March 31st
William was on the couch with April's legs sprawled out on him as his thumb traced her bare thigh from the shorts she was wearing. She peeked behind her crossword puzzle, looking right to William. "What's the name of the manager for the Cardinals?"
His eyes drifted up, thinking for a moment before looking back to her. "Mike Matheny?" he spoke in an almost guess.
With that, she looked back to the puzzle, counting the spaces before looking to him with a smile. "It fits."
He leaned forward and gave her a sweet kiss which April couldn't help but lean into. As soon as their kiss began to turn passionate, they felt someone push their lips apart. Then their bodies. When they opened their eyes, they saw that Mike had forced his way between the two and was now sitting on the couch between them. April rolled her eyes as he looked back and forth between the two with a big smile. "And what would your father say if he walked downstairs and saw this?"
"But you found us and he didn't." April countered with a big, cheesy smile.
He just rolled his eyes at her before turning to look at William, looking him up and down unimpressed. Mike didn't like William from the beginning. He didn't know what it was about him, but he just didn't like him. They had been dating for over a month and he thought his distaste for him might change, but he still hated having the kid around all the time. "Yeah," Mike spoke, looking straight forward again while straightening out his jacket. "Well, I may not be the best person to find you two like that either."
William didn't have much of a liking for Mike either. It was how close he was to her. William wasn't as close to April as Mike was, and for that, he found himself jealous. Even if William was her boyfriend, he still felt second place to Mike. And tonight, when she got her present from him, he was going to talk to her about it.
"There's my birthday girl!" Ben called from the steps, making April roll her eyes slightly with a big smile on her face. He would always say that to her. Every birthday.
"Thanks, Dad." She called out as he met her in a hug as she stood up.
Ben honestly couldn't believe his little girl was turning nineteen today. He felt like it was the other day that she was walking around in diapers. Now, she was in her last year as a teenager. Next year at this time, she would be a full fledged adult. That was one thing he wasn't sure how to deal with.
When they pulled out of the hug, he put his hands to her face, causing her to squint her eyes at him from how big her smile had gotten. He then moved out of the way for Maggie to give her a huge hug like her father had. Maggie was the one who was more at ease with her daughter growing up. April had kind of always been a grown up. That's why it was so much easier. She only had to watch a little bit of the kid in her disappear. "Happy birthday." She whispered in her ear.
"Thank you." She spoke before breaking away in the hug.
Then Conner looked at her, hating that he was in this monkey suit because of her birthday. "Happy birthday." he sighed out.
"Wow." April spoke in a sarcastic voice while ruffling his hair. "Thanks, kid."
That made him stick his tongue out at her which she just did right back. "Okay," Mike began, putting his hand on her shoulder to guide her out. "If we let this start, we're gonna be here all night."
"True." Ben spoke in agreeance with Maggie before grabbing her hand and leading her out. As they began to walk outside, Ben turned his head back to his daughter. "April," she looked to him immediately, ready for what he had to say. "We'll take William in our limo, there's something special in yours for you."
She gave a confused look to William, but he just shrugged. He honestly had no idea what her secret surprise was. When she looked back to Mike, though, he had a knowing smile on his face. "What do you have up your sleeve?" She whispered to him.
"You'll see." He whispered back to her, that devious smile still the same as the one from the first moment they had ever met.
She simply rolled her eyes at him as he opened the door and she ducked her head in. Once she finally got in the limo, she saw what her surprise was and she had never been happier. "Surprise!" her best friends all spoke as one.
April looked over to Mike, amazement in her eyes as he just shrugged, looking to the driver with that know-it-all smile on his face. "We're all good back here."
April began greeting all of the friends she left back in Pennsylvania, all of them talking about what they had been up to since April had left back in January. Somewhere, along the line, the girls got lost in conversation, giving April the perfect time to turn to look at Mike. She studied him be his usual self, look at everything, measure possible threats, but she just couldn't stop smiling at him. "How?"
He looked to her, obviously taken off guard by that question. His eyebrows furrowed together, only making April smile even more. "What?" He asked for clarification.
She leaned closer to him, looking to the girls, making sure they were still lost in conversation. "How did you get them all here?"
