On the Verge

Much to her relief, the trip to Miami wasn’t as bad as she was anticipating. They week long stay was a blur of shopping, lounging on the beach, and clubbing every night. Micah had to admit though, that she’d gotten a bit more wild and crazy that she had planned. She only remembered three of the seven nights that they spent there.

She was slightly horrified when she checked her bank account as they boarded the plane home. Between shopping, dining, and drinking, she’d spent nearly $2,500 throughout the trip.

Piper seemed satisfied as she boarded the private plane, the newest Coach bag on her shoulder. Micah was already seated, with her lapbelt on. She was staring at the screen of her phone, something she’d spent quite a bit of time doing over the last week.

She sank down in her seat a bit, pulling her laptop out of her bag as Piper started talking for the sake of talking. Micah tried her best to ignore her friend who had been pushing her last nerve for the last forty-eight hours.

The plane took off shortly, and it didn’t take long for Micah to lose interest in the Internet. She returned her laptop to her bag and reclined her seat. Piper was staring intently at the screen of her iPhone and Micah rolled onto her side as much as she could. She stared out the window, and toyed with the pendant on her necklace, trying to relax enough to fall asleep.

She missed her bed and her father and brother. She was in much need of some alone time, considering she’d spent the last week constantly around Piper. She was looking forward to being back in L.A., yet she was apprehensive about seeing Garrett again.

Since she’d left, Garrett hadn’t tried to contact her at all. Em had called her the day after they left to find out where she was, and she had been able to hear Garrett chattering in the background. A few nights ago, she’d called him in a drunken state and left him a rather lengthy voicemail, which he never responded to. For some reason, that hurt Micah. He’d taken a punch for her, then decided that she wasn’t worth his time.

When the private plane landed several hours later, Micah emerged from the cabin drowsy and a bit cranky. It was four o’clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday, and the Los Angeles sun was merciless. Her bag on her shoulder, she crossed the landing strip to Jennings’ private car which was waiting for them. Piper was three steps ahead of her and slid into the perfectly air conditioned car first. They waited in silence where their luggage to be loaded from the plane to the car.

Micah wanted nothing more than to return back to her suite and crawl into bed and sleep for two days, but she had already promised to have dinner with Jonah and Selah that evening. She was not looking forward to it in the slightest. She planned on returning to her suite, unloading her bags, getting ready for dinner, then taking a cab to the studio where she was meeting Jonah.

She showered quickly, wishing she had more time to relax under the spray of the water. She fussed with her hair enough to give it some body before pulling on one of the new dresses she’d purchased in Miami. She smoothed the fabric down and nearly regretted the decision to wear a push up bra. Her cleavage was a bit out of control, but she was already running late and didn’t feel like changing. After quickly putting on a spot of make up, she tossed a few things into her bag and stepped into her favorite pumps before grabbing her keys and heading for the door.

It didn’t take long to get a cab, and she fiddled with her phone as the driver drove to the studio. She paid the driver and hurried through the front door of the studio. Technically, it was past business hours, so there was no receptionist at the front desk. As she bustled down the hall, her heels clicked against the tile floor and she ran a hand through her hair.

Jonah was in the control room, in his usual chair. He was reclining back, his feet up on the desk. He wasn’t alone, as Micah had assumed he would be. John, Jared, and Garrett were all still working on something, all three of them with guitars. Her eyes immediately locked on Garrett and when he saw her, he did a double take.

She maintained a placid expression as she approached Jonah, who looked at her and smiled. “Hey sis!” he said happily, sitting up and placing his feet on the floor. “How was Miami?”

“It was good,” she said, dropping into the open chair beside him. “I’m glad to be back though; I can only take so much of Piper.”

Jonah chuckled quietly. “That’s exactly why I’d go elsewhere whenever she’d stay with you at Mom’s,” he commented.

Micah only rolled her eyes, prepared to change the subject. “I’m starving. When are we leaving for dinner?”

