Disclaimer: Refer to previous chapter...
Author's Note: SURPRISE!!!!!! Two chapters in one day!? Am I crazy!? Yes...yes I am. Ya know, I didn't want to go into work today, in fact at 3:00pm I still hadn't changed into my work clothes and I needed to leave in fifteen minutes. I kept telling my best friend that I wanted to stay home and work on chapter nine so I could post it soon. And wouldn't you know it? The Good Lord saw fit to have my upper radiator hose crack and go boom on my way to work so I didn't have to go in today! Hence as to why you are getting TWO (count 'em friends) TWO NEW CHAPTERS!!! YAY!!!! Also, a little more drama works its way into this chapter that I think you will like. Enjoy!
Chapter Nine:: Changes
::Gwen's POV::
For some reason, after that day, Mikey seemed different to me. He no longer bubbled with child like enthusiasm to just have fun. He seemed…distant. I wasn't sure why, but I had the feeling it was all because of that little incident of him seeing me without my shirt on. Whatever the reason, I was quickly beginning to feel as if I was the only one living in my house again. I'd wake up in the mornings before work and he'd either still be on the couch sleeping or would be out practicing with his nunchakus. He seemed to make it a point to avoid me as much as he could. On my days' off, he'd spend most of his time out wandering the woods with Howie. All the while, I felt left out and alone, which nearly broke my heart though I still wasn't sure why.
I thought I had finally convinced myself that I didn't love Mikey, that I couldn't love him. That seemed to make his avoidance a little easier on me, though it still hurt. I at least had thought he had become my friend. Guess I turned out to be wrong. Every once in a great while, he would sit and watch a movie with me for awhile, or would kick my ass on a video game, but that didn't happen much.
I had actually become so lonely, that on more than one occasion I actually thought about calling Carson just so I could have someone to go out and get a drink with. Angela would have gladly gone with me, had she not have started a new summer job that kept her busy nearly every weekend and most of the weekdays. Even Howie seemed to spend more time away from me than with me. For more than three weeks, I felt as alone and unwanted as I did before Mikey came into my life.
May had turned to early June and I was really starting to despise waking up every morning and having to go to work. I supposed it didn't help any that I discovered a few weeks earlier that I was ironically allergic to at least three different kinds of flowers we would get in regularly. Also the thought of having to spend the majority of my day cooped up inside when I could be out having fun on extremely nice days seemed to irk me quite a bit. I felt like I had become a robot or something. Wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, go to work, putz around for eight hours, come home, get changed, eat, go to bed—rinse and repeat.
It was on one of those oh so not exciting days at work that I was once again approached by Carson. Amazingly enough, I was exactly excited to see him come walking down the candy aisle to come and talk to me. Had I become lonely or what? He still made me a little uncomfortable, but at that point in time, I didn't care. It was someone to talk to, human contact. He looked as if he had just gotten off of an eight hour shift and was getting ready to go home. Lucky bastard.
"Hey you! I was starting to think you'd fallen off the edge of the earth or something. You never come by the meat department anymore." He called as he got closer to the counter. I gave a small smile and shrugged as I leaned back against the garbage can with my hands in my pockets. It had been an extremely slow day thus far and I wasn't feeling at all ambitious enough to go through and water all the plants.
"I haven't had a reason to. When I get in most days, my load is already sitting here. And on the days it's not, you aren't working. So see? It's partly your fault too." I joked. It was true too. Carson smiled and glanced at the time on the phone before he leaned against the counter like he usually would.
"So, what time do you get off work tonight?" I thought for a minute before taking the schedule down off the wall. Finding the right day and line for my name, I sighed and hung it back up. Moving back to my garbage can perch, I raised an eyebrow and sighed again.
"Seven. I take it you're done for the night?"
"Yup. What you doing after work? Wanna go out for a drink?" Damn was I tempted to take him up on that offer. Not so much going out for a drink with him, just going out for a drink in general. I actually thought about it for a minute too. Then I remembered Mikey and knew that I couldn't just go out drinking with him back at home, no matter how badly I wanted to. He had, after all, always left a note for me saying where he went when ever he'd go out and I wasn't around or something, and I couldn't go out drinking and not tell him. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and shook my head.
"Thanks Carson, but I really shouldn't. Not tonight anyways."
"Not a problem. What about tomorrow night? I'm not working tomorrow."
"Tomorrow I can do. Seven o'clock?" The words left my mouth before I had time to think about it. I mentally started kicking myself repeatedly as I saw him smile and nod. There was still something not right about it, but there was no getting out of it now. I watched as he pushed himself up off the counter and moved around to the aisle.
"Seven sounds good. I'll pick you up. See ya." He said before walking off. Once he was out of view, I opened the back cooler and walked in, smacking my forehead against the wall. How could I be so stupid? I must have been lonelier than I made myself believe. Sighing, I pulled myself together again and walked back out. Finding something to keep myself busy with, I tried not to think about what had just happened. Of course, it was only one night, right? A simple drink between two friends and co-workers. Nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that I wasn't exactly comfortable around him lately. I glanced at the clock and groaned. Two more hours.
