Frames That Used to Greet Me

The door was, as expected, unlocked when I got to Mickey’s. “Mickey?” I called out when I stepped inside, slipping my shoes off. “Where are you?”

There was no answer, so I kept going. I went to her bedroom first, because the door was closed most of the way and I had a feeling that was where she was. I nudged it open and peered inside. The sliver of light from the hall was illuminating her face, showing off her red-rimmed eye lids and bloodshot eyes. She looked terrible, and instantly I was worried. “Mick? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

She didn’t answer. I made my way across the room and sat down, reaching out to brush her hair off of her face. She sniffled before turning her head to look at me. “I quit my job,” she practically whispered. “I just... I quit and walked out. Couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Oh Mick. What happened?”

She shook her head. “Will you just... stay here? Please?”

I couldn’t object to that. I could tell she didn’t want to talk about it, not yet, so instead I walked around the bed and laid down beside her. I wrapped my arm around her waist tightly, protectively, and pulled her close to me. I kissed the back of her neck once, softly, and felt her muscles relax. Before I knew it, her breathing was even and she was asleep.

Mickey didn’t wake up until it was dark out and she had gotten a solid several hours of peaceful sleep. When she woke up, she rolled over to face me, a sheepish smile on her face. “I’m sorry,” she said immediately.

I brushed it off. “What happened Mick?”

“Oh nothing. It’s silly. I was just overreacting. People quit their jobs all the time, this is no different.”

She sat up and made a move to get off the bed, but I stopped her, latching my hand around her wrist. “No Mick, that wasn’t you overreacting. What happened?”

She sighed and extracted herself from my grasp. “My job was shit, Haz. It was awful, and I hated it, so I quit. It was stressing me out more than anything, so what was the point?”

I watched as she got off the bed and started to walk out of her room, so I followed. “If it stressed you out that much, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked her as I followed out to the kitchen where she put on a pot of tea.

I heard her scoff, but she wasn’t facing me so I wasn’t sure. “What?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“If I recall, I did try to tell you about it once, but you just wanted to have sex.”

Ouch. That hurt. “That’s not true,” I protested weakly, even though I knew it was. I remembered it now, the night Mickey came over to rant about her job and it just ended in us having sex. “I told you to quit if you hated it so much.”

“Which I did just that, but I bet you don’t know why. Why do I hate my job Harry? Why do I hate it so much that it drove me to quit? Can you answer that?”

I groaned, shoving my fingers through my hair in desperation. “Fine, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me though instead of yelling at me about it?”

She glared at me just as the tea pot started to whistle. She fixed herself a mug of tea before offering me one, which I declined. We both stood in silence in the kitchen on opposite sides, leaning against the counters behind us. My arms were crossed in front of my chest while Mickey was concentrating on her tea. “What happened Mick?” I asked finally.

She sighed. “My boss was a twat. All of his interns were these young girls who ran around wearing short skirts and blouses that had one too many buttons undone, but no one would say anything to him about it because he was the boss. He’d say these inappropriate things to you, but only when you were alone so it would be your word against his.”

I didn’t hear what else she was saying, because I was seeing red. Fire surged through my veins and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so mad.

“Hey,” Mickey said, taking a step towards me. Her hand found my shoulder. “Nothing happened. You can unclench your jaw now.”

She was smiling, but I was still so bloody pissed. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, my teeth grinding together in anger.

She shrugged, sipping her tea. “That’s not what we were about, yeah? It never came up between sex, so why would I just bring it up?”

I didn’t know what to say to that. “Thought we were friends,” I mumbled, looking down at my feet.

“Hey,” she said, touching my shoulder again. I looked up. “We are, but this was... I don’t know, Haz, this just seemed out of our realm, yeah? Not what we were about.”

I shrugged her touch off. “You’re the one who said you had feelings for me last night, Mick. Pretty sure that means you could talk to me if some twat is bothering you.”

My tone apparently didn’t sit right with her, because her eyes darkened. “Excuse you Harry, but you’re the one who was sleeping with some other woman.”

“And you’re the one who lied to me for a full year, yeah?”

I hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. I figured we would talk tonight, get everything out in the open once and for all, but nothing was happening like it should have been. I was angry and I was taking it out on her.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re bloody best mates with my sister, Michaela! What the fuck is that about?”

Her eyes widened, but she recovered easily. “Oh come off it, Harry. So what? Not like I was shagging her behind your back, yeah? We aren’t best mates, we just talk occasionally.”

“Occasionally enough that she had talked to you after the wedding, even before I did?”

Michaela sighed. “We talk, Harry. I don’t know what else you want. We aren’t best mates, never were, but when you and I started... doing what we do, I made sure it was all right with her. I wasn’t going to go behind my roommates back only to have her find out and cut my throat in the middle of the night.”

I glared at her. “No, instead you’ll just lie about it to the boy you’re shagging. Makes sense Mick, makes a lot of sense.”

“Come off it, Harry. Is it really that big of a deal? I should have told you, but really, are you Mr. Perfect? Can you really be upset with me right now?”

No, I couldn’t. She was right; I wasn’t Mr. Perfect. I fucked up too, things she herself had witnessed first hand. I sighed and fell back against the counter. “Why can’t we go five minutes without yelling at each other lately?” I mumbled, crossing my arms in front of me and looking at the floor.

“Maybe we really do need a break from each other. I mean... this isn’t what we’re about, Haz. It was never supposed to get this messy.”

Panic surged through my veins. No. Another break from Mickey was the exact opposite of what I wanted. “Mick... there’s something I--there’s something I have to tell you.” I was nervous, fumbling for my words, which was something new.

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What?”

I took a deep breath and stepped towards her. “Mick, I don’t want to take a break. I don’t want to stop seeing you. I’m tired of the fighting, and the high possibility that I won’t see you for days at a time because of the fighting, and I’m just tired of it all.”

“What are you saying, Haz?”

“I’m in love with you,” I said, shrugging my shoulders easily. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh a little as I said it, because it was just so bloody obvious to me now. “I am. I love you, Mick. I love every single thing about you, and I’m tired of acting like this ‘isn’t what we’re about.’ Because it is, and maybe it has been for awhile.”

I was expecting a smile to cross Mickey’s face, some form of happiness to tell me this wasn’t all wrong. “Why are you telling me this?” She sounded... broken. Her voice was wavering and her eyes were shining and nothing was going how it should have been.

I took another step towards her, only to have her take one back. I felt like I’d been slapped. “Mickey...” I trailed off, because now I didn’t know what to do.

She shook her head. “You’re just saying that. You don’t mean it. God dammit Harry!” she yelled, stomping her foot in anger. “Do you think this is funny? Is this a joke to you? Did you think, just because I said I had feelings for you, that you had to do the same?”

Now I was angry. “Are you bloody serious right now?”

She gave me a look that said Well yeah and I couldn’t help but clench my fists at my side. “No, this isn’t funny. Quite the opposite actually,” I muttered, looking around the room for a distraction. When I brought my eyes back to Mickey’s, she looked hurt. I softened. “I’m telling you this because it’s true, Mick. I love you. I’m in love with you. I wouldn’t be here right now if I wasn’t. You and I both know that. I mean, c’mon Mick. Why’d you call me earlier, asking me to come over?”

She shook her head violently. “No. You can’t use anything I do against me. That’s not fair, Harry. I was desperate. I needed someone around, and I knew you’d come.”

I took another step, closing the gap between us. “So it wasn’t because you wanted me here?”

She tried shaking her head, but there was less force behind it. Her wall was falling down, and I could see it before my very eyes. “You didn’t call because you wanted me to make things better? Because you knew I would?”

Her head was just barely moving now. I reached out and cupped her cheek with my hand and she instantly leaned into my touch. I smiled. “I love you, Michaela. I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

Her eyes were closed. “I want you to tell me this isn’t some... joke, that this time tomorrow you’ll still feel the same way.” She opened her eyes to look at me, her gaze intense. “Because I swear to God, Harry, if you change you’re mind--”

I didn’t let her finish. I pressed my lips to hers and pulled her close. “I love you,” I mumbled against her skin as I dragged my lips down her neck. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”