He looked to the girls, shaking his head with a smile before looking back to April. "Don't look at me. This was your father's gift."
April scoffed as she looked to him, shaking her head in defiance. "No, I didn't tell my father that what I wanted more than anything for my birthday was a night with all of my friends." He looked to her, smiling, wishing she wouldn't have caught on, but at the same time glad she did. "I told you that."
Mike sighed, looking out the window for a moment before looking back to her. "Well, if your father asked, this is his present to you."
April leaned closer to him, so close she could smell his cologne and he, her perfume. "Our secret." She whispered.
He turned to look at her, and for a moment, they were both intoxicated by their smells. Suddenly, the car slowed to a stop, tearing them out of their moment. "We're here." Mike spoke, looking almost bashful which made April's smile just get bigger. She loved fucking with him.
One of the worst things April had realized quickly about being the first family was that they couldn't go anywhere secretly. A birthday dinner being a prime example. Paparazzi lined the walkway into the restaurant as they tried to make their way through. April was trailing behind everyone with Mike. April was smiling to everyone, but then Mike pulled her into his chest at the close quarters they were experiencing. April still kept her smile though, moving to fix her earring as Mike leaned into her, whispering, "Stay center, don't venture to the sides. They can pull you in."
She nodded and Mike pulled away from her with a smile as they continued to walk through the crowd. When they eventually got into the restaurant, it was a lot calmer. Less of a Secret Service nightmare. April was having fun and she was safe, that's all that mattered to the agents tonight. She was all that mattered tonight.
The girls stayed up all night and danced, but after April went home, William joined her. That was the night of their first time. That was her big birthday present from him. After it was done, the two laid in the bed together, experiencing the wonderful feeling of pillow talk.
"Hey." William whispered to her, causing her to look up at him with sleepy eyes. "Can I talk to you about something?"
Her eyes got a little brighter, nodding, making William suddenly feel guilty for what he was about to ask her. "It's about Mike."
She shut her eyes, almost like the name calmed her, making William get scared again. She snuggled into his chest, taking a deep relaxing breath. "What about Mike?"
"I think," William spoke cautiously. "He shouldn't be on your security detail as much."
That made April immediately open her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing in the moment. She slowly looked up at him, more accusing this time. "Why?"
William began to laugh, finding it hard to believe that he actually had to explain why he wanted him off her security detail. "He's inappropriate," he spoke, getting ready to list things off. "He is always getting in-between us, he – "
"If it wasn't for Mike," April began to speak, sitting up in bed now, William following her. "I would be dead."
"What has he done for you?" William spoke, his voice raising. "What big threat have you been in that he's protected you from?!" When April didn't say anything, William just nodded. "He hasn't done anything for you, April. I don't understand why you need him so much."
"Because!" She yelled, not finding a legitimate answer for herself either. She honestly didn't know why she was defending Mike so much. Maybe it was the fact that it was coming from William. Or the fact that from day one, he had been her favorite agent. They had a bond. She couldn't explain it. She was sure no one could.
"Because you love him?!" William finally asked, that question digging in the back of his head like a shard of glass for the past two months.
April opened her mouth, not sure what to say to that. She couldn't love him. That was impossible. But there was something. "April," William spoke slowly, moving his hand to grab hers. "I can't be with you if Mike is in your life like the way he is."
April sat there for a moment, knowing she had to make a very hard decision. Mike off of he security detail would give her William. With William, she couldn't have Mike. "April?" William asked, bringing her back from thought. He didn't expect her to take this long to answer. He thought it would be easy for her to choose. Now he was seeing how much Mike had really meant to her.
April's blue eyes met William's haunted green. After looking in those eyes, she knew her answer. She would rather have those crystal blues than the mysterious green. "I choose Mike."
Hurt simply passed over William's face before the anger kicked in. "You know," he almost spat out. "I thought you would be smart enough to actually make the right decision."
"William," She was genuinely shocked at his outburst while he got up from her bed.
"I hope you know that the only reason that I started going out with you was to get close to your dad. To try to rise up in the political ladder." April could feel her eyes begin to water as he talked while he put on his clothes. "And then I started to really like you." He shook his head while moving to her door. "What a fucking mistake." He mumbled just before slamming the door shut.
