Addicted to Love

Grace Bauer sighed loudly to no one in particular. She carefully shuffled through the mail that she had picked up on the way into the apartment. "Michael, Michael, Michael, bill, junk, Michael.." She voiced. Forcefully she slapped the mail onto the small table in the hallway before slipping off her navy blue Toms and allowing her feet to pad on the cool tile floor. She saw the mug of coffee, still sitting where she had left it this morning. It was almost entirely full. She sighed again thinking of how the two of them used to devour the mug in a mere hour. Now she could barely finish a single cup, yet she made a fresh pot every morning dutifully. Grace poured herself a cup, grimacing when she brought the cold mug to her lips, filling her taste buds with the cold and unforgiving flavor of coffee. Just as she set the mug down, a loud knock was at the door.

She softly padded to the door, tucking her chocolate side bangs behind her ear. She had been meaning to make an appointment to get her hair cut but just never got around to it. She scoffed at the thought while opening the door. She didn't know who to expect. She didn't know anyone in the building. She didn't know where Michael was, but he definitely wasn't coming home today, she knew that much. Grace was quite the introvert.

Behind the white door was a teenager with greasy blonde hair. He smiled, revealing his crooked yellow teeth. "I'm looking for Mrs. Fassbender?"

Grace frowned. "There is no Mrs. Fassbender here. Just a Mister. I look after the place."

The pubescent teen blushed. "Sorry, I just assumed-"

"It's fine." Grace said quickly.

The blonde lifted up the large bouquet of red roses that she had somehow forgotten to notice, probably too distracted by the notion of a stranger at the door. "May I?" He asked. Grace nodded and opened the door wider for him. His loafers made a strangely familiar noise to her against the tiles, and she remembered that Michael always wore loafers when in Germany.

Grace remembered the few dollar bills she had gotten back in change after buying flowers of her own earlier that morning. She fished them out of her pocket and handed them to the boy, seeing him on his way out after setting down the flowers on the table. She hurried back to the table, finding the card in the jumble of red and quickly tearing it open. The cream colored card stock read in unfamiliar handwriting:
A beautiful girl deserves beautiful flowers, even if you hate them.

As if on cue, her phone began to vibrate on the kitchen table. Grace swiped it off the table and quickly answered. "Hello?" She said timidly, the same way she always answered the phone.

She heard Michael's chuckle on the other line. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Gracie, happy birthday to you." He sang softly to her, his low voice causing her to shiver.

"Thank you."

"How is it going so far, beautiful?"

Tears stung at Grace's eyes. Her nose began to tingle. Her lips began to quiver. "Michael, I miss them so much."

"Oh sweetheart, I know you do. I know. I wish I could be there to wrap you up in my arms."

"Why are you so perfect?" Grace blurted.

He laughed, bringing a hesitant smile to her face. "I think you're the perfect one. Hey, how was school today? Did you win the best German teacher of all-time award yet?"

She smiled wider, sniffling a bit. "Not quite yet, but it was good today."

"I love that you love your job."

"You're the famous actor, here. I'm just a German teacher. How is the promoting X-Men going?"

"Oh darling, I'm hardly famous. We both have our dream jobs though, who would have thought? It's going. I miss you. I hate that I'm missing your birthday."

Grace bit her lip as the smile spread wider across her face. "I miss you too, Michael."

"You still hate me for the flowers though, don't you?" His voice had no doubt. He knew.

"Yes."

"That's my Gracie."

"And yet you continue to buy them for me."

"Because I..." Michael stopped himself. He knew what he wanted to say. He just didn't think she would handle it well. Especially not today. Today was the wrong day. He wanted to tell her in person.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" He recovered awkwardly.

"Okay, Michael. I'll see you soon."

He threw his phone onto the bed of the hotel room. He felt absolutely horrible about being in New York City on his girlfriend's birthday while she was in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, it was exactly one year ago today that her parents passed away in an awful car crash. He knew she was terribly introverted, in fact, it was one of his favorite things about her. Still, even if she preferred to cope with things on her own, he wanted to be there. He was always quick to scoop her up in his arms, but it was hard when she was on the other side of the country.

He looked to the desk, occupied by his friend and co-star in the new X-Men movie, James McAvoy. "James,"

The brunette turned around and raised his eyebrows, awaiting what Michael had to say. "We're pretty much done here, right?"

James raised an eyebrow. "Romantic Fassbender is coming out, isn't he?"

Michael flopped backwards onto the bed and rested his hands over his eyes. "I love her so much, and I know that shy, adorable girl is in love with me too. And hey, I am always romantic."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Tell her you love her."