*Author's Note: There is a small reference in this story to my last story Green With Envy. See if you can spot it*
"Micky, it's not going to feel this way forever," Davy tried to comfort his distraught friend.
"I know, but can you shut up and enable my misery for a while?" Micky replied.
Micky had been in a funk for the past few days after his girlfriend Beth broke up with him. Beth had told him that she needed a "more serious boyfriend." Not serious in the sense of a commitment, but the fact that Micky always seemed to be comical with his head in the clouds. He took that critique hard. Micky had strong feelings for Beth and her biting comments caused him to be down in the dumps. His permanent residence for the past few days had been the hammock.
Davy walked away towards Mike and Peter. "I tried encouraging words and nothing. He has to get up and go to the bathroom some time."
Peter made his way over to the distressed drummer. "Micky, you're a great catch any girl would be lucky to have you."
"Then why didn't Beth want to stay with me?"
"Well…I…um…you've got me there."
Peter slouched back over looking defeated. "That Micky is a tough customer."
Davy walked back over, "I know what would cheer you up, a brilliant idea. Here I'll get you started, a nightclub that features new musical artists. We'll call it…"
Davy stared hopefully at Micky who didn't even stir. "Listen to the Band!" Davy offered. Still no response.
Davy returned. "It must be serious if not even a brilliant idea gets his wheels turning slightly."
Mike had had enough of this thing. There was a pity party going on in the pad that he did not RSVP for. He marched over to Micky with determination in his eyes. "Listen here Mick. I know that you're going through a rough time right now, but sitting here sulking is not doing you any favors. I need you to get up from that hammock and do something constructive with your time, like practice or shower," Mike said noticing the odor permeating from his friend.
"I can't possibly find the energy to do anything right now," Micky answered dramatically with his hand draped over his forehead. "I am so forlorn."
"And the Academy Award goes to…" Mike muttered as he trudged away. "Man, that guy is more stubborn than a fox chasing chickens in the middle of June."
"What?" Peter and Davy said at the same time.
"Never mind. We need to get him out of this some way."
"I don't know, Mike. Maybe we should just let him do this in his own time," Davy said.
A long, loud groan came from the opposite side to the room. "Heartache is better than loneliness."
"On second thought," Davy continued, "he's starting to be a real drag. I'm in."
"Me too. I hate to see Micky like this," Peter added. "What should we do?"
"Don't worry," Mike answered. "In Micky's absence, I have acquired the ability to form brilliant ideas."
The three guys moved their conversation further away from their despondent friend. They decided to talk in the upstairs bedroom, there was no way Micky would follow them up there.
"Guys? Where are you going? Oh alone again," Micky wailed melodramatically. "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty."
At that moment, a shoe flew from upstairs and hit Micky on the side of the head. "Go ahead! Kick a man when he's down!"
Micky lumbered down the stairs from his bedroom at about 1:00 PM the following afternoon. The guys had ambushed him last night and drug him upstairs to his room. He had been awake for some time, but couldn't bring himself to move. But when nature calls you have to answer. He exited the bathroom and was confronted by his roommates.
"Intervention time," Mike started.
"Intervention for what?" Micky questioned.
"For this mood that you're in. Enough is enough," Peter said surprisingly stern.
"Turn around, get back in that bathroom and take a shower," Davy finished.
"You guys, I appreciate your concern but…"
"No, no, no. No more of this making excuses nonsense," Mike interrupted. "You have a stench going on that is causing the neighborhood skunks to want to mate with you."
"That would solve his loneliness problem," Peter offered.
"Now you march yourself into that shower or we are going to bathe you ourselves…and trust me NONE of us want that," Mike threatened.
Micky contemplated the idea for the moment. "That would take our relationship to the next level," he smiled. It had been the first time he had smiled in days. "Okay, you win." He shuffled back into the bathroom.
"He seems to be progressing slowly but surely," Peter said. "Are you sure that we should keep up with the plan?"
"It's for his own good," Mike said. "We just need to keep him preoccupied until we complete phase one tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to keep him up with doing everyday things so he doesn't go backwards."
They heard the shower running and Micky singing She. "She told me that she loved me, and like a fool a believed her from the start…"
"Are you sure we can wait until tomorrow? He seems to be sliding backwards already," Davy said.
"…But I love her, I need her, I want her…"
Mike looked defeated. "The fact that he is up is better than nothing. Small victories. We can manage this for now." With that Mike pounded on the bathroom door. "A more upbeat tune please!"
