When they pulled into the driveway, Avi’s car wasn’t there. Jodie warned that he’d been withdrawn since she got back, alternating between apologizing and berating himself for not doing a better job at convincing Mitch to stay. “I can’t tell if it’s because I’m his boss and he’s worried that I’m upset with him, which I’m totally not,” she clarified. “Or if he just expects too much of himself, like he can personally fix everyone’s issues by being a ray of sunshine.”
If Mitch had to guess, it was more of the latter (although Jodie being miserable probably didn’t help, either). He asked where Jodie thought he may have gone off to, and she shrugged, saying that the only place she could think of this late would be the school. So instead of further guessing games, Mitch sent Avi a text to ask where he was. A reply came minutes later:
‘at a bar w/ lou. y?‘
Letting that hang for a moment, Mitch’s shoulders tensed up and he squeezed his eyes shut before allowing himself to type and send the following:
‘I’m back home. I missed you.‘
Because Avi deserved to know that he’d been missed, after all. He deserved the world, really.
A string of crying emojis and a few hearts flooded the entire text message window, and then a minute later Mitch received another followup message:
‘Hey babe, it’s Lou. He handed the phone to me because he’s a little drunk. I’ll get him home safe.‘
Mitch sent his gratitude, then relayed that information to Jodie, and she cackled at drunk Avi’s overuse of emojis. “I’m gonna stay up and wait for him, OK?” Mitch mentioned during her laughing fit, and she gave him a heart pat on the back.
“Great, because I am McFuckin’ tired. Don’t you disappear on me in the middle of the night.”
“I won’t,” Mitch assured, but she still eyed him warily while ascending the stairs. He shook his head and took a seat on the sofa. Curling up under a throw blanket, he found the remote and browsed PBS for something to watch. About half an hour later, there was some commotion on the front porch, and then the door swung open.
Stolen novel; please report.
“World’s densest shortstack delivery,” Louis’ voice boomed. He stepped inside and turned towards the living room, holding Avi upright by keeping a hand under his arm. Barely keeping his giggles contained, Mitch got up to meet them in the foyer.
“Avi, are you trying to steal my man?” Mitch joked, putting a hand on his hip for full effect.
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” Avi slurred in protest, but Louis cut in all matter-of-factly.
“You ran away. I have needs, Mitch.”
“What does he have that I don’t? Huge tits? Anyway, why’s he smashed?” Mitch asked, changing the subject.
“I tried to keep up,” whined Avi.
“He tried to keep up,” Louis confirmed, nodding grimly.
“Oh, you shouldn’t try to keep up with Loulou, Avi,” Mitch winced. “And yet you’re sober, Lou?”
“I stopped drinking like an hour ago, when I realized that he was trying to keep up.”
“Alright well, I can take him from here,” Mitch offered, but as Louis tried to pass him off, Avi nearly toppled over. “Uh, help me get him to his room?”
“What about the couch?” Louis asked, tilting his head in the direction of the livingroom.
“Bathroom’s upstairs. If he’s gotta puke or piss, y’know?”
“Yeah, alright,” Louis finally agreed. They made two efforts to climb the stairs, but Avi kept sliding out of their grasp. “OK, hold on,” Louis grunted when they were back on the first step; in one motion, swept Avi off of his feet and carried him bridal style to the top. Though Louis was staggering 6’3 and a certified meat castle, his gentleness made it easy to forget his awesome strength.
Mitch went ahead and opened Avi’s bedroom door for Louis, then hurried downstairs to get a cup -selecting a mug due to the handle- and filled it with water. When he returned upstairs, Louis was failing at getting Avi tucked in. “You should probably stay with him for a bit. He had a lot,” Louis emphasized.
“That’s the plan,” Mitch sighed and set the mug down on the nightstand. “Thanks for getting him home safe.”
“IS AVI OK?” Jodie’s voice boomed from the room next door.
“I’m really…very drunk!” Avi answered, while Mitch ducked out to let Jodie know he would be keeping an eye on him.
“How drunk is he for real?” She grinned like the fiend that she was.
Mitch deadpanned, “You heard the man, ‘really very’.”
“Christ, I don’t need my head trainer dying,” she groaned. Mitch didn’t bother to respond and left her room to return to Avi’s. After he gave Louis a hug goodnight, it was just him and an inebriated Avi, who was tangled in his own duvet.