Secrets of a Monkee
Summary: Micky meets his best friends during his darkest hour. Years later, his past comes back to haunt him. Can his friends help pull him back again?
Author's note: started adding (break) where there should be a line break between time jumps or perspective jumps. can't figure out how to do it on here….let me know what you think!
Chapter 6: An Old Friend
Mike whistled a little as he walked up to the door of his house. He, Davy and Peter had promised to vacate the house for a few hours that night to let Micky have a date night with his girlfriend Linda. He had gone to the movies, and Peter and Davy had gone to a nearby stable to ride horses. Mike had stopped for some food on the way home, trying to give Micky a little more time with Linda, but it was now close to 10 at night and Mike was really tired. He'd been thinking all day about the bombshell Micky had laid on them that morning about Lily, or Rose, or whatever her name was. He knew he shouldn't feel guilty because there really was no way he could have possibly known who she was, but he still felt bad for trying to win over Micky's ex. That was always a big taboo for him. You never, ever went out with your best friends ex.
When he got to the front door, he put his key in the lock to unlock it. He opened the door and walked in. He didn't immediately see or hear anyone, however, so he assumed Micky had gone up to bed. Halfway through the living room, he saw Micky and Linda lying on their couch, however. He turned to quickly make his way to his room when he saw they were in the middle of a very passionate kiss. Before he could leave, he heard Micky make the greatest error any man could ever make, and his stomach fell to the floor. Micky whispered Rose's name instead of Linda's. Mike watched, frozen in horror as Linda pushed Micky off her.
"Excuse me?" Linda demanded.
"I..uh…" Micky stammered.
"Who is Rose?"
"No one," Micky lied. "I…uh…you smell like a rose. That's what I meant."
"You're a terrible liar, Micky," Linda said as she reached for a bowl sitting next to her. Mike could only watch as she dumped the contents of the bowl on Micky's head. Micky let out a small yelp and Mike realized it was half melted ice cream. Linda bolted up, grabbed her bag and stormed out. Mike jumped when he heard the door slam behind him.
"Linda, wait!" Micky tried calling after her. But she was gone. Then Micky's eyes met Mike's and Mike saw a flash of anger cross Micky's face. "How long have you been standing there?" Micky demanded, walking over to the sink to clean himself off.
"Long enough to know you are having problems," Mike answered. "I didn't mean to….I mean, I didn't see anything. Well, I did, but once I realized you were still here with her, I tried to quickly duck into my room, but uh…kinda froze when I heard your little faux pas." He tried to help Micky get the ice cream out of his hair, but Micky just brushed him away.
"I'm not having problems," Micky snapped.
"The ice cream in your hair would beg to differ." Mike started to laugh, but fought it back when Micky glared at him. "Want to talk about it?"
"There's nothing to talk about."
"I don't know, Micky. Saying your ex's name while kissing your current girlfriend is kind of a perfect sign of something psychological going on." Peter and Davy suddenly came in, both laughing. They froze when they saw Micky.
"What happened to you?" Davy asked. Peter walked over and picked a chunk of ice cream off Micky's shoulder.
"Is that ice cream?" Peter asked with a chuckle.
"Linda dumped a bowl on his head," Mike explained. Micky shot him another dirty look.
"You must be joking!" Davy exclaimed. "Why would she do that?"
"Never mind why she did it!" Micky yelled and threw the hand towel he was using to clean himself off in the sink. Mike's heart went out to Micky. He obviously still had feelings for Rose. "Just forget it. I'm going to bed." Before they could say anything else, Micky stormed off to his room. Peter and Davy both looked at Mike for an explanation.
"He uh….he kinda said Rose's name while kissing Linda," Mike said quietly, not wanting Micky to hear him.
"Wow," Peter said. "That's bad."
"I think he's still hung up on her," Mike said.
"Well, yeah," Davy agreed. "Why else would he say her name like that?"
"I'm just worried about him not talking about it, you know?" Mike said, thinking back to when they had first met Micky. He had never really seen Micky angry at him like this before, and he just hoped that Micky felt better in the morning.
(Break)
After the audition the next night, Micky still felt a slight anger piercing his chest as the four walked out to their car. He tried to ignore it, knowing that his friends were only trying to help him. He knew he was more angry at himself than anything else. He knew that Mike was right. He hadn't really thought about Rose in a long time. He'd only had the occasional dreams about her; but he hadn't given much thought to his feelings about her. After last night's events, he couldn't hide the truth from himself anymore. He was still in love with her. He'd never really gotten over her. Then again, had he even tried? Sure, he dated other women, but he never got close to any of them. He never really stayed with one girl longer than a few months.