All April could do was sit there for a moment and let it all sink in. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She couldn't believe she actually fell for someone like that. And she couldn't help but think that she lost him because of Mike. All she wanted to do was be comforted by him, but at the same time, she hated him. She didn't want to talk to him, but he was the only one that she could talk to.
"Miss. Asher?" A voice came from the other side of the door followed by a knock. She let out a deep breath, knowing they must have seen William storm out. He was probably pulling his car out right now, but she didn't have the voice to speak at the moment. It was like the wind had been knocked out of her. The words couldn't even form on her mouth.
The door opened even if she said nothing. She knew that they would come in. Her safety was the biggest priority. She was honestly surprised she had snuck William in there. She wasn't really watching, but she knew it was Roma. He was in front of her room last time she had seen him. "April?" he asked slowly, never seeing her that quiet before. "Is everything okay? What was all of that about?"
She finally looked up at him, taking a deep breath, fully prepared to tell him everything that happened, but as soon as she opened her mouth to talk, gasps came out as tears fell down her eyes. Roma felt so bad that she sat in front of him crying for something he didn't know about. He slowly closed the door behind him before sitting on the bed with April, holding her hand while she cried out all she could with her head resting on his shoulder.
Breakfast was being set on the table as everyone crowded around. Conner was excitedly telling Ben about the newest episode of his favorite TV show, but Maggie had noticed that April hadn't even come downstairs for coffee yet. She looked to Ben, but she saw the excitement in Conner's eye. She didn't want to break up that conversation, so, she looked to Mike instead. When he made eye contact with her, he gave her a quizzical look. She simply looked up and pointed to the second floor while lipping April's name. He gave her a small nod before retreating upstairs to find that now brunette nineteen year old.
Roma was still in April's room. He didn't want to leave her alone after everything that had happened and he was going to stay there until she told him otherwise. April's head was just resting at the foot of her bed while looking up at the ceiling, but Roma was sitting on the edge of her bed, just watching her. Every second that passed by that April was still quit, it boggled his mind even more.
There was suddenly a knock on her door, taking them both by surprise. "April?" That was Mike's voice. "Breakfast is ready, everyone's waiting. Let's go."
Roma turned to look at her cautiously which she shook her head to. "I don't want to see him." She whispered out. "I don't want to see anybody. Just tell him I don't feel good."
"April?" Mike called again.
"What am I supposed to tell your mom and dad?" Roma asked with a panicked face and getting up from the bed.
"Anything but the truth." She barked while pushing him to the door before Mike could bust it in.
As soon as Mike thought about busting the door in, Roma opened the door, causing Mike to look him up and down in confusion. "April isn't really feeling well right now. I don't think she's gonna come down for breakfast."
"Well," Mike spoke, his voice holding as much confusion as his face. "We'll send a physician up there."
"I don't think that's the best idea. I think she just needs to sleep it off."
Mike's eyebrows furrowed even deeper. None of this was making sense to him. Why couldn't April tell him all of this? "Can I talk to her?"
Roma peeked back into the room, immediately seeing April vigorously shake her head. When he turned back to Mike, he noticed that he was trying to spy into the room. "She doesn't want that."
Mike stared at him for a moment before looking to the door. "April, come out here so I can talk to you."
"Not on your life, Banning!"
He looked to the door as if it was the one who insulted him. "You heard her." Roma spoke, causing Mike to look right back at him. "She doesn't want to see anyone." He shrugged as he opened the door to go back into her room. "Not even you, Mike."
When the door shut in Mike's face, he didn't know what to do. It was driving him crazy, not being able to help her when he had been so used to being the only one she would go to. He just didn't understand what could have been so bad that she couldn't even tell him. In that moment where all he could do was stare at the door, he knew that he was going to do anything to find out what the hell was wrong with her.
Conner met Mike in the walls, ready for the debriefing on what was going to happen with April. April still hadn't come out of her room, and Ben and Maggie were starting to get worried. Hell, even Conner was getting worried. This wasn't like April. She was talking to no one and that was the most surprising thing about all of it. She wasn't talking to anyone. Roma didn't even know what was happening, but he could put together a conclusion. He just didn't voice his conclusion.
