SIDE STAGE TECH

Chapter 24

// disclaimer: part of this chapter was written from personal experience so it may not be the same for everyone. This is just how I experienced the death of someone I love.

:.:.:

I was nervous, walking back into my dorm room. I hadn't spoken to Mike since we had that fight. When I opened the door I was met with pretty much complete darkness that soothed my hangover. I peered around the room as my eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw that Mike was laying in my bed, staring blankly at the wall across the room. I quickly changed into some pyjamas and tentatively walked closer to him. As if he read my mind he opened his arms so I could lay with him. My heart beat wildly as his arms closed around me, pulling me against his warm body. "I'm sorry." He whispered in a cracked voice that practically broke my heart. "Shh." I replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Just sleep. I can tell you didn't last night."
"Okay." he murmured as I softly placed a kiss on his lips.

Without another word we both fell asleep until around 5 o'clock. We walked hand in hand, not speaking to the cafeteria to get our dinner for that night. It wasn't an awkward silence thankfully. We just didn't know what to say. Vic's death had practically crushed Mike and I wanted to help him but if he kept pushing me away there was no possible way I could help him through this.

My tongue felt like it was made of lead and my throat felt as if it was made of sandpaper as I slowly chewed my salad. The atmosphere was tense and thick, you could practically cut it with a knife. When someone close to you dies, something changes, it feels like every conversation you have with someone has a wet washcloth dropped on it. When you speak you sound half hearted even in your own ears. Eventually after the initial shock your body turns on auto pilot to keep you from veering off the path. You becoming shell of a human as you push through your routine. Food becomes tasteless, things that you enjoyed before now bore you, everything changed when someone you love dies. And now, I've gone through this twice, but this time, I might not make it out.

"Musical practice tonight." Mike said in monotone, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Oh yeah...We should get to that before we're late." I said, shovelling the last bland bites of my salad into my mouth before following Mike out of the cafeteria and to the drama room where most of the cast was already there.

---

There was something amazing about seeing Mike preform. I wasn't sure if it was the way he practically lighted up every time he walked into the drama room, or if it was the fact that he put his entire soul into his performance. After practice he seemed a lot happier than before. He still wasn't 100 percent but it was better than before.

"You looked hot in your costume." I commented as we got back into our dorm room. "Really? I thought I looked stupid." he said, pinning me to the door and kissing my neck, slowly. I cherished moments like these, he was always so happy after practice that I wished we had practice every day for longer than 2 hours. My breath caught in my throat as Mike's lips moved over a certain spot just under my jaw. I felt my lover smile against my skin before sucking a hickey onto my neck. I sighed. Mike then dragged me over to the bed before pulling off my shirt and trailing his lips down my torso to the growing bulge in my jeans. This wasn't the first time we had messed around so I trusted him 100 percent even though we hadn't actually had real sex. I let out a breathy sigh as Mike's hand slipped into m boxers, surprising me slightly, before laying back and letting Mike take control...