"That was awesome!" Peter said, snapping Micky out of his thoughts. "I think we nailed that audition!" Micky laughed. He really loved how excited Peter got sometimes. Micky finished loading his drums into the car. The others had already loaded their respective instruments.
"We'll find out tomorrow, Pete," Mike said, trying to tell Peter not to get his hopes up.
"Yeah, but people really seemed to like us!" Peter now climbed onto the trunk of the car to sit.
"I know I did," came a voice familiar to Micky. He looked up and saw three men, one being flanked by the other two, coming towards them. He recognized two of them immediately. The anger he felt intensified. "That was a really good performance. You are very talented men."
"Thank you!" Peter said happily.
"Although your drummer might need a little work." The man added, ignoring Peter. Micky pushed himself out in front of the other three.
"Micky performed admirably," Davy said.
"It was a joke, shorty," the man said.
"Forgive me for not laughing, Tony," Micky said.
"Another friend of yours?" Mike asked.
"I wouldn't say friend," Micky answered. "But Tony and I went to high school together. As well as his little lackey over here, Freddie. Don't know who that is." Micky indicated the third man.
"I must say, I'm a little hurt, Micky," Tony said. "I thought we were still friends." Tony now turned to Mike. "Micky and I had been best friends ever since kindergarten."
"'Had been' being the operative phrase there, Tony," Micky sneered. "Or don't you remember?"
"Oh, my nose and I remember fondly, thank you."
"I see it healed nicely. Benefits of having a plastic surgeon for a father I assume?"
"Indeed."
"What exactly are you doing here, Tony? I thought you were still in LA?"
"No, I moved down here about 4 years ago. I heard you were auditioning here tonight and wanted to hear you perform."
"How'd you hear that?" Mike asked sounding very suspicious. "We didn't even know about it until yesterday."
"I know," Tony answered. He smiled very sinisterly now. "Lily told me on the way home from your house. I would have said hello then, but she didn't think it was a good idea for me to have come in yesterday." Realization dawned on Micky and he immediately tensed with fury, but the words tumbled out of Davy's mouth first.
"You're Lily's fiancé?" Davy asked.
"Indeed," Tony answered, never taking his eyes off Micky. "Been with her 4 years now. I don't normally take scraps, but she is truly beautiful." Micky lunged to punch Tony, but found himself restrained very quickly by three sets of hands. Tony and his friends took a step back and Tony laughed. "Good to see you haven't lost your fire, Micky."
"Let go of me," Micky whispered menacingly.
"Not until you calm down," Peter answered, who was now kneeling on the trunk of the car, towering above Micky and holding him by the shoulders. Mike and Davy stood on either side of Micky and each gripped one of his arms tightly.
"What is your problem, man?" Mike asked Tony. "You come here to purposely antagonize Micky?"
"No," Tony said flatly. "I came here to warn Micky."
"Warn him of what?" Davy asked.
"To stay away from Lily."
"What, are you afraid I'm going to tell her the real reason I broke your nose?" Micky spat. "I think I should. There's no way I'm going to let you do to her what you did to Sharon."
"Calm down, Micky," Tony now spoke menacingly, but Micky didn't care. "You're not going to tell her anything, because you are going to stay away from her."
"You can't make me."
"I think I can." Micky felt Davy and Mike suddenly let go of his arms before they both moved in front of him. They moved so quickly, Micky only saw the flash of the gun that Freddie had pulled out of his pocket. Micky didn't see him do even go for the gun, but obviously the other two had.
"Whoa, now," Mike said, now acting as a shield to Micky. Peter's grip had loosened on Micky's shoulders out of fear. Micky wanted to lunge forward again, but knew if he did, he'd pull Peter right off the car and didn't want him to get hurt. "I don't think there's any reason for that."
"You can put that away," Davy added. "No one's going to do anything stupid here."
"Just trying to make a point," Tony said. "Stay away from Lily, Micky. I have a good thing with her, and I'm not going to let you ruin it." With that, Tony and his friends walked away. Peter let go and Mike and Davy turned to face Micky. But Micky took this opportunity to try and chase after Tony. He only made it halfway across the parking lot, when his friends had grabbed him again.
