Balancing Acts (sequel to You're My Little Secret), chapter 8

She felt his lips on her bare hip moments before she felt the mattress give under his weight. His skin was warm from the humidity outside, his cheek stubbled as he crawled closer and curled himself around her sleeping form.

"I'm home," He whispered in the shell of her ear, earning a pleasant mumble. She turned over on her back, cuddling in to his chest as he rested his hand on her bare thigh, it being accessible as she had just steepled the knee closest to him. "Did you miss me?" He pressed, lips at her temple now.

"Mmmhmm," came her muffled response.
"How much?" He kept on, calloused fingers trailing up her soft thigh as her eyes finally opened.

She didn't respond, instead she turned on her side and leaned closer, sealing their lips in a soft kiss. Her hand made its way across his shoulder and into his hair, fingertips digging slightly into his scalp as she pulled him closer. He felt her breath hitch against his parted lips when his fingers walked a little higher up her leg.

"Michael... " Lauren whispered through the darkness of her bedroom, words laced with desperation and want, words he had been waiting to hear. He had had a craving to hear her say his name ever since they boarded the plane to come home all those hours ago. He had been picturing her just like this, beautiful and delicate as she slept peacefully through the night.

With his strong arms wrapped carefully around her body, Mike rolls Lauren on to her back, reveling in the feel of her small hands gripping his upper arms. With her hair fawned across the pillow Mike pushes her a little farther up the silky sheets, readjusting her body under his.

Lauren was still a little sleepy, but that veil over her eyes was quickly parting as she felt her heart start to beat faster. She had been dreaming of him moments ago and now he was here, heavy-lidded with lust and moments away from making up to her the time he had been gone.

"I love when you come home to me... " She whispers, fingers moving to pull his black wife beater off, leaving him in nothing but a pair of jeans that seemed to have been made specifically for his lean body.

Mike brushed his lips against Lauren's, eyes closing, body already reacting to the feel of her lips, to the feel of her own body pressed against his. As they continued to kiss she shifted, wrapping her bare legs up around his waist. He half sighed, half moaned. "It's a good thing you go into work late tomorrow."


When Tre came barreling through Ava's door three days later she was all smiles as she leaned against her kitchen counter. "Hi baby," She murmurs, leaning up to kiss him as he set his stuff down. "How was Mona?"
"Good," He simply replies, reaching behind him to grab at the collar of his t-shirt.

Ava's eyebrow lifts playfully as he yanks off his black t-shirt, casually throwing it somewhere behind him. "Just like that, huh? We're just going to throw down right here?" She jokes, knowing full well he intended to shower before engaging in conversation or anything else.
"My flight was early this morning, I'm going to go shower to wake up," He replies, pressing a kiss to the side of her exposed neck before turning to head for the other side of the apartment.

Tre was halfway there, fixated on the thought of warm water pelting his tired body, when something struck him. Turning carefully on his heel he turned back to look at Ava, a very smug looking Ava. Yeah, something was definitely different about her.

"What?" She asks innocently. "Forget something?"
"No... you did something."
If possible, she smiled wider. "What do you mean?"

Tre stalks closer, like a predator gaining on his prey. His eyebrows were furrowed, his tongue at the corner of his mouth. Ava giggled as he backed her against the sink, palms pressed down on either side of her torso. He looked as though he was in deep thought, but was clearly struggling with it. Face two inches from her own he continued to exam his girlfriend.

"You look different somehow," He finally says, squinting at her.
"I do? How so?" She asks, casually reaching up to fluff her dramatically altered hair. She almost rolled her eyes when that still didn't tip him off.

Tre was still staring, eyes roaming over the roots of her hair all the way to her chest where his eyes lingered longer than necessary. "Eyes up," She playfully insists. "I didn't alter my cleavage."
"A man can appreciate what his woman's got, can't he?" He counters, smirking. "Especially when he hasn't seen it in a while."

Shoving him away, Ava goes back to rifling through the catalogue she had been perusing when he came in. "If you don't notice anything different than you don't deserve to be looking at what I got."
Tre openly pouts, pressing his face into the crook of her neck. "But I'm cute... and jetlagged. Give me some credit for noticing a difference, even if I can't exactly pinpoint it."

