I'd Kiss You Goodbye If I Thought It Would Make You Stay

“Tell me, do you still have pieces of me, ‘cause I’m not complete at all.” – Sing It Loud

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I hear voices muffled through the door when I wake up.

I rub my eyes, glancing at the clock; it’s just past eleven.

I sweep my hair into a ponytail and put in my contacts before shuffling out of the room.

I wander into William’s kitchen, where he and Mike are already sitting at the table.

“You feeling better, Rae?” William asks, as soon as I join them.

“Yeah, fine,” I say, waving his concern away. Bill is probably my closest family member, and also my best friend, but he worries about me too much. It can get a bit annoying at times, even though I know he’s just trying to help. It’s just the way he is. “Hey Mike,” I add, going to hug him in order to divert attention away from myself.

“Hey Rae. I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says, hugging me back. “Ready for tour?”

“Yeah, Mike,” I lie, as William looks on, forehead wrinkled in concern. “Can’t wait.”

William stands up, offering me his seat as Mike sits back down again.

I rub my face tiredly and take his seat.

“Coffee?” William asks from the stove, pouring a cup for me as if he read my mind.

“Thanks,” I say gratefully, accepting it from him. “So how are Jack and Butcher and Tony? And where’s Sisky?”

“Butcher’s visiting family, but he’ll be back next week. Tony went to Florida with his girlfriend for two weeks, and Jack and Sisky went out to breakfast with Michael,” Mike informs me.

“We wanted to wait until you woke up to go anywhere,” William adds.

“Thanks, but you could have gone without me. I don’t really feel like going anywhere.”

“Are you sure? We can probably still catch them,” Mike suggests, looking at his watch.

“No, I’m not hungry. You guys go ahead,” I tell them. William glances at Mike.

“Then what will you do?” Bill asks me, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” I shrug, sighing; I haven’t given a second’s thought as to what I was going to do these next few weeks. “I was thinking about wallowing pathetically for a few hours. Then…yeah, that’s all I got so far,” I inform them, picking at my fingernail.

“How about we just hang here and watch movies?” Mike suggests, after the two of them share a concerned glance.

“That works, too,” I agree, shrugging unenthusiastically.