Mike was working with the left over ear pieces they had before the Secret Service got new ones. They ran on a completely different channel than the new ones so they wouldn't interfere and no one would know their secret little plan. "Have you ever used a walkie talkie before?" Mike asked while handing the ear piece to him.
"Yeah." He spoke obviously.
"Well, it's kind of like that." Mike told him while clipping the microphone to his shirt. "You talk into the mic, but you press the button in your ear piece to talk."
Conner stood there for a moment, before looking to Mike with a confused face. "That's weird."
"Hell yeah it is." Mike spoke while putting his in his ear. "Now, you are my look out. If anyone remotely has a suspicion about where I am, what is our code word?"
"Happy April Fools." Conner spoke with an obvious nod.
"Good." Mike told him with a nod and the point of a finger.
Mike turned around, getting all of the equipment he would need for the plan when Conner spoke, "Hey, Mike." He turned around, expecting just a question of clarification out of him, but Conner's face was worried. "Is April going to be okay?"
Mike looked at him for a moment, knowing he couldn't promise that to him, but he had to make him feel safe. Make his sister feel safe. That was his job. "Yeah." He spoke as he put his hands on his shoulders. "I'm sure it's nothing major, okay?" He leaned in, his face getting more playful that time. "She's probably hungover." Conner laughed, causing Mike to smile as he pat his arm. "She'll be fine."
Conner nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Mike." He gave him a light slap on the face before standing up straight and going off to help April. How hard could it possibly be?
Mike was struggling to get to April's window, feeling himself falling from scaling the White House. This was hard. It was very hard. He was just under the window, reaching out and knocking on the it, hoping she would notice him before he fell to his death.
April's eyebrows furrowed at the sound, turning to look at her window, seeing a hand reaching up her window sill. She immediately moved to the other side of the room, picking up her bat and inching towards the window. "April." Mike called in a weak voice.
She recognized the voice immediately, dropping her bat and running to the window. "Oh my god!" It was more angry than concerned as she watched his feet dangling below her. "Mike!"
She opened up the window, pulling him into her room by the hand which he climbed the rest of the way into. Once he was on the floor, he began to thank how great floors were. "Thanks." He breathed as April glared at him with hands on her hips.
"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at him as he finally stood up, still matching her glare.
"First of all," he spoke while brushing the dust off of his suit. "I just scaled the wall into your room and no one did anything, we're getting high security out here."
She scoffed while rolling her eyes. "Oh my god." She yelled at him from the audacity that he had to bring that up while Mike shut her window, making sure to lock it.
"Second," he spoke, twirling around to give her a look on annoyance mixed with slight concern. "What the hell has been going on with you today?"
"None of your damn business." She spoke, kind of blaming him for what happened between her and William. She turned around, trying to get away from him as fast as she could. She didn't want to talk to him about all of this and she didn't want to fight, but it looked like they were going to have to fight.
He looked at her like she was insane for walking away from him. She opened the door to her bathroom, giving him a challenging look before slamming the door shut. Mike stood there for a moment, letting everything she just did process in his brain. "Like hell it isn't!" He charged after her, throwing the bathroom door open, catching sight of her looking at herself in the mirror.
Her palms were against the counter, breathing heavily, simply staring at herself like she was a monster. Mike opened his mouth, about to scream at her for being so defiant, but she caught something in the corner of the mirror. "You're bleeding."
The statement took him completely off guard. He didn't feel any amount of pain until she said something. April turned around to look at him, pointing at his leg because she knew he had no idea where it was coming from. "You're bleeding." she spoke again, pointing at his leg this time. "Sit down." She commanded before pointing to the edge of the tub. Mike looked to her for a moment before doing as she told.
April was rummaging through under her sink, finally pulling out a first aid kit, getting down on the floor in front of him. "I'm a nursing major." She told him with that same flirty smile as she rolled up his pant leg.
She began to clean the cut, Mike jumping a little at the pain, but he didn't take his eyes off of her. "Good to know."
"I have my CNA," she spoke suddenly, kind of taking him off guard. "So, my senior year of high school, I got a job at the hospital in downtown Harrisburg." She finally looked up from the cut to look at Mike, noticing his confused look. "The capitol city of Pennsylvania."
