Author's Notes: I'm aiming to have this story complete by the time the next episode airs. I've also written some fun future chapters that may become a sequel piece, but I think I'm going to wait to see where the show goes with the Paige/Mike storyline before I post anything. I may just do them as separate individual one shots, rather than putting the effort in to put an overarching storyline.
Thanks: Thanks everyone for the reviews! Big thanks to jazzycat08 whose been betaing for me and correcting my many grammatical errors on chapters. If I worked on a better schedule and was less lazy, I might be able to plan ahead to have them beta'd before I posted, but she's doing a wonderful job of putting up with me.
Skinny Double Dirty Chai
Chapter 10
Paige leans against the window, sipping a glass of water as she stares out the window at the ocean, waiting for Mike to return. The house is dark and she's alone with her thoughts. Recently, she finds herself thinking about him constantly. With all that's going on in the house; Charlie's recent heroin use and Briggs's unexplained disappearances, her attention would be better suited elsewhere. Instead, all she finds herself doing is worrying about Mike.
He's been so moody around her recently, and she's convinced Abby is the reason for that. One second, he's being sweet, laughing with her and sitting just a little too close. The next moment, he's glaring at her for covering his ass by stealing Abby's phone. She's not sure what happened earlier tonight, but he looked so miserable. She hopes this means he finally came to his senses and broke up with Abby, and she can't wait until the morning to find out.
From the window she sees him walking back up the beach towards the house, looking deep in thought. Not wanting to be caught spying, she jumps onto the couch and turns on a light, grabbing the packet of printed off papers of the side table and pretending to read.
She hears the front door open and shut. He apparently doesn't notice the light on in the living room because he doesn't come in to greet her. She stands up and pads lightly across the floor, peaking into the kitchen.
She can only see his back as he roots around, bent over, in the refrigerator, but she can tell from his posture he's still tense. She clears her throat.
"So you want to tell me what's got you so upset, that you're drinking alone?" She asks from the doorway.
"I thought we agreed not to talk about this." Mike doesn't turn around to face her.
"Well, you seemed upset at the time, so I let you mope. Now you look better. A little tipsy, but at least you're not still trying to give yourself alcohol poisoning. So talk to me." Paige says, perching herself on the kitchen counter.
"Who says I'm not?" Mike turns around, a new beer in hand. His voice is unusually aggressive towards her.
"Ok fine, then at least toss me one too, so you're not drinking alone. That's just sad." He clearly wants to be left alone, but she doesn't care. She wants him to talk to her. Since he started seeing Abby, their relationship has changed. She wants to be there for him, and he's not letting her in.
He reluctantly grabs a Miller Light from the fridge and tosses it across the kitchen to her. She makes a face.
"Oh no. Not that crap. Grab me the good stuff. Jakes keeps it on the back of his shelf. Behind the sandwich."
Everyone else in the house might be afraid of Jakes's shelf, but Paige is notorious for stealing other people's food. So much so, that she's convinced Jakes has started buying extra of Paige's favorite beer just to keep her from his whisky.
Mike practically growls as he reaches behind the sandwich to grab the drink. He's pissy. He's probably hungry. Mike always gets angry when he's hungry.
"Ooh, toss me the sandwich too." She instructs upon further thought.
"Fine, but I'm telling him you took them. I won't take the blame for you, woman."
He hands her the beer and sandwich. She takes grabs them from him and skips to the living room, sitting cross legged on the couch. She smacks the seat beside her for him to come join.
"Sit."
He reluctantly obeys. Paige doesn't want to push him any farther at the moment. So she bides her time. She picks up the paper from the coffee table, and skims it with her eyes not taking any of it in. She will simply ignore him, and hope he'll get over whatever bad mood he's in.
She sips her beer, and pretends to read. She evaluates his body language from the corner of her eye. He's tense and not looking at her. If he wants to act like a child, she'll treat him like one and ignore his temper tantrum. She picks up the sandwich and takes a bite, holding it over her shoulder towards his mouth in a silent offering, still not looking at him. He leans in and takes a bite and she grins to herself. For the next few moments, this continues until the sandwich is gone. By this point Mike is looking more relaxed beside her, and she struggles to hide her knowing smirks with her beer bottle.
He was definitely hungry. He's so predictable.
Still she waits for him to speak first.
"Couldn't sleep?" He finally asks, and she is thankful that he doesn't sound pissed anymore.
"Well, I just thought I'd stay up and catch up on some pleasure reading." She shrugs casually.
"Really? Reading?"
She's hurt by the doubtful tone in his voice. Is it really so unbelievable? Abby is not the only girl in the world who reads.
"Yes, I know you East Coast Intellectuals think you're the only bibliophiles on the planet, but just because we can out surf, out drink and out sex you, doesn't mean we don't enjoy some light pleasure reading, now and again." Paige mutters.
She keeps her eyes trained on the papers in front of her. Instead of apologizing, Mike reaches out and snatches the paper from her, examining it's contents.
"Paige, you're reading a Supreme Court Ruling on federal marijuana laws. This can't be pleasure reading."
"I find mocking Scalia pleasurable, yes." Paige says, looking him straight in the eye and managing to keep a straight face.
"Were you waiting up on me?" He is sounding annoyed again.
"Can't a girl get her SCOTUS on without getting interrogated?" Paige asks defensively.
Just because Abby's a lawyer, hell not even a lawyer yet, a former law student, doesn't mean she's that much more accomplished than Paige. Paige's job involves the law too.
"Paige, that ruling is like eight years old." He clearly does not believe her.
"Ok fine! I was worried. You looked really upset earlier. What happened?" Paige finally breaks down and asks.
So she was worried. What's so wrong about that? He's getting pissed at her that she cares?
"You know what? Thanks for the concern, but it's been a really long day, and I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."
Mike stands up and prepares to leave. She reaches up and takes his arm to stop him. She ignores how warm his skin feels under her fingertips.
"Does it have anything to do with the date you were supposed to be on this evening?"
"That's part of it." He admits, gently wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulling her away from him.
"What happened?" She hopes he broke up with her. He might mope for a few days, but he'll get over it and everything can go back to normal.
"Look, it just sucked, ok? The lying, the alibis, everything about this undercover dating game sucks. We were out to dinner, ran into one of Bello's guys and I had to fake a stomach ache to get her out of there. But it's cool, I'll just text her tomorrow and try to make up for it. Again."
"Why are you with her Mike?"
"Fuck." Mike swears under his breath, turning away from her. They had had this conversation before. Several times.
"No, I seriously want to know. It's not good for your cover. You complain about the stress of it all the time. Why the fuck are you with this girl? Are you in love?" As soon as the words leave her mouth, Paige realizes she doesn't want to know the answer.
"Because I'm a man ok! I know you think of me as little Mikey, the new kid brother who only cares about work and the rules, but you know what? I have needs. And I'm not going to apologize for that. Least of all to you."
"What the fuck does that mean? Least of all to you."
"You're a smart girl, Paige." Mike brushes by her cooly. He takes an exaggerated casual sip of his beer and shouts back over his shoulder, "Figure it out!"
He doesn't look back as he strides towards the door. She glares after him. Why least of all to her? Did he think she was a slut and couldn't control her needs? How dare he?
No. He can't just say something like that and then walk away. He needs to stay and explain himself. If you start a fight, you finish it. Ok, maybe she was the one who started the fight, but still she would not let him leave like that.
"No! Stay and fight you pussy!" In one swift motion, Paige kicks his legs out from under him. Mike catches himself between the couch and the wall before he hits the floor.
Maybe now she finally has his attention.