"Micky, what are you doing?!" Mike asked breathless against Micky's efforts to break free of his friends.
"He has a gun!" Davy exclaimed. "It's suicide to chase after him!"
"I don't care!" Micky shouted. "I can't let him hurt her!"
"Ok, but if he shoots you, you can't exactly do anything to stop him," Peter tried reasoning with him. Micky knew he was right and stopped struggling. Cautiously, his friends let go of him.
"Let's go home and figure this out, okay?" Mike suggested. Micky nodded in defeat. The ride home was short and quiet. When they got back to the house, the four of them sat around the table in silence for a few minutes. Davy was the first one to speak up.
"Did you break that guy's nose or something?" Davy asked.
"Yeah," Micky answered. "I got pissed at him when I found out he was beating up his girlfriend, Sharon. Should have done more than just break his nose."
"So he's probably going to abuse Lily?" Peter asked.
"He probably already has," Mike sighed. "If they've been together four years. Abusers don't usually wait until after marriage to start."
"Well if he has, why hasn't she left him?" Davy asked. "Maybe he's changed."
"Davy, he pulled a gun on us," Mike pointed out. "I doubt very much that he's changed."
"Why marry a man who hurts you?"
"You'd be surprised," Peter mumbled.
"Tony can be very charming, Davy," Micky added. "He broke Sharon's arm and she still went to the prom with him. Even with her cast on. She wouldn't finally leave him until I convinced her to. My mom and I hid her in my basement for a week after he broke her leg. Just wish I could have convinced her to go to the cops, too. Then he'd be locked up and Rose would be safe."
"We need to talk to Rose," Peter said. "Find out exactly what's going on and try and convince her he's no good for her."
"That's easier said than done, Pete," Mike said. "First we have to find her."
"Well, we have her name and number," Davy said. "We can look her up. Mike, can I have her number?"
"Yeah," Mike answered before getting up to retrieve it. Davy got up and went to go get the address.
"How did you find out he was even beating Sharon up?" Peter asked.
"I saw it," Micky answered. "I had gone over to her house to help her fix her car. She wasn't there, so I just let myself into the garage with the key she gave me. I heard her and Tony come in to the kitchen next to the garage and he was shouting at her for something. I couldn't really hear what it was about, but I got up to try and calm him down. When I looked through the window of the kitchen I saw him pinning her against the wall with his hand around her neck. I pulled him off her and punched him in the face."
"That's awful," Mike said. Davy returned moments later with an address written on a sheet of paper.
"This is where she lives," Davy said. Micky looked at the address and memorized it.
"I'll go," Micky said. "I'll talk to her. She'll listen to me. I hope." He stood up, and turned to walk out the door, but Mike, Peter and Davy jumped up too.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Micky," Mike said, coming around to face Micky.
"I don't care if he has a gun or not, Mike," Micky started. "I need to tell her the truth. I lied to her years ago because Sharon begged me to. It's my fault she's in that situation with him, and I have to fix it. Gun or not."
"That's not what I mean, Micky," Mike said. Micky stared at him.
"Then what do you mean?"
"I mean you shouldn't be the one to talk to her. Davy, Peter and I can do it. I don't…I don't think you should see her again, not just because Tony threatened you, but because I don't think it'll be good for you."
"Good for me?" Micky asked, now getting infuriated. Who did Mike think he was? It took Mike a few moments to answer, like he was searching for the right words.
"I think you have issues with this girl that you need to work out, and seeing her again is only going to make them worse."
"I don't have issues," Micky snapped. "I'm fine."
"So why did you say her name last night with Linda?" Micky fought a knee jerk reaction to punch Mike. "Look, Micky," Mike continued with a sigh, "I'm not trying to make you mad or anything. I'm just worried about you."
"There's nothing to worry about."
"I have to disagree. I think you should stay here and try and deal with these issues. All three of us are here to talk to you. None of us will judge you."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"You can't keep ignoring things, Micky," Mike snapped, now getting angry himself. "It's not healthy."
"Mind your own business, Mike," Micky snapped as he walked passed Mike with a small shove.
"Oh, that's right, Micky, walk away. Ignoring things worked so well for you last time." Micky froze halfway to the door. He couldn't believe Mike had just said that. He felt a rage he hadn't felt in years boil inside him. No one said anything for nearly 2 minutes. The silence was deafening.
"You really have no idea what you're talking about," Micky said through gritted teeth. It was true. Micky had never told any of them what had really happened the night they met. They all still thought he was going to go out and get drunk.
