Water Tower

Chapter 24

I'm woken up by a loud and harsh knocking coming from the front door, which caused be to jump, which also caused me to fall out of bed and land on the floor. I laid there for a minute, hoping the knocking would stop, but it hasn't. I finally pull myself up off the floor and quickly try to hurry and get to the front door. When I finally got to the door, Michael is standing there with a big smile on his face.

"What the hell took you so long?" Michael asks, pushing past me and coming inside.

"Why hello there, Michael. Won't you please come in?" I say, sarcastically, closing the door.

"Seriously tho, what took you so long to open the door?" He asks again, going into the kitchen.

"Well, your loud ass knocking scared the shit out of me and I fell out of bed." I say, looking around for something to fix for breakfast. "Do you want me to make some breakfast?"

"Yes and did you seriously fall out of bed?" He asks, trying not to laugh.

"Yes I did fall and it's not funny, asshole." I say, smacking his arm.

"Sorry, it totally was not funny." He says, letting out a laugh. I roll my eyes and grab the eggs from the refrigerator. "Anyways, the reason I came over was to tell you we leave tomorrow."

"What time?" I ask, cracking one egg and pouring it out into the skillet.

"11:30." He says. "Do you have bacon?" He asks getting up and walking over to the refrigerator.

"Bottom drawer." I say, "I still need to pack." I say.

"Well, when we get done eating, I'll help you pack." He says.

"Don't you have to pack?" I ask.

"Already done. My bags are out in the car." He says, with a smile on his face. "I was kind of hoping you'd let me stay over tonight." He says, looking over at me with pleading eyes.

"Michael." I groan, "Sure, you can stay over. It's almost like you live here." I say, going back to the eggs.

"You're amazing Mandy!" He says, kissing my cheek and going back to the bacon.

Michael and I haven't completely made up, but we're working our way back to where we were before the whole trip.

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"Hi Mom." I say, throwing a top into my bag.

"Oh Amanda! It sounds amazing to hear your voice again! I've missed you." She says though the phone, which is on speaker. I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, so you're going to need to be at LAX tomorrow." I say. This is the first time I've spoken to my mother ever since I left.

"Why? Are you coming in Mandy?" She says, excitement in her voice.

"Yes. Michael and I are." I say, looking over to Michael and throwing a shirt at him, causing him to look away from his phone and look at me. "Say hi." I mouth to him.

"Hi Tracy." Michael says, going back to his phone.

"Hi Michael." She says, not sounding excited at all.

"She loves me." Michael mouths, causing me to laugh.

"Well any way, Mom," I say, picking up my phone and taking her off speaker and going out into the hallway. "I need to know, are you still drinking?"

"No honey. I quite that. I'm clean." She says.

"Are you positive?" I ask.

"Positive, baby." She says. "I'm so excited. Also, your friend, Ally, she's going to be excited to see you." She says. Ally was my best friend back in California. She was upset about me leaving, but she knew about all the shit my Mom put me through.

"I can't wait to see her." I say, going back into my bedroom, earning a confused from Michael. "Well Mom, I'm going to get off and finish packing."

"Alright. I can't wait to see you tomorrow." She says, excited.

"Can't wait either." I say, hanging up and jumping onto my bed.

"Pack a bikini." Michael says, still on his phone.

"I planned on it." I say.

"Good. I'm going to get a picture of you in it and it's going to be my new background." Michael says, laughing.

"No it won't." I say, smacking Michael on the arm.

"Why not?" He asks, looking at me.

"Because, that's creepy as hell. Now let's stop talking about me in a bikini and finish my packing." I say, getting up and walking back over to my closet."

"Alright boss." Michael says, getting up and walking over to my closet with me. I see him going over to a section of my closet and look through it.

"Michael, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Nothing." He says, grabbing a bikini from it and going over to my bag. "Just making sure you pack one." He smirks at me. I roll my eyes and go back to looking for clothes.

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"Guess what?" Michael says as we step off the plan.

"What?" I ask him.

"Hoped off the plane at LAX, with a dream and my cardigan." He sings.

"Don't." I say, trying not to laugh.

"I felt like it fit the moment." He says, bumping me.

"Wow!" I say. We walk out and start to look for my mom. I look around and finally see her standing there. "There she is." I say, pointing over in her direction.

"Let's go see Tracy!" Michael says in a fake excited tone. We walk over to my Mom.

"There's my baby!" She says, her arms stretched out. She wraps her arms around me and brings me into her chest. "I've missed you so much."

"Missed you too, Mom." I say.

"Tracy! Great to see you again! You haven't changed a bit." Michael says, maybe a little overexcited and wraps his arms around my Mom. "Come in here Mandy! Group hug." He says, grabbing my shirt and pulling me in. He finally releases my Mom and I.

"Well, are you kids ready to go?" My Mom asks.

"Yeah, let's go." I say. We follow my Mom out of LAX and catch a cab.

"Taxi man turned on the radio and Jay Z song was on." Michael whispers into my ear.

This is going to be a long trip.