Books and Kisses

Chapter Four - Michael

"How was your date?" Maisie looked up from her phone when I entered the living room.

I went to Maisie's house instead of my own, I needed the comfort.

"He didn't show." I unbuttoned my coat which was hers and hung it up on the grass tree by the front door. It took me two tries, thanks to the tremble in my hand.

It's the cold. Not the attempted mugging.

Stop. Don't think about it.

"No fucking way. What an asshole." Maisie's eyes widened

"It's okay. I dodged a bullet. I mean have you seen his profile picture? It's a fucking fish. I honestly don't know what I were thinking." I peeled off my gloves and took off my shoes, avoiding my friends eyes while I tried to duck enough oxygen into my lungs.

It hadn't taken me long to disarm the mugger, but the sensation of being helpless, even for a few minutes, resurfaced memories left buried.

Metal digging into my back. Sour breath on my neck. Hands on my-

"Michael." I startled and almost knocked over the coat tree.

I'd held onto my calm during the aftermath of the attempted mugging, but now that I was safely home, my body finally started to process what happened.

It wasn't pretty.

My heart was a frantic drumbeat in my chest, my stomach a storm of nausea. Maisie's presence was the only thing me up right.

"Are you okay? You've been staring into space for the past five minutes. I called your name twice." Her brow creased

"Yep." I pasted on a bright smile

"I just spaced. Thinking of ways to get back at William."

I wasn't going to spend another drop for energy on that asshole, but Maisie didn't need to know that.

She tilted her head, her catlike brown eyes narrowing. As a professional ice skater for her age, she was glued to her phone ninety percent of the time, but she also was very observant that people give credit for.

"You wouldn't waste more energy on that guy." She said

Okay there was observant, and creepy. Maybe those gross wheatgrass ass licking smoothies she loved so much gave her superpowers.

"Seriously, I'm fine." I upped the wattage of my smile. I had no qualms about turning to my friends for advice, but only when they could do something about it. Otherwise, there was no point in telling them.

"I just want to watch a movie, binge eating ice cream and forget about William Afton dupe."

A spark of suspicion remained in Maisie's eyes, but thankfully, she didn't press the issue.

"We have a pint of salted caramel ice cream left." She said

"Legally Blonde rewatch while we finish it?"

"Always." I never got tired of watching a perfectly coiffed Elle Woods kickass.

"I'm gonna shower first. You do whatever you were doing."

"Going through my dms." She sighed

"Not like I'll get through all of them."

"You don't have to reply to every single one, ya know?"

Maisie had hundreds of fans, since she travels the world to different ice rinks to perform and I couldn't imagine how many messages flooded her inbox on a daily basis.

"I want to. Unless they're creeps." She waved a hand in the air

"Go do your thing. I'll be here."

While Maisie returned to her phone, I entered her bathroom and turned on the shower. My smile fading.

I waited until the air thickened with steam before I stepped into the tub and rested my forehead against the slick tile wall, letting the water wash away my unwanted memories.

"Get yourself together, Michael." I whispered fiercely.