Toxic // m.c.

chapter nine.

*June 19th, three years ago*

It was around 6:00 pm when I was rudely awakened from my nap, by none other than Raelynn. “Wake up bitch, we’re going on an adventure” she said with a smirk on her face and began hitting me with my pillows. I already knew it was just going to be a party, which wasn’t really my type of ‘adventure’. I tried to reach for my blankets to pull them over me, but Raelynn was already one step ahead of me and stole them.

“Come on, stop being so lazy. Get up, put on something cute, and let’s go. Maybe you could even meet someone” she said with a little eyebrow wiggle. She walked over to my closet and began throwing different outfits at me telling me which ones she liked, while I still hadn’t even gotten out of the bed.

“But Rae, you know better than anyone, no guy could ever take the place in my heart that Netflix does. It’s truly impossible.”

“Oh shut up, you know that’s not true. What I do know though, is that you’ll just sit in this bed all night if I don’t get you out. So come on, Luke’s going to pick us up in like 45 minutes.” She said and she was in fact correct. I sat there for a minute mentally deciding if putting up a fight or not was worth it, but when I noticed she was about to start jumping on me, I decided it wasn’t.

“You’re doing my makeup then. I was supposed to be having a long ass nap, not getting ready for a party. So you’re getting me ready. I’m too lazy.” I said with a huff and she just rolled her eyes, handed me an outfit and pushed me into the bathroom.

“Rude!” I called out at her.

“I love you!!!” she yelled back and I just laughed and closed the door. I put on the outfit and when I looked at my reflection I was honestly a bit impressed. It was a black skater skirt, with a white tank top tucked in, a denim jean jacket to put over top, and paired with my beloved black converse. I walked out of the bathroom, where Rae immediately started on my makeup. For my makeup she didn’t do anything special, just some concealer to cover any blemishes and some light eyeliner with mascara. She then curled my hair into soft tussled waves, and when she was done I was honestly shocked. Rae deserved more credit for this stuff than she got.

“Now you, my friend, look hot” she said and I could tell she was proud of her work, which she should be, I felt pretty great. “Not so bad yourself, Rae.” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah whatever, now let’s get going, Luke’s here!” she said obviously excited to see her boyfriend. When we got to the party it basically looked like any other party you'd see on the tele, people scattered all around with cups in their hands and dumb girls littered around acting like drunken idiots. Rae and Luke led me in, getting drinks as soon as they got in, which I declined. Drinking was definitely not my thing.

About a half hour into the night it was no surprise when I lost them both, so I found myself an empty seat in the kitchen to chill in until Rae and Luke found me and were ready to leave. I was just minding my own business when I noticed someone else decided to sit next to me, and when I looked over it was a boy who looked about my age with a plastic cup in his hand and I eyed him suspiciously. 

“Hey, I’m Michael” the boy with bleach blonde hair and green eyes said to me. Was he drunk? I can't tell. “Hi, I’m not interested. Sorry.” I replied back, trying not to sound too mean, but mean enough to get the message across. The boy still stuck around though, much to my confusion.

“You don’t look like you like parties all that much huh?” He asked me and I just shook my head no.

“Me either, not really my scene. I just get dragged here by my friends. I don’t even drink, this is just water.” He said with a small smile. Well maybe this guy wasn’t all that bad.  I stayed silent just thinking over if I should talk to this boy or not, and right before he just gave up and left, I spoke up.

“So you promise you’re not just some creepy drunk guy trying to get with me, right?” I asked with a small laugh, holding more meaning than he’d ever know though. I guess he found that funny cause he started cracking up.

“I pinky promise you.” He said while holding out his pinky. I grabbed his pinky in mine, and he kissed his thumb holding it out to me. What? Confusion was obviously written on my face but Michael just chuckled and kept his thumb out, waiting for me to do the same thing. I kissed my thumb, and then he connected his thumb with mine. Not going to lie, that was pretty cute.

“Well alright then Michael. I’m Sophia.” I said with a small smile.

**

I woke up the next morning from yet another dream about Michael and sighed to myself.  I had that specific dream about Michael so many times. It was like my brain couldn’t figure out that the Michael I met that day is never coming back, no matter how desperately I want him too.  

I slowly opened my eyes, trying not to let the sunlight hit them too hard when I realized I was on the couch. I guess I was too tired after work to even make it to bed. I tried standing up, but failed when I felt something across my stomach, restricting me from moving. I looked down at my stomach to see Michaels arm wrapped tightly around me, lying right next to me, and then all the memories of last night hit me at once. Michael drunk, the things he told me, asking to stay, and me falling asleep at the other end of the couch trying not to fall asleep because I had classes today.

I was thinking it all over, like how the hell I ended up like this with Michael when something clicked inside my brain. I HAVE SCHOOL. I ripped myself out of Michael’s arms which caused him to fall onto the floor and ran over to my phone to check the time. It was eight o’clock which meant I didn’t miss my first class. I sighed in relief and went to wake Michael up, but he was already starting to sit up from the floor, stretching out his arms.

“Michael I have to go to school, like now. I’m already going to be late because I need to get ready and get to the campus but I don’t want to be later than I need to be. Can we discuss what happened when I get home, please?”

Michael was looking at me like I just grew a second head. “What the hell are you talking about? All I remember was coming here and crashing because I got myself too drunk…” he said and I felt like my world was stopping, I knew this would happen, and I hated myself for starting to believe it wouldn’t.

“You don’t… You don’t remember anything?” I asked, my voice starting to crack.

“No. So once again, what the actual hell are you talking about? You sound like you’re on drugs. Are you on drugs? Because if you are, you could always hook-“he was saying, but I interrupted him. I felt like my heart was breaking all over again, but that’s what I get for thinking it wouldn’t with Michael.

“You need to go. Now.” I told him, and walked straight to my room and began to sob as I heard the apartment door slam shut.

I honestly didn’t even care about classes right now. I was already going to be late, and I was in no mental state to go. So, I got out my laptop and emailed my professors for the day, telling them I was feeling very ill and wouldn’t be able to make it to class. I then texted Ashton asking for the date to be rescheduled, I still wanted to go, of course, but not today.

He responded fairly quickly wishing I’d feel better, asking if the date could happen tomorrow evening, which I agreed to. 

I hated myself too much to do anything today, despite how pathetic that was, all over Michael.