Michael woke up to both the sound of his phone ringing and his alarm clock buzzing on his bedside table. He rolled over with a groan, first hitting the alarm clock to shut it up and then grabbing his cell phone.
"Hello?" He answered, his eyes still closed.
"Michael, are you awake yet?"
"Luke?" He asked, wondering why his friend was calling him so early in the morning.
Luke and Michael had been good friends for a few years, and it wasn't anything new for Luke to call and check up on Michael. They met back in high school and Luke has always acted a little more mature than Michael. Luke was actually like that with everyone, all the time, but mostly with Michael. He acted like he was Michael's mom sometimes, and it was kind of funny, even though Luke's girlfriend thought that it was stupid.
"Are you awake?" Luke asked again.
"Oh yeah," Michael nodded, finally opening his eyes. He brought his hands up to his face and rubbed over it, trying to wake himself up. "I've been up for hours."
"Alright, I just called to make sure you had everything under control." Luke laughed. Michael didn't get it, what is there for him to have under control? He didn't have anything to do today.
"Um... Everything's..." Michael paused, then decided not to pretend that he knew what was happening, because he knew that it would just cause problems in the long run. "What am I supposed to do today?"
"It's Parker's first day of preschool." Luke reminded him, and Michael instantly remembered why he was supposed to be awake at this hour.
"Fuck!" He yelled, looking at the clock again. It was already 7:50. They were supposed to be at the school at 8:25, right? Or was it 8:15? Either way, they were late.
"Michael!" His friend scolded at him, "Don't swear like that!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Michael apologized, but he was still panicking.
"Do you want me to come by and pick him up?" Luke asked, because that's just what Luke does. He's always offering his help in these kinds of situations. Michael didn't like it, he felt that it meant that Luke didn't think he could handle himself. Luke was right, he couldn't, but no one needed to know that. "I'm going to be driving by the school anyways when I leave for - "
"No, no, I can do this." Michael insisted. He wanted to take Parker to his first day of school, he wasn't going to let his friend do it.
"Are you sure?" Luke asked.
"I have to go!" Michael yelled, ending the call and hanging up without giving Luke a chance to say anything else. He rolled out of bed and grabbed a new shirt from the floor (he was already wearing some sweatpants), running out of his room and down the hall while he pulled it over his head.
Michael ran into the other bedroom, where his four year old son was still sound asleep.
"Hey! Rise and shine, buddy! Get up!" Michael crawled onto the bed and shook Parker by the shoulders, waking him up.
Parker groaned, rolling over so his face was buried in a pillow. He'd always been a heavy sleeper, so Michael wasn't surprised that he wouldn't get up right away. He knew that it would take a lot to get Parker out of bed this morning.
Parker rolled over, but he kept his eyes closed and continued to sleep while Michael continued to beg and plead for Parker to get up. Michael gently shook Parker by the shoulders again, trying one more time. Parker whined and covered his face with his hands, still too stubborn to open his eyes and wake up for real.
