Heartbeats Away From Disaster

"Craig, seriously, I have to go." I laughed. "I have to finish cooking my dinner, and then I have to clean my house if you expect me to throw a house party here tomorrow night."

"Babe, cleaning up before a wild house party?" Craig questioned with a teasing laugh. "That sounds like the process will become pretty redundant before long."

"Well," I grinned, "I can at least try, because I don't want your drunk ass tripping over all my shit that would be in the way if I listen to you and don't put my things away."

"Hey, I'm not a clumsy drunk." Craig said defensively.

Although we were only speaking to each other on the phone, I could literally see the smirk slowly starting to pull across his lips.

"Oh boy, no, of course not." I said sarcastically. "But wait, if I remember right, I believe that I have some pictures of a certain someone, from one night when he was super shit faced, trying to - "

"Okay, okay." Craig interrupted me. Letting out an embarrassed laugh as he recalled perfectly well which picture I had been talking about, he then sighed heavily to himself. "Fine then, I guess I can let you go." He said. "What time do you want me to come over tomorrow?"

I wrinkled my nose as I thought to myself. "Oh, I don't know. Whenever you want to stop by I guess."

"Oh? Whenever I want?" He asked. "Maybe, I'll just stop by tonight and spend the night?"

"Eh … well, actually," I hesitated for a moment, and bit my lip slightly, "Lyle is coming over tonight."

Craig muttered a few choice words under his breath before he took a deep breath, and let it out in a loud sigh. "I see." He mumbled. "Well, I guess I'll just see you tomorrow."

"Okay," I said quietly. "Good night Craigery."

"Good night, Mitzi." He said just as quietly as I had. "I love you babe."

"Love you too." I whispered. "Bye."

"Bye sweetheart."

Sighing softly to myself, I hung up my phone and tossed it onto my bed where I had been laying while talking to Craig. It's been about three weeks since Craig and Lyle had gotten into the fight at the bar. Since then, Craig hasn't brought the incident up, but I know that it's on his mind every time he hears that I'm out with Lyle.

And as for Craig's accusations? Believe me, I've asked Lyle about them but he swears it was just him and Lisa visiting. I have no choice but to believe Lyle. I mean, it would have been different if Craig was actually able to point out the other blonde haired girl who was supposedly kissing my boyfriend, maybe I would have believed him. But, since he wasn't able to find another blonde haired girl in the bar, apart from Lisa, I had to take Lyle's words.

Yawning slightly, I sat up and stretched before I got up and made my way out of the room to the kitchen. I grabbed the strainer containing my draining spaghetti noodles and made sure that there wasn't an excess amount of water before I dumped the noodles back into the pot. From there, I got to work on my spaghetti sauce, not paying any attention to how much time had passed.

Before I knew it, I heard a knock on the front door. Wiping my hands off on my apron, I hurried to the front door and opened it to reveal Lyle standing there, a charming smile on his face as he held out a clear plastic container which held a very pretty pink and purple fish.

"You like him?" He asked excitedly as he stepped inside and handed the container over to me. "He's a crowntail beta." He explained.

"He's pretty." I gushed. "I love him. You bought him just for me?"

Lyle nodded his head, his smile never leaving his face as he reached behind him and shut the door. "I have his food, tank, heater and stuff out in my car still, but I'll get it later. I just wanted you to see him first."

"Thank you so much." I grinned as I held up the container to examine my fish closer. "I'm gonna call him Dennis."

Lyle gave me a weird look and raised an eyebrow in question.

"He reminds me of Dennis Rodman." I laughed.

Lyle laughed loudly at my words as well and then nodded his head. "Well that makes sense." He grinned.

With that, he took my hand and led me through my own house, not stopping until we got into the kitchen. He sat down beside the island and watched as I set down Dennis, and then turned back to my spaghetti sauce that was just about finished.

"Oh, who got you flowers?" Lyle asked.

I paused momentarily to glance over my shoulder, and saw the fresh new bouquet of orange roses that Craig had bought for me. Once a week, Craig has made it a habit to stop by the flower shop to buy me a new bouquet of my favorite roses.

"Craig bought me those." I said softly, eyeing Lyle as I waited for his reaction.

The carefree light in his eyes suddenly turned dark as a sour look crossed his handsome face. He narrowed his eyes at my roses as if they had uttered some obscene and derogatory remarks his way before he looked up at me, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Why are you even friends with that guy?" He mumbled. "And why the fuck is he buying you flowers? He needs to find his own fucking girlfriend and just stay away from you."

Frowning at Lyle, I placed a hand on my hip and gave me a tired look. "Craig is my best friend." I defended. "He's helped me through more things than you know and if it weren't for him, I don't know where I'd be right now. And even though you two don't see eye to eye, Craig's a good person, believe me. He doesn't open up to a lot of people, but he opens up to me and the person he is inside is one of the most amazing people I know."

Lyle rolled his eyes slightly and dropped his gaze from mine, instead inspecting my beta. "If you say so." Was all he muttered.

"I do say so."

"If you ask me, though, it sounds like he still has the hots for you."

"Lyle, stop it." I mumbled. "I told you already, Craig is my best friend. He knows that I love roses, so he sends me a bouquet once a week, okay? That's all there is to that. He hasn't made a move for me or anything like that, so just drop it."

