I woke to the sound of an unfamiliar heartbeat.
I stretched slightly and looked up at the person I was laying on.
Mikey blinked surprisedly at me and I blinked sleepily back.
"H-Hi," he said.
"Heeeyy," I sighed, burrowing my head back into his chest.
"I-I don't mean to be rude," he stuttered, "but cou-could you g-get off me?"
"But I'm so coommmffyyyyy," I said, trying pull him closer in attempt to disappear in his warmth.
"But I-I," he started, then whispered, "I have to pee."
I groaned. "Mmmmfine." I rolled off him and pulled the blanket up to my chin.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes before grabbing his glasses off the side table and standing up. He quickly walked to the bathroom and closed the door.
I was about to fall back asleep when I heard footsteps and felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey," Mikey whispered as I turned around. "How do you work your coffee machine?"
I sighed and sat up. It seemed like I would never be able to go back to sleep.
I showed him to the coffee pot and how to use it (translation: I asked Mom and she showed him how). He started a pot and we went back into the living room where the gang was fighting over which cartoon to watch ("...Come on! Do you know how often they show episodes of Jimmy Neutron? Never!").
We calmed them down and decided on the new version of Tom & Jerry on Cartoon Network.
A few minutes in, the front door opened and I looked up expecting Dad, but saw Ryan instead. I smiled at him, standing up.
"Hey!" I said as he returned the smile. "Where have you been?"
I hugged him as he said, "Just went for a walk." He leaned down and kissed me, but I backed away, barely missing his lips.
"You didn't just 'go for a walk'. Nobody goes 'just for a walk'." I let go of the hug, knowing definitely by the smell on his skin what he had walked for. "How many cigarettes did you smoke? Five packs?"
"No," he said. "I only had two." He pouted slightly. "Your mom stole my last pack."
"Well, she was right to," I argued, folding my arms. "Do you know how deadly those things are!"
"Yes! Yes, yes, I've heard this lecture three times today, I don't need another from you." He rested his hands on my waist. "Let's just get over this. Come on." He leaned down to kiss me, but I turned away.
"No," I said. "I won't kiss you until you go take a shower or something. Get rid of that smoke smell."
"Please," he said. "Just one kiss." He leaned down again, but I took a step back.
"No. Not until you take care of this."
"Fine." He turned on his heel and stormed off to the bathroom. I heard him lock the door behind him as I sat back down on the pulled out couch.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. It was Mikey (of course it was).
"You ok?" he asked quietly, barely heard over the television.
I nodded and shrugged, looking down at my hands. "I guess. He can just be such a drama queen sometimes." I looked at him. "Ya know?"
"Yeah, Ray gets like that all the time," he said.
I squinted at him and snickered slightly. "Really?"
"Nah, just trying to give you something to relate to so you won't feel so alone."
"Oh."
"B-But I do get what you're saying," he offered. "Gerard can be high-maintenance sometimes."
"Yeah," I said, turning to the carpet. "That's what he is. High maintenance." I looked back at him. "What do you do."
He shrugged. "My mom says he just needs to get over himself, so I just leave him alone to do so. But" he shrugged again "I dunno. I get kinda worried."
I let out a sad chuckle. "Yeah, I kinda do, too." I just worried about a different thing. The England thing. The Daniel thing. All the things.
Patrick stood up then. "Speaking of worrying..." he muttered, walking in the direction of the bathroom.
I heard him knock on the door. "Ryan?" He knocked again. "Ryan, are you ok in there?" He paused, listening. "Well, you don't sound fine." He tried twisting the doorknob. "Open the door. You need somebody in there with you." He sighed before turning away and walking back to his seat.
I watched him as he took the spot to my right on the couch.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah..." Patrick trailed off, looking down at his shoes. He looked up at me. "Maybe you should try; he might respond to you better."
I shrugged. "Nah. If he didn't let you in, he definitely won't let me in."
He shrugged back. "It's worth a shot."
I sighed and stood up. "Ok." I walked over to the door and sat down in front of it (I had an older sister, so I knew how this worked; apologize, explain why you were being stupid and beg for forgiveness until they cave (and it sometimes took a while, so I got comfy)).
I knocked. "Hey, are you ok?" I asked.
I heard him sniffle. "No."
"Hey, look... I'm sorry, I..." I didn't even know what I had done. I replayed it in my head. He walked in, lied, confessed to smoking two cigarettes (or packs; I was still confused on that part), I refused to kiss him and he stormed off. Was he upset that I didn't kiss him? I had a good reason for it. "Just please let me in."
He sniffled. "Why should I?"
"Because... I'm your boyfriend and I love you and I can't kiss you through a door."
Everything was silent, then I heard rustling and heard the door open.
"Fine," he said. "Why are you in the floor?"
I looked up at him. "Because I thought I'd have to beg you to open the door."
"Oh." He stepped aside as I stood up and walked in.
"Hey," I said, reaching for his hand.
He didn't respond. He just stared at the floor.
"Heeeyy," I said, wrapping my arms around his slender figure. "Say something." I pulled away and looked at him. "Talk to me."
He was quiet before he said, "Wh-Why did you re-refuse to kiss me over a stupid habit?" He looked into my eyes with the saddest look I had ever seen and I had to resist the urge to fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness.
"Because it's a stupid habit," I said. "I love you so much and I don't want to lose you over something that could've been prevented."
"Yeah, but... That was my last pack. Your mom took my last pack. I promised..." He looked down. "I promised it was my last."
"Well, the way I see it is you're a few cigarettes further from getting cancer." I leaned closer to him. "Right?"
He shrugged. "I guess."
I stared at him and wondered whether I should kiss him or not. I wanted to stand up for what I believed in, but not if he was just going to lock himself in bathrooms for the rest of our relationship.
"C'mere," I said, giving in to his prettiness and wrapping my arms around him.
"I'm already here," he responded.
"No," I said. I puckered my lips. "Here."
He smiled slightly. "Ok."
We kissed for a while then kissed a little more and then kind of smiled at each other and kissed again. We stopped when there was a soft knocking at the door.
"Are you guys ok?" Mikey's voice rang into the small room.
I looked at Ryan and he nodded, smiling lightly.
"Yeah," I said, reaching for the doorknob. "We're fine." I opened the door and Mikey sighed.
"Good," he said. "Do you guys want some coffee?"
~~~~~~~~~~
we're so sorry this was like two years late. we died
our hair.
picture to the right is Brenny and Spency