Stupid Love || Michael Afton x Reader

thirty five - life in the city

June 16th 1993.

St. George, Utah.

I sat down at the bar table, sighing heavily into my hands as I clutched my mug of coffee, failing to actually drink from it.

I hadn't slept properly all week, those ten hour shifts at the hospital were going to kill me. No one told me there were other job options other than being a nurse?

Me and Terry had been living in a small flat in St. George together for about four years now. We agreed on living together just before we graduated university, it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.

Mainly because I got to return to Utah and engulf its natural beauty other than being stuck with the sandy dunes of dirty California. Being in a smaller city with less people, it just felt better.

And also I got to stay with Terry which was a huge plus. We might be almost thirty but if we don't have husbands yet, what's the point of buying separate houses and having children?

If mom complained so much about us, why did we need to recreate those problems?

I've been working as a nurse at the regional hospital for only a couple years but it isn't even that bad a job, the only thing that is bad is the income.

Terry was a secretary at this engineering business thing in town, I think it's called like Crowther or something weird. To this day, I will never properly understand why Terry became a secretary. As long as we can pay the rent then I guess it was fine.

I couldn't say much however, I was an underpayed nurse that worked an incredible amount of hours a night at the hospital. I guess that's just how our lives came out. I'm just going to have to wait for a rich man or something to come into my life.

My head would of almost banged on the table if the loud slam of the front door hadn't sprung me out my thoughts.

I heard Terry groan loudly as she stomped through the hall, finally showing herself to me in the joined living room and kitchen. She stood with her hands on her hips, a small plastic container in her hand filled with something red.

"You won't believe how much I fucking hate Keith." Terry raged, pointing at me angrily. I sighed heavily, here we go again. "He insults me in front of all my colleagues then has the audacity to give me lasagne. Lasagne Y/N!" She complained, chucking her small black pair of heels off onto the laminate floor with a clang.

We had a conjoined kitchen and living room, making the dark red leather couch not that far from the long oak kitchen bar which I was sitting at. The walls were kind of plain, only a couple paintings covering any discolouration in the paint. A large bookcase stood left to the couch, Terry's bedroom door to the right; an okay sized TV across from it and the door to my bedroom just on the corner of the hallway door opposite the bookcase. The colourful rug gave the room a small homely touch. We definitely needed to work on the flat more.

"So what? Keith's an asshole, that's exactly how me and Michael started dating." I replied tiredly, taking a long sip from my coffee, realising that I hadn't actually made any coffee.

"Don't you dare bring Michael into this, Keith is ten times worse!" She exclaimed angrily, groaning and muttering under her breath. I sighed again, rubbing my eyes.

"I'm too tired for this Terry, whoever the hell invented night shifts has to be sent to an insane asylum." I complained quietly, standing up to try make myself a coffee again.

"Well the lasagne looks okay... it doesn't look like it's cooked properly though, might need to chuck it into the oven for a couple more minutes." Terry stated, tutting at the container containing the red and yellow pastry, completely ignoring my comment. I groaned, tossing my empty mug in the sink and slowly shuffling towards my room.