"Fine." Lyle sighed.

Thinking that that was the end of that conversation, I turned my attention back to my cooking, only to have Lyle utter one more thing that was on his mind.

"If he does try anything, though, I'll have you know that I'm not just gonna sit around and watch him do it." He said simply.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Grabbing my keys, I picked up my sidekick and made a move to shove it into my pocket when it started ringing, catching me by surprise. Not bothering to look at the caller ID, I quickly answered it, thinking that perhaps it was Mitzi.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Look, I'm just going to get one thing straight." A voice demanded on the other end of the line. "If you even so much as look at Mitzi the wrong way I'm gonna fucking kill you."

My mouth dropped open in shock, but after a few seconds I regained myself and my defensive side jumped up.

"Look Lyle, I don't know who the fuck you think you are, playing Mitzi like you did, but you're not gonna fucking get away with it. I don't give a damn if you threaten my life, go ahead and threaten it; it's not like I haven't been told something like that before. But if you ever talk to Mitzi like you did to me just now, you had better fucking watch yourself because I will rip your pathetic ass apart, got it?"

"You know I would never hurt Mitzi," Lyle said simply, "as long as she remembers to keep her ass in line, we'll get along perfectly fine."

"You fucking ignorant son of a bitch." I growled through my teeth. "How dare you even talk about her like that? I swear I'm gonna find you and put you in your place once and for all."

"Try it and we'll see just how much Mitzi will get along with you after that." Lyle said, the sound of a sneer clearly evident in his voice; the bastard was clearly enjoying this little conversation.

"Fucking jerk off, Mitzi is bound to see your true side sooner or later." I snapped. "And when she does, I will gladly make sure you stay the hell out of her life for good."

With that, I hung up my sidekick and shoved it angrily into my pocket. I crossed my living room in a few quick steps and, making sure everything was locked, headed out into the hallway, not stopping to talk to anybody I happened to meet. I was in my car and on the road to Mitzi's house in a matter of minutes. When I finally arrived at her house, I saw her to be outside in the front yard, talking to her neighbor who was walking their dog.

I waved at her as I pulled up into her driveway and politely waited in my car until she was done talking to her neighbor. I didn't want her to worry when she caught sight of my pissed off expression, so I didn't get out until her neighbor was halfway down the block.

Sighing heavily, I made my way across the lawn to Mitzi, who was now watering her flowers along her fence.

"I got everything set up and ready to go." She called over her shoulder as she heard me approaching from behind. "All you have to do is through them on the barbeque and cook them up. How does that sound?"

When I didn't answer immediately, Mitzi turned around to look at me. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself short she saw the look on my face.

"Craig? What is it?" She asked hesitantly. "What happened?"

"I just got a call from your bitch of a boyfriend, threatening my life, and basically telling me to stay away from you." I mumbled.

Mitzi dropped her hose in surprise and made no move to pick it back up as she stared at me. "What?" She asked slowly. "But, no, Lyle's not crazy like that, he wouldn't actually threaten you - "

"Look, I have his number still on my phone." I said, pulling out my sidekick. I opened up my call log and showed Mitzi the last number that had called me. "That's his number, isn't it?"

Mitzi studied the number for a few seconds before turning her hazel eyes up to my blue ones. "Yes." She admitted. "That's his cell number."

"You believe me now?" I asked. "Mitzi, the guy is fucking crazy, you need to get away from him."

"Craig, he's just upset because he found out about the roses that you've been sending me. He's - "

"He's upset about a bunch of roses, so he finds that he needs to go off and threaten my life?!" I asked in disbelief. "Oh my gosh, Mitzi, seriously, think about it! He's fucking crazy. He can end up hurting you! I'm sorry, but I can't just sit around at home knowing that you're with some guy who can snap on you at any moment. I know that you're a strong girl who can throw a good punch here and there, but come on. If Lyle gets pissed at you, babe, you honestly won't stand a chance against a guy like him. I don't even want to think about all the damage a guy like him can do." I said, finishing the last part in a whisper.

Just thinking about the possibility of Mitzi being in physical pain made me choke up.

"Craig." Mitzi frowned. "That's not gonna happen."

"Mitzi," I whispered, "the guy threatened my life. How can you be so sure what'll happen and what won't?"

"Craig, please."

"Mitzi, please." I mocked. "I won't be able to sleep knowing that you're with someone who can turn on you at any moment."

"I'll be fine." She insisted.

"But I won't be if he hurts you, Mitzi." I whispered.

"Craig." She sighed, shaking her head. I reached over, silently taking her hand in mine and pulled her toward me so that I could wrap my arms around her, hugging her to my body. She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, and I listened as she took a deep breath and let it out in a soft sigh as she rested her head against my chest. "I can't leave him right now, Craig." She whispered. "But I swear, the first time he so much as talks to me wrong, I'll leave him."

"What if the first time is all it takes for him to hurt you?"

Mitzi's arms tightened ever so slightly around me. "Well then, if it ever comes to that, I'll let you kick his ass like you've been dying to do ever since you first met him."

I knew that Mitzi's words were meant to humor me, but this wasn't the type of situation that I could possibly be humored in. If anything happened to Mitzi, there would definitely be hell to pay. I didn't care if I ended up in jail, no one would be able to get away with hurting the one girl I've ever loved.