Love and Conspiracy

As we made our drive back home, clouds hung darkly in the sky. I was expecting it to start pouring any minute, but to my dismay it didn’t.

“It’s nice being alone again for once,” Billie said to himself.

“Am I not here?” I joked, pretending to take his comment literally.

“No, I mean alone with you, silly,” he said with a smile, grabbing my hand to lift it up to his mouth and kiss it. Luckily, he couldn’t see me blushing.

Once we pulled into the apartment parking lot, he turned off the ignition and sat there.

“Do you mind if we stay in the car for a bit?” he asked.

“Nope, not at all,” I answered. He motioned me to scoot closer to him. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me comfortably against his chest. We sat like that for a few minutes in silence. “What I would give to sleep next to you like this every night,” he hardly mumbled. The smile on my face grew.

“One day,” I whispered back. He tilted my head up towards him.

“I really hope so,” he said, pressing a delicate kiss to my lips. Butterflies started to form in my stomach. However, I sat up abruptly to look at him. “What do you want from this, Billie?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, a little offended.

“I don’t know… I just, I’m confused on what we’re doing here.”

“Well, what do you want this to be? I just figured that we had a mutual agreement that we’d keep it quiet,” he said, still holding on to me.

“Yeah, I guess so. For now, at least,” I said as I looked away from him.

“Of course. I don’t plan on keeping us a secret forever. We just need to find the right time to tell people. That is, if that’s what you want,” he quickly added at the end. The corners of my mouth turned into a smile.

“Sounds perfect to me,” I said before leaning in to kiss him again. I could feel him smile against my lips as he pulled me close for a hug.

“To tell you the truth, I really can’t wait for that day,” he said close to my ear.

“Me neither,” I whispered back.

After sitting there in each other’s arms for a good ten minutes, we decided that it was best that we went upstairs before anyone saw us. It wasn’t until we started to walk up the stairs when I got the strange feeling in my gut once again.

The apartment looked empty as we walked inside. However, Mike’s door was closed shut, so I just assumed that he had gone to sleep. Billie must’ve had the same thought since he slipped his arm around my waist. I started to feel nervous so I quickly gave him one last peck on the lips.

“I think I’m going to check on Mike and then head to bed,” I said quietly. He sweetly smiled.

“Alright, goodnight princess,” he whispered, kissing the top of my head.

“Ugh, I hate that name,” I teased before laughing and letting go of him. He chuckled before heading towards his own room.

I quietly shut the door behind me as I entered Mike’s room. The smile remained on my face as I tried to make my way over to the bed through the darkness. However, I tripped over something and fell to the ground, seeing Mike’s silhouette on the floor next to me.

“Mike?” I asked, expecting him to be awake. When there was no response, I started to panic. “Mike?” I said with more terror in my voice. I gently started to shake him, in the hopes of waking him up. “Mike, please. Wake up!” His whole body felt limp as I managed to roll him over. The look on his face was completely blank. That’s when I let the fear overcome me, screaming for Billie frantically.

~~~

My dry eyes blankly looked at the hospital floor as we waited to hear word. My head was resting on Jess’ shoulder as she had already fallen asleep. 4 AM. That’s how long we were sitting there for. Only in the previous hour had I finally gotten myself to stop crying.

Billie sat on the other side of the waiting room with Chris and Tre, avoiding all eye contact with me ever since I rejected his comfort during the situation. However, I had gone past the point of delirium, so all my mind was focusing on was sleep.

“Are you the folks waiting for a Mr. Dirnt?” a woman doctor said, walking up to us. I immediately sat upright.

“Yes, that’s us. Is he alright? How is he doing? What’s going on?” I asked, words rambling out of my mouth. She managed a modest smile on her face as she motioned for me to follow her away from the group.

“He’s doing just fine now. Was anyone with him in previous hours you found him unconscious?” she asked calmly once we were far enough from everyone.

“Well, after their show we were going to a friend’s house, but he decided to just head home since he said he wasn’t feeling well. That was about three hours beforehand,” I answered. Her eyes were fixed on me as she slowly nodded.

“Are you aware that Mr. Dirnt was poisoned tonight?”

“What?” I barely whispered, not believing what I had just heard.

“He’s alright now since we got his stomach pumped to rid the poison, but quite frankly ma’am, it’s a miracle that he’s alive,” she said, still intently looking at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat in the hopes to hold back the tears.

“Can I see him?” I could barely say. Her smile grew once again and nodded before taking me with her. I didn’t even have a thought to turn around and tell the rest what was going on.

We passed several hospital rooms with all sorts of people in each of them; however, they just all turned to a blur until she stopped in front of a room with an open door. I slowly walked into the room to see Mike laying in bed with all sorts of tubes and wires attached to him. Images flashed in front of my eyes as I was abruptly shot back into the past of seeing my mom in the hospital, on her death bed. The next thing I knew, I was briefly seeing Mike smile before I went lightheaded and fainted.

