Chapter 21

Breakdown

"Oh I do Googly Bear!" Emily clasped her hands together and smiled brightly at Mike, She glanced up and yelped out a gasp. Emily pressed her hand against her mouth and was quaking with fear, She couldn't believe who was right in front of them.

"Emily? What's wrong? did you see a ghost-" Mike turned around slightly and his mouth fell open, the ring box fell out of his hands and onto the carpet floor with a small thud. Nathaniel, Johnny, and Sulley gawked at them. Sulley knew it wasn't for Emily the moment she said 'Googly Bear', He knew Mike long enough to know he would never cheat on Celia. He assumed that Mike could have practiced with Emily, But why didn't Mike at least tell him? Johnny broke the silence with a roar of laughter that rippled throughout the room. Nathaniel stomped furiously heading toward Emily, Emily could see his frills shaking with anger, She had never seen her father this angry ever since her sister Carla trashed the competition between Fear Tech and Monsters University years ago.

Emily couldn't move, She felt too scared to even stare her father right in the eye. Even if Emily could explain, He never gave her a chance to do so. Nathaniel claimed it was excuses every time, He grabbed Emily's arm and forced her to look at him. "What is the meaning of this!?" He clenched his teeth as he spoke, his voice was raspy and filled with fury.

"I-it's not what it seems-" Emily was soon interrupted by her father's shouting.

"This is unacceptable! I can't have you working with clowns and now you're going to marry that!?" He pointed at Mike.

Mike's brow furrowed with annoyance at Nathaniel, "I'm proposing to my girlfriend CELIA, not Emily. Emily was helping me practice!" He picked up the ring box off the floor.

Nathaniel released his grip off Emily and turned around at Mike, "Proposing is very easy, You get on one knee and say 'Will you marry me?' You do not have to use my daughter for practice of some sort!" He spat at Mike.

Sulley stepped in right on time before Mike would snap back, "Mr. Ryden, I think it's best that you leave. This has all been a huge misunderstanding and all you're doing is causing a huge conflict." Sulley said very calmly.

Nathaniel turned back to Emily, "I expect you to be gone from this company in the next two days and transfer into Scream Industries, All your Fear Co. workers are there as well. If you refuse I'll force you out! " He went closer to Emily and whispered, "I'm sure you'll do as I say or else Randall might be taking comfort in a jail cell."

Emily's eyes widened, He knew? HOW? It made her shake even more, Emily looked at her father and whispered a small okay. She was on the verge of tears at the moment, Emily didn't want to cry in front of them.

Nathaniel smiled and looked at Sulley, "Think about it James, Really think about it." He strolled out the door with Johnny behind his tail.

Sulley looked over at Mike and quickly glanced over at Emily, He could tell she was hurt. "Emily, do you want to go home for the day?" he asked sympathetically.

"I think that will be f-fine," Emily's voice trembled and she took in a sharp breath. "Please excuse me..I need to go to the bathroom." She walked past Mike and Sulley slowly and walked out the door, Emily felt a huge rock in her stomach. It was either she finally turned Randall in or force him out of her apartment. The problem was she didn't want to do either.

Sulley looked back and gave out a sad sigh, he turned to Mike. "Are you okay buddy?"

"Yeah I'm fine, What is with that creep? He's trying to ruin Monsters Inc! Sulley, you need to call the cops or something," Mike told Sulley directly.

"I'm going to let Roz know about them, I'll be back I'm going to check on Emily." Sulley nodded at his best friend and took a few steps towards the door.

"Sulley, What are you going to do when Emily is gone?" Mike blurted out, Sulley turned his head to look at the green cyclops.

"I don't even know Mikey." Sulley replied with sorrow in his voice and pulled the door closed with a single click, leaving Mike in the prop room by himself.

Celia looked up from her desk to see Mr. Ryden and Johnny approaching her desk. What did they want now? "May I help you Mr. Ryden?" Celia smiled at him pleasantly, though she never really liked him. He always gave Celia a very disturbing vibe.

"I'll be leaving right now, I just wanted to let you know about your boyfriend," Mr. Ryden looked at his claws while he spoke to her, He didn't dare look her in the eye.

"What do you mean?" Celia asked curiously, "Did Michael do anything?" The snakes on Celia's head glanced at one another in confusion.

"He did something as a matter of fact!" Nathaniel slammed his fist against her desk, it made Celia jump a bit. "Well, you'll find out eventually." He walked away with Johnny by his side and exited out of the factory. Celia was very confused, She didn't trust Nathaniel but all she needed to do was talk to Mike.

"Mr. Ryden, now what?" Johnny asked as soon as they were outside, luckily there was nobody in sight to overhear them.

"You can leave now Johnny," Nathaniel didn't even bother to look at him, he was still admiring his claws.

