24 Hours

4.32

Angie was standing in the middle of the living room looking slightly lost as Michael walked in.

"Make yourself at home I guess..." He said before handing her a blue towel that he had gotten from the bathroom. "The kitchen is through that door and there's my room, which then leads to the bathroom. You're welcome to use it."

Angie smiled slightly before walking into the room that Michael had pointed out to be his bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Michael sat down on the old, white, leather couch that stood right by the door. In front of him rested a coffee table that had a small, box like TV on top. A FreeView box was placed on top of the TV and Michael could see the remote laying on the floor beside it. A large window was placed on the wall that was to the left of the couch, and grey floor length curtains that had a slight layer of dust over them, much like everything else, covered it. The walls were painted a white color, all apart from the one where the couch lent against, as that one was covered in bricks and a small bookcase to the left of the couch.

On the wall opposite from the couch were two doors in display, the one nearer the window led to the bedroom and the one nearer the front door led to the kitchen, and in between them was a desk that held a laptop and a few bits of paper on top.

There were cardboard boxes spread everywhere, filled with objects which belonged to Luke, that Michael had refused to throw out.

Michael sighed before setting the towel he was holding, down on the couch, and walking into the kitchen, just to open the fridge and proceed to close it again as nothing was inside it.

The kitchen was nothing much either. There was a small, 4 people, wooden table, pressed against the wall to the left of the door, and the rest was covered by cabinets, a sink, stove and fridge.

"Michael?" Angie asked as she popped her head out of the bedroom door. "Do you have any clothes I can borrow? Mine are kind of wet."

"Sure... I think Calum's sister left some stuff when she came around." Michael said as he walked into the bedroom and started looking in the drawers. "Here."

He pulled out a grey t-shirt and a pair of black sweat pants before handing them to Angie and walking to the bathroom to give her some privacy.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror, sighing as he did. He looked pale, hair thinning, eyes looked tired, but that's nothing new. Michael turned the tap on and let it run for a while before wetting his hands and washing his face for the first time in probably weeks.

He hadn't even thought about showering. He'd been too preoccupied with feeling sorry for himself that he just didn't bother continuing on with usual routines. Michael chuckled at the thought of him probably smelling bad this whole time, before turning the shower on, and jumping inside.

The hot water felt extremely relaxing as it hit his body, and he just let himself stand there for a while, just enjoying the feeling before he proceeded to wash his hair, body and get out.

Michael shaved his stubble and walked into his room where he put on his Green Day 21st Century Breakdown tank top, a pair of black sweatpants and walked into the living room, where Angie was seated on the sofa while she pressed random buttons on the remote before letting out a frustrated sighs.

"Need any help?" Michael asked as he approached her.

"This isn't working. I tried everything. I even tried calling it baby and cooing over it." Angie threw her hands up in defeat as Michael chuckled and walked over to where the TV and the FreeView box were plugged.

"Ever tried turning it on here?" Michael asked as he pressed the button and the TV came to life on a random teleshopping channel.

"Smartass." Angie mumbled before she scrolled through the channels and widened her eyes as she managed to change the channels with one click of a button.

"Are you hungry?" Michael asked as he sat in front of the laptop and turned it on. "I can order Dominos. What do you want?"

"What's Dominos?" Angie asked, her attention totally caught up in the TV in front of her.

"It's like pizza." Michael explained as he typed in the familiar website.

"Pizza?" Angie asked, still focused on the TV.

"You don't know what pizza is?" Michael asked, dumbfounded that someone in the world didn't actually know what pizza was, before gasping as she shook her head. "Right, you're getting pepperoni then. That's the best."

"Sure..." Angie said before placing down the remote on the table and looking around. "What do these boxes contain?"

Michael froze in his spot before telling himself it was okay.

"They... They were Luke's stuff." He mumbled as he clicked away on the laptop.

"Who's Luke? Your friend?" Angie asked.

"He is was my ex. He died." Michael said bluntly and a heavy silence fell in the room.

"I'm sorry." Angie said, even though she was not to blame.

"It was my fault. I was the one driving the car, and I was the one who failed to save him." Michael shrugged, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"Michael you know you can't hold on to these forever..." She pointed at the scattered boxes.

"I can't throw them away." Michael mumbled as he typed in the order. "They are Luke's and if I throw them away, it would be as if I'd be throwing him away."

"Luke is gone Michael. And holding onto all this is only going to make it harder for you to accept it." Angie sighed as she walked over to Michael and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you. You can keep a few things that you feel more attached to, but the rest needs to go."

"I'm not throwing them away Angie." Michael explained, his voice holding an annoyed tone.

"You don't have to. Don't you have an attic or loft? You could keep them all in there where they would be tidied away and hidden from sight." Angie suggested and Michael sighed in defeat.

"The flat came with a garage, the boxes can be put there. Ever since the accident I can't bare to even be inside a car, let alone drive one, so I never bothered with buying one, which means the garage is empty and probably will be till I die." Michael explained as he stood up from the chair. "The pizza's will be here in around twenty minutes. We can do it now?"

Angie smiled and picked up a box, that was surprisingly light, and started walking towards the door, Michael following behind her with another box.