~~~

I woke up to the sound of a rhythmic beeping throughout the room. Not realizing where I was, it took me a moment before I started to sit up from the couch I was on.

“Doing alright?” I heard Mike weakly say. My heart dropped as I turned to see him in the bed that I had last seen before blacking out. The tears welled in my eyes as I quickly got up and went to his side, giving him a big hug. “I guess that’s a yes. You took quite a fall,” he
managed to joke. I pulled away enough to see his face.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay,” I said, tears falling down my face. He lifted his hand to my cheek to wipe them away.

“There’s no need to cry, babe,” he said softly. I looked at his smiling face before tightly hugging him once again.

“I love you so much, Mike. I have no idea what I’d do without you,” I whispered in between sobs. He gently rubbed my back before putting his other hand on my face.

“Don’t ever worry about that, Lucy. I am never going to leave you, no matter what. You’re just gonna be stuck with me for the rest of your life,” he said humorously, yet sincerely. My lips quivered in happiness and sadness before I pressed them to his. After a long moment of staying like that, I slowly pulled away. “I love you, Luce,” he said, pushing the hair out of my face.

Just in perfect timing, Tre popped his head around the corner to see who was in the room.

“Mike!” he yelled happily, running to the bed. I continued to hold Mike’s hand once everyone started to make their way into the room. “Poison?! Man, are you one tough guy to conquer something like that!” Tre said as if it was no big deal.

“That’s what I don’t get, though. Who in the hell would poison you? As if you could have any enemies!” Chris said. Mike managed a laugh.

“I have no idea. Maybe I drank the wrong person’s drink at the show,” he joked. Little did anyone know how true those words were going to be.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but he’s going to need to get his rest soon,” a nurse said from the doorway.

“Can’t he go home today?” Jess asked the small, older lady. The nurse let out a giggle.

“Oh, honey. No, he won’t be able to leave until tomorrow. But ya’ll are welcome to come back later during visiting hours,” she sweetly said before disappearing.

After they all said their goodbyes, I was the last one left in the room with him. I wrapped my arms around him once more.

“We’ll be back later to see you,” I said to him.

“Alright, I can’t wait to come home and relax with you in my arms again,” he said softly, starting to close his eyes. I smiled, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, babe,” he whispered before fully closing his eyes.

Billie was leaning against the wall outside of the room waiting for me. He had a content look on his face as I walked up to him.

“Ready to go?” he mumbled. I nodded my head in agreement.

~~~

Once we got home after a rainy, silent drive, we were both tired out and ready for some sleep. He lazily threw his keys on the table before starting to head to his room.

“I’m crashing. I guess I’ll see you in a few hours,” he said flatly. As I continued to stand in the living room, I saw him plop down on his bed. Although I was extremely tired myself, as well, I couldn’t imagine going in that room alone where I had seen Mike so… lifeless.

“Billie, do you mind if I sleep in here with you?” I asked awkwardly from his doorway.

“What, so now you want my comfort?” he said rudely, remaining motionless on the bed. It hurt me a little more than it should have.

“If you don’t want me to then you can just say no,” I said in a soft voice. He rolled his head to the side so he could look at me.

After a small sigh, he patted the bed next to him and moved over. I carefully made my way into the room that I had never dared step foot in before and lay next to him on the bed. We both silently looked up at the ceiling as we remained a good few inches away from each other. Not being able to handle the awkwardness anymore, I boldly moved closer to him and wrapped my arm around his body, squeezing my eyes shut in preparation for rejection. However, after a moment of not moving, he eventually put his arm around me, as well, pulling me closer to his chest.

“When I said it earlier, I didn’t expect my wish to come true this soon,” he whispered. I hugged him tighter before looking up at him.

“I guess you’ve gotta be careful what you wish for, then,” I quietly said back. Even though he had such a sad look in his eyes, he leaned down and kissed me. All I could do was lazily kiss him back, which we continued to do for the next few minutes before we were out in each other’s arms.