Chapter Two
"How are you Baby?"
I look over at Mike in the driver's seat, the setting sun casting shadows over his tanned face. He came and picked me up from my mom's house after school and since then I have been spacing out.
"Yeah, I guess so." I look over to Mike, who had stopped the car at a rest stop a little ways off the highway. I'm guessing to get gas, but from the look in his eyes he could have been crying not two even seconds ago. To tell you the truth, he looks worse than I feel-- bags under his eyes and lips cracked from the dry weather.
I look down at my hands, not wanting him to see me cry. I hate crying in front of people. I hate crying period! But before I know it, Mike is out of the car and at my door pulling me into his arms. I let him pull me up out as I wrap my arms around his neck and nestle my face into his shoulder. The second I feel his arms around me, I know I will always be safe with him... Like all the crap we have had to endure together is completely worth it.
"Baby, shh, I'm here for you. I got ya', I'll never let you go." Mike continues to rub smooth circles into my back as I let that first tear go. I feel the eyes of the other people standing around the rest stop, but that doesn't stop me from kissing Mike.
He hugs me tighter, massaging the tension from my neck again. I pull away and look up at him, mesmerized at how his eyes look. "Mike, I'm not Humpty-Dumpty. If I fall apart again... I won't be able to pull myself back together again. No one will."
Mike pulls me to him and holds me tight against his warm chest, "I will never, ever, let you fall apart. You hear me?" He kisses my nose after I nod my head, putting me back on my own two feet before turning to pay for some gas.
An hour later we exit off the highway again. I'd been playing the same game of Free Cell and listening to the same radio station the whole ride. Mike notices my frustration and takes my phone from my hand, replacing it with his and making me smile. "Can we just get home? I want to stay inside for the rest of the night cuddled up to you and watching Disney movies."
Mike nods and smiles back at me. "Anything you want, sweetie."
My grin widens and I turn to look out the window, watching as we drive up to his apartment complex. It is the kind of complex that you usually find filled with old people and college students. It is a bright place named Abbey's Corner.
From Mike's apartment you can look out and see a pond on the ground floor and the tennis courts right beside it, which are usually occupied by a few skateboarders testing out new stunts. The complex has a pool, a nice one... the family type. Whenever I come here I can never bring myself to go to it. It always reminds me of how my family use to be. Every time I see a mom helping her kids put sun block on, it is like a punch in the gut.
Surprisingly, I was able to get away from my own mom and my duty of an unpaid babysitter for a week. A week's vacation is a blessing compared to what I usually get. A few days with my dad every other weekend, but I still have to put up with my siblings there too.
I unlock the door for Mike so he can get the mail and bring my bag in. Taking my duffel bag into the bedroom I drop it at the end of the bed and plop down. I look through the Disney movies Mike has put out, probably knowing this is exactly what I would want. I calmed down from the short cry in the car, but hearing his phone ring suddenly makes me jump.
"Mike, your phone is ringing!"
"Can you get it, babe? It's probably just work." I shout back a reply and get off the floor, rushing over to the little kitchenette. I decide to be a little professional so I grab a pen and a sticky note. Just in case it really is work.
I take a deep breath and answer the phone, "Hello, this is Raven." I almost laugh at the sound of my chirpy greeting.
A lady's voice with a thick accent comes through the receiver, "Hello dear, I'm Michael's neighbor, Rosie. I was cleaning out a storage bin, and I found a bunch of old antiques from my late husband. Could you tell him to give me a call back?" I smile, I could listen to that New York accent all day!
"Sure thing, Ms. Rosie." I smile again at her little "Ba Bye" and end the call. There's about a million differences between Ms. Rosie and my neighbors. The first thing that comes to mind is my neighbors find shooting at my poor cat, amusing!
A pair of arms snake around my waist, making my smile grow before I turn around to see Mike looking back at me.
"Who was that?"
I wrap my arms around his neck and get closer to him, my lips almost brushing his. "Ms. Rosie called to tell you about some antiques her late husband stashed away in some old storage bin."
"Oh really? We will have to swing by her place after we get back from breakfast tomorrow morning." A shiver goes down my spine as his lips brush mine in a teasing matter. Wanting to give him a little bit of his own medicine, I draw my face back a little.
Mike's eyes kept flicking from my eyes to my lips so I smirk, showing off some off my pearly whites. And just like I knew he would, he got closer to me until his lips barely touch mine. My heart starts to pound in my chest so I get out of his arms and turn away before it is too late, walking towards the couch with a sly smile on my face and a swagger in my walk.
"Is that how this is gonna be?" He asks. I giggle, looking from the TV to him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" I giggle some more at his expression. Mike shakes his head and puffs out his chest.
"That's how it's gonna be then." Mike smirks and makes a run towards me. I squeal and drop the remote to the floor, trying to keep Mike from tickling me to death. I squeal more than a dozen times, enough to go through more than twenty other positions. Well, until he hovers over me with a smile that reaches his eyes. I stare up at him in awe, how he manages to do that every time I'll never know.
He holds his weight above me, not that I would have minded some extra pressure. His hands make their way to either side of my arms, while his knees are somewhere beside my thighs. He lowers himself so that his lips are pressed softly against mine, kissing me slowly.
I close my eyes and kiss him back, milking the kiss for all that it is worth and more. I move my hands to his hair, my fingers massaging his scalp softly. My heart starts to soar and all of my worries disappear one by one. Mike moves a hand down my body, grabbing my thigh and pulling it up to wrap my leg around his waist as he presses are bodies closer together.
I tug on his hair, hearing a satisfied groan come from the back of his throat. His tongue dashes across my bottom lip, asking for permission. I let him deepen the kiss while I find a way to wrap my arm around him and start to pull his shirt up.
It is to my utter dismay that his phone starts to ring. We aren't bothered by the first ring, but the tone was different than Ms. Rosies, and by the third ring Mike had stopped kissing me entirely. He waited for another ring, and when it came I felt every muscle in his body tense against mine.
I look up at him, a feeling of worry course through me as Mike leaps from the couch to catch his phone on the last ring. "Mike.. what's wrong?"
He looks at me with a worried look on his face, "It's the doctor." Mike turns his back to me, his voice becoming serious. "Hey Doc. What's going on?"
I get up from the couch and make my way over to him. My heart grows heavy again as anxiety starts to creep up my neck. I wrap an arm around him, my other busy rubbing his back.
I can't hear what the doctor is saying, but from the look on Mike's face it isn't all too good. I try to stand on my toes to get closer to the phone, but I only manage to catch bits and pieces. "....son... father... his will... together..." Mike hangs up the phone without an answer. When he turns back to me there is a hollow look on his face. I press my hands against his chest and look up at him. My eyes begging to meet his.
"I'm sorry Raven... I hate to take your Fall Break, but we need to get to Alabama."
*A/N~ I hope you guys liked this chapter! Vote, comment me some feedback!!***
