Authors note: Slight nod to PlushChrome in here for being so helpful to me. Hope you like it!
Chapter 10: Restless
Micky sat down at the kitchen table a few days later. Mike was already there, reading the paper.
"Hey, did you want some breakfast?" Mike asked upon seeing him. "I made eggs and toast. It's not much, but it's something." Micky could still move around a little, but was having a hard time trying to make any food for himself while holding the crutches. The hopping around only got him so far.
"No, I'm fine," Micky said. "At least for now. I wanted to talk to you before the others got up." Peter, Rose and Davy were all still sound asleep. This is the first time Micky and Mike had been alone in days, and Micky was going to seize the opportunity to make sure Mike knew how grateful he was for everything he'd done for both him and Rose.
"Talk?" Mike asked, now folding up the newspaper and setting it down on the table.
"Yeah," Micky answered. "Listen, I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me and for Rose."
"Oh, you don't need to thank me for that," Mike said.
"Of course I do. I have this feeling that were it not for you, Rose never would have told me the truth. And she and I never would have worked things out."
"Where'd you get that idea from?" Mike asked trying to be coy, but Micky saw a smile flash across his face for a quick second.
"Oh, maybe from you hovering in the window the other day," Micky joked.
"You saw that, huh?" Mike laughed.
"Yeah, and I gotta tell you, that was a little creepy," Micky chuckled.
"Sorry, that wasn't my intention."
"Your intention was to offer support to Rose." Micky said, all laughter aside now. Mike nodded. "Thank you. You know, you didn't even have to take her in here. You make a habit of taking in strays, and one day you're gonna regret it."
"Yeah, I've taken in 4 now and look how miserable I am!" They both shared a laugh, before turning serious again.
"I'm serious, though, Mike. I really appreciate all of it. It means a lot to me. Especially since we were both kind of at each other's throats."
"I think that may be the first time you and I have ever fought."
"I think so, too. I was being stupid. I should have listened to you. I wasn't even really listening to myself."
"It's ok, Mick, we all get that way from time to time. Especially when love is involved. You know how Davy NEVER listens to us when he meets a beautiful girl."
"With him it's always love at first sight."
"And it usually ends up getting us in trouble. I think I'm going to start blindfolding him whenever we go out."
"Yeah, since apparently chaining him to a chair doesn't work." They laughed again, but realized they were beginning to get a little loud, so calmed themselves down before they woke up any of the others.
"Micky, can I ask you something now?" Mike asked.
"Sure," Micky answered, unsure of where this was going.
"In the hospital, you said that we did more for you than we knew. What exactly did you mean by that?"
"It's just an expression, Mike," Micky answered squirming a bit in his chair. He did not want to go into this with any of them. This was his burden to bear.
"It didn't seem that way. It seemed like you were holding something back."
"No, nothing. Hey, can I get those eggs and toast now?" Micky really hoped Mike would just drop it. It seemed like hours had passed before Mike sighed and got up to fix Micky a plate. Micky breathed a sigh of relief that he hoped was inaudible to Mike. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath. The conversation was completely dropped when Peter came downstairs with a yawn.
"Morning, guys," he smiled at them.
"Morning, Pete," Micky said as Mike handed him a plate of food and a glass of milk. "Thanks, Mike." Mike smiled back at Micky, but it seemed a little half-hearted. Micky wondered briefly if he had upset Mike again. He didn't have long to think about it as Davy and Rose woke up within the hour, too. By mid-morning all five were gathered around the table and chatting, joking, and teasing about various things.
Later in the afternoon, Micky decided he wanted to try and play the drums again. Peter helped him get comfortable behind the drum set and the four of them decided to start a rehearsal session. They launched into "Love is Sleeping", which went very smoothly. Rose smiled during the song and told them how much she liked it when they were done. They did a few more songs with Rose watching and voicing her approval each time.
