Look Closer

It was nearly four in the morning when Chelley woke up to someone shaking her somewhat violently. Her eyes shot open and she stared through bleary eyes at the person who was assaulting her. When he saw her open eyes, Mikey stopped and at grinned at her.

"Can I help you?" she snapped, annoyed at his apparent amusement.

"Grumpy, grumpy," he said.

Chelley raised her eyebrows, "Were you expecting me to be happy that you very rudely woke me up at," she paused, "What time is it?" she asked.

Mikey grinned wider, "Three forty seven," he said.

She groaned and extended her arm, striking her roommate, whom she felt was too close to her considering the time, across the face. "Get out of my face," she said, "And my room."

He laughed, "Oh, but there's someone here to see you, my dear."

Chelley rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head. She wasn't in any mood to deal with him and just wanted to go back to sleep. She'd had a long day and simply didn't have the energy.

"Right," she mumbled.

"I'm serious," he said, grabbing the blanket and pulling it off the sleepy girl. "You have a visitor."

With a groan, Chelley rolled over again so she was facing Mikey. "Who in their right mind would come to see me at four in the morning? Why are you being an asshole?" she asked.

He chuckled, "Who said your visitor is in their right mind? At this point, because you're being such a bitch, I wish I could tell you that I was kidding. But there actually is someone here, waiting in the hall, to see you. God help them," he said.

The tired girl sat up and threw her legs over the side of her bed. As her feet hit the ground, she glared at her generally lovable roommate and stomped out of her room toward the front of their apartment. She could hear him following her.

"You better hope to God that there's someone here, Mikey," she fumed as she reached for the doorknob, "Otherwise I'm going to Incredible Hulk your bitch ass-" She stopped, in complete shock, once she had flung the door open and saw the person standing on the other side of it. "Jack," she said quietly when the shock started to wear off.

"Hi Chelle," he said quietly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, "I thought you were in Baltimore?"

Jack nodded, "I was," he said, "But I couldn't sleep."

Chelley's eyes narrowed and she looked at him like he was stupid, "So you decided to fly across the country and wake me up?" she asked.

"I was hoping we could talk," he said, "Maybe grab some food. I'm hungry."

She sighed, looking sleepily up at the boy in front of her, "Do you know what time it is, Jack?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, sounding mildly annoyed, "But I also know that you and I need to talk about dealing with this situation we've gotten ourselves into."

"Right now? I mean, really? It has to be right this second?" Chelley asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. Neither of them could see the situation from the others point of view, or from any point of view that was not their own, for that matter. But it said so much about both of them.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, damn it," she said, exasperation creeping into her tone, "I'm being logical. It's four in the morning and you just flew across the fucking country to come talk to me when you knew I'd be sleeping."

He couldn't help but laugh. By her tone, he could tell that she was serious, but something about her getting angry with him was adorable to him. Whatever frustration he'd felt had begun to slowly fall away.

"Yes, dear," he joked, attempting to lighten the mood. But he should have known better.

Chelley was very obviously not amused. Her eyes shot up to his and he could see, and feel, the fire behind her eyes. "Don't call me that," she said.

"Yes, d- uh, ma'am," he said, catching himself.

"Jack," Chelley began, her tone becoming harsh. But Jack cut her off.

"Look, Chelley, the longer you stand here and argue with me, the longer it's going to be before you get back to sleep anyway. And then by the time you go back to your room, you'll be so angry with me that you won't be able to sleep. So you might as well just come with me to some twenty four hour diner and have something to eat on my dime and we can talk. And if you don't want to participate, I would be more than happy to talk at you," he said, "But there's not much point in trying to get out of it."

With a sigh, Chelley finally gave in. Though she was still tired, she was too awake to be able to easily go back to sleep. "Fine. Just let me go change really quick," she said, pulling the door open and making room for him to come inside the apartment.

"You look beautiful the way you are," Jack said, any hint of a joking tone have dropped from his voice and remained where he was.

Now it was Chelley's turn to roll her eyes, "That's cute," she said plainly. "I'm going to go change. You can either come inside and wait for me or I can close the door in your face and you can wait in the hallway. It really makes no difference to me."

Holding up his hands defensively, Jack took a step forward and made his way past the petite girl and into the apartment. Chelley closed the door behind him, a little louder than necessary, to make a point to him and then retreated to her room without a word. Wandering further inside, Jack took a seat on the couch while Mikey sat on the love seat.

After a few moments of staring at the floor in silence, Jack looked at Mikey. "Thanks man," he said, "I had no idea she had that kind of attitude."

Mikey laughed, "Oh, does she ever. She usually keeps it in check but when she's tired," he said, "Raging bitch."