Our Beginning | Mickey Altieri

Chapter Sixty-One

After the incident, we continued college and finally graduated Windsor.

It's been two years since that incident. I'm now twenty-one. Mickey turned twenty-three. And we—everyone that survived—left Ohio and traveled to California with Randy, Sid, Dewey, and Gale, to a different town to live. All of us live in a small apartment complex. Gale and Dewey lived somewhere else a couple of blocks down.

Joel started his career as a Microbiologist. He comes back to his apartment late, but we still manage to spend some time whenever Mick is at his job. Reggie became a high school teacher, teaching students World History. Ryan decided to work at a bookstore and I would visit to study more on my job. Randy now works in a film production studio with Mickey. And Sidney gained a telephone job at the California Women's Crisis Counselor.
I now work as a detective with my partner, Mark Kincaid.

After a few months we moved, I finally convinced Randy to ask Sid out. The night everyone went to mine and Mickey's apartment, we saw them holding hands when they came back. Reggie immediately cheered and hugged Ryan aggressively with joy.

And two years. Mick and I have been together for two years. The only relationship I've ever been for this long with the one and only I want to be with. We've had arguments, but we've found a way to settle them down, starting fresh again.

As it's Mick's day off, we planned on spending our weekend at our apartment.
I'm now running around the room. Running away from Mickey to the fact I have his video camera.

"C'mon, N/n! Give me back my video camera!"

I chuckle and jump on the couch to jump over. "You're gonna have to catch me first, Mick!" I laugh more and slid inside our shared bedroom, under the bed.

"You and your fucking spy moves, I swear," I heard him chuckle. He roams around the room looking for me. "I know you're somewhere in here." He continues to walk around. For a minute, he stops. "I guess not." And I heard footsteps leave the room.

I left under the bed, leaving the room now and looking for him.

Until I felt his arms on my waist, pulling me down with him.

"I got you!"

We screamed playfully when we hit the ground and laughed it off. We suddenly switched positions and he now hovers above me, make me feel flustered.
"Alright, now hand me my camera."

I leaned closer, kissing his nose. "I don't think I will. Sorry."

"Geez, I can't with your shit. Don't know how I was able to handle it," he chuckled, leaving a kiss on my cheek.

"God, you're a pain one has to deal with. I wonder how that boyfriend of yours put up with your shit."

My laughter stopped. That memory from a couple years back came up. No matter how false Nancy said it was, it still hurts. It stings. It just affects me, even though it was all just to make me feel terrible.
Mickey noticed how quickly my emotions changed. "Hey, is everything alright?"

I look up, giving him a smile. "Yeah. Yeah, it's all good."

But he's not buying it.

"I'm not buying it."

"I know." He got off of me, pulling my arms up to a sitting position. "What's wrong?"

"Am I really trouble?"

I guess with that question, he didn't understand what I meant.

"I meant, am I really that terrible to put up with? That I'm so annoying, and you have to put up with what I do?"