"I'm sorry, Micky," Mike said. "I'm just so angry that you aren't listening to us. We care about you and none of us want to see you get hurt again. What we went through 4 years ago was hard enough when we didn't know you. I don't think I can go through that again now that I do know you. I don't think any of us can go through that again."
"Us?" Micky whirled on him. "You're the only one I hear saying anything." He looked at Peter and Davy, who both looked a little frightened.
"I agree with Mike," Peter said a little softly, but strong enough for Micky to hear.
"So do I," Davy said, only a little more firmly than Peter. Micky knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with his friends. A little voice in his head told him they were right. He was still in love with her and seeing her again would probably stir up more problems like it had the day before. But his stubbornness refused to let him sit back and do nothing.
"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. He walked up the stairs and slammed the door to his room. He knew that they were only going to keep trying to stop him. He knew they were only trying to protect him. But his anger drove him to ignore the voice in his head telling him to lie down and listen to his friends. So he walked over to the window in his room and pushed it open. Looking down, the little voice in his head tried to yell at him to stop. But he still wasn't listening to it. It wasn't that far of a jump. He landed on his feet then rolled and felt a slight pain shoot through his ankle. Ignoring the pain, he got up and walked over to one of the little motor bikes the four had for recreation on the beach.
(Break)
Peter stood there in shock. He couldn't believe the fight he just witnessed between two of his best friends. He jumped when Micky slammed his bedroom door. The three of them stood there in silence for a few moments. Davy sank into the chair with a loud sigh.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Now we figure out what we are going to say to Lily, or Rose, or whatever," Mike said, as he too sat down with an equally loud sigh.
"What's wrong with the truth?" Davy asked.
"Nothing," Peter said taking the third seat, "but we can't just go in there and say 'you're fiancé is a wife beater, you need to leave him.' We have to think of a way to say it that won't freak her out."
"Well, if we're right, he's probably already abused her," Mike said, rubbing his temples. "I'm thinking we just ask her outright if he's done anything."
"If she's stayed this long, she's not going to admit it to us," Peter said. He knew how difficult a situation like this could be. He knew how much denial was involved from the women being brutalized. His mother's best friend had been in a similar situation when he was a teenager.
"So we tell her that we know the truth. We tell her about Sharon as gently as possible. Apparently she knows about Micky breaking Tony's nose, but not the real reason behind it."
"And what if she doesn't believe us?" Davy asked.
"If he's ever abused her, she'll believe us." Peter said. "She just may also believe that he's changed. Or that she can change him."
"You seem to know a little about this."
"I do. Back in high school, my mom spent countless nights awake on the phone with one of her best friends. Mom was trying to convince her to leave her husband. Some nights she'd call mom with just a black eye; other nights it'd be worse."
"What did your mom do?" Mike asked.
"At first, she pushed her. Constantly. But it only pushed her away. She didn't speak to my mother until one night when her husband shattered her wrist. Her husband had her convinced that she deserved everything she got by then. In the beginning she thought she could change him. That he would stop. He always apologized to her. To use Micky's words, he charmed her. Trying to convince Lily Rose to leave is going to be very hard."
"Alright, we should go," Mike said pushing himself up from the table and grabbing the address Davy had retrieved.
"I'll tell Micky we're leaving," Peter said walking towards the staircase. "Might ease his mind a little." Mike nodded. When Peter got up to Micky's room he knocked softly. There was no response. "Micky?" Peter called through the door, but there was still no response. Peter got a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew he might regret it if Micky threw something at him, but he opened the door. Micky was nowhere to be seen however, and Peter slowly entered. He realized the window was open and crossed over to it peering down below. Peter saw only three of the four motor bikes they had sitting below them. Fearing the reaction he might get, he walked down into the living room where Mike and Davy waited for him by the door.
"What's going on?" Mike asked.
"He uhhh…" Peter started. "It looks like he jumped out the window and rode off with one of the motor bikes."
"What?!" Mike's face flashed red with anger.
"After all that he left anyway?" Davy asked flabbergasted. Peter was about to say something when Mike punched his fist through the wall. Davy and Peter both jumped at the sudden burst of rage. Neither of them had seen Mike this angry before.
"Damn him!" Mike spat out. "Come on, let's see if we can at least head him off." The three of them quickly jumped into the car and drove off, looking for Micky the whole way there.