On the Verge

As per Piper’s advice, Micah didn’t leave her suite until a quarter after ten to go meet Cain at the bar. She sighed, wiping her sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans and looking at the clock on the wall. She rubbed her lips together before applying another coat of wine colored lip balm.

Micah adjusted the neckline of her Dolce and Gabanna blouse, unbuttoning yet another button. The flutter sleeves hit her shoulders perfectly and the low V exposed her black lace bra. Her jeans were tight and she clicked her heels nervously on the tile floor.

Her phone buzzed from its location in the kitchen and she went to retrieve it, her knees feeling a bit shaky. Piper had sent her a text reading, calm down; I know you’re freaking out by now. Micah rolled her eyes and didn’t bother to respond. Instead, she looked at the time and decided that it was safe to leave.

Before heading for the door, she gave herself another spritz of perfume, changed her earrings quickly, and pushed a few things into a leather clutch. She ran her hands through her hair, giving it a more natural volume and checked herself over again in the mirror.

She let out a long breath. “You can do this,” she told herself. “You are better than him.” She nodded and reached for the doorknob.

The familiar click of her heels on the marble floors of the hall comforted her and her back straightened with confidence. Her teeth tugged at the corner of her lip as she approached the elevator, pressing the down button.

She waited for the elevator to reach her floor impatiently, snapping her fingers to relieve her tension. The elevator doors opened a moment later and as she entered the uncomfortably small space, the disks of her bracelet clinked together. She pressed the button for the ground floor and sighed as the doors closed. Her stomach dropped a bit as the elevator lowered slowly.

The doors finally opened on the ground floor and as she stepped out, she glanced at her phone to see the time. It was nearly 10:20 and she couldn’t help but smile with pride. She walked into the hotel bar, her heels once again clicking on the floor. She approached the bar and looked around a bit before seeing Cain’s raised hand, giving away his location.

She walked up to him slowly, her hips swaying with a little more effort as she walked, knowing that he was watching her. She slid onto the bar stool next to him as he looked her over.

“Hey,” he said simply. There was already a glass of scotch in front of him and he raised it to his lips, taking a quick drink.

“Hello,” she returned with a quick smile. The bartender approached her with raised eyebrows. “Just a Cosmo for now.” She flashed him her ID quickly and she was able to feel Cain’s eyes looking her over.

“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show,” Cain told her slowly.

“Yeah, sorry,” she apologized quickly. “Piper and I went to dinner, then she came back to the suite for a bit and we lost track of time.”

“How is Piper?”

“She’s good: still loud.” The bartender set her drink in front of her and she took a sip to ease the tension.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Cain cleared his throat. “You look really good,” he told her with a genuine smile. “Like, not just tonight, but overall, you look good.”

“I didn’t before?” she teased, biting the corner of her lip.

“Dammit, I hate when you do that,” Cain cursed with a laugh, running a hand through his hair.

Once the ice was broken, the pair struck up a conversation. Cain talked about his travels and where he’d been and Micah talked a bit about school, but mostly about the studio. They continued to drink and talk for an hour, leaving Micah a bit tipsy after two Cosmos, followed by a martini and a Long Island Iced Tea. She was at her giggly stage, Cain still sober.

“I think it’s time for shots,” Cain announced around 11:30. He smiled towards the bartender who brought over two shot glasses and a bottle of Absolut.

Micah only laughed, pressing a hand against her mouth to muffle the sound. “Now you’re just trying to get me wasted.”

“Your point being what?” he questioned, looking over at her as he poured the shots, sliding one her way. She pursed her lips, looking from him to the glass. “Okay, to a relationship that didn’t quite work, but a friendship that did.”

Micah laughed again, shaking her head as she lifted her shot glass to his. Their glasses clinked and she swallowed the liquid with a visible shudder. After the first shot, there were at least four more. Micah’s head was spinning and she looked over at Cain who was still smiling.

“Fuck you,” she told him, her words slurring together.

“It’s not my fault you’re a lightweight,” he responded with a jeering laugh.

“I have work tomorrow,” Micah realized, remembering the time. She made the mistake of getting to her feet too quickly. She would have surely hit the floor if Cain hadn’t caught her before she sank too low.

“Uhm, maybe I should take you up to your suite,” he suggested, his hands on her waist to support her. She hiccuped, shrugging.