They finally wrapped up their rehearsal when Peter announced he was hungry. Mike walked over to the fridge and opened it. He frowned a little and opened the freezer, frowning again. When he opened the cupboard that held their food, he shook his head.
"Well, for lunch we can have spaghetti, but we don't have anything for sauce," Mike said turning to them. Micky was making his way towards one of the chairs in the living room.
"Didn't we go to the store the other day?" Micky asked, slowly lowering himself into the chair.
"That's why we have the spaghetti," Mike answered. Rose walked into the kitchen and looked in their cupboards, fridge and freezer.
"I've never seen cupboards this bare before," she said.
"We haven't had a gig in a while," Davy said. "Which means we don't have a lot of money."
"I used the last of the eggs and bread on breakfast this morning," Mike added.
"Well, that won't do," Rose said. "One of you take me to the grocery store."
"You need to be resting, Rose," Mike said.
"Well, we all need food and I have some money," Rose quipped. "And if I'm staying here free of charge, I'm going to help with groceries." She walked into Mike's room, which was currently hers, and grabbed her purse to stop any further argument. Peter, Mike and Davy all looked at Micky as if he should be the one to try and talk her into staying home.
"Hey, don't look at me!" he exclaimed, "She can be as stubborn as a mule. When she decides to do something, she does it. She's probably going as stir crazy as I am anyway."
"Neither of you should be leaving," Davy said. "So just forget about how stir crazy you are."
"Davy, when we locked you in the house because of that crazy tea lady's con, you went stir crazy after about 15 minutes, so I don't want to hear it." Mike and Peter snickered and Davy opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when he realized Micky was right. Rose walked out with her hair up in a ponytail and her purse over her shoulder.
"Which one of you is taking me?" she asked. "Or am I taking myself?"
"Not happening when we don't know what's going on with Tony and his friends," Micky stated.
"I can take her," Mike said, grabbing the keys to the Monkemobile and waking out the front door with Rose. They returned a little over an hour later and Mike's arms were overloaded with bags of food. Peter and Davy jumped up and rushed to help Mike as he nearly lost his balance.
"How much did you buy?!" Peter exclaimed, taking some of the bags off Mike's arms.
"There are still more bags in the car," Mike said. "She bought us enough food to last a month."
"You must be joking!" Davy said.
"My parents sent me money after I told them what happened," Rose answered. "I wanted the money to go to good use. You know, I can carry some of the bags."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to buy that much food for us," Micky argued. "And you're not lifting anything until you get the all clear from the doctor."
"I may not have had to buy this much, but I wanted to," Rose answered. Davy shook his head and went to get the rest of the food from the car before Rose could protest more about helping. Peter and Mike began unloading the groceries while Rose sat down next to Micky. Normally, Micky would be goofing off while Mike tried to work, like when he took a clean dish from Davy after wiping it dry and handing it back to Mike to clean again. That was his favorite prank to pull on Mike and was surprised Mike even still let him help with the dishes. But if he even tried to make a move around the house lately, one of his friends would watch him very closely, as if waiting for him to fall. It was very unnerving, so Micky resigned himself to lounging around and working on his music.
"So what should we eat for lunch now?" Peter asked when everything had been put away. "I was kind of looking forward to spaghetti." Micky laughed; Peter was a very strange man.
"We now have a house full of food," Davy said, laughing too. "More food than we've probably ever had in this house, and you want spaghetti still?"
"Spaghetti is good!" Peter defended.
"It is, but how about I make some sauce to go with it this time," Mike laughed. "I can actually make my Mom's homemade recipe." Rose looked at the entire exchange in awe.
"You have some weird friends," she said to Micky.
"Yep!" Micky answered. "But I wouldn't trade 'em for the world!"
"I don't know, Micky," Peter said. "If someone offered you the world in exchange for us, I think you should take the world. Maybe you could really make a difference."
