Chapter Text
She always did this. Of course she never meant to, but one thing led to another and she always found herself writing at five in the morning on a random Friday.
Now, her alarm was beeping in her ear, begging her to wake up and get ready for the day, making her regret staying up late the day before. Michelle let the alarm ring a little longer, until eventually she couldn't take it anymore.
She rolled over to her side, her face propped up on her hand while she extended her other arm to grab her phone, turning off the alarm as soon as possible. Her phone was old, about seven years if she was being generous. It had the same blue phone case since the day she had bought it, although it wouldn't take a genius to see that it had gone through quite a bit. The edges had lost most of their color and the star-shaped stickers she had put on a few months ago were mostly peeled off.
Michelle turned her phone on, the screen's brightness blinding her in the previously dark room. She checked the time, 9.30 a.m., and saw a missed call from Willow. Michelle had no idea what Willow could've wanted, but she decided to think about it later, getting her glasses from her bedside table.
She put the blinds up, illuminating her room in soft spring sunlight. Michelle walked sluggishly toward her kitchen, her eyes still adjusting to the light. She opened her fridge calmly, grabbing a carton of milk from the first shelf. She turned around and kicked the fridge to close it, placing the milk on the counter and picking up the box of cereal she had left on the counter from her midnight snack the day before. Michelle opened her dishwasher and was glad to see that she didn't forget to run it yesterday, because that meant she could have cereal in a bowl like a normal person; she had learnt her lesson once when she hadn't cleaned her bowls and had to have cereal in a cup.
After getting her cereal, she sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, going straight to Netflix to watch The Hunger Games, as if she hadn't already watched it a hundred times in the past month. About halfway through the movie she remembered the missed call from Willow, so she paused and got up from the couch to get her phone from her room.
She dialed her number, which was one of the few numbers she knew by heart. She sat patiently on the edge of her bed, waiting to hear Willow's voice interrupt the silence of her small apartment.
“Hello?” She heard, suddenly feeling calm and collected instead of messy and tired. Because that's what Willow's voice did to her, it made her feel like she was safe, like she was cared for.
“Hey Willow, what's up?”
“Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to let you know that I was going to stop by your neighborhood today, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to go grab coffee.”
“Oh! Uhm,” Michelle didn't really know what to say. Of course she wanted to see Willow, but she hadn't seen her in so long, despite them both living in New York. They were supposed to be best friends, but it hadn't felt like that for a while. She felt bad, because she knew it was her fault for not reaching out. She never tried to contact her, especially since she found out that Willow had gotten a girlfriend. She was happy for her, of course she was happy for her. But she couldn't deny that she felt a little bit weird thinking about it.
“Are you still there?” Willow said, bringing Michelle back to the present.
“Yeah, sorry. I would love to go get coffee today.”
“Great! Is six thirty good for you?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, I'll pick you up then. See you later!”
“See you la-” Michelle started, but she couldn't finish before Willow hung up.
Michelle looked in the bathroom mirror and stared. She could not meet up with Willow looking like this, with her curly hair tied up in a very messy bun, her eye bags darker than usual and her stench probably stronger than she'd like to admit. Such is the life of a college student who doesn't care as much as she should about basic hygiene. ‘Yuck,’ she thought to herself, acknowledging that she really needed to get ready.
So she got in the shower, letting warm water run down her hair and splashing on the shower floor. When she got out she changed into a blue and black striped off-the-shoulder shirt and a pair of low rise jeans. She picked out her favorite socks (the blue ones with little suns on them) and put them on, looking happily in her bedroom mirror, admiring her outfit.
Michelle went back into the bathroom to brush her teeth and do her makeup. Once she was done, she stared at herself in the mirror. She asked herself if Willow would like her makeup, hoping the answer would be yes. Quickly after that she decided she didn't care what Willow thought. Well, at least that's what she told herself.
She looked at the clock and saw that she still had an hour until Willow came, so she decided to put on her knock-off Doc Martens and go for a walk.
Michelle walked into a little store she hadn't explored yet. She liked looking around her neighborhood on the weekends and finding small cozy stores, so she was pleased when she found this one on her little walk.
She stopped at each shelf, carefully inspecting every little trinket while Conan Gray was playing in the back. There were old cutlery sets, small boxes, ceramic fairies, and, to her surprise, a set of DnD dice. They were inside of a soft fabric bag and were yellow with blue numbers. She saw the number 7 on one of them and remembered that night after a campaign at her house. How could she forget? It was the night Willow had gone missing. She still felt guilty, like somehow she could've done something about that night, maybe convinced her parents to call Joyce and let them have a sleepover, or… Well, she wasn't really sure what else she could've done, but she was sure she could've done something. But there was no point thinking about that now, besides, that was years ago. There wasn't anything that could be done.
Without giving it a second thought, she grabbed the dice and gave the soft velvet bag to the cashier, walking out of the newly-found store with a small present for her friend. She smiled at herself, happy that she wasn't going to meet up with Willow empty-handed.
She headed back home, excited to see Willow soon. She kept looking in the mirror, making sure she looked good. Why did she care so much about what she looked like? It's not like it was ever one of her main concerns, so why was she concerned now?
Suddenly, she heard her doorbell ring.