Michael stayed home from work the next day because he wasn't feeling any better and he still didn't want to face Matt again after their conversation the day before. So he called in sick (technically he texted - whatever) and was able to relax all morning because Melissa was nice enough to come by and pick Parker up to take him to school.
Michael could tell that she felt bad about what happened yesterday, and that was why she was being so nice. He didn't try to stop her, though, because honestly Michael kind of liked doing nothing for once. He hardly ever got to just sit around the apartment and do whatever he wanted, and this was a perfect opportunity for him to do just that.
After waking himself up from another two hour nap and making himself something to eat (he just reheated the mac n' cheese that Melissa made the night before) Michael decided to head into the living room, prepared to stay there and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon.
And he did nothing for a while. Michael enjoyed sitting on the couch and eating his food (while coughing and sniffling and sneezing) until his phone started obnoxiously ringing and he forced himself to answer it.
"Hello?" Michael asked, clearing his throat. It still hurt really bad, but there was nothing Michael could do about that.
"Michael?" Calum said loudly into the phone, making Michael cringe before returning his attention back to his friend.
"Yeah, what's up?" Michael asked. It seemed like he hadn't heard from Calum in a while, and it took Michael a second to remember his current situation.
"Are you doing anything right now? Are you working?" Calum questioned urgently, obviously moving around as he talked.
"No, I'm at home." Michael said, even though part of him wished that he'd lied. He knew that Calum was going to ask to come over now and Michael had really enjoyed just being completely alone for the day. "I'm sick."
"Is there any possible way that you could help me? Please?" Calum begged, and a loud crash was heard on the other end of the phone. "Don't touch those!"
"Are you alright?" Michael asked.
"Uh, not really." Calum said, chuckling nervously. "I'm watching Lacey and I'm absolutely clueless! All she does is run around and touch things!"
"Just let her run around until she's tired enough to fall asleep." Michael groaned, falling over so he was now laying on the couch. He thought that his suggestion was pretty good, he'd done it probably a million times with Parker.
"It's not that easy!" Calum whined.
"Look, I'm pretty sick so I guess you can come over here but I won't be much help." Michael sighed, rubbing his eyes. He didn't want to give up his afternoon to watch Calum and his kid, but Michael was willing to sacrifice it because Calum was his best friend, and that's what best friends were supposed to do.
"Can I really?" Calum asked excitedly. "I just feel like maybe this will be easier if I have you with me; you're good at this stuff."
"I'm not good at this stuff at all." Michael scoffed. He was still feeling pretty down about everything that had happened yesterday, and especially about the comment he'd made about Parker. Michael didn't think he was a good father, not at all.
"Dude, yes you are. You're like... Superdad." Calum argued. "We'll be over soon, I have to go before - Lacey, no!"
Calum hung up quickly and Michael let out another sigh, tossing his phone down onto the floor. He wasn't looking forward to Calum coming over for the afternoon; he actually wasn't looking forward to anything. Michael meant what he said the day before, he just wanted to sleep and never wake up again.
