#(ft. lady)

WHERE’D YOU HEAR THAT?

“because she has my pity or because she pities me? either way, not true.” he rolled his eyes. “we don’t need each other’s pity. i look out for her, she looks out for me. we get along just peachy, actually, so put your nose in somebody else’s business.”

TODAY WAS THE DAY. LADY’S MOVE-IN. he had his doubts about them doing this, but in reality, there was no reason it wouldn’t work out. sure, they were still in a bit of a weird place after the last time he saw her. they never did really finish talking things out that night — they had cut the conversation short and ran back up to the apartment, then after that was pretty much all a blur. the reality was that he didn’t know which parts of that night’s conversation were real and which parts belonged to the dreams he had when he finally caught some sleep. it was as if the fear of what her loving him would mean had stopped him from believing that she had ever confessed to it at all . . .  but things were going to be alright, he just knew it. the vagabond had left his bike at home for today and convinced tony to lend him his car, so that he could transport the remainder of lady’s belongings over to his apartment. the vintage cadillac that he adored so much gave him some confidence as he cruised to her aunt sarah’s house. 

her voice on the other side of the line sounded chirpy and excited, which was a good sign. his phone had been on the dashboard the whole drive, as he found himself obsessing over making sure she had everything she needed and would be ready to go. “i’m just comin’ up to corona right now, alright pidge? five minutes away. i guess we can hang up now.” he chuckled lightly. she agreed, and he was about to hang up when suddenly their goodbyes were cut short by a few strange, muffled sounds. “lady? what’s goin’ on? you drop the phone or somethin’?” he waited for a response, only to hear more of the same thing. shouting... some kind of altercation. this wasn’t like the times si and am would snatch the phone from her and try to talk to him, this was different. he sat bewildered as he drove into the neighborhood, listening closely. that was when he heard it. sarah’s voice. then lady’s voice. then a hollow, rumbling crash.  “pidge?!” he called out, stepping on the gas. he didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it was something bad. “hold on. i’m coming.”

TEXTS FROM TRAMP

✉ 2AM TEXT

mike: you’re literally asleep next to me right now but i just wanted to tell you to help yourself to anything for breakfast, since you’ll probably be awake before memike: excuse the mess in the kitchenmike: sweet dreams kid. zzz

✘ UNSENT TEXT

mike: we gotta talk some more about that kiss, pidge. i wanna know where we stand

❤ LUSTY/LOVING/AFFECTIONATE TEXT

mike: it feels weird that when you’re done with your day you’ll be coming back here instead of going to sarah’s...mike: and later tonight when i leave for work, it’ll be the first time since rooming with dodge that someone will be in my apartment while i’m not theremike: it’s a good strange though. ha, we’ve had a lot of firsts these past 24 hours, haven’t we?mike: i’m excited to be rooming with you, pidge

♣ DRUNK TEXT

MIKE WAS OFTEN DOING HIS BEST to keep lady away from her aunt sarah. though the tramp wasn’t exactly a genius, or a mindreader, but he could tell that the woman’s wicked ways went beyond strict living rules and snobbery. this was something it seemed that lady herself was having a hard time seeing. although she was old enough to move out from sarah’s place, she chose to stay with her and even defended her from time to time. why? it was beyond him.

in his efforts to keep her as far away from the woman as possible, mike had been inviting lady over to his place a lot. he was hitting two birds with one stone, though. he just really enjoyed being with her, especially lately, since it seemed like their dynamic was beginning to change. the two were getting closer, to say the least.

in his tiny bedroom, mike laid in bed beside his best friend. it was the perfect evening. unexpected rain hitting the window, the overcast sky slowing the sunset outside and making time feel as though it stood still as they talked for hours. as if nobody else existed in the world. 

“lady?” mike said, rolling over off of his back and onto his side to face her. “you’ll stay here tonight, right?”

GHOSTING ON LADY WAS NEVER AN INTENTIONAL THING, and every time tramp did it, he would always try to reassure himself that she would be fine without him for a while. after all, they were just friends – friends don’t have to keep each other updated on whereabouts constantly, right? wrong. lady was the type to worry, and he knew that the few texts and phonecalls they had been exchanging weren’t always enough. lady liked to see tramp, make sure he was okay. he’d learned this after being friends with her for so long. so he figured, what better way to make it up to her than a surprise visit? 

mike arrived at lady’s aunt sarah’s house on his motorbike, revving the engine a little before he pulled up just to make his presence known. still, he felt it was best to make sure that she was actually there and not at the university or elsewhere, so he sent her a quick text with two simple words: ‘i’m outside’.