The plan was all set in motion. The guys were hiding out in the pad waiting for Micky to find the note they had left him. The note was giving him instructions that would send him on a wild goose chase in order to be away for a few hours. They were becoming stir crazy waiting for Micky to wake up. Micky normally was a late sleeper and with his recent mood it seemed that sleep was lasting even longer.
Davy was pacing the room. "I don't know how much longer I can stay in one place. I'm going crazy. I'm going to go bang some pots together and wake up Sleeping Beauty."
Mike grabbed him by the collar and pulled him backward. "You most certainly are not. We don't want him to even get the inkling that we are still here. We can't interfere. Just relax."
"What if he is still here when it comes time to execute the plan?" Peter asked.
"He won't be trust me. I share a room with him. I know his habits better than anyone. He will be up in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"
Just then there were sounds of shuffling from upstairs. "That's amazing!" Peter exclaimed.
"I do have a question though," Davy challenged, "If you knew so accurately when he would be up, then why have we been hiding for the past two hours!?"
"Shhhh!" Mike warned.
They watched through a crack in the closet door as Micky descended the stairs and scanned the main room of the pad. "Mike? Davy? Peter?"
Mike instinctually covered Peter's mouth when Micky called for him, knowing full well that he would have answered.
Micky pretty quickly found the note the guys had left for him. He read the note silently and ended his reading with a long, loud sigh. "Really? How could Peter have ingested that much mayonnaise that would require him to get his stomach pumped? Today I was planning on wallowing in my own self-pity," he whined. "Why would we promise to do a favor for Mr. Babbitt so far from home? Oh it says right here, 'to lessen the rent'," Micky read on the note. "I guess I have no choice. Way to go fellas, you got me out of the house finally." With that he grabbed the keys and walked out the front door.
The guys tried to creep out of the closet, but all got stuck in the door frame trying to exit at once.
"Okay, time to set up everything. People should be here within the next hour," Mike said.
"Did he really just leave to go out in public still in his pajamas?" Davy wondered aloud.
The last person from the plan was leaving the pad just as Micky was returning home empty handed. He looked irritable, which was an improvement from the pitiful way he had been acting.
"Hey, Mick. How's it going?" Peter asked already knowing the answer.
"Well I was unable to find that place Mr. Babbitt asked for us to get carpet samples from. The directions took me too an old folks home. When I went inside to inquire about the samples, I was ambushed and ended up being forced to volunteer entertaining them for hours. I hope Mr. Babbitt isn't irate. How are you feeling, Peter?"
The plan had gone even better than the guys had planned. Now it was time to reveal what they had actually been doing.
"Micky, we didn't really take Peter to the hospital," Mike began, "and there was no favor for Mr. Babbitt. We sent you on a wild goose chase."
"What?" Micky was a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Why?"
"You have been commiserating your broken heart for a week now. We have been doing our best to help you move forward, get your mind off things and nothing seemed to be working," Davy continued. "So we decided we needed to take drastic measures."
"What did you guys do?"
"Mike came up with a brilliant idea," Peter answered.
Micky looked at Mike skeptically. "You think you have what it takes to come up with brilliant ideas?"
"Yes actually, I do. I came up with operation 'You Just May Be the One.' We decided to do open interviews for girls for you to date. We all asked the girls questions about themselves and based on who we think would be good matches for you we picked six total for you to go on dates with."
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Micky thundered.
"Now don't get excited, Mate. We needed you to move on from Beth and what better way to move on then to meet some new girls. We all picked two girls each for you from what we think you like. I'm jealous myself. There were some good looking birds in here," Davy added.
"How do you all know what I like? What kind of questions did you ask?"
"Not important. What's important is that you have six potential shots at love," Peter answered.
"Now it's been a long day for everyone. You need you're beauty rest your first date is tomorrow, a nice Sunday afternoon date," Mike said patting Micky's cheek.
The guys retired to their respective rooms, leaving Micky standing alone hand on head. The mixture of confusion and annoyance had turned to detachment. He didn't know what to feel. Should he go along with the scheme or back out?
He turned to Mr. Schneider. "What do you think I should do?" he asked pulling the dummy's string.
"I'd rather have a life of 'oh wells' than a life of 'what ifs'," the dummy answered.
"Fine, take their side," Micky pouted and made his way to his room.