"I know." He spoke while shaking his head with that look of confusion still on his face. "What I don't get is why you got a job if your father was the governor."
April chuckled a little bit, beginning to reminisce. "Dad told me it would help my character …and he was right." Her lips tugged into a smirk. "Don't tell my dad that."
Mike just laughed as April looked back down to his leg. Mike then thought of what she had said earlier. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
She looked back up at him, hurt plastered all over her face, not totally knowing the answer to his question. "Maybe all of that is related to how much I want to help people." She was looking off into space like she was rethinking her whole life which was making Mike become very worried about what was going through her head. "Like you with your leg." She looked back to him, Mike giving her a sympathetic look at the tears forming in her eyes. "I put off going to college to help my dad with his campaign." The first tear fell down her cheek, causing her to shake her head. This was the reason she didn't want to see Mike all day. She knew the second she saw him, she was going to fall apart. "Like how I helped William get in on the in crowd of politics and didn't even realize that he was using me the whole time before breaking my heart."
Mike didn't care if she wasn't done with his leg or if he was bleeding, he was going to pull her in for the biggest hug he could give her. He now knew why she didn't want to come out of her room. She couldn't tell her dad because she didn't want to get in the way of his job. She couldn't tell her mom because she would tell her father. She shouldn't have told Mike because Mike knew the second he saw him again he was going to kill him.
"Next time I see that fuckboy I'm punching him in the nuts."
"Mike," she sighed out as she pulled away from the hug. "Don't."
"That fucker – "
"Mike," she spoke sternly this time, getting his attention immediately. "I don't want to talk to him again, to see him again or have anything to do with him again. I just want to forget about it." He looked to her, really wanting to knock that guy's teeth in, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't do that to April. "I want to forget about him."
"Okay." He spoke reluctantly after a pause, before putting his arm around her and sinking down to her level, the two leaning against the bathtub. They stayed like that for a moment, April loving that she had someone like this in her life. Someone she could tell anything to. A best friend. She would take him over that fuckboy William Guthrie any day. "I honestly thought you were in here because of the article that came out today."
Her eyebrows scrunched together before looking back to him, a confused face matching Mike's concerned one. As if she didn't have enough to worry about, she now had to worry about a new article about her. "What article?"
Mike sighed. He really wished he would keep his mouth shut sometimes. "Google April Asher." He spoke as he removed his arm from around her shoulders. "I'm sure you'll find it in less than two seconds."
April gave him a skeptical look as she pulled out her phone, doing as he said, immediately finding the article he was talking about. It was in every gossip website imaginable, causing her to roll her eyes. "The Not-So Secret Service." She read while giving Mike an annoyed look. "What? Did they get that title from a cereal box?"
Mike shrugged with a dark chuckle rumbling in his throat. "Wait until you get to the picture."
"There's a picture?" She asked, giving him another look, hard to believe that they would actually do this on her birthday. He simply nodded toward the phone, knowing she would just have to scroll down to see it. When she did, she realized that there was a picture of her and Mike when he had pulled her in to whisper to her. She had a smile on her face, directed to the fans while Mike had a smile on his face to make it look like nothing bad was going to happen. "Oh my god." She whispered with a bit of a smile on her face, not being able to believe how wrong they were.
"Yeah, apparently we're in a secret relationship." She looked to him, her lips pursed as he gave her a flirty look she had to roll her eyes to.
"Yeah right." She whispered while looking back to the article.
Mike smiled as he watched her read, putting his arm around her again as her head leaned back on his shoulder. Mike just continued to watch her, knowing just what she knew. He could never ask for a better best friend.
Mrs. Happy Anarchy: Thanks as always for being so dedicated. I'm glad it made you smile. I love when my work can make other people happy! If Mike would have supervised that date, it would have been awful. Hahaha!
Scarlet: Thank you so much for reading, it means a whole lot to me. I'm a huge fan of Gerard too. He's so great. It might take a bit to get to, but more is going to happen between them during the summer. And you sent that review in on my birthday and it just made me really happy so thank you again for that review!
Guys, I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get to you. It seemed like every time I sat down to write it, I just got busy all over again. I hope you guys liked it and remember to review and stay tuned!