venture • lrh

four

THE BIG BREAKDOWN

*

It has been a week since Michael saw Alexis for the last time. Ever since the game, she has been silent. Luke overstepped his words big time. Usually, he's more held back, and Michael has no idea what has gotten to him. But as America's most unhinged dickhead, we shouldn't be surprised. It's just ironic how he's constantly reacting to things he has no knowledge about.

Once a dickhead, always a dickhead. That was the sound of Michael's irrational thoughts. And god, he isn't entirely wrong.

The thing that's been annoying Michael the most is that Alex has been ignoring all his texts, even his calls and voicemails. He hadn't been able to go to her place, mostly because he knows her schedule and his, and some weeks they don't add up, such as this one. She is crazy busy this week. Michael's been all fed up with soccer, and those practices are killing him. They've been training longer than usual since the announcement of the big game.

Besides, she usually reacts within a second. Yes, he is worried about his best friend. Nobody should've talked about her parents. Not to defend Luke, but he doesn't know the situation. He doesn't know shit about her for sure.

Yet, ignoring isn't the way to go. Especially not since Michael has done nothing wrong. He stood up for her when she walked away. To him, he had a choice to leave her like that or defend her dignity, and of course, he chose the second.

What has been bothering Michael the most is that she hasn't asked me to pick her up from work once. Nor did he get any messages if she got home safe or not. She always does that. She knows that Michael worries about her. Even though she's a grown-up woman, he'd rather have her tell him she's okay and safe. Then again, Michael basically wants to know everything she's doing.

Besides, it's a dick move not to text him if she got home safe. She had done that ever since shit with her parents went down.

And with a week of having full-on radio silence, Michael's pretty done with it. He hadn't even seen her at school. Maybe she's good at avoiding him. They don't have any classes together, but still.

Within minutes Michael's inside his car, on his way to her house. She probably won't even be there since she hates the place. She doesn't know yet, but Michael's been looking for an apartment for her. Mostly so she can have her home and leave all the people behind she used to call family. Michael's willing to be her roommate if it happens to be a big apartment. He won't say no if she offers it, but it depends on if she even wants a roommate and if she wants that roommate to be her best friend.

She needs closure—a new start.

Fuck.

Michael had an appointment about an apartment today. The time on the dashboard tells him he would still be on time if he goes there now. With a deep sigh, he goes there. It's just a tiny stop before he goes to the place to be. As he's finally at the apartment complex, Michael approaches the correct apartment.

"Michael?" He turns around to look into the familiar eyes of Ashton. A smile grows on Ashton's face when he guesses it right. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for this one apartment since I want to find a place for Alex, but since there's also a roommate, I just wanted to make sure." Ashton smiles as he looks his teammate up and down. "Why are you here?"