A Normal Life | COMPLETED

Chapter 23: The Morning After

My eyes fluttered open as the sunlight danced through the window and onto my face. I look around to find Micah. He was sprawled out on the floor sleeping under a baby blue blanket. I chuckled at the sight of him sleeping like a baby. I reach for my phone to capture the moment when my head began to rage in pain. I dropped my phone as I clenched my head. What happened last night? Did I drink last night?

The sound of my phone dropping and hitting the hard wood floor startled Micah awake. "Hey, what's wrong? Did you take the aspirin?" He got up from the floor and grabbed the two aspirin that he left for me off the dresser. I grab the aspirin and swallowed with relief.

"Don't you need water?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Not really." I shrugged. I glanced up at his aloof hair and laughed. "You look like you had a rough night."

"For the both of us." He pushed my knotted hair behind my ear to see my face better. He sighed and let out a little laugh.

"What time is the funeral?" I ask as I rub my swollen eyes. Memories of my dad's box started to play back in my head again. I blinked back the tears and rested my head back on the beige pillows.

"I think it's at 2 p.m." He checked his phone for the time. He pushed his hair to the side to look halfway decent. "I'm going to go and take a shower. Are you okay with me leaving you alone for a while?"

I nod my head as I reached for my phone off the floor. I turned it on to see multiple text from Jonathan spamming me. I groan at the string of text and swiped to call him back. I've been avoiding his calls for a while now and I had to face the music some time. It started to ring for a while and I began to gain hope that he wouldn't pick up.

"Alex." He said sternly from the phone.

Hope is for suckers.

"hey." I said timidly. I began to fidget and started to play with my hair.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked sounding hurt. I couldn't help but feel a ping of guilt. I was so inconsiderate to just leave and barely tell him anything.

"I just didn't want to get you involved with everything. I'm fine." I felt guilty, of course. But would I ever admit it? Not a chance.

Stubborn.

I could hear his frustration through the phone. "I was really worried about you Alex. I even had to call Micah to make sure you were okay."

I roll over on my back and rubbed my forehead. "Okay? Do you want a cookie for that? It's not my fault you hate Micah. I literally texted you what I was doing the day of." I sounded annoyed but I wasn't annoyed at him. Not even a little bit. I was annoyed at myself for not communicating how sorry I was. Instead of apologizing, I just put the blame on someone else.

We sat in silence for a while until he started to speak again. "Babe. I'm just trying to make an effort here. Can you at least tell me you're alright?"

I sat up from the bed and swung my feet to the side of the bed. "I'm alright." I dangled my feet off the side of the bed and swung them back and forth. I relayed the story of last night's events of what I could remember.

"Woah. How are you feeling after seeing the box?" He asked intrigued.

I couldn't help but to feel numb. Last night I drank until I couldn't feel anything anymore. I hated drinking but I just needed something to take off the edge. "I don't know how to feel. The more I think about it, the more I want to cry. It's insane to me. I never knew the guy."

"I know the feeling. When my mother left us, I couldn't help but cry. I never knew why I was crying because I know I hated her for leaving. Sometimes we cry for no reason at all and that's completely okay." He assured me. I couldn't help but let a tear drop slide down my cheek as he spoke.