Wrong Apartment

The cold air felt like razors against his warm flushed skin as he staggered out of the bar. The bartender had cut him off after telling him he'd had enough, that he should go home and sleep it off. Micah didn't agree with the man, he had made it his mission to drink until he couldn't remember his name. Apparently drinking half a bottle of the bars best rum counted as way too much.

Normally Micah would challenge the bar tenders but the man serving tonight intimidated him enough to know well enough to leave things alone. He really wasn't in the mood to start a fight he knew he couldn't win; leaving seemed like the best option, unless he wanted to spend the night in a jail cell. Once he left the shelter of the bar he instantly regretted it, the night air hitting him helped him realise just how drunk he was.

Shrugging it off Micah pulled his leather jacket on, almost catching his band tee in the zipper as he fumbled with the metal pull ring as he pulled the zipper up. He then pulled his cigarette packet from his pocket ready to spark one up. Not really paying attention to where he was going Micah walked out into the middle of the street unaware of the oncoming traffic as he pulled his last cigarette from the packet.

He was jolted from his drunken haze by a car horn blaring to his right causing him to drop his last cigarette. Like a deer caught in headlights Micah lingered a moment longer before composing himself, shifting his gaze back to his ruined cigarette he cursed under his breath before moving on, completely ignoring the taxi driver shouting after him.

Thinking out loud Micah quickly checked the time on his phone before returning it to his back pocket. One thirty am, his friend Jimmy would be heading home from work right about now. Micah and Jimmy worked together at a local radio station and often hung out together when not working. Jimmy's apartment was only two blocks away from the bar Micah had just been kicked out of.

Micah crossed the street this time making sure he wouldn't get knocked down in the process; he decided it would be a good idea to head over to Jimmy's to continue his drinking session. Jimmy would be almost home by the time Micah got there, maybe they could share a drink together. What should have only taken him five or so minutes took double that due to Micah forgetting which building Jimmy lived in.

Micah stepped back from the building trying to figure out which apartments had lights on that he could press the buzzer for. He really didn't want to wake someone up but Jimmy's lights weren't on, least he didn't think they were. Micah finally entered the building after waking some poor soul up on account of him pressing the wrong button on the buzzer.

Yellow and black tape was stretched across the elevators double doors announcing it was out of order. Micah rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath 'surprise, surprise'. Jimmy would often complain that the elevator was out of order that Micah was even annoyed by it.

Sighing to himself he headed for the fire door which led to the stairwell the buildings residences had to make use of. Slowly he made his way up four flights of stairs, before using the arm rail to pull himself up the last flight to the fire door labelled five. Micah stopped by the door for a moment to catch his breath, pushing the door open he headed down the corridor to his right. Micah stopped outside Jimmy’s apartment, surprised to find the door to his friend’s apartment was in fact locked.

Micah checked his jacket for his keys, as a joke for his birthday last year Jimmy had bought Micah lock pick tools. Regardless of the joke Micah had tried a dozen times picking locks with the tools, to his amazement they worked really well with old locks. Finally he found his keys buried beneath his phone in his right pocket Micah took the two lock picking tools from the key-ring and knelt down in front of the door ready to attempt to pick the lock.

When the lock clicked Micah turned the door handle and smiled to himself when he pushed the door open. Picking himself off the floor, Micah entered the apartment. Quietly he pushed the door closed, leaning against it for a moment, his right hand outstretched to the wall searching for the light switch.

The click of the light alerted him to another person in the room, maybe Jimmy was home and Micah had just woke him up by breaking into his apartment. Opening his eyes, he raised his left hand to shield his eyes from the bright light. His eyes widened when he noticed the room wasn’t Jimmy’s living room, in fact the man standing at the other end of the room wasn’t even Jimmy. The man was actually Jimmy’s neighbour, the women in the building always talked about; they referred to him as a man of few words.

Micah dropped both his arms by his side, his eyes glued to the man standing not ten feet away from him holding a steel baseball bat. The man scowled at Micah, the bat resting on his shoulder as he stepped into the centre of the room. Even dressed in a black tank and grey sweats, Micah still found the man intimidating. Regardless how intimidating Micah found the man he was mesmerised by the tattoo's which covered the man's muscled arms.

“The hell did you get in here?” Micah didn’t trust himself enough to speak; instead he pulled his keys from his pocket making sure the man could see his amateur pick locking tools. He didn’t seem at all impressed; actually Micah could swear this man almost burst a blood vessel. “Well ain’t you digging yourself into an early grave.”

Micah nodded in agreement, shoving his keys back into his pocket he decided the best course of action would be to leave.

"Yeah, I think I'll just go. Sorry for breaking into your apartment." Micah turned his back to the man, his right hand landed on the door handle, gripping it enough to press the handle down and pull the door open. When he was half way out the door the man behind him spoke up.

"Wait, ain't you the guy from the radio?" Micah closed his eyes; head down as he mouthed 'shit' to himself as thoughts of this man pressing charges attacked his mind now he knew roughly who he was. Micah opened his eyes which landed on the tarnished numbers screwed onto the door opposite him; they belonged to the door which led to Jimmy's apartment. Turning back to face the stranger from his doorway Micah replied to his question trying his hardest to keep his composure.

"Yeah, uh that would be me, the dumb-ass that broke into the wrong apartment." The man looked rather intrigued at Micah's mention of breaking into the wrong apartment. He lowered the bat finally placing it on the breakfast bar as he made his way over to the fridge. He removed a beer from the fridge and turned back to face Micah, the smallest hint of a smile playing on his face.

"The wrong apartment, how can you break into the wrong apartment?" Micah shrugged, a smile also making its way onto his face.

