Old Me

59 - Old Me

Michael had to cancel our Wednesday plans to hang out because of something that came up at work. I tried really hard not to be too disappointed because work is important, but all I could think about was kissing him and touching him.

I was ecstatic when Saturday finally rolled around and Mikey's car pulled into my driveway. I raced down the stairs, calling out to my mom that I'd be back later before closing the door and rushing to his car. I slipped into the car admittedly a little out of breath but didn't hesitate to kiss his lips.

"Hi," he exclaimed as he pulled away, "miss me?"

I nodded and pecked his lips again before sitting back and putting my seatbelt on.

"You can still change your mind," he said, raising a brow.

"No, we're going Michael," I said rolling my eyes.

It's like he was more nervous than I was for me to meet his mom.

"Alright, you can DJ," he said, handing me his phone.

I smiled and opened his music app. I took a moment to scroll through want he had most recently been listening to. I didn't really recognize any of the bands.

I clicked on the first song he had saved and turned up the volume.

"Oh gosh, seriously put something you like on," he said, glancing over at me as he drove.

"Shh, I wanna hear what you've been listening to," I said.

The lyrics were intense and definitely not something I would have listened to unless I was in a really, really bad mood or something. It made me so curious. What was going on in his brain?

After a couple of songs, it was a little too dark for me so I searched for my own playlist and put it on.

"I told you," he chuckled when the music changed to an upbeat pop song.

"It's not bad, just kind of depressing."

He shrugged and drummed his fingers along to the beat of the music.

"Wait, what's your mom's name again?" I asked turning the music down a notch.

"Karen."

"Right, Karen," I nodded. "Should I call her that or Mrs. Clifford?"

"You can call her either. Whatever feels more comfortable to you. But she'll probably tell you to call her Karen," he smiled.

"Okay," I said.

I wondered what she would be like. He hasn't really ever talked about his parents before. He tends to avoid the topic and I never wanted to press. It must be strange though, not being so close to his parents. I mean, I know that not everyone is, but I guess since I'm so close with my own it's hard to imagine not having a relationship with them where I saw them frequently.

As the car ride continued I could tell that he was anxious. So I tried to distract him by talking. We talked about random things: how work was going, how music lessons were going, his first concert he attended, his fear of the dentist. This was the most amount of time we'd ever spent talking about him. It was nice to get to know these little details about his life.

About an hour and a half into our trip I asked if we could stop somewhere to pee. We exited the freeway and pulled into a Starbucks.

He slipped his hand into mine as we walked towards the entrance and he held the door for me.

"Want anything?" He asked leaning down to whisper in my ear over the sound of the music and blenders.