To Be Or Not To Be Ft. Deacon Kay & SWAT

While I'm in the car on my way home, I get a notification on my phone, saying I got added to a group chat. I let my CarPlay tell me what messages I got; a couple from "SWAT-20" and I got a couple from Mike, asking me what time I'll be home. I let Siri know to text Mike that I'm on my way home and look at the rest later. 

Once I'm home, Mike isn't there, so I decided to make myself useful, grabbed some boxes that are supposed to go to the bedroom, walked upstairs and start unboxing them. Our bed and the rest of the furniture came in today, so it's time to decorate everything. I started setting up the TV and decide to hang up some pictures on the wall around it, to make it more cozy. After that, I put the nightstands in the right position and put some books on top on my side and an alarm at Mike's side. After I'm done doing that, I fall back onto the bed and read the texts that I got from the group chat.

14:45 Jim: Do you guys wanna meet at Bloom's tonight?

14:47 Tan: Good idea, say about 8?

14:47 Hondo: Meet you there

14:47 Chris: Fine with me, later!

16:23 Me: Sounds good, I'll see you guys there!

Right after i texted, Deacon also informed us that he's coming. 

I throw my phone on the bed, let out a sigh, close my eyes and start to drift off immediately without even realising. 

When I open my eyes, it's dark outside. I jump, out of shock, immediately out of bed and quickly look at my phone to see what time it is; 7:45. Shit. Completely mad at myself, I walk over to a mirror and quickly start fixing my hair and makeup. 7:50. Fuck, I don't even know where it is. I look at my phone and type in the address. 10 minutes. I can do that.

"Mike!" I scream while running downstairs. I hear nothing. "Mike?" I walk through the hall to take a look into the living room, but I don't see Mike anywhere. Confused I look at our calendar to see if I have forgotten the fact that he wouldn't be home, but there's nothing there, so I decide to call him. He picks up the phone after a couple seconds. "What's up?". I'm confused by the way he answers his phone, but I try to ignore it. "Hey, where are you?" I ask him. "Oh, I'm at a friends house. Didn't I tell you I was gone for today?" I try hard to think about if he did, but I can't remember. I try to not make a deal out of this and tell him to have fun. "I love you, see you tonight." I say and he hangs up without responding. That was the strangest phone call I have ever had with Mike, but still, I try to shake it off 

On my way over to the restaurant I can't stop thinking about our conversation. It just felt like something wasn't right. Usually I don't feel the need to look at Mike's location, but now that this situation just doesn't sit right with me, I decided to take a look. I park my car in the parking lot in front of Bloom's when I arrive, and look at my phone. There's nothing weird about his location, since I'm not familiar with the area and the people he hangs out with, but I decide to memorise this location, just in case. 

I look on my phone as soon as I enter the restaurant. 8:06. Well, that was quite impressive, I think to myself. When I walk into the restaurant, I look around for the team and see them sitting in the centre of the restaurant. The only one missing was Luca, but he also didn't respond to the group chat, so maybe he's busy. I greet everybody and take a seat at the only empty chair that's left. And across the table, sitting right in front of me, is Deacon. Well, lucky me, I think to myself in a sarcastic way. "Hi" He said and gave me a soft smile. Ok, maybe he was just in a bad mood, I convince myself, and I decided to give him a smile back. Let's just see how tonight's gonna go.

Deacon is I'd say around mid 40, but not bad looking at all. He looks really fit, is really muscled (but so is every other guy at this table). He has some grey hair, but it fits him well. In a way it's kind of.... sexy? I turn to Chris quickly, who sits next to me, to take my mind off of what I just thought and asked her about her day. "It was fine, we've had a long week, so getting a drink together is really good for us, to just blow off some steam." She tells me about the cases they had last week and I listen intrigued. When the waiter asked us what we wanted to drink, everyone decided to go for alcohol, so I decided I'd go with my favourite drink, the Pina Colada. "Is that your favourite?" Deacon asked me after I ordered. "Yea that's usually my go-to when I go out." "Do you go out often?" He asks me. "Just sometimes with my friends, but I definitely wouldn't call it often." He nods his head in understanding. "So you're more the type of girl that likes to stay at home and relax?" "My friends and I never have been the going out types. We usually stay in, order snacks and watch our favourite movies." I realised that I could just be the fun killer of this team. "Kind of boring actually now that I'm thinking about it." I laugh at myself. "No, I don't think so." Deacon looks at me, still with the soft smile. I almost started blushing, but I looked away fast. What the hell was happening? 

About an hour later I decided to text Mike, to ask him if he was having fun at his friends' house. No response. Great. "Are you okay?" Chris asks me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I say as convincing as I can, and she seemed to believe me. "So Lily, how are you liking LA?" Hondo asks. "I like it here. It's very different than where I'm from. I can get used to this city." "Good, good. If you need any recommendations, feel free to text me. I know all the good spots." I thank him and take a sip from my, second, Pina Colada. "Yea and if you like surfing, you might have a special place in Luca's heart." Tan says jokingly. "Really, does he go often?" I ask them. "Often is an understatement. Street says, who sits on the right sight of Deacon. "Before work, after work." He and the whole team started laughing.  

When it's almost 12, everyone decided it would be best to go home. We walk outside with each other and we all say goodbye. The last one remaining are me and Deacon. "Are you going to be able to drive safe with all the Pina Coladas in your system?" I laugh at him. "Yes, I think I'll be just fine." Just after I finished my sentence, I drop my purse on the ground and Deacon stares at me before he bursts into laughter. "Alright, alright. I'll take you home, you can't drive like that." I tell him that I'm just very clumsy and that it's not the alcohol. Too bad for me, he insists on driving me home. "I'd just feel better knowing you came home alright after having three cocktails." I gave him an eye-roll and threw him my car keys. "But, how will you go home then?" I ask him. "That'll be alright." He tells me with full confidence. I laugh and I step into the car. I don't have the energy to ask more, so I let it be. Once I'm home, we both get out of the car and I grab my bag from the backseat. "Thank you, again. If there's anything I can do in return, let me know, okay?" I let him know and he nods his head. "Goodnight Lily." I smile at him. "Goodnight Deacon."

I grab my keys and unlock the front door. "Mike?" Still no answer. I look at the location again, and see that he's still at his friends' house. I tried calling him again, to see if he's also sleeping there. He picks up after a few moments again, but says nothing. "Hey, I tried texting you, but you didn't reply, are you okay?" I ask him, slightly worried. "Yes I'm fine. I told you, I'm with friends Lily." He says somewhat pissed, while whispering. "Why are you whispering?" I ask him. "Just because, I don't eh... I don't want to wake anyone up, some of them already went to bed." He says. "Oh ok. Who are you with?" I ask him remembering I haven't even asked that yet. "Oh just some friends that you don't know yet." I hear some girl screaming out of laughter on the background and Mike interrupts it by quickly saying. "Ok well I'm staying here for the night if you don't mind. I'll be home in the morning ok?" Flabbergasted I tell him ok and hang up the phone. What the hell is happening?

I stand there in the hallway, with my coat and my shoes still on, not knowing what to do. Am I overreacting. Is this all normal? I didn't know he had friends here in LA. Well, he never told me about them at least. I try to tell myself to calm down and not think anything of it. Instead I should be happy that he has friends here to hang out with. He can start fresh, just like I am with my new job. I take off my shoes and my coat and walk to the kitchen. I decide to text Mike to tell him to have fun at his friends' house, drink a glass of water and then take off to bed.

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Mmmm there seems to be some trouble in paradise and Lily finally met Deacon 👀