October, 2012

Michael sat on the couch in the living room of the model home, looking apprehensively at his phone. He'd finally decided to call Lindsay tonight, but he was still working up the nerve to do it. They hadn't spoken since May when she'd hung up on him. He'd been trying to convince himself he was only respecting her wishes—she had told him to leave her alone—but he knew it was mainly because he was too afraid to talk to her.

He still felt so ashamed about what had happened that night, many of the details of which had come back to him now. He had a fairly clear picture of everything that happened up until he left her, though how he'd gotten to the model home was still a little fuzzy and he didn't remember anything after he'd arrived. Thankfully, Lucille 2 had disappeared while he was still with Lindsay. It didn't help him with the police, as he still didn't have an alibi he was willing to tell them, but it at least gave him some peace of mind. Lucille 2 was still missing and the case remained unsolved. The detectives still seemed to think it was him, but without any evidence they couldn't do anything about it.

Things were going a little better for him now. He felt terrible about it and hoped Lucille 2 was okay, but her disappearance had solved his debt problem. He'd also patched things up with George Michael, who was no longer dating Rebel Alley anyway after she'd left him for one of her costars in a movie she was doing. Michael's movie about the family had never gotten off the ground, due to his inability to get his family's signatures and his preoccupation with being investigated for Lucille 2's disappearance, but he didn't really care about it that much anymore. He was eager to get back to his roots in housing and give the Michael B. Company a second chance now that the economy was turning around.

Though he hadn't spoken to Lindsay, he had been following the election. She was running against her old rival Sally Sitwell, who was running in Lucille 2's place. It had been the ugliest election Michael had ever seen, even worse than when they'd run against each other for class president back in high school. Lindsay's campaign had been hit by so many scandals that he'd lost count of how many times he'd thought it was over, but she was still clinging to a surprising amount of support. It didn't seem to be enough to win, but he was still somewhat impressed, though disappointed in the voters of Orange County at the same time.

Now the election was in a week and he didn't think he could put off calling her anymore. He still saw her campaign as something of a stunt, but he felt like he should be supportive, and he felt guilty about what had happened in May. He didn't want this silence between them to last forever, and now seemed like a good time to end it.

He took a deep breath and called her. He waited as the phone rang, half hoping she wouldn't answer, but then he heard her voice.

"Michael, hi," she said, sounding surprised that he was calling her.

"Hi," he said nervously, worried she would still be mad at him. "I'm sorry I haven't called you, I've been meaning to—"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," she said quickly. "How are you?"

"Good," he said, surprised and grateful that she wasn't mad. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she said, sounding nervous. "I've been very busy with the campaign."

"Yeah, I can imagine. I've been following the election. Good luck next week."

"Thank you," she said with genuine emotion.

There was an awkward silence as Michael tried to find something to say. It felt strange to talk to her again after so long, and with all that happened between them.

"Sorry, I guess I don't have much to say, I just wanted to wish you luck," he said awkwardly.

"Yeah, thanks, it means a lot."

"Of course. Well, I guess I'll get going."

"Okay, bye," she said. "Wait, Michael."

"Yeah?"

"Uh, we're having a watch party on election night, you know, with all the campaign staff and donors. The family will be there too. You're welcome to come if you want."

"Oh, yeah, thanks," he said, surprised. "Yeah, I'd love to."

"Great," she said sincerely. "Uh, I'll have to check the time and the place, I don't remember. I'll text it to you."

"Okay. Thanks, Lindsay," he said, relieved and grateful that she seemed to have forgiven him.

"Yeah, of course. Bye."

"Bye."