𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍 , mike schmidt

05. tequila sodas

The look in Mike's eyes were deafening as they stared at me. 

"You okay?" I question as I reach for my phone to confirm that it was in fact 6AM.

"My job is...just." he sighs without finishing, looking up at me as his body sunk lower into the couch. 

"Jobs tend to be like that. " I respond, pulling the blanket that was on me a bit higher. 

"I know you're not really from Hurricane, so tell me where are you from?" he asks out of no where as I raise a brow. Were we really going to have a "getting to know you" conversation at 6AM?

"I lived in New York for a few years, so that might explain some things." 

"That explains a lot." he responds, nodding as he eyed me for a second.

"Well, I should get going." I responded, getting ready to stand up.

"Do you miss it?"

"New York?"

"Yeah."

"I've been home for a month and I can't exactly say I'm happy to be here."

"Well, I'm happy you're here."

Our eyes meet again for a tense second as I hear the words come out of his mouth. I was pretty sure he had just given me a compliment and for some reason it made my stomach erupt in butterflies. 

I flashed him a genuine smile at his words, while standing up and knowing it my cue to leave. 

"Thank you." I responded, glancing down at him as I saw him subtly fighting off the sleep.

He stood up and walked me to the front door. "Thank you for watching Abby again. I'll find a way to make it up to you."

I nod at him and smile with a wave as I stepped outside back in reality. 

-

"Tequila shots please!" Aly pleaded to the bartender as she held up the number three. It was Aly, her "boyfriend", and I at Harry's yet again. My eyes darted to my phone as I scrolled through Carter's Instagram story. It was him and his friends at my favorite bar. That stung.

"Miles, here!" Aly said, holding up the shot as we both downed it. 

"So, what did you get up to last night?" Aly questioned, sitting beside me as her boyfriend headed to the bathroom. 

"It's a long story."

"OMG, were you with someone?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Well...are you going to tell me?"

"I babysat."

"Who the hell did you babysit?" Aly questioned, pulling up her denim bandeau with a confused look on your face.

"This guy I met a few times has a little sister and needed a babysitter." I explained, trying to make it sound as normal as possible.

"Wow, that's sweet of you. Miles Russo sacrificing a Friday is almost unbelievable."

"Oh, I'm aware Al."

"Who was he anyway?"

Before I could answer her question, her boyfriend Chris, came up out of no where and turned her around for a kiss. There was no worse remedy for getting over Carter than having two people who don't want to fully commit to each other parading around in front of me.

As the night went on, I drank more and more tequila sodas. The effect of seeing Carter's stories was getting to me and I was determined to have a better night than him. 

The clock hit 1AM and Aly and Chris were heading in an Uber back to his place and I had promised her I was going to call one of my own after I finished my last game of darts with one of the locals.

Stumbling out of the bar, I pulled up the Uber app and groaned when I saw the closest one was whopping 15 minutes away. I was so used to Ubers waiting outside bars, but now I had to wait a full 15 minutes for Martin to show up in his Prius.

I took a seat on the curb and decided to haunt myself some more by looking at Carter's Instagram. Every picture he had up was one I had memorized in my mind - I even could recite the captions.

I chose to come up from air after stalking his Instagram and evaluated my surroundings. There was a used car dealership to the left of the bar and straight ahead there was a scary looking Chuck-E-Cheese, except it read "Freddy's" in bright red letters. 

As I stared closer at the creepy building ahead of me, I noticed a familiar looking car. 

Was that Mike's?

My drunk thoughts lead my decisions as I stood up from the curb and tried to inspect the car in the across parking lot. Luckily, the street lights were quite bright and I didn't have to walk in the middle of the road to confirm it was Mike's car. I had followed behind it yesterday on the way back to his house from the grocery store and could recognize the banged up bumper from anywhere. 

Before I knew it, I was running across the quiet main street and was in the parking lot of the creepy looking building. Knowing Mike was in there let me know that I'd most likely be okay. I tried to open the door of the building, but it was locked. I knocked for a second, waiting to see if Mike would show up.