"Long story short, I got thrown out of a bar. I came here hoping my friend would be home. Found the door locked so I picked the lock. Obviously I got the wrong apartment." The man raised his eyebrows before chuckling at Micah's stupidity.

"And your friend, he lives here in this building?" Micah nodded feeling way more embarrassed now than he did before explaining himself.

"Funnily enough he lives right across the hall." If Micah had not already known this man thought he was an idiot, he obviously did now.

"You're Jimmy's friend? The one he works with at the radio station?" Again Micah didn't trust himself enough to speak so he nodded in reply. The man turned back to the fridge and pulled another beer out, he held it out to Micah as he spoke. "You uh, you want a beer?"

Micah stayed in the doorway for a moment contemplating if another beer would hurt; the man seemed more interested in Micah's fuck up than he did about him breaking into his apartment. Taking the offer he closed the door behind him as he made his way over to the man still holding the beer out to him.

He took the bottle from the man who in turn grabbed his half full bottle and clinked it against Micah’s before taking a swig from it. Micah followed suit, taking a drink and turning around to lean on the breakfast bar. He cradled his beer in both hands, staring at the label already beginning to curl at the corner. The man kept his back to the breakfast bar leaning against it, his beer still in his hand. "The hell you do to get thrown out the bar?"

"Drink too much apparently." Again the man chuckled to himself.

"Bad day" He questioned, his eyes settling on Micah beside him.

"Something like that." Micah sighed, lowering his head as he tried to figure out why he was even here in this man’s apartment sharing a beer with a stranger who may or may not press charges for breaking and entering.

"You uh, you wanna talk about it?" Micah's eyes widened at the strangers offer. It was one thing sharing a beer but telling the stranger why he got drunk in the first place was another thing.

"I dunno maybe, I guess. It would be good to actually talk to someone, even if you are a complete stranger." Micah took another swig of his beer, unaware of the look he received from the man beside him.

"Nate." Micah looked to the man, his eyes wide, confusion written across his features. "My name, it's Nate."

"Micah" The man now known as Nate nodded, already knowing his name from hearing it on the radio.

"So what happened that made you want to drown your sorrows at the bottom of a bottle?" Micah looked to Nate who turned to face Micah, his elbow leaning on the breakfast bar.

“I uh, I got fired from the radio station today.” Micah signed and looked back down at his beer bottle he was still cradling in both hands.

“Jesus kid, I’m sorry. What’d you do?” Nate asked, his eyes never leaving Micah.

“I got in an argument with a co-worker while we were still on the air, safe to say it didn’t end well for the two of us.” Micah took another swig of the beer, he placed the bottle back on the unit and turned around to rest his back against the breakfast bar like Nate had earlier. Micah pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time since he never wore a watch. ‘Shit’ Micah swore under his breath gaining Nate’s attention, he too glanced down at Micah’s phone to see it was just after three am.

“Sorry I never even realised how late it was. I better get going. Thanks for the beer and for listening.” Nate only nodded his eyes cast down for the briefest moment before returning to meet Micah’s. Smiling back Micah made his way for the door, Nate followed. Pulling it open and stepping out into the hallway, Micah turned to meet Nate’s gaze once again as Nate leaned casually against the door frame.

“It’s nothing, maybe the next time you could knock.” Micah took a moment to figure out what Nate could be insinuating. Assuming he was suggesting there would be another time, Micah nodded another smile forming on his lips.

“I’m sure I can manage that. Thanks again Nate.” Nate nodded as he watched Micah disappear down the hallway before shutting the door to his apartment. He took a minute before locking the door a smile playing on his lips at the thought of the younger man who’d broke into the wrong apartment.

Later that same day Micah found himself at the local diner he and Jimmy would occasionally grab lunch at with a few of the girls from Jimmy’s building. Micah had told his friends about his drunken escapades that lead to him breaking into Nate’s apartment.

“Only you could break into someone’s apartment and leave with a date.” Jimmy had laughed but really wasn’t at all surprised.

“I can’t believe it; Mr handsome in six B has lived there seven months and never introduced himself to anyone. You break into his apartment and instead of calling the cops he gives you a beer and somewhat asks you out.” Kaitlyn complained, glaring at her friend. Micah smiled smugly before lightly tapping his friends arm in a playful manner.

“Seriously can you two be more childish?” Jacqui questioned.

“Guys look who’s just walked in.” Jimmy quietly announced to Micah and the girls, who all looked towards the door. Two police officers had just entered the diner, a young blonde female around their age and a man who was maybe a few years older. It wasn’t the fact they were police that caught their attention it was the fact the man was Nate.

“Holy fuck, the man looks hot in a uniform.” Jacqui voiced her opinion a little too loud that Nate and his companion looked over in their direction. Micah froze for a second before turning to glare at Jacqui who burst out laughing at Micah’s reaction to being caught staring at the handsome officer.

Jimmy shook his head at Jacqui who was crying with laughter, people stared at in utter confusion as she sank down in her chair. Kaitlyn nudged Micah and pointed to his right, looking where she had pointed Micah jumped when he saw Nate standing there a smirk gracing his features.

“Hey, you uh forgot this last night.” Nate said holding out a piece of card. Taking it Micah looked over the white card with black text to see it was a business card that Nate likely handed out to suspects. The not so surprising thing about the card was it contained Nate’s contact details, what however did surprise Micah was the handwritten message on the card ‘Dinner tonight. 7pm sharp, text me your address, I’ll pick you up.’ “I’ll see you tonight.”

All Micah could do was nod as he watched the man return to his partner to collect his coffee and leave the diner. Kaitlyn looked at the card in his hand, reading Nate’s handwriting and confirming Jimmy’s and Jacqui’s suspicions that Micah did in fact have a date.