Ava turns in place, slapping his ass. "Just go take your shower."
He pouts even more at her dismissal. "I'm going to think of it, really!"
"Yeah, yeah," She grumbles in fake irritation. "Just go shower, you stink."

Tre quickly raises his arm to smell his armpit. He pulls a slight face, dropping his arm back to his side. "Not the freshest smelling daisy in the field, but I've smelled a lot worst."
"You're gross," Ava replies, watching him sniff under his other arm. "And the sad thing is that I think you're actually fascinated by your own stench."
"Body odor is interesting," He states plainly. "You learn that when you're on a tour bus full of guys for four months. This one time Mike smelled so bad we—"
"Tre!"

He laughs at her appalled expression. "But really, it's not bad. Come take a smell."
Ava arches an eyebrow as he lifts his right arm and points. "I'm not sticking my face in your armpit, I'm sorry. I have this whole thing about standards and things that aren't gross—"

She screeches loudly when he lunges for her suddenly, trying to grab her around the neck and into a headlock. "Stop it!" She yells, slapping his hands away when she had managed to evade him. "Not only are you unobservant and useless, but you are also minimizing the nice smelling air in my apartment! Go shower already!"

Tre open mouth laughs as Ava puts even more distance between them. "Come here for crying out loud! I would smell your armpit if you asked!"
"You would never have to worry about fulfilling THAT request!" She counters sarcastically, still looking slightly appalled as he puts his hands on his hips.
"Well, you could at least shower with me then. Imagine the level of cleanliness my armpits and I could reach with your, uh, tutelage. "

He grins as Ava's eyebrow quirks. "How about this," She offers. "You go get in, scrub down and then I'll think about joining you for the rinse and repeat portion of your shower experience."
This time Tre's eyebrow raises. "Yeah? You wanna show me how us dirty boys get clean?"

Rolling her eyes Ava stomps forward and forcefully shoves him towards the bathroom. He catches his balancing, grabbing her wrists and smiling down at her. "Stop quoting songs and get your ass into the bathroom," She demands, slapping his jean-clad ass as he yelps and practically takes off at a gallop towards the bathroom.

Ava followed behind, grinning at the fact that he still hadn't noticed her hair, or bothered to ask her about her week without him. Watching him tug off his jeans emptied her mind though. There would be time to talk later. And now, now there would be slippery lips and warm skin to touch.



"Do you have girl friends?" It was later, the two having gone through the rest of the motions of their day, both ending up at Tre's for the night.
"Several," came Tre's dry response after a moment.
Ava rolls her eyes. "Don't be a smartass."
"Well, don't ask me stupid questions."

Rolling on to her side she watches his eyes run across the television screen, apparently intent on whatever sports show he was tuned into. "Okay, let me reword what I'm trying to ask you. Do you have friends who are girls that I don't know about for one reason or another?"
"Again, I'm going to go with several."

With a hurried motion the remote control is grabbed from Tre's hands and practically thrown across the room. Without the light from the television the room is bathed in darkness, Tre's sigh echoing around the room.
"So hasty."

Ava switches on the lamp closest to her and turns to Tre who was still propped up against the headboard. "I had coffee with Ian last week, that's why I'm asking."
Tre looks unscathed by the news, a good sign. "Is this the Ian you dated last summer?"
"The same. Does that bother you?"

Sliding down to lie flat on his back, Tre makes a snorting noise. "Not at all, I love the idea of you cavorting around town with your ex-boyfriends. I mean, he's not the reason at all that I forbid anyone to play Dashboard Confessional in my house, car—"
Ava pushes at his arm. "Don't be sarcastic, I really do want to know. I don't want you to think I'm going behind your back or something."

Tre rubs his chest through his t-shirt, grinning a little. "Ava I don't care if you have a cup of coffee with the inexperienced and rather unimpressive child." She stares at him in amusement as he continues. "We just talked about trusting each other last week when we were at the carnival, remember?" He waves his hand for emphasis. "Apply what I said there to this conversation."

She watches the lines in his forehead crease briefly before disappearing. "You're sure you don't mind?"
"Positive."
Ava grins snuggling a little closer to his tense body. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're exercising control over your jealousy."
"I'm not jealous," He childishly insists. "Besides, I'm the one who got the girl. The girl with the sexy new hair, even."

