Fly Away (Michael Jackson)

five

•••

Michael made some time to stay with me for a little bit. I couldn't let him go on that sour note, and we needed time to catch up. He rented a hotel room in the area so that he was never too far away from me. This was good - I needed this. My life had been going through some dark times. Greg's anger problem had escalated and I didn't feel safe around him anymore, causing some more arguments between us lately.

However he promised to be good on my birthday. Neither of us thought or imagined Michael would have come over, but regardless, that shouldn't have changed things. I was really starting to see the bad side of Greg after thoroughly trying to avoid it. But having Michael right next to Greg was a huge revelation because of how polar opposite they are. It was kind of impossible to avoid the truth. I'm not even sure where me and Greg are right now. 

I heard a knock at the door that helped me escape from my thoughts. It was most likely Michael; he always comes over around this time. I sighed and arose slowly from my bed and stretched my arms out.

"Coming!" I yelled from my bedroom. I ran to the door and when I opened it, it wasn't him.

"Hello ma'am. Are you the current owner of this house?" the strange man in the suit asked.

"Yes, why?" I said nervously.

"Well it appears that your bill has not been paid for some time now. The bank is going to have to evict you from this establishment." he kept his straight face.

"What? Excuse me?" I argued with my hands going everywhere.

The man reached into his briefcase and pulled out the eviction notice, handing it to me. No more words came from his face and he walked off as if he didn't just make my life one-thousand times worse.

That's when Michael came in, walking in as the man was walking out. His eyebrows furrowed and he walked towards me, questioning what just happened. But I was frozen. None of this was real. It couldn't have been. I should have known - life was going too well for me. He walked towards me and took the paper from my hands.

His eyes read and scanned the paper and he froze, "Eviction Notice?"

"I don't know how this could have happened, I'm not used to this, my dad used to pay the bills, I don't-" I was panicking and feeling uneasy.

Just after my graduation at 18, I left home to go to college. I necessarily didn't have to go live in the dorms, but I really wanted that college, fun girl experience. Soon enough, I was out and graduated with my Bachelor's in communications. I moved back home because my dad was slowly getting sicker. I helped my mom take care of him, until one fatal night where they found themselves in a car accident. It killed them both. I told Michael about this the day after Greg left. He was shocked, and appalled like I was when this happened almost seven months ago. That was another factor in him staying with me. He just makes everything seem better. Only good things happen when he's around...

I sat on the floor and groaned loudly into the ground. "How is this even happening, right now?"

Michael shook his head, "Bonnie, have you been paying?"

"Yes!" I shot up and brushed my hair out of my face, "I don't know if I did it right, I was never good with these types of things," I sighed and returned to face the floor.

After a few moments, he spoke again, "Hey, come live with me,"

I looked up from the floor and gave him a look. He's got to be joking. Just because I'm losing my house, doesn't mean I wanna just up and leave my childhood home to go to California. I've always been scared of California to be honest. Is it big? The amount of celebrities? How many times do you see a familiar face in a day? These all must be stereotypes but that's all I know...

"Bonnie?" Michael asked. I turned my head and faced him. "It's really okay if you don't want to come, because I know what this house means to you, but it'll also be a great and stable home until you're back on your feet." He said laughing.

I laughed a little and said, "That's such a big offer, you got to understand-"

"Its okay, I know." he smiled.

"I'm really really grateful that you invited me to live with you," I grabbed his hand, "But it's a big change for me,"

"Alright, I have an idea,"

"Oh yeah?" I smiled whilst teasing.

He grinned, "Come back home with me, and experience California. You can see everyone again, fall in love with the scenery and the people," He held onto my hand again and smiled so joyfully. He seemed so interested in this idea. I couldn't turn him down, I would feel too guilty. Plus it would definitely mean more time with Michael rather than being away.

I sighed, "Well I'm getting kicked out of here anyway, aren't I?" I passive aggressively joked.

He laughed lightheartedly, and placed an arm on my shoulder, "You're never going to want to come back after this,"

His comment had me tilting my head, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Michael tilted his head, mocking me, "You tell me when you're crying about not wanting to go back home."

I smacked his arm playfully, "You're the cry baby, not me."

His eyebrow rose, "Oh really, don't talk to me whenever Ol' Yeller comes on,"

"They shoot a dog, Michael!"

"With rabies." he retorted.

"Oh whatever, at least I don't befriend rats." I laughed harder than I should have.

He couldn't help but join in too, "It was a song!"

"Ben's probably a better friend than me anyways," I made sure to sound sarcastic so he doesn't get the wrong idea and feel bad.

He scoffed, "Way better, totally," his mood shifted from playful to hopeful, and he held my hand once again, "So you'll come with me?"

"How long will we be gone?"

"Let's give it... a week."

"Alright... you're on."

His face lit up and he looked more excited than I did when I saw him outside my door a couple days ago. My lips formed a large smile as well - I couldn't help it. His smile is so contagious I love it. Only he has the ability to create such happiness in me. Now that I think about it, California couldn't be that bad, given he hasn't come home since. I could possibly really like it there...

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(EDITED July 2, 2019)