Once my sentencing had ended and I was released back into the world, I trudged out to my truck and headed straight home. All I really wanted was to take a nice, long, hot shower before throwing in a frozen pizza and curling up on the couch for awhile. Alright so, maybe that wasn't the only thing I wanted, but, Mikey was avoiding me so I couldn't curl up with him.
When I got home, I was amazed to find him sitting in the living room flipping through the channels. I was even more amazed when he glanced over at me and actually smiled! That was the first time in over three weeks that he'd really smiled at me. Suddenly my heart skipped again and the butterflies returned to my stomach. I smiled back and moved into the kitchen. A boiling pot of water was on the stove along with a simmering pot of spaghetti sauce. Sitting in a glass next to the stove was a fist full of broken angel hair pasta noodles. He was making us dinner? I sniffed the air and felt my mouth begin to water. Garlic bread…he was baking garlic bread. I gave a quiet groan as I cracked open the oven door and took another sniff of the air. It smelled fabulous. Setting my bag down in the hallway, I poked my head back into the living room.
"Your spaghetti water is boiling, Mikey." I watched as he looked over at me from over the back of the couch. There was a certain twinkle in his eyes that made my knees go weak and forced me to tighten my hold on the doorframe. God, why was he a turtle!?
"Thanks! You hungry? I think I started making more than I could eat all on my own." He said as he got up off the couch and moved past me. I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw him. He'd put his blue jeans and hoodie back on for the first time since the night I picked him up. After seeing him in nothing more than a beat up old brown belt and elbow/knee pads, he looked sort of silly in human clothes.
"Yeah, I'm starving actually. Uh…I'm gonna take a quick shower though, so…"
"That's cool. I'll make sure it's nice and hot for when you get out." He called from the kitchen. I smiled slightly and ran up the stairs to grab my PJ's. My heart felt as if it were playing hop-scotch in my ribcage and my stomach—in between rumbles of hunger—was filled with the wings of butterflies. Yanking my little boom box cord out of the wall, I grabbed a CD also and went running back down stairs and into the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn't believe how big of a smile I had on my face. Mikey was talking to me again! And he'd made us dinner! Things were really starting to look up.
::Mikey's POV::
I felt horrible about the way I'd been treatin' Gwen. It wasn't her fault, so why was I punishing her? I just needed some time to think things through and weigh my options. I could either stay there with her where I knew I was safe, or I could pack my things and hit the road again and never see her again. That option didn't look all too good to me, so I decided to stick around. I just needed time to get myself under total control again before I could trust myself to be around her. I guess I prob'ly shoulda told her something, but, what was I supposed to say? "Oh yeah, Gwen, the reason I'm avoiding you is so I don't try to jump you…just so ya know." Yeah, that woulda gone over real good. But actually, all the time I spent away from her didn't help me much, if anything it really only made it worse. I mean, I'd try to avoid her at all costs just so I didn't slip and try to make a move on her or anything, and then when I'd see her—well—she only looked even better than before. Talk about your all time plan back fires, huh?
I smiled a little to myself when I heard the water start running in the bathroom. I actually was making spaghetti and garlic bread for the both of us. I had decided earlier that day that I was going to tell her how I felt about her. Even if it meant I suddenly found myself thrown out on my shell, I was gonna tell her. I'd seen enough movies to know that when a guy finally admits his true feelin's for a girl, they'd do it over a nice dinner and a movie. Well, I already had dinner started, so all I needed to do then was pick out a movie. Headin' into the living room, I scanned through her flicks until I found one I liked. "50 First Dates" Adam Sandler, funny, and semi-romantic! I couldn't lose! I was just about to get it ready when the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked, picking it up as I turned on the TV and DVD player. At first I thought they'd hung up 'cuz I didn't hear anything. I was about to hang up when the person finally decided to answer me.
"Hello? Who is this?" The dude didn't sound too happy about me answering Gwen's phone. Hearin' his tone instantly made me straighten up a little and go on alert. I still hadn't told Gwen about the dude who'd been snoopin' around a lot lately; I didn't wanna freak her out. As long as I was around, I wasn't gonna let anything bad happen to her.
"This is Mikey…who's this?"
"Could I speak to Gwen, please?" Huh, he may have asked nicely but he failed to answer my first question and that didn't earn any points with me. I narrowed my eyes a little and silently moved through the house to lock the doors and make sure Howie was inside safe and sound. That mutt and I had become good friends and I wasn't gonna let him get hurt either.
"You gonna tell me who you are, first?" There was a pause on the line and I swore I heard leaves ruffling. I glanced out of one of the windows and scanned the woods carefully. I wasn't about to take any chances.
