchel from across the room, his legs dangling over the arm of the chair. i grabbed my phone from my back pocket and checked the time.

"11:57 shit" i whispered to myself.

"you ok?" another voice whispered next to me, causing me to jump. it was clinton.

"jesus christ, you scared me. and yeah i'm fine, i just have a class at 1:00." i whispered over to him.

"do you want me to wake your boy up?" he asked me. i could feel my face go bright red. my boy. thank god it was dark in here.

"um, i can do it, but thanks" i answered, giving him a smile. he smiled back and i carefully tried to make it across the room without waking anyone else up. i made it to mitchel's chair and knelt down next to it. i gently rubbed the side of his face.

"hey mitty" i whispered in his ear.

i saw him crack a smile and slowly open up his eyes.

"hey pretty lady" he said. i couldn't help but laugh at him just laying there, his hair scattered everywhere and his long legs dangling over the side of the chair. he was a complete mess. but a beautiful one, at that.

"i have a class at one and quite frankly i don't have a single idea where we are." i whispered to him. his eyes widened and he suddenly shot up, looking around.

"shit, ok. come on, let's go." he said quickly. i was confused but went with it; i had to get to my classes one way or another. we walked out of the house, or what i had thought was a house. turns out it was a full blown mansion. i wondered how we ended up passing out in a mansion. we promptly walked down the drive way. the brisk air seemed to envelop me. i pulled my shirt around me tighter before i felt a jacket being draped around my shoulders.

"you look cold." mitchel laughed.

"thanks" i said, pulling the jacket around me.

we walked back to our apartment complex; turns out it wasn't too far. i quickly ran inside and grabbed my bag, making sure i didn't look like a complete mess in the mirror first. i met mitchel down in the lobby and we were on our way again.

"hey, i've been wondering about something," he said suddenly. i looked at him confused. "why do you go to college if it's not something you want to do?" he asked, looked at me. i hadn't really thought about that before. i had always taken it as a given that i was supposed to go to college and end up in a dead-end job. the lucky ones got out and did something they actually liked, like mitchel.

"i don't really know to be completely honest," i said, looking down at my feet.

"i mean, if you don't like it, there's no use in pursuing it. it won't ever make you happy," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"what would i even do though, mitchel? i mean, i already have so much debt and my savings are running out. what if i don't have enough money to pay rent? i'm going to need a job," i said.

"i could always, you know, help you out." he mentioned. "listen, i've been thinking of moving out of that dingy ass apartment for a while now. you could come with me and you could do your art and you won't have to worry about going to dead-end classes every morning." he said, smiling over at me. i was at a loss for words. i couldn't believe what he was suggesting. sure, pursuing art was a dream but i didn't want mitchel to feel like i was taking advantage of him.

"i'd probably be on tour most of the time anyways, so you'd have the place to yourself." he said as he reached into his back pocket to pull out a cigarette. he offered one to me and i accepted it, allowing him to light it before i inhaled the smoke into my lungs. i didn't smoke much but i felt stressed out in this situation.

tour. i completely forgot that's what musicians do. the thought of him being gone for months at time disappointed me. sure, he had his own career and life and i couldn't be a part of every moment. still, i felt a bit disappointed. we rounded the corner where my college sat and we stood in front of the steps that led up to the main entrance. i tried handing him back his jacket but he just simply shook his head.

"it looks better on you anyways," he said before smiling and taking a puff from his cigarette.

"i'll think about your offer." i said quietly.

"whenever you want, babe, we can leave." he said as he caressed the side of my face. he placed a kiss on my forehead before pulling away to smile at me.

"bye mitchel."

"bye angeline."

i walked up the steps towards the main doors and took a final puff from the cigarette. i dropped it in front of the doors and stomped it out before walking inside to take a test in a class i gave no shits about.