Mickey's Lessons on Bad

Lesson 20: Seduce Me, Please

Mickey stretched his legs out onto the coffee table in front of him, casually clicking the buttons on his game controller. He stayed quiet and listened to the curses and arguments between his friends over the headset.

       Nothing new.

       Mickey was always the “levelheaded” gamer, only fighting or cursing when he was losing. Which was happening at the moment. He was losing the game, but oddly, he wouldn’t curse at everyone who shot him.

       Something new.

       “‘ey, Mickey!” Ronnie called through the headset. “Are you still there?”

       “Yeah,” he replied, shooting down Ronnie as he did so.

       “What’s up, Mick?” one of his friends, Trent, inquired. “Your team is losing and I don’t hear a bunch of curses towards Ronnie–”

       “– even when I’m on your team,” Ronnie muttered disheartenedly.

       Mickey rolled his eyes at the pout Ronnie must’ve been wearing at the moment. He just knew he was. “It’s nothing.”

       “I think I know what it’s about…” his best friend stated, amusement clear in his voice.

       He just stayed quiet, listening to his friends asking Ronnie what’s up. Though, knowing better, Ronnie didn’t answer, claiming that it was a secret.

       “C’mon, Mick!” Henry, another of his friends, exclaimed. “Don’t be all Mr. Cool and Mysterious!”

       “Oh, you think I’m cool,” Mickey muttered mockingly.

       The guys cackled in laughter, but Mickey didn’t join them. His mind kept trailing off and his lips kept on grinning. He couldn’t believe that Michelle– the Michelle Sarah Richmond– was his girlfriend (officially). Ronnie very-well knew how long he wanted her and now that she's his–

       Boys and girls, wouldn't you like to see something strange?

       Mickey smirked at his ringtone that he kept ever since he got his phone over two years ago. He never bothered changing it since The Nightmare Before Christmas was his all-time favorite movie. He faintly heard Ronnie commenting on the ringtone through the headset.As the song reached the chorus, Mickey lazily grabbed the phone sitting beside him and switched his smirk into a full-blown grin at the Caller ID.

       He muted the headset, even took it off and tossed it to the side, before he cleared his throat and accepted the call. Finally remembering the game he was in, he placed the phone between his shoulder and ear and answered, trying to sound cool, "'ello."

       "Hi," the cutesy voice belonging to his girlfriend greeted cheerfully. "You called me?"

       Red crept up his cheeks, remembering his impulsive call to Michelle at seven in the morning. But, before it could've gone to voicemail, Mickey immediately hung up out of embarrassment. He didn't want to seem clingy to his new girlfriend. "Oh, yeah," he muttered. "That was butt dial. Sorry."

       Michelle giggled, much to his relief. "Okay. Am I interrupting something?" she asked at the sound of all guys from his game yelling incoherent words at once, loud enough to make Mickey flinch.

       "Uh, not really," he answered, ignoring the continuous shouts from his "friends". "I'm just playing video games."

       "Are you sure? I can just hang up."