More to You ✔

Chapter 23 - Called out (Mitch)

As Mitch walked away from another tedious day at the school, his phone buzzed in his pocket and continued to ring. When he withdrew the phone and Sunshine's name appeared, he smiled.

"What up, Sun! Good to hear from you."

"It might not be once we're finished this conversation." Her voice had the same sharp tone she used when he and Dan used to get wasted and piss her off.

"Woah, what's up?" He pressed the phone closer to his ear to compensate for the noise of the vehicles driving by.

"What's up? What the hell do you think is up? I'm calling you at 2:30 in the damned morning for a reason, and I hope you're smart enough to own up to if you want me to consider your friend anymore."

Sunshine had a murderous passion for the people she loved and, unfortunately, he knew why she'd contacted him. He'd just snapped at Maria after the Christmas Eve assembly because she was making space between them impossible. It was hard enough to keep it without her devastated face popping up.

"I'm trying to keep my distance and walk away, Sun, I swear I am."

"You yelled at her and crushed her hours ago."

Mitch winced. "Did she tell you that?"

"No, that girl has been so hurt in the past that she retreats into a damned shell unless you force information out of her. I asked Becca to keep an eye on her."

"Becca is biased."

"And Shawn."

Mitch rubbed his forehead, and sweat and grime residue rubbed off on his fingertips. How had he become such a terrible person that his friends were monitoring his behaviour like some delinquent child? "I'm trying to give her space, Sun, but she keeps treating me like I wasn't terrible to her. I want to protect her but I don't know how."

"Be a decent human being and talk to her respectfully like she deserves. If you want space, tell her so she doesn't think she did something wrong. Her ex has her hard-wired to take responsibility for way too much."

His shoes refused to move like they were filled with cement. Had she been blaming herself for what Mitch had done?

"I'm not saying you need to date her, but stop making make her feel worthless," Sunshine said.

"Did she say that?"

"She didn't have to. It was obvious."

Mitch sucked in a hot, humid breath mixed with traffic fumes and fried food from the nearby restaurants. He was as much of a greedy prick as her ex. He could only focus on making his feelings lessen without noticing what it was doing to her.

"I'm sorry, Sun. I wish I knew how to fix this. Maria doesn't deserve this bullshit."

"Apologize to her, not me."

"Yeah, I will." He'd have to find the strength not to cave and fall into her arms, especially with Christmas around the corner. He rarely got through the miserable holiday without company.

"Today?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that. How are you doing, other than tormenting my cousin?"

He blocked the word vomit threatening to flow through his teeth. Sun had enough challenges without him moaning about how much dreaded tomorrow or how he was a dumpster fire of a human being. "Fine."

"A real fine or a Mitch fine?"

"I think you can figure that one out."

The line was silent. "We should do a Christmas video call with everyone."