MICHAEL
“Why are you freaking out so much?” Kacey asks, sitting on top of my kitchen counter and swinging her legs back and forth. “I thought you two were like way over.”
“Why would you think that?” I snap.
“Probably because you drunk-dialed me and cried while you told me that you two were way over.”
“Oh.” I wrack my brains, trying to remember that. “I did?”
“Yeah, Mikey,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “Twice, actually. I’ve been worried about you; you never drink. Did she wreck you that bad?”
“Yeah,” I mumble. “Actually, I’m the one who… never mind. It’s not important.”
“It clearly is, Mikey.” She gestures around my cluttered apartment. “It looks—and smells—like an open bar in here.”
“Did you come here to judge my bad decisions?” I spit at her. “Because you of all people shouldn’t be talking about post-breakup downward spirals. How’s Rebecca?”
“Ouch,” she breathes. Kacey’s facial expression is frozen in a look of shock and pain at my harsh mention of her ex-girlfriend, and I regret it immediately.
“Shit, Kace, I—I’m sorry. I’m a dick.”
“Yeah, you are,” she huffs. “Fortunately for you, I understand you and I pity your sorry ass. Because, as you so kindly brought up, I’ve been there. And Rebecca’s fine,” she adds coolly.
“You’ve spoken to her?” I ask.
“No, but I know she’s fine. Which makes it even harder to handle.” She looks down at the ground, and guilt sweeps through me again. It’s been a good six months since Kacey and Rebecca broke up, but I know that Kacey’s world was shattered. I was there to help her pick up the pieces.
“I’m sorry I haven’t, um, been there. Like I was before. I’ve been—"
“Busy,” she supplements, nodding. “Don’t worry about it, Michael. Like I said, I understand. You fall in love and it’s like nothing else exists anymore.”
“Yeah,” I breathe. “But falling out of love… that’s worse.”
“No, I don’t think so,” she says with a sad smile. “I don’t think that either of us are even close to being out of love. That’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“I’ll toast to that,” I say, reaching for the beer bottle I’d been nursing in the small hours of this morning when I couldn’t sleep. I’d only just managed to drift off to sleep before Kate came knocking.
Kacey quickly snatches the bottle out of my hand. “You won’t be toasting to anything,” she snaps. “Really, Michael, what the fuck are you thinking?” She ignores my protests as she pours the rest of the bottle down the sink, and I watch as she opens the refrigerator and does the same with the rest of them. “You’re going to kill yourself drinking like this.”
