Michael

Before Alyssa can take what's probably her eighth shot, I snatch the glass out of her hand.

"Hey," she whines. She tries to grab it back but her intoxicated, uncoordinated movements leave her helpless.

I look around, but Hannah is nowhere to be seen, same with Sienna. All of my attention has been kept on keeping Alyssa out of trouble, I lost track of the two of them ages ago. I fumble my phone out of my pocket. My dexterity in my left hand isn't great enough to text very well, but I manage to get a message out.

Michael: Any chance you're at the Alpha Delta Pi Halloween party? I need help with Alyssa.

Carmen: Yeah I'm here! What's going on?

-----

Carmen and I carefully help Alyssa into bed. For someone so small, she's just about as strong as I was expecting her to be. I should've expected as much, I did most of the lifting the day I helped her move in.

With some struggling, we manage to work together and get Alyssa under her covers.

"This is unnecessary, I'm fine!" Alyssa slurs. She clumsily kicks the covers off and climbs out of bed. She manages to take one wobbly step before collapsing.

Right towards me.

"Oh shit," I yelp as Alyssa crashes into my chest.

Her skin feels clammy and the strong scent of alcohol burns my nose. I feel heat rush to my cheeks as I do my best to avoid inappropriately touching her. I gingerly hold onto her forearm to try and help her regain her balance, but she seems to have the strength of a ragdoll.

Alyssa pulls herself up just enough to plop herself onto my lap. She lets out a deep sigh and rests her head on my shoulder before almost immediately falling asleep.

"Carmen help," I whisper frantically. My heart palpitates as Alyssa presses herself closer against my body. She's warm and soft and this is not how I'm supposed to feel around her. This is definitely crossing the boundaries we set in our original agreement.

Carmen bites her lip and tries to analyze the situation. "Umm." She hesitantly hovers her hands over Alyssa. "I'll get her upper body, you grab her legs."

With even more struggling, we get Alyssa back into bed. Alyssa mumbles something inaudible before slowly opening her eyes. She quickly tries to sit up again but Carmen holds onto her shoulders this time.

"Alyssa," she says sternly. "You need to rest."

Alyssa grumbles but obliges. Within a couple seconds, she passes out again. Carmen and I sigh in relief. We decide to stay a little longer for good measure – the last thing we need is an inebriated Alyssa wandering around alone.

"Do you need me to take you home?" Carmen finally says.

"That's alright, I think I'll stay with Alyssa to make sure she's ok."

"How the tables have turned." Carmen gives me an amused grin. "I'll see you around."

-----

"Michael?"

I suddenly snap awake. I squint through the rays of light shining into my eyes. The curtains are still wide open, letting the orange glow of the sunrise stream into the room.

Fuck my neck is sore. Sitting upright is not a pleasant position for sleeping.

"Hey," I mumble and stretch my arm.

"My head hurts," she whines and covers her face with her pillow.

"That must be one hell of a hangover." I was in disbelief at how much Alyssa could drink before blacking out. She didn't even vomit.

She peeks out from under the pillow. "Did you stay here all night?"

"Yeah, I guess it's the least I could do after all of the time you've spent looking out for me," I say casually. I already recognize the look on Alyssa's face and quickly continue speaking before she gets all emotional and mushy at me. "Carmen left some stuff for you on your nightstand."

Alyssa fumbles around until she finds the bottle of pain relievers and glass of water. I extend my hand out to her and she slowly pulls herself up.

Her normally smooth hair is tangled and frizzy. Faint smudges of makeup are still visible around her eyes. Carmen used a wipe to try and clean off her face last night, but Alyssa kept swatting her hand away.

"Care to explain what last night was about?"

Alyssa groans and rubs her temples. "Can we talk about this another time? It feels like a marching band is parading around in my head."

"Yeah, sure."

She climbs out of bed and shuffles ridiculously slowly over to her vanity. I've probably seen turtles move more quickly. She grimaces at her face in the mirror before tying her hair up and soaking a cotton pad in what I assume is makeup remover.

"I don't think I've seen you without any makeup before," I observe as she tosses the used cotton pad streaked with makeup into a bin.

She rolls her eyes and begins brushing her hair. "You're choosing now of all times to make fun of how I look?"

"No." I rub the back of my neck, already regretting beginning this sentence. "You uh, you look nice."

Her bright, green eyes shine on their own, a lot more without all of that glittery shit around them. She tries to change the shape of her face with some dark and light powders, but she looks less like a doll and more like an actual human without it. Her lips are also a nice shade of pink.

Alyssa pauses and turns around. "You're being serious?"

"Yeah," I mumble.

Her cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and I know it's not blush she's wearing this time. "Thanks."

-----

"So who is Sienna, and why the hell are you friends with her?"

"She's Hannah's friend."

The server places a bowl of tomato soup down in front of me and avocado toast in front of Alyssa. I'm getting incredibly sick of only having foods that can be eaten with one hand. As soon as I got the splint off, I refused to ever let Alyssa feed me again. My pride can only take so much. I miss things that require a fork and knife. When was the last time I had a steak?

"That doesn't mean you need to spend time with her," I point out. "Let alone take shit like that from her."

"I care about Hannah," Alyssa says. "If being friends with her means that Sienna comes along, then so be it."

I stare at her in disbelief. What kind of logic is that? No friend is worth putting up with someone like Sienna. "I thought you said Hannah was smart. What kind of idiot would be friends with Sienna?"

Alyssa gasps. "Do not call my friend an idiot!" she scolds. "Rude. Don't you-"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Alyssa," I groan in exasperation, "do you not see the irony here?"

I make the tiniest jab at her friend and she suddenly swoops in like a guardian angel. Where is this Alyssa when she's being attacked?

"You have this irrational and unrealistic need to be liked by everyone, and I think that's stupid," I say.

She scowls at me. "Well excuse me for wanting to be nice to people."

"We both know that's not what I meant, Alyssa," I say dryly. "You show respect to people who don't deserve it whatsoever. You did the same thing with Jett."

Alyssa purses her lips and looks down at her plate. She absentmindedly nudges her food around with her fork. I don't think I've seen her take a single bite yet.

I pause but, for once, it seems like Alyssa isn't going to speak. "You can be a kind person with a good heart and still tell people to fuck off sometimes," I add.

Alyssa looks back up and narrows her eyes. The silence is deafening and then tension is heavy as she stares at me for an uncomfortably long time. She drops her fork and knife back down onto her plate. The clanking is obnoxiously loud, and everyone within a ten foot radius frowns at us – Alyssa doesn't seem to notice.

"Get off your high horse," she scoffs and crosses her arms. "Just because you're the complete opposite doesn't make you any better."

"Excuse me?"

"You act like you don't care about anyone or anything," she snaps. "Is that really any better than trying to be nice?" She leans closer to me and lowers her voice. "You're in no position to be talking about having a good heart when you have no heart."

I grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut. Her words sting, but I refuse to let her see that.

She suddenly tips her head forward and buries her face into her hands. "I'm so sorry, Michael. That was out of line," she mumbles into her palms. "I'm just really hungover and cranky, I didn't mean it. Of course you have a heart."

I sigh and reach across the table to give her forearm a gentle squeeze. I'd be a hypocrite to get mad at her. Drunk and hungover Michael is definitely worse. I've said plenty of shitty things that I still regret saying.

"It's alright, we should get going," I say quietly. "We're going to be late."

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A/N:

I have a bad habit of trying to be a people pleaser too sometimes :(

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