"Yeah, but it would be too hard to carry around all the time," Micky quipped without missing a beat. The house was full of nothing but laughter and jokes for the rest of the day. When it came time to figure out dinner, Peter joked he wanted leftover spaghetti, but Rose decided to make them some meatloaf instead.
"This is delicious!" Peter exclaimed after tasting it.
"I've had better," Micky joked.
"Haha!" Rose quipped. "Meatloaf has always been your favorite." Micky smiled at her. He really did like meatloaf. And Rose's was one of the best. After dinner, Davy and Mike did the dishes, and without Micky's "help" it went much faster. Micky watched Rose staring out the window, lost in her thoughts.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yeah," she sighed, clearly lying. "I just hate being cooped up like this."
"I know," Micky said. "I do too, but I'd rather us be cooped up and have you safe than the alternative."
"Do you really think he's going to try anything now? It's been days."
"He could," Peter said joining them. "You never know if he's just waiting until he lets your guard down."
"Or if he even knows where you are," Micky added.
"You really don't think he'd assume you'd take me in?" she asked, skeptical.
"Maybe." Micky shrugged, thinking she had a point.
"Which brings up a good point," she continued. "You are all in as much danger as I am."
"Yeah, but we kind of outnumber him," Davy said, also joining in.
"I don't think that's going to matter to him."
"Don't worry," Mike added. "I've got ways of keeping us safe." Micky looked at Mike questioningly.
"Like what?" Micky asked. "Our imaginary dog?"
"Imaginary dog?" Rose asked.
"Peter brings home a lot of doggie bags," Davy answered her. "It's kind of an inside joke."
"Or I could feed you some of Peter's cream of root beer soup to turn you into a werewolf again," Mike quipped. Micky laughed and howled a little.
"Cream of root beer soup?" Rose asked, shaking her head. "Peter, before I leave here, I'm going to teach you to make real soup."
"We've tried teaching him how to cook," Davy laughed. "It never ended very well." They spent the next hour recounting all the times they had tried to help Peter learn to cook. Rose didn't seem to be very invested in the conversation, however. Micky could tell she was only half listening.
"Rose, I know you want to go out," Micky started. "But the doctor said you need to be focusing on healing over the next few days."
"And why can't I go to the park and heal or something?" Rose asked.
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Davy suddenly burst, eliciting startled jumps from Micky and Peter.
"Don't do that," Micky said flatly.
"What is your idea, Davy?" Mike asked.
"I could take her to my friend's horse ranch."
"Oh, I love horses!" Rose said.
"I don't know, Davy," Peter said. "Should she be riding a horse right now?" Peter and Davy had been told a few days ago of the extent of Rose's situation. Micky agreed, not sure jostling around on a horse was a good idea right now.
"Not outright riding them," Davy said, "but I've been looking into this project my friend is working on. He's training and breeding horses for equine therapy."
"What's that?"
"A lot of studies show that animals help people to heal. They even bring dogs into hospitals for kids to play with while they recover. Equine therapy is used more for emotional healing and to teach kids with certain disorders not to be afraid, but I think Rose still might like it. All you do is sit on the horse and let it walk around with you on its back. It's supposed to be therapeutic. It'll get her out of the house, and I'll be with her, so if something should happen, I can get her out of there. And since my friend is just getting started in it, he could kind of use Rose as practice with the horses."
"Sounds like it could be a good idea," Mike said. Micky wasn't so sure about letting Rose out of his sight for that long, but he saw the longing in her eyes. He remembered how much she liked horses. The two of them would ride horses almost every weekend.
"Sure," Micky succumbed. As soon as he said it, however, he got a feeling in the pit of his stomach. As though something bad were going to happen.
"I'll give him a call, see when he wants us to come over," Davy said. Rose turned to Micky with a look of gratitude, as if she needed his permission to do this.
"Thank you, Micky," she said, and before he knew what she was doing, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before getting up and running to her room. He sat there for a moment in shock before he realized that Peter and Mike were both staring at him with smiles on their faces.