Ava giggles at his pleased expression, everything seeming to fall into place suddenly as he stared at the new layers that started at her lips and flared out until they touched her shoulders. Ava clapped her hands. "Yay baby, you got it!"
"How many inches did you get cut off?" He asks dutifully, still smiling arrogantly as he ran his hands through her shorter locks.
"Six."

Tre's eyes bulge a little. "Jesus, how many did you have to start with?"
"My hair almost went to my ass, Tre. She had a lot to work with."
"I like it though," He murmurs quietly. "It frames your face."
"Yeah?" She replies, bracing a hand against his chest as he moves even closer.
"Makes your eyes look bigger too."

Ava fights a smile. "You were gay in another life, weren't you?"
"What are you talking about?" He asks as though offended. "I'm gay in this life too."

She giggles as he finally settles on top of her. Wrapping her arms up around his neck, she sobers a little. "There's only ever going to be you, you know that right?" She asks suddenly, her words tapering off at the end.
Tre nods, looking just as serious as the words she just spoke. "That's why I don't worry about the Ians of the world," He says, leaning down to brush his lips against the corner of her mouth. "Because I know at the end of the day you're always coming home to me."

Ava nods, confirming his words. "Love you."
"Love you too," He whispers back, slowly reaching over to distinguish the only light that kept them from being bathed in darkness, and from getting lost in themselves as they tumbled through the night.


"I'm fine with it Mike, really."

It was two days later, Mike and Ava opting to grab lunch at a cafeteria-style restaurant rather than a more formal restaurant. Taking their trays they plopped down near a window, the bright California sun filtering through to warm their forearms and cheeks.

"You don't have to lie to me," Mike mumbles, popping the tab on his can of Mountain Dew. "You have a right to be pissed."
"At you, or in general?" Ava jokes, taking a sip of her water before grinning to let him know she was kidding.
"Both I guess," Mike admits sheepishly.

Ava shrugs. "I'll tell you what I told Tre... " She trails off as Mike stares at her curiously. "Had it been Adrienne who cheated, not that it ever would be, I wouldn't have told you or Tre about it out of loyalty to her."
"How rational of you," Mike mumbles, grinning a little. "But you're still kind of pissed about it, I can tell."

Holding up her thumb and pointer finger, Ava holds them an inch or two apart. "Just a smidge, yeah."
"He made a mistake Ava, you have to—"
"I don't have to do anything," Ava cuts him off quickly. "I told Adrienne we would drop it and focus on us, but I'm done with him, Mike." Mike goes to say something but is quickly cut off again. "Now, I'm not saying I won't be civil or I won't speak to him when necessary, but he's lost my respect and as far as I'm concerned he's damn lucky to have her, and for all intents and purposes, he's dead to me."

Mike tries to hold back a smile. "Try not to pretend to be happy about this, okay?"
Ava shrugs. "I'm not happy about it, but I'm not exactly surprised by it either. How's that?"

The pair falls quiet for a moment, Mike opting to talk about something else before his lunch companion focuses on their current subject too much and gets pissed off. "Subject change?" Mike offers, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite.
"I would love you forever."

Grinning, Mike takes a drink and clears his throat. "You like Lauren, right?"
"Adore her. Why?" Ava asks, taking a bit of her own lunch and eyeing him carefully. "Something wrong?"
"Not at all actually, quite the opposite."

Ava looks intrigued. "Yeah? Well, that's good news."
Mike shrugs. "Things have been going really well for us... but you know, they always seem to go well in the beginning and then fall apart further down the road."
"Don't think like that!" Ava loudly insists, waving a finger at him. "Think positive. You and Lauren are really good together. You fit. Damn it, make it work man!"

Mike laughs at her insistence, glancing around the room at a few curious diners. "She is great, huh?"
"Like I said, I adore her," Ava mumbles against the neck of her water bottle.
"But you've liked all my girlfriends Ava," Mike jokes. "Maybe I should be leery of your character assessment as none of the current ones have stuck around."

Ava sets her drink down, pointing a finger at him again. "Not true! I didn't like that one bitch you dated back in 97."
"I like how you continue to refer to my ex-wife as not only a bitch, but just as someone I dated."
"She was a bitch though, agreed?"
Mike snorts. "I have no comment about that. She gave me Estella, that's all that matters to me."
"Ahh speaking of the beautiful Stella, how is she?"