“Selah should be here soon, but with her, who knows.” He shrugged, standing up. “I’ll be back in a few.” Without another word, he left the control room.

She spent the next few moments weighing her options. She could either continue to sit there or stand and approach the guys. Either option would leave her feeling immensely awkward, she concluded, so she took the plunge. She stood up, leaving her bag in the chair, and slowly walked over to the guys.

Jared was the only one to verbally acknowledge her. Garrett seemed to only be able to look at her, and John didn’t even bother to glace up.

“How was Miami?” Jared asked with a wide smile as she sat on the edge of one of the sofas.

Micah shrugged, attempting to fix the neckline of her dress. “It was nice, I can’t really complain too much. I just missed being home.” Jared nodded in understanding.

A silence ensued, and she found herself locked in a staring contest with Garrett. they were both simply looking at each other, taking each other in. Garrett hadn’t shaved in a day or two, she noticed, and in the week that she’d been gone, his hair had become a bit unruly. He was wearing his usual ripped up jeans and a t-shirt that warned of a zombie Apocalypse, his eyes still focused on her. Soon, he cleared his throat and looked away. Color flushed across Micah’s cheeks and she looked at her lap.

John and Garrett only stayed for a moment longer, leaving Garrett and Micah alone in the silent lounge area of the control room. The silence between them was unsettling and it had started to make her heart rate increase. It was so quiet that she could hear him breathing.

She licked her lips, deciding to break the silence and tension. “How’s recording going?” she asked. Her voice cracked on the second syllable.

Garrett looked up at her, a bit surprised that she’d spoken. He shrugged first. “It was okay, we just went through and worked on revising some of the new songs a bit. Em went crazy being here without you around.” He paused, cracking a smile. “Why are you all dressed up?”

“I’m going to dinner with Jonah and Selah tonight,” Micah told him, toying with the hem of her dress. She ran a hand through her hair and the motion sent the smell of her perfume through the air. “Did you, um, get my voicemail the other night?”

Garrett laughed once and the tension was gone. He set the guitar down on the sofa beside him and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Yeah, I did. I thought it was rather funny.”

“Yeah, of course you did,” she joked, her cheeks flushing again. “That was the only time I got drunk while I was gone, so sue me.”

Another smile flickered across his lips. “I thought it was cute,” he admitted. His words caused both of their cheeks to flush deeper.

They lapsed into a short, blush filled silence that ended when Jonah returned to the space. He’d changed out of his jeans and plaid shirt, in exchange for black Armani pants and a pressed white shirt, completing the look with a black silk tie.

“Sharp,” Micah commented with an amused smile. She stood from the sofa, her blush gone, and approached her brother to straighten his tie.

“Have you talked to Selah?” Jonah asked, looking at the screen of his phone while Micah fussed over his tie.

“Do I ever talk to Selah?” she responded, raising an eyebrow. Jonah only rolled his eyes, stepping away from her as he lifted his phone to his ear, presumably calling their younger sister. She sighed and spun around on her heels.

She turned to find Garrett looking her over. His eyes were lingering on the curve of her waist and the wave of her hair. She smiled softly, lifting her chin. She was about to go over to Garrett again, when Jonah spoke.

“Let’s go, Mic, we’re picking Selah up at Mom’s,” Jonah said with a bit of urgency. “Gare, you need to go. Jared and John are waiting for you.” Garrett from Micah to Jonah quickly and nodded once. He smiled at Micah before slipping out of the room.

An hour later, the three Claymour siblings were seated at their regular table at Province, a seafood restaurant in downtown LA. As Selah was talking about her decision to take a year off to work as a model before starting college, Micah sipped at her wine, wishing she’d ordered something stronger. Micah reached for her phone and texted Em.

Micah spent the next hour at the restaurant, blatantly ignoring the conversation between her siblings. Em had invited her over to the studio house when she was done with dinner and Micah decided against going. She needed alone time with her favorite pajamas and her television.