"What about tomorrow? Do you still need me to come along?" Johnny raised an eyebrow, Mr. Ryden bothered him when he kept changing his mind every second.

"Hmmm no actually, I have to help a friend out tomorrow. Now go!" He waved his hand at Johnny to signal him to leave.

Johnny's angry expression displayed on his face as he walked away from his boss, Nathaniel could hear Johnny's heavy footsteps getting farther and farther away. Nathaniel turned to look at the huge company that was displayed in front of him. "It'll be like the good old days, Henry, Abigail and I. Oh the sweet good old days, I can't wait to see you tomorrow Henry." Nathaniel said to himself as he began to walk away.

Emily was staring at the bathroom mirror, She looked really pale and tears stained her cheeks. Emily wiped them away furiously and walked out the bathroom. She gazed around the girls' locker room until Emily bumped into somebody huge and furry. "I'm sorry...Sulley!?" Emily blinked at the huge blue monster, what was he doing in the girl's locker room?

"Oh Emily! You must be thinking what I'm doing here in the girl's locker room," Sulley laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"That was exactly what I was thinking..." Emily raised an eyebrow and pressed her lips together, She had to keep herself from laughing.

"Well, I wanted to make sure you were doing okay...You don't have to listen to your father you know." Sulley glanced down at her as he spoke.

"Sulley, I'm not comedian worthy! I grew up to be a scarer! Some monsters who need jobs might not be able to make kids laugh at all, they'll end up frightening them! I know you're doing this because of the little girl you care about and that laughter is better than screams, but still! Sulley I really don't know what to do now, I have so many things going on in my life. Some things you can't even know but I want to tell you!" Emily's voice cracked and she was shaking again.

"What do you mean?" Sulley frowned slightly and asked once more, "What do you mean Emily?"

"It's nothing, it's personal.." Emily replied, "I'm sorry Sulley, but I really need to go home now." She walked away from him.

Sulley frowned sadly and punched one of the lockers out of anger. He gave a huge sigh and looked at his paw.

Mike was walking around the halls of the factory while shouting for Sulley, he still hadn't come back to the prop room. "Sulley!" Mike called for him once more, he still held the ring box in one hand and carried the bouquet of flowers in the other. He decided to go to the men's locker room to put them back. It wasn't until Celia came right by.

"Michael!" Her voice rang out to much of Mike's surprise, he quickly hid the ring box and flowers behind his back.

Celia looked at him with a glance of curiosity, "Michael...what are you holding behind your back?" she crossed her arms together.

"Oh uhh..." Mike hesitated for a moment, he gripped the flowers and finally caved in. "I got you flowers!" he held them up to her with a followed approach of nervous laughter.

Celia gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh Michael!" she said quietly and grabbed the bouquet from him. Celia held them up to her face and took a whiff, her snakes buried themselves into the flowers while they released amusing chirps.

"I was thinking you and me on a date tonight," Mike smiled and still clenched the ring box that was hiding behind his back.

"A date? oh of course Googly bear!" Celia smiled and grabbed Mike, She started to kiss him as well did her little snake friends.

Mike started to laugh from the ticklish kisses Celia's snakes gave him, which resulted in accidentally dropping the ring box onto the floor again.

Celia perked up and saw the box lying on the floor, "Michael what is that?" She looked at him and glanced back at the floor.

Mike gasped and swiftly grabbed it, "I have no idea what you're talking about, See ya tonight sweetie!" Mike gave Celia's cheek a kiss and started to quickly walk away.

"Michael!" Celia exclaimed angrily, she crossed her arms once more and furrowed her brow. Celia couldn't believe he would just walk away like that.

Mike sighed and looked down at the box and opened it, He saw the light gleaming against the beautiful ring. He took in a huge breath and confindelty walked over to Celia. "I know this isn't a fancy restraunt or anything romantic." He got on one knee and opened the lid of the box where it revealed the ring in front of Celia.
Celia's mouth fell open and she covered it with her hand, she was beginning to tear from the happiness.

"Celia Mae, will you marry me?" Mike held the ring up and gestured it toward her.

Celia couldn't contain her excitement, "Oh Googly Bear! I do! I do!" She hugged him tightly and began to shower him with kisses.

Some employees that were walking by started to 'Aww' and watched the two lovebirds.

Emily pulled out the key to her apartment and pushed open the door, Randall came out of the kitchen and looked at her. "What are you are doing here?" he asked annoyed.

"I came early, I wasn't feeling well." Emily grumbled at him and plopped herself onto the couch. "Hey Randall..." The sick feeling in her stomach still hadn't left her.

"What?" Randall looked at the tired reptilian with annoyance.

"Want to spend the day with me tomorrow? I was thinking we could do something fun, I have the day off." Emily smiled at him warmly.

"Tomorrow? Hmmm...okay fine," Randall rubbed his chin. "I have something in mind anyway."