“Hey, just because I’m drunk doesn’t mean you get any!” she warned him as he dropped a one hundred dollar bill on the bar. Her took her wrist, guiding her to the lobby.

“This reminds me of Italy two summers ago,” Cain told her quietly as they waited for the elevator to come down to the ground floor. She instantly remembered what he was talking about and the memory set her into a fit of hysteric giggles. In her laughter, she bent at the waist, leaning over. She nearly lost her balance and face-planted on the floor, but he held her at the waist to maintain her balance. “It’s really not that funny.”

“It is though,” she informed him between laughter. “How is that not funny? We got caught skinny-dipping in the hotel pool while we were both plastered.”

“I hope you realize I couldn’t make out a single word of what you just said.”

The elevator dinged as the doors slid open. He nearly dragged her into the elevator, pressing the glowing button with the fifteen on it. He let her ease down to a sitting position on the floor as the elevator climbed to her floor. He offered her a hand to help her up when the doors opened again.

“Where are your keys, Micah?” he questioned when they reached her door. She opened her clutch and pulled out her key card, swiping it before pushing to door open.

“No!” she exclaimed when Cain tried to follow her. “This is as far as you go.”

He laughed, shrugging. “Are you sure you won’t fall and break your ankle walking to your bed?”

“Yes...well, no, but if I do, I’ll call Piper,” she rambled a bit, frowning. “But, good night.”

“Good night, Micah,” he told her.

He stuck his foot in the door when she attempted to close it.

“What the hell are you doing?” she questioned, scowling at him. “Go away!”

“Don’t I get a good night kiss?” Cain teased with a wink.

Her scowl deepened. “You’re an asshole. But you did buy my booze,” she contemplated, her lips pursed. She sighed, rolling her eyes before leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. “Now good night!” With that, she slammed the door in his face.

With Cain finally out of her hair, she ran her hands down her face, leaning against the closed door. She wiped her lips on the back of her hand, kicking off her shoes. She began to unbutton her jeans as she made her way to her bedroom, also tugging at the buttons of her blouse. She removed her earrings and took off her bracelet, dropping them on the end table. She placed her phone beside her discarded jewelry and kicked off her jeans, pulling her blouse off. She collapsed on her bed in only her under garments. She hit the button to turn off the lights throughout the suite, and she was out just like the lights.

At some point hours and hours later, Micah was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing. She cursed repeatedly, searching for it blindly as her head pounded. A wave of nausea washed over her as she wrapped her hand around the phone.

“Fuck off,” she grumbled into the phone, once she answered it. She pressed her face into the pillow, as though she could smother her hangover.

“Where the hell are you, Mic?” Jonah demanded to know on the other end of the line.

“Fuck, what time is it?” she questioned, jolting up in bed. She immediately regretted her action when the blood drained from her head too quickly and her vision went spotty.

“Nearly eleven. You were supposed to be here two hours ago!”

“Why the hell didn’t you call me earlier?!” she yelled, irritated and hung over. She swung her feet over the side of the bed, standing up cautiously.

“I figured you were doing something with Dad. He just got in from a meeting and said you weren’t with him, so I called. I was worried.”

“God dammit, I’m hungover as fuck, and I just woke up. Give me twenty minutes to shower, then I’ll head to the studio. I am so sorry,” she apologized, walking quickly towards the bathroom. “I’ll see you then, okay? Okay.”

“Whatever you say, sis,” Jonah said before hanging up.

“Fuck!” she yelled loudly, dropping her phone on the bathroom counter before shedding her undergarments, and stepping into the shower.

After one of the quickest showers of her life, she wrapped her hair in a towel as she brushed her teeth, washed away yesterday’s make-up, and dressed. She dried her hair just enough to get the excess water out of her hair. She tied up her hair into a haphazard bun and put on a bit of make up. She put on a fair amount of Carmex, her lips dry and chapped. Her head was still throbbing and her vision was blurry, more so than usual. Because of this, she opened the bathroom cabinet, reaching for her glasses, which she was technically supposed to wear everyday, but never did.

She grabbed the first pair of shoes she could find, a pair of brown sandals and put them on. Tossing her things into her purse, she bolted for the door or her bedroom, making a pit stop in the kitchen for Asprin and a water bottle. She kicked back two Asprin, then put the bottle in her bag.

