The Fighter

Chapter 23

Friday night, Greg and I decided at 9:30 at night we were going to go to Utica to find something to do. He drove and I just sat there next to him and watched him. "Is anything even open right now?" I asked looking at my phone. "I don't know, but I'm glad you were still awake tonight. I had to get the hell out of that house." "Yeah, I figured that when you called instead of texting me." "Yeah. I take these same old roads to work every day. There's that same old house." He sighed driving along one of the back roads. "It's not going to move, unless it burns down." "Yeah, I know. I'm just sick of the same old crap." "Me too. But what can you do? We have deal with it." "Yeah, I know. So, where do you want to go?" he changed the subject. "I don't know what's open?" "I don't know." He and I went and sat in a parking lot. "Mickie! What do you want to do!?" he asked smiling and being playful. "I don't know, you're the driver!" "Yeah, but it's up to you!" "No! You know damn well that I can't make decisions to save my life." I laughed. "Yeah, I know. If our lives depended on you deciding on something, we'd all die." He laughed and kissed me. He pulled me into him and I rested my head on him.

He started playing with my hair after I started playing with his like he usually does. "I love playing with your hair." He smiled. "I know, you do. Sorry if it's all over the place, I just got out of the shower when you called me." I laughed. "I don't care, you're not wearing make-up either and I love it." "Well, I did only put mascara on. I didn't want to be too scary." "You're so cute!" he pinched my cheeks. "No, you are!" "Nope! You're adorable." "Adorable!" I exclaimed. "Yes you are. But seriously where do you want to go?" "Nowhere is open! This is what you get for calling me at the last minute on a Friday night!" "Let's go tear up some roads then." "I'm game!" I laughed and we went back to Clarksville. "Are you sure that you don't want me to drive? You get stuck in an awful lot of ditches!" "No, I will be fine!" he stuck his tongue at me. "I'm going to beat you!" "You can beat me anytime that you want!" "You'd like that!" "And so would you." He laughed.

Saturday I took Avery to the movies during the day. Gavin and Julie were apartment hunting and then they took Avery bowling, when I went to a wedding with John. I hadn't heard from Greg at all and it was really making me nervous, because he usually texts me from the moment that he gets up in the morning to the moment he goes to bed at night. He can't go twenty minutes without talking to me. I told John all about it on the way up. "So, Gavin and Julie are looking for an apartment?" he asked moving on from Greg crap. "They found one, and are moving in, in about a week." "How long have they even been together?" "Four months, they're moving very fast." "You and Greg did too though." "Yeah, I know. I don't think it'll be long before Gavin proposes or something." "I don't either. Do you think that you and Avery will move out soon?" "No, not until I get a job and finish college." I smiled thinking of my lovely sister. "Do you think that you'll ever have kids, having Avery?" "Yeah, some day. I'm not planning on anything right now. Especially, with Greg being so weird. And, he and I have only been together for two months." "It's only been two months?" "Yeah!" "Wow, it feels like forever!" "Yeah, I know. I feel like I've known him forever. Think of how long that makes me feel like I've known you for!" "An eternity." He laughed. He made me feel better and he really has changed. I thought that it was just an act at first, but two months later and he's still being my best friend.

We danced and talked at the wedding and I got to see his family again for the first time in a long time. His dad was there and I've known his dad forever because he's in the department too. John drank a few beers and I drove his truck home. He promised that we was going to be at the station in the morning for truck and air pack. I just laughed. It's one of my months to do it, so I'm planning on sleeping in..... If Avery will let me.

Sunday morning, I woke up and still had no messages from Greg. I was getting even more nervous. Like, what the hell is going on with him? He was fine Friday night. The best he had been in weeks. Julie stayed the night, so she and Gavin were eating breakfast when I came out to the kitchen. Avery must have still been sleeping because she wasn't out there watching her cartoons or in the living room Playing with her toys. "Hey, how was the wedding last night?" Julie asked smiling. She was always freaking smiling. "Good, John and I had fun. I'd missed his family." I sat down next to her. "That's good. Can I asked you something?" "Sure?" I was kind of scared of what she had to ask. "How long were you and this John guy together for?" "Six months." "Were you friends with him before?" "Yeah, we've know each other my whole life because of our families being in the department. Did Gavin tell you that?" I looked at Gavin. "I didn't tell her anything. She figured it out last night." Gavin laughed. "Wait, how'd you know that I dated John, if Gavin didn't tell you?" "Because I saw it. I saw you and him together, when he came in the house to get you. I was just wondering." "Oh, you're good." I laughed. My phone rang so I got up to answer it. It was Kyle.