"What?!" he asked, hoping he wasn't blushing too badly. But based on the laughter from Peter and Mike, he guessed he was. Micky ignored them and carefully made his way up the stairs to his own room, which wasn't easy to do on crutches, but he was getting better at it. He had a lot of thinking to do now, and he couldn't do it with prying eyes and ridicule from his friends, even though he knew it was only playful ridicule. He lay down on his bed and thought.
Why had she kissed him? What did it mean? Did she just do it because she was excited? Or did she want something more? It was only on the cheek, after all, so maybe it meant nothing to her. Neither of them had talked about where they were going to go as far as a relationship. Micky assumed that they would become friends, just as they had before they began dating. But Micky knew how hard it was for him, especially the first few days. He loved her laugh, her smile, her eyes, everything about her. Since that day on the patio when he had held and comforted her, it seemed like the last four years hadn't happened for them. It was as if they picked up exactly where they left off, but without the closeness they once shared. Now Micky had to decide if he wanted to just remain friends with her, or become more again. He didn't want to drag himself through heartache and misery anymore, but would that really happen again? Tony was the one who had torn them apart, and Tony was soon to be out of the picture.
"Micky?" Mike called through the door with a soft knock.
"Yeah?" Micky called through, sitting up. "Come on in." Mike pushed the door open and smiled at him.
"Rose and Davy are going to go to the stables now. She's just too excited. Says she hasn't been near a horse in years."
"That's good," Micky said. "She should get some fresh air and have a little fun."
"You doing ok?"
"I don't know," Micky sighed. "That kiss kinda threw me."
"I'm sorry," Mike said. "Peter and I shouldn't have laughed."
"It's ok," Micky answered with a smile.
"You want to talk about it? Maybe it'll help you figure things out." Mike pulled up a chair and sat backwards in it without waiting for Micky's response. Micky smiled, loving how Mike always seemed to know what was going on with them and how he was always there to lend an ear.
"I don't know where she and I stand," Micky started. "I don't know where I want to stand with her."
"I'm guessing neither of you have really talked about it."
"No. I don't really know what I'd say if we did. I don't know what I want. I don't know what she wants."
"Forget about what she wants for now, focus on yourself first. What do you think about when you see her?"
"How beautiful she is in every way," Micky answered without thinking.
"Ok, doesn't that tell you something?"
"But I also don't know if I want to put myself through hell again."
"Who says that's going to happen?"
"Who says it won't?" Micky countered. "I mean, who's to say that we won't break up again if we get back together?"
"Well, no one, I guess, but just because it's hard to swim, don't mean you shouldn't jump in the pool. Just start in the shallow end first." Micky had to smile at Mike's metaphors.
"Maybe you're right," Micky smiled at Mike. "I'll talk to her tomorrow and find out what she wants. That kiss may have just been her way of thanking me."
"Most people usually just hug or something," Mike pointed out. "I mean, I've never kissed you when I thank you."
"And I appreciate that!" Micky laughed. Mike smiled and got up from the chair.
"I'll leave you alone to think," Mike said. "Good night, Micky."
"Night, Mike," he answered as Mike shut the door behind him. Micky lay back down on the bed and thought some more. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe he should just stick his feet in the water to see how it felt.
Before long, he'd drifted off to sleep, not realizing how tired he was. He dreamt of Rose and the time they had spent together. The good and the bad. He dreamt of the time he shoved a crayon up another kid's nose in kindergarten after the kid had stolen it from Rose. He dreamt of the first kiss they shared at the end of freshman year. He dreamt of the first time they were together during a senior trip they'd taken. But he also dreamt of the look of heartbreak on her face when she came to him with her accusation of cheating. The pain he felt from her mistrust coursed through him. If they were to go any further, they would have to work out some serious trust issues.
He was only asleep for a few hours, when he woke up to someone kicking his bed. He opened his eyes to see who was in his room and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.