Ava grins as Mike got that look on his face that only a proud father would wear. She saw it on Tre's face any time she mentioned either Frankito or Ramona, and it never failed to warm her heart. "She's great," Mike finally answers. "She's made a lot of friends at school this past year and she actually loves to go every day. So much so that she was sort of bummed when summer vacation rolled around... she couldn't be happier." Mike follows his statements up with another proud grin he can't seem to hold back.

"Stella is a doll. I'm convinced that she is going to be such a heart breaker when she grows up and starts to date." Ava smiles as Mike pales a little.
"She's never dating, I don't know what you're talking about."

Giggling, Ava looks up as a young girl approaches with a camera. She smiles as Mike turns to look over his shoulder, sensing a new presence. He smiles as well, speaking briefly with the shy young girl before asking Ava to take a few pictures and then borrowing a pen to sign a fresh napkin sitting to his right. The interaction was brief but it had made the young girl's day and it had left Mike with a smile on his face.

"You know," Ava starts with a great amount of certainty. "You're my most favorite member of Green Day."
"What?" Mike asks, jerking his head back in an amused gesture.
Ava nods. "Seriously though, you're the most approachable, you're the kindest. I love Tre with all that I am, but I without a doubt like you the best."

Mike chuckles, pressing his palm to his cheek. "You're absolutely crazy, kid, but I love you."
Ava grins at his words, stacking his trey on top of her own. "I love you too Mikey, you're my hero."
"I bet you say that to the drummer too," Mike teases, watching as she shakes her head.
"Absolutely not, he gets no such compliments from me."

Getting to his feet, Mike grins. "Well, just for that I'm taking you to a movie of your choice."
"Yeah?" Ava asks, grabbing her purse. "Can I get candy too?"
"And popcorn," Mike announces, grabbing their trash and disposing of it in the trash bin.

Ava giggles as she follows him from the restaurant to his car. "Ahh Mike, you spoil me. I'll be sure to say nice things to you more often."
"Meh, it's nothing. And besides, I figure if you're with me you're not out slicing the throat of a certain lead singer we both know."
Ava shrugs as she climbs into the passenger seat and buckles her seatbelt. "I know, I keep hoping he'll strangle himself on his microphone chord but the fucker is so careful about stuff like that."

Fighting a laugh, Mike starts the car and backs out of the parking space, turning the air conditioning up as he does. "Be nice or no candy for you."
Ava sighs. "You're right, skittles are so much more important to me than badmouthing Billie Joe." When she's done talking she points to her mouth and chortles loudly. "Oh my God, I just blatantly lied."

Mike does laugh at this, slapping his hand once against the steering wheel. "You're awful and I shouldn't encourage you at all."
"Laughter is a healthy expression Mike, and contrary to popular belief, so is anger."
"You just need some time to let this all blow over."

Shaking her head, Ava stares out at the scenery flying by her. "No, what I need is ten minutes alone with him in a room with no windows and no way out."
"Sounds kinky," Mike comments mildly.
"That would straighten his cheating ass out," Ava replies quietly, ignoring his comment completely.

Mike frowns, the atmosphere of the afternoon taking its second nosedive. "Subject change?" He offers once again, hoping it would help to improve Ava's mood like last time.
"Shoot," She mumbles, but it was halfhearted.

Frowning again, Mike decides to take a drastic approach. "I saw Jake Gyllenhaal out walking his dogs when I was visiting my sister in LA a few weekends ago... "
Ava's eyes immediately drift over to him, eyelashes batting slowly. "Promise?"

He nods, his lips sliding up into a small smile as he turns onto the highway. "Would I lie about something like this?"
"Probably, but I don't really care. Please provide a detailed description of what he was wearing, what he smelled like and whether or not you touched him in any way."

Mike snorts and readjusts the cool air blowing the car. "It's been too long since we've spent an afternoon together, you know?" He asks.
Ava waves her hand in dismissal. "Yeah, yeah, give me the Jake details."
"Okay, umm, I think he was wearing shorts, but he could have had on jeans too—"
"You're going to need to try a lot harder than this Mike, I'm feeling pretty glum here."