The Mess We've Made | Minsung

chapter twelve

"I'm so excited to see Mike. I wonder what he looks like now.." Felix trailed off.

"Are we even going to recognize him? I know you got way hotter after you sobered up, is that going to be the case with him?"

Felix looked behind me and his jaw dropped, "Oh my god. I think that's him."

I turned around and gasped, "He looks fine as fuck."

"There's no way..."

"Should we wave?"

"What if it's not him?"

"We look creepy just staring at him."

"You're a celebrity, you can get away with anything," Felix joked.

I confidently raised my hand in the air and the man we'd been eyeing waved back, then beginning to approach us. Felix and I stood to our feet and I whispered in his ear, "Is this really happening?

"There's no way that's him."

"It has to be him. The eyes and nose are the same."

When he reached us, Felix laughed and asked, "Mikey? Is that you?"

He laughed, "No, I'm just some beggar that knew you guys had a reservation to meet some guy named Michael. Of course it's me, bring it in!"

We enveloped one another in a group hug for a moment before sitting down at the table, Felix and I seated on one side of the table and Mikey sitting on the other.

"What's shaking, my men? We're all grown up now!" Mikey joked, causing the three of us to laugh.

'My men.'

That's fucking hilarious.

"I would fuck you," Felix admitted as he examined Mikey's face closely.

"If I were into dudes, I'd fuck you too. You look like-," Mikey paused, "Majestic."

"You're fucking glowing," I said to him. "Whats been up with you, man? I didn't recognize you at first. What's changed?"

"My brother died, I got sober, I found my wife, went to college, became a paralegal, had a kid, had another kid, and now we're expecting. That about sums it up," Mikey chuckled. "I feel like I should add that I go by my actual name now, my wife would be confused as fuck if you guys rolled up on her and she heard you calling me that nickname."

"Just a stiff Michael? Okay." I laughed.

"It's not that bad," Michael said, "I feel like it suits me bette now that I'm cleaned up."

Fucking Michael. Never would've seen that coming.

"When is your wife due?" Felix asked with a grin.

"February," Michael grinned.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Her name is Julia but everyone calls her Julie. I don't mean to be cheesy but she's truly the light of my life. I found her when I was having difficulty staying sober and she helped me. Of course it wasn't her responsibility to fix me or anything but she did it because she saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself. I worried that the emotional burden of being with an addict would be hard on her and I even tried to self-sabotage but she's truly the strongest woman I've ever met. She wanted to stay. I don't know where I'd be without her," Michael paused to wipe a tear from his face, "She convinced me I should get me GED and having to study social studies made me realize that I have a passion for law. She paid for me to go to college because she truly believed I'd be able to make something of myself and pay her back one day. Spoiler alert: I did and it felt amazing. Being able to give her back the money she'd invested into my future and pay back everyone I'd wronged in the past was truly a feeling unlike any other."