"This is Carson Pressman, Gwen's boyfriend. You must be the friend of hers that is passing through." There was something in his voice that set me on edge. Course, hearin' him call himself Gwen's boyfriend also made me a little edgy. Not to mention shatter my heart into a thousand little pieces. She'd never said anything about havin' a boyfriend, but then again, I hadn't exactly been around her enough lately for her to say anyways. Gulping back the lump that was forming in my throat, I glanced at the bathroom sadly. I'd waited too long and now it was too late.
"Uh…yeah…that's me, just her friend passin' through. Uh…she's actually busy right now. I'll uh…I'll let her know you called." I answered sadly. I seriously could not feel my heart anymore. It was like I went totally numb. I moved back into the kitchen, still holding the phone and looked at the dinner I was making. No use lettin' it go to waste, might as well finish it and eat it. I thought I heard Carson give a small chuckle which kinda ticked me off more.
"No, that's alright, I'll just talk to her tomorrow night when I pick her up. Thanks Mike…"
"Mikey…" I grumbled, not even waiting for a goodbye before I clicked the end button and dropped it down onto the counter. I heard the water shut off and knew it was only gonna be a couple of minutes before Gwen would come back out. I figured it was prob'ly best to act like nothin' was wrong even though I knew how hard that was gonna be. Hard? Huh, try next to impossible. I pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and set it over the sink to let it cool a little before I went back into the living room. No use watchin' "50 First Dates". I was suddenly in the mood for a movie without a happy ending, only thing was, Gwen didn't have any. Sighing heavily, I grabbed one of the "Lethal Weapons" movies and stuck that in instead.
When I got back into the kitchen to get the plates and silverware out, I heard the bathroom door open and Gwen come walking out. A part of me wanted to look over and admire how beautiful she looked with her hair soakin' wet and hangin' down around her face. The other part of me though wanted to sink into my shell and never see her again. I heard her set her boom box down on the stairs before she shuffled into the kitchen and moved up next to me. The scent of vanilla and coconuts filled my head and nearly made me dizzy it smelled so good. I gave a quick glance at her before movin' over to the spaghetti sauce.
"It's almost ready." I said, tryin' hard to make it sound like nothin' was botherin' me.
"That's fine. Need any help with anything?" Yeah, I needed lots of help, too bad it was nothin' she could help with. At least, not any more. I shook my head and stirred the sauce a little more before takin' it off the stove.
"Nah, I got it." I turned back to the still boilin' noodles and stabbed at them with the spoon. Why did she all of the sudden have to get a boyfriend? Why wouldn't she tell me? I thought we were friends. Guess it just went to show I had been right all along. I really didn't stand a chance with her. Why did I always have to go and get my hopes up like that? Worse yet, how come I'd been hatched the hopeless romantic? Life really wasn't fair and I was livin' proof of that!
I finally got our dinner finished and set out on plates. My original plan was to eat dinner with her and then durin' the movie get her all curled up against me and whisper that I—well at least thought I did—loved her. Aw who was I tryin' to kid? I did love her. Boyfriend or not, nothin' was gonna change the way I felt about her. The only thing that had changed now was that, I couldn't tell her the way I felt. I forced a smile onto my face as I handed her the plate of spaghetti and garlic bread. I'm tellin' ya, the smile she gave me back made the place where my heart used to be twist in so much pain I nearly started cryin'. Gulping back that stupid threatenin' lump in my throat, I moved out into the living room and sat down on the couch. I almost got up and moved when she sat down next me, but I didn't want her thinkin' I was tryin' to avoid her again.
We sat there eatin' and watchin' "Lethal Weapon" for awhile without sayin' much to each other. When Gwen finished eatin', she set her plate down on the coffee table and curled up on the couch a little. I gave a small sigh and rested my head on my hand as I leaned my elbow against the arm of the couch. I'd been starin' off into space for awhile before I finally felt Gwen move a little and felt her press her shoulder and head onto my arm. My eyes went wide and I glanced down at her. She looked like she was about to fall asleep. Giving a sad, small smile, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer to me.
"Thank you for dinner, Mikey." I heard her say sleepily. I chuckled slightly but nodded. She sounded so adorable half-asleep.
"You're welcome, Gwen." Glancin' down at her, I saw her eyes flutter closed and smiled a little. Turnin' off the movie, I carefully stood up and scooped her up into my arms. It nearly brought me to my knees when she wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled down against me. I slowly headed up the stairs with Howie followin' close behind. I wanted to just lay down on the futon and keep her curled up against me, but, I figured that prob'ly woulda ended up makin' her scream in the mornin' to find her layin' next to a turtle. Sighing, I gently laid her down and grabbed her pillow from off the top bunk. She smiled slightly in her sleep and settled down into the pillow. As I stood there watchin' her sleep, I reached out and slowly ran my fingers through her silky soft hair. I wished I coulda had five fingers like she did; I bet her hair woulda felt even better then. Sighing, I leaned down and closed my eyes. The coconut scented shampoo still hung in the air around her head and it really smelled good. Gulping, I moved over a little and kissed her really softly so I didn't wake her up.
"I love you, Gwen…" Ok, so it wasn't exactly like I had originally planned, but hey, it worked.