Right On The Money Honey - Michael Hardy

TWELVE

"How ya doin' man?" Morgan asks after he quietly shuts Michael's front door. His pretty blue eyes land on his best friend shlumped back against the couch with his eyes barely open and his jaw slack. "You okay?" He sits next to him.

"I fucked up." He lifts his head up and his voice is rough and raspy from days of being silent.

Morgan nods and heads to the kitchen. He picks up a Gatorade and hands it to him, the man reeks of alcohol. "Sober up then we'll talk." He says. "Get upstairs and take a shower. I'll get some food."

"What're you? My mom?"

"No, I'm your best friend. Get your ass up off that motherfuckin' couch and upstairs to take a goddamn shower." He says in a stern tone that Michael hasn't heard before. Morgan's always been easy going, go with the flow type of guy so it's kind of a shock to hear him talk like that.

"Fine." He grunts as he stands, gripping onto pieces of furniture until he reaches the stairs. He trips and his the wood hard, so hard that his glasses fly off his nose. Morgan sighs as he gets him back to his feet and upstairs.

He gets a shower running for him then returns to the kitchen where he starts making something his Momma always made when he was feeling blue.

Michael leans forward with his hand pressed against the wall, his soaked hair covering his eyes. He has tears mixing with the water rolling down his emotionless face.

He misses Liz.

He regrets everything.

If he was just upfront and grew some balls to apologize to her, she'd probably still be here.

He steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his hips, his hair still soaked with droplets rolling down his chest and stomach. When he shuts his bedroom door, he drops the towel and pulls a pair of shorts on, the Hail State shirt Liz always stole following, it still smells like her vanilla body wash. He looks at her side of the room and he sighs heavily.

"You okay?" Michael hears Morgan ask in a hushed tone. "C'mere."

Michael tip toes down the steps and pokes his head around the corner. He sees Morgan hugging Liz tightly and his heart aches. He wants to be- needs to be in Morgan's shoes, holding her in his arms again but that seems impossible now.

"Liz," Michael breathes out, his heart thumping in his chest. "Hey."

She just looks at him, her heart thumping in her chest. She missed him but having Hank balls deep in her again kind of took the edge off of that.

"I just need to get my stuff." She mumbles, squeezing past him.

"Liz," Michael practically whimpers, reaching out for her hand. "Baby-"

"Don't call me that."

He watches her head into the bedroom to start gathering her things. Michael sighs as he helps her, grabbing a few more bags from the top of the closet.

"What're you doin'?" She sounds exhausted. He shrugs, looking away as he hands her that framed picture of Dylan. "Thanks."

"Liz, I am so so sorry about-"

"Michael..."

"Please. Please just listen," He sits in front of her on the bed. "I'm so sorry, Liz. I'm so fuckin' sorry." He sniffles hard, failing to force tears back. "I should never have done what I did. I should've told you and- and-" He clears his throat. "Please."

"Michael." She has the urge to hold him close against her body. "I appreciate you sayin' all this now but-"

"Please, give me another shot, Elizabeth."