In the elevator, she called the front desk and asked them to pull out her car from the garage. She tapped her toes anxiously as the elevator went down the floors, picking up a few a few passengers on the way down. She texted Jonah, assuring him that she was leaving.

She hit traffic on the way to the studio but rerouted herself and was able to get around it. It took her a few minutes to find a parking spot, because once again, her usual spot was taken by the same van that had been there the day before. She had learned that the van belonged to John and the band and she made a mental note to kick their asses and tell them not to park their anymore.

She rushed into the studio, rushing past the front desk. She stopped to take a long drink of water, just outside the control room. She stepped inside and all eyes turned to her.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” Jonah said as she dropped onto the sofa beside John. She rolled her eyes, giving her older brother the finger.

Pat was in the sound booth, tracking drums. Kennedy was on the back sofa with his girlfriend, who was now sporting a key necklace from Tiffany & Co. Garrett and Jared were sitting across from Micah and John, talking about something that Micah couldn’t interpret.

She sighed, looking over at John as he put a hand on her knee. “Can I help you?” she asked with a charming smile. He only shrugged, smiling back. She picked his hand up, removing it from her leg.

“Why so hungover?” John asked, fishing his phone out of his pocket. He sent a quick text before looking back at her expectantly, wanting an answer. She pressed her lips together, looking up at him through her lashes. She pursed her lips, but only raised his eyes brows, still expecting an answer.

Micah sighed, running her tongue over her teeth. “I ran into my ex yesterday, who I haven’t seen in over six months. He more or less forced me to get a few drinks with him at the hotel bar last night and we did a few shots, and I might have gotten completely plastered,” she explained. Her head pounded again, and she reached for the bottle of Asprin in her bag. She took two more pills and sighed. “It was an interesting night, okay?” Her story had attracted the attention of Jonah, Garrett, and Jared who were all watching her with interest.

Looking around, she caught Garrett’s eye. For once, he didn’t look away. Instead he looked her over. She looked away nonchalantly, pretending that she didn’t realize that he was totally checking her out.

His eyes were scanning her body, pausing on the exposed area of skin between the waist of her shorts and the cropped hem of her tank top. She bit the corner of her lip, looking back at him. His jeans had holes in the knees. By the looks of his hair, he hadn’t showered in a day, maybe two. There was stubble along his jaw and cheeks. Their eyes locked again and she smiled.

An hour later, the guys took a lunch break. Micah stayed behind, spreading out on the sofa. She had strong intentions of taking a nap, and after everybody had been gone for ten minutes, she was dozing off. However, she jolted awake when the door opened. She shot up on the sofa, her eyes wide in alarm.

She looked around anxiously and saw Garrett frozen in the doorway. She sighed, pressing her hand against her forehead, realizing that she had over-reacted.

Garrett cleared his throat, crossing the room. “I-uh, s-sorry,” he stuttered, giving her an apologetic smile. He sank into one of the arm chairs, the one he’d been sitting in earlier.

“S’okay,” she said, nodding. She yawned loudly before laying back down. She stared up at the ceiling, fully aware that her tank top had ridden up past her navel and that he was currently surveying her exposed skin.

“M-Micah?” Garrett said, clearing his throat again, thirty seconds later. She rolled over to face him.

“Yeah?” she responded, eyebrows raised.

“I, uh, I figure I said something stupid y-yesterday, at the mall, or whatever the hell that place was. I mean, you k-kind of like, uh, stormed off, and I felt kind of bad. Okay, I felt really bad, and I just wanted to, uhm, apologize,” Garrett said slowly, stammering quite a bit. He gave her a nervous smile and she couldn’t help but smile back.

She sighed softly. “I, uh, it wasn’t really something you said. Well, it kind of was, but my rich girl complex kicked in,” she explained to him. She tugged on her bangs before pushing herself up into a sitting position, crossing her legs under her.

“Your what?”

“What I call my rich girl complex,” she repeated for him. “I grew up with people constantly thinking I didn’t care about money, or I didn’t know what was going on in the world, just because my parents have a lot of money. Which is really untrue. I’m a journalism major for Christ’s sake, so I kind of have to know what’s going on in the world, and now I’m rambling, so I’m just going to shut up now.” She gave Garrett a sheepish smile and he laughed, smiling. “It’s just, when you made that comment about spending $800 on clothes, it struck a nerve and I overreacted.”

