The Beautiful Truth

// 52

On Sunday night, I forced myself away from Barton long enough to go collect the notes I needed for my Monday morning classes. I'd finished all my other assignments, but I'd left my English notes behind, along with the dog-eared and highlighted scripts I'd bought for my independent study with Dr. Bovich. Obviously, with my enthusiasm for his class running at an all time high since learning about the real ending to The End of It All, I'd finished those assignments long before tackling the rest of my homework on this, the fucking first week of classes.

Alex and Micki hadn't shown up at Barton's house yet, so I was surprised to see the light on under my door as I approached. Not thinking, I unlocked the door and let myself right in. Micki and Alex were making out, him on top of her on her bed.

"Oh Jesus," I gasped, immediately embarrassed as they both stopped in mid-action to sit up and look at me.

Micki laughed, and it sounded like music. "It's OK, Sawyer. It could've been a lot worse."

Alex grinned, next to her, although he was blushing. "Hey Sawyer."

I was lost for words. So many things I wanted to say, or ask, I couldn't decide where to start. So, I went for the obvious. "Um, did you have a good weekend?"

Micki and Alex looked at each other, and their smiles mirrored each other.

"Yeah, it was amazing," Alex said, still looking only at Micki's big blue eyes.

"The best weekend, ever," Micki exclaimed, finally looking from him to me.

"Wow."

"What about you? Where's Barton?" she asked, watching me as I'd once again started moving, heading for my desk and the stack of papers and the notebook I was after.

I looked back up at her, almost laughing. "He's at the house. And my weekend was great, thank you. I just came to get my stuff for class tomorrow, I'm leaving again, don't worry."

"No, no!" Micki exclaimed. "Don't go yet. We're gonna head over that way in a few minutes. You can walk with us."

"Actually, I know you want to catch up," Alex winked at Micki while nodding at me. "I'll head on over now, and then you two come back to the house when you're ready."

"Honestly, I'm—"

"No, stay and walk with me," Micki beamed. "Girl time."

I laughed out loud. "Oh jeez. This must be momentous."

Alex grinned as he stood and stretched. "See you in a few," he told Micki before gently kissing the crown of her head.

"Later, Love," Micki called after him before he shut the door behind himself.

I looked at Micki, who had made no move from the center of her bed, and decided I should sit down. I pulled out my desk chair and slouched into it, holding my notes and scripts against my lap.

"You look happy," I commented, waiting for her to begin.

She just smiled again, and looked down at her hands. "I am. For the first time in a long time."

My heart swelled for her. "Aww, Micks. Did he...happen to play you a song this weekend?"

She looked at me and bit her lower lip. "Yes."

I grinned. "And you thought I was the only one with a song."

Micki laughed softly, and bounced off the bed across the room to me. "Yeah, and after he played me my song, we listened to the final studio cut for the first time—"

"Alex hadn't heard it yet?"

She smiled. "No, he saved the finished album to listen to with me."

"Aww, Micki..."

She sighed wistfully. "I know... But you're getting me off track. My point is, we listened to it, and holy hell, Sawyer Fitzgerald, the whole thing's about you," she said with wide eyes. "Barton Black loves you."

I laughed, kind of rolling my eyes. "I know he does. But there's your song, and that one at the end...they're not about me."

"Right," she scoffed sarcastically. "Bottomless Blue? Doesn't he say that's the color of your eyes?"

I couldn't argue with that. "Fine."

"You're a regular muse..." she teased.

I couldn't stop grinning. "Come on, let's get back to the house."

Micki smiled, heading for her coat on the back of the door. "Aren't you gonna ask me if we..."

I hesitated. "Nope."

Micki laughed. "Fine. I have to tell somebody. And I have nobody to tell but you, so yeah, we did. And. It. Was. Spec. Tack. You. Lar."

I laughed, turning to look at her with raised eyebrows. I knew this was a big deal to her. She didn't have to tell me why for me to understand it. "And...how do you f—"

"Great," Micki said emphatically. "Alex makes me feel...whole, again, I guess. You know, like everything's gonna be OK now."

I stared at her. "You just now figured that out?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh Jesus, Micki. He's... He's perfect for you. That's all. I think he knew that a long time before you did."

"Nah," she answered, smiling to herself as she shrugged into her coat. "I always knew. I was just afraid to let somebody else in I guess. Just...afraid."

It was interesting to me, that she was afraid before letting someone in, and I had only become afraid after the fact. I had never been reluctant to let Barton Black into my life, but it was now—now that he was leaving for so long, that I was afraid to be without him.

"I'm proud of you, Micks."

She looked at me and smiled. "Thanks, Sawyer. That means a lot coming from you."

I wondered for a moment what that meant, but didn't ask.

"I...I told him everything," she explained as we walked out of our room and toward the elevator.

"...Everything?"

She smiled softly at the floor. "Sawyer, I told Alex everything before I told you."

"Wow," I said again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think—"

"No!" I exclaimed. "That's...that's awesome, Micki. I guess now I understand more why he was so—"

"Patient with me?" Micki laughed, reaching out for the L button on the marquee inside the door.

"I was going to say protective of you," I explained. "But I guess that also works," I added, moving to elbow her gently in the ribs.

She neatly dodged out of the way. "I like that. Protective."

"You light up his life, too," I added. "You know that. Barton sees it more often than I do, but he's around Alex more than I am."

She grabbed my arm while we rode down to ground level. "I'm so insanely happy right now, I feel like a crazy person."

I shivered, and smiled at her. "I know that feeling. Hold on to it."