Toxic // m.c.

chapter five.

*2 years ago*

“Dance with me.” Michael whispered in my ear, standing behind me.I turned around to face him, with tears covering my face. He took his thumbs and wiped under my eyes and pulled me to him and hugged me tight.

“Shhh, don’t cry, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again” Michael whispered into my ear, and I believed him. It was our first ever big fight, and I didn’t think they were going to happen often.

It was over something really stupid, he saw me talking to a guy at a party we were at and got overly jealous, embarrassed the hell out of me, and in the car it just really blew up and he said some really hateful things.

I buried my head into the crook of his neck and sighed, nodding okay. He made me look at him in the eye, and held my face in his hands gently. “You know I love you, right?” he asked me.

“I love you more”

“Not possible” he said with a teasing tone. He then put my hands on his shoulders and his hands on my waist and started humming “If it Means a Lot to you” by A Day to Remember softly in my ear and swayed me slowly. He stopped singing eventually but kept dancing with me in the comfortable silence. “We’ll be together forever Sophia… forever and always” He then told me.

“Until hell starts to freeze” I whispered back and kissed him softly on the lips.

My heart belonged to Michael, and at that moment I knew no matter what happened or whatever he said or wherever he went, I would always come back to him.

***

It was Friday morning and my alarm went off at exactly ten A.M like I set it for. I shot up out of bed, wiping my eyes of the few tears that spilt. We had a good solid year of happiness before all the fighting started.

I hated having dreams about him. They were too painful for me to handle.

Missing Michael came in waves. For a little while I’d be okay, and then I’d see something that reminded me of him and it’d all come crashing down. I really thought I was never going to see him again, and despite loving him that’s what I wanted. We were terrible for each other, the constant fighting, screaming and betrayal. It wasn’t healthy, but when he left I couldn’t help but wish he’d come back at times.  Now he was right next door and I have no idea what to do.

I decided I wasn’t going to let Michael ruin my first day at work and official day in New York, so I pushed all thoughts of him aside and started getting myself ready. I took a nice shower and when I got out I realized I didn’t know exactly what to wear since it was my first day and I didn’t have a uniform yet. I just threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a white V-neck with my black converse. I don’t normally wear too much makeup, just foundation and some mascara, so that was done pretty quickly. I threw my dark blonde hair up into a pony tail not feeling like doing much to it. I wondered if my nose ring would cause a problem, but I’d just have to wait and see.

I checked the time to see it was about 12 o’clock and I was ready to head out.

I entered the café and was instantly greeted by Ashton, “Sophia! You made it!”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world” I said laughing, hoping he didn’t take the sarcasm in a rude way. I was relieved when he started laughing with me. He has a sense of humor, good.

“Come on; let me show you around the back. You can meet the crew.” He said sounding like he was in a gang or something which made me laugh. I liked this job already. Ashton grabbed my hand and dragged me into the back, looking back at me giving me a big dimply smile that made my heart skip a tiny bit. Not like Michael did though, I thought and mentally slapped myself.

Ashton introduced me to everyone, and they all seemed nice so far. There were two other girls named Kaya and Claire and one other boy named Calum, who was also pretty cute. What is up with hot guys at this café? 

“We used to have a guy named Michael work here, but he was just fired which gave us the opportunity to hire you” Calum said with a smile. It couldn’t be my Michael… could it? I decided I wasn’t going to press on and ask just exactly which Michael it was. It wasn’t worth it, and I just really didn’t care anymore.

Ashton then led me over to the desk and figured out my work schedule with me. We both didn’t start the school year until September 13th, so this one was only temporary until I needed one that worked around my classes. I worked every day from 1-8 pm, except weekends I had off. That should be enough for rent, no doubt. He also ordered in uniform sizes for me, gave me an apron to wear for the day and I began my training. Today he showed me how to make drinks, like lattes, frappes and all these other fancy coffee drinks. It seemed pretty difficult, but Ashton promised I’d get the hang of it eventually.

The day actually went by pretty fast, I was having fun learning. I also realized Ashton and I had a lot in common, in music especially which was great because I’m a huge music person. Before I knew it, it was 8 o’clock and my first shift was over. Ashton said he had basically the same schedule as me, so he got off at the same time and offered to walk me home, which I happily agreed too. When we got to the apartment building I thought Ashton was just going to leave, not walk me up to my apartment door. But, he did, not that I really minded. I actually thought it was pretty sweet of him.

When we entered the hallway that my apartment door was located in, I saw Michael. He was standing outside his door with some girl dressed in a really slutty outfit pressed against it, and they were making out.

It literally looked like he wanted to eat her face.

I ignored the feeling of being kicked in the heart and just kept my eyes on the ground and kept walking. Ashton nudged my shoulder to get my attention, “That’s the Michael we were talking about at work. He worked with us for about a month or so, but he was always coming in hung-over so we had to fire him.”  He said with a sad smile. What? Michael hung-over, I couldn’t believe it. He always told me he would never start drinking; he didn’t want to end up like his father. But I guess something changed when he got here.

As we walked by, I guess Michael wasn’t all that distracted by the girl in front of him and turned around to see who we were. His eyes softened a little when they saw me, but then again I was probably just imagining that. But when they saw Ashton beside me they instantly got hard and rigid, looking back down at me, and then back up at him. “Ashton” he spat. I was about to explain it wasn’t what it looked like, but then I remembered Michael’s little girlfriend next to him, and that he wasn’t my boyfriend anymore, he didn’t need an explanation. Ashton just rolled his eyes and continued to walk with me to my door.

“Hope you have as much with fun her as I did. One hell of a ride man, believe me.” Michael called over at him while chuckling and my heart stopped. He was obviously a little tipsy, but it hurt to think that’s all I meant to him. All I was to him was a ‘little fun’ while he was my world. Michael then grabbed the slutty girl by the arm and pulled her inside shutting the door and Ashton looked at me with his eyebrows raised curiously.

“Um, it’s a long story I’d rather not get into right now, I’m sorry.”

Ashton’s face dropped a little, but I’ve only known him for like two days. He was nice, and we got along but I didn’t trust easily and I wasn’t about to tell him all about my heartbreak. “Yeah, that’s okay. I understand.” He said with a small smile, “I’ll see you Monday Sophia!” and jogged down the hall, out of sight.

No way in hell I’m talking to Michael now.