When they finished eating, Jonah paid the bill and left a nice tip. They three of them stood in silence at the curb, waiting for the valet to return with Jonah’s Range Rover. Selah was dropped off first, back at their mother’s house, and when Selah left the car, Micah let out a sigh.

Jonah looked over at her with a smile. “She’s out sister, Mic. We’re supposed to love her,” he joked, pulling away from the curb.

She rolled her eyes. “I do love her,” she told him, searching through her bag for her phone. “I just don’t necessarily like her. She’s so vapid.”

“You just don’t spend enough time with her.”

“And you do?”

“Touche,” Jonah said with a shrug. Micah only smiled.

The rest of the drive back to the Four Seasons was very quiet. Neither of them spoke, and the radio hummed quietly. When they arrived back at the hotel, Micah slid out of the car and said goodbye to her brother.

It was barely 8:30, yet the lobby was completely deserted. Her heels clicked against the marble floors as she walked, and the sound echoed through the space. She waved to the woman at the front desk as she made her way to the elevator. The elevator went straight to her floor and she fished for her keys as she approached her door. She swiped her keycard and dropped her bag directly inside the door. Stepping out of her heels, she bent to pick them up and walked towards her bedroom, the hardwood floors cold under her bare feet.

She dropped onto her bed, lying there for a moment, facedown on the down comforter. She finally worked up the motivation to roll onto her back before sitting up. She slowly stripped off her dress and pulled on a pair of yoga pants and an ill-fitting t-shirt. She walked into the bathroom and pulled her hair up and removed her make up and jewelery. She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment before turning off the bathroom light and walking back through her bedroom to the living room. She retrieve her phone from her bag before flopping onto the sofa and reaching for the remote.

She flipped through the channels before going to On-Demand and selected the most recent episode of True Blood. It only took fifteen minutes for her to start dozing off. She was just about to fall asleep when her phone started to vibrate violently on the coffee table. She jumped, reaching for her phone and answering it.

“Hello?” she grumbled into it. She pushed herself into a sitting position, yawning.

“Hey, are you back from dinner yet?” It was Garrett.

“Uhm, yeah. Why?” She was still half asleep, her thought process slow.

“I hate to ask this, but would I be able to come over?” he asked with an awkward laugh. “The guys are driving me nuts.”

“Sure, that’s fine,” she responded, scratching her scalp. “You’ll have to take a cab. I live at the Four Seasons, room 1607.”

“Got it. See you soon,” Garrett said, just before hanging up. Micah made a face at the phone before setting it back down on the coffee table before lying out on the sofa again.

Half an hour later, she was woken by a loud knocking on her door. She didn’t even realize that she’d fallen asleep, let alone for that long. Groaning, she rose from the sofa and padded to the door. She checked the peephole before opening the door for him.

“Hey,” he said with a smile that soon faded. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah,” she answered with a loud yawn. “But it’s not a big deal. I was just napping on the sofa. And besides, it’s too early to be sleeping.” She ushered him in the door and shut it behind him. “The guys were driving you nuts?”

He smiled again. “Pat was. And Em too. She was going crazy because we ran out of peanut butter and none of us would go to the grocery store with her,” Garrett explained, rolling his eyes before looking around. “So this is your apartment?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile.

“Damn,” he joked, laughing. Her cheeks flushed softly and she walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water.

“Are you thirtsy?” she asked as she opened the refrigerator door. “I have Coke, water, and orange juice.”

“Water’s fine,” he said and she heard him drop onto the sofa.

She pulled two bottles of water out and shut the door with her hip. She walked into the living room and handed him a water bottle before sitting beside him on the sofa, curling one of her feet under her. He had found the remote and was flipping through Netflix.

“Excuse me,” she joked, pulling the remote from his hand. He looked over at her and smiled widely. They debated for a while, deciding what to watch. Her vote was for Modern Family, but he was dead set on watching The Office. She gave in and selected a random episode to watch.

Before too long, her head had dropped to his shoulder and she was leaning into him. He smelled the way she remembered and she couldn’t help but smile.