27. Part Two

Again, another really short one but... I PROMISE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE REGULAR LENGTH!! =D

“I could do it on… Monday, in the morning.” Mike suggested lamely, knowing full well that there was no way Denise would ever be able to get the time off work.

As if on cue, she sighed and brought her elbows up onto the table, dropping her face down into her hands and trying to calm her nerves. When she brought her face back up, Mike was making a disgusted face at the coffee he held in his hands.
She rolled her eyes and reached out for it, taking it from him and handing him the hot chocolate she had ordered. She hated hot chocolate, but she always ordered it; because Mike always ordered coffee. It didn’t seem to bother him that he hated the stuff, and she was pretty sure that he only did it because he wanted to seem more grown-up whenever he was at Starbucks.

He accepted it gratefully, and she tried to ignore the feeling of satisfaction she got when he took a sip and smiled at her. She loved knowing more about him then anyone else - well, almost anyone else - but she needed to stay focused on the task at hand. “Mike… you know I can’t do it through the week. It has to be the weekend-”

“-I have games… and stuff.” Mike snapped, feeling annoyed as he leaned forward in his chair, reaching across the table and grabbing for Denise’s hand, squeezing it in his own.
“Babe, do we really have to do this? We hardly have any time together as it is… I don’t want to spend it-”

“You don’t want to spend it, what? Talking about our future? Acting like an adult? Acting like you actually give a shit?!”

“Fighting.” Mike said quietly, removing his hands and leaning back across the table, away from Denise. “I don’t want to spend it fighting… I’m so fucking tired of fighting with you. About everything.”

“Well we wouldn’t have to fight if you would just give me an honest answer-” Denise reached down and pulled out a binder full of house listings, real estate clips and business cards.
She flipped it open and started pulling out pictures and sheets of information. She set them in front of him, and he glanced up at her, unable to keep the sadness off his face.

“I’m not moving out Denise.” He let out a sad chuckle, putting his hands over his face and rubbing his eyes. “I don’t know how many more times we can have this fucking conversation… but it’s not happening.”

“Excuse me…” Someone was clearing their throat beside Mike, and he looked up to see a thin, blond girl smiling down at him. “I know this is probably so annoying but… could you, maybe, sign this for me?”
She held out the front of her shirt, turning slightly so he could see his number on the back of the bright red ’Scarlet Fan Club’ shirt.

“Yah, sure.” He said quickly, trying to pretend that she hadn’t just walked in on an awkward conversation.
She held out a black marker to him, and he scribbled his name and number across the bright cotton. “Have a good one.” He added, before handing the marker back to her and watching her walk across the room.
When he looked back, Denise was glaring at him.
“What?” He hissed, folding his arms over his chest. “Am I just suppose to ignore everyone around me?”

“No. You’d never ignore a fan… just your girlfriend… I’m shit compared to those little bitches. Of course they’re more important then this conversation-”

“-everything is more important than this conversation! It shouldn’t even be happening, Denise. I live with Brooks. Deal with it!”

“And if I don’t want to?”

Mike glanced over at her, staring hard as she stared back. “Then I can’t deal with you.”

“Mike-” Denise squealed, but he didn’t stop. Jumping up from the table Mike headed for the door, not looking back as he stepped out onto the sidewalk and disappeared around the corner; praying Brooks was home.



“IS BOOTS!” Cosmo screamed as soon as Mike opened the door and walked into the living room.
The toddler was doing her trademark ’drunk stumble’ down the hallway, as quickly as she could to reach him. He bent over and scooped her up when she finally reached him.
She wrapped her chubby little arms around his neck and gave him a drool filled kiss on the cheek. “Thank Princess, I needed that.” He sighed, glancing over to see Brooks staring at him.

“Everything ok?”

Mike shrugged, not sure that anything could make him feel better at that moment. He knew talking about it would probably help, but he didn’t really want to talk about it. “It’s nothing.”

“… Mike?” Brooks drawled, tossing down the dishtowel he’d just been using and heading towards his daughter and best friend. “Mike?”

“I broke up with Denise.” He said quickly, trying to get it over with; like ripping off a band-aid.

Brooks raised an eyebrow, but otherwise hid any emotion or judgement off his face. “You wanna go camping?”

“What?”

“Camping. You wanna go?”

“Ok…”