“Well, uh, now I know. You are a well-educated, money concerned girl. I-I don’t know, I don’t think I can forget that.”

“You better not, because next time you get to my rich girl complex, I will not hesitate to slap you,” Micah warned, unable to hold back a laugh. She pressed her hand against her mouth to muffle the sound and Garrett smiled as well.

He opened his mouth to say something else when the control room door opened and they both turned to look at it. Kennedy’s girlfriend walked through the door, stopping and looking at Garrett and Micah as they stared back at her.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. Micah stammered something incoherent as Garrett cheeks flushed pink instantly.

“Uh, Micah, have you met Kenny’s girlfriend, Em?” Garrett asked, trying to smooth the tension in the room.

“No, not officially,” Micah responded, clearing her throat.

“Well, consider yourself lucky,” Garrett told her under his breath. Micah couldn’t help but smile, pressing her lips together.

“You know I heard that, right?” Em said from the back of the room where she was going through her purse looking for something.

“Yeah, Em, I should have known.”

“Well,” Em started, dropping her bag onto the back couch and walking towards Micah and Garrett. “As Gare previously stated, I’m Kennedy’s girlfriend, Em.” She extended her hand to Micah.

Micah was slightly surprised. The girl, though shorter than herself, was quite intimidating. Micah took her hand cautiously, shaking it. “Micah Claymour.”
“Trust me, I know who you are,” Em said with a quick laugh, releasing her hand. “The guys won’t shut up about you. John is determined to sleep with you, Pat is sure that you’re going to be his new best friend, Jared still wants to get to know you more, Kenny thinks you’re pretty cool, and Gary-bear over here thinks you’re ‘completely gorgeous.’ His words, not mine.”

Micah looked to Garrett who looked mortified. He cheeks and ears were pink with embarrassment and he looked as though he were about to break Em’s neck. “Can you not? Like, is it just completely impossible for you to filter what you say?”

She shrugged. “You better be nice to me, Gare,” she warned, eyebrows raised.

Garrett rolled his eyes dramatically, grumbling something quietly about filters and twisting of words. Micah could help but offer him an awkwardly amused smile. “She is always like this. Always!” Garrett told Micah pressing a hand against his forehead.

“You’re so mean to me, Garrett!” Em said loudly, to overpower his voice. “No wonder you’re single!” Micah couldn’t help but laugh again.

“Just go away!” Garrett snapped at her. A look of hurt flashed in her eyes before she scowled at him, her eyes narrowing.

“Fine, I will. Have fun sleeping on the floor all week while I’m in a nice, comfy bed, fucking my boyfriend,” she told him, her look of hatred turning to a bright smile. “Micah, we should do lunch tomorrow!”

“Uhm, yeah, that’d be great. I might be going out with my best friend, but I’m sure she won’t mind if you tag along.”

“Okay, see you later,” Em said with a smile, heading for the door. She twisted the doorknob and shot a Garrett an extremely dirty look before leaving the control room.

Garrett waited a few seconds before screaming a curse after her. Micah giggled, sprawling out on the sofa again.

“She drives me up the wall, you have no idea,” he told her, putting his head down in his hands.

“I think I get the point, it was kind of obvious,” Micah said with a shrug.

A silence followed, and Micah was able to drift into a dreamlike state of subconsciousness. She heard Garrett leave at some point, then somebody enter. She didn’t know how long she had slept, but when the sound of a guitar woke her up some time later, she felt like she’d slept for a century.

She looked around and Garrett and Pat were nowhere to be seen. John was at the opposite end of the sofa, her feet in his laugh. Jared was working out a section in a new song that he kept slipping up on and Em and Kennedy were back in their usual corner, speaking in hushed voices.

“Well, good morning, sleeping beauty,” John teased, his hands resting on her calves.

“Shuddup,” she grumbled, still half asleep. She rubbed her eyes and groaned when she realized that she had smudged her make-up. “What time is it?”

“Almost two. We’re just going over a few things, then we’re heading back to the studio house,” John told her, looking down at her.

Micah only nodded, reaching for her bag, which was on the flood beside the sofa. She pulled it onto the sofa with her, resting it on her abdomen as she searched for her phone. She had four texts from Piper, demanding to know what had happened the night before with Cain.

Now things were really going to get fun.