Part 18

When Michael got back Isak was passed out on the couch. Mikalea was sitting at the kitchen island with Noah. “Hey, M. I have milk. You ok?”

“Yeah. Thanks. Sorry.”

Noah decided to make some toast for when Isak woke again. “Hey, I am sorry about…yelling at Isak.”

“It’s ok. I explained some of it, he understands.” Noah smiled softly.

“Ok…” Mikalea took her smoothie and went upstairs to get ready for the day.

Michael sat down at the island and asked, “Is Isak ok?”

Noah turned around to face him, while eating some toast of his own. “Yeah, he’s alright. I convinced him to take a nap since this was not something you want to wake up to.”

“Did he get to tell you about last night?” Michael smiled.

Noah cocked his head to the side, “No? Why?”, when he was interrupted by Isak waking up again. Isak sat up on the armchair of the couch.

“Morning, Isak.” Michael called.

“Morning, Michael. How was…uh…the coffee grab?”

Isak mumbled. Michael chuckled and replied,

“It was good. Nick called me ‘babe’ today, hehe.”

Isak grinned and then frowned again, “Now I need some coffee.”

Noah grabbed the prepared coffee and handed it to Isak. “Goodmorning again, babe. You feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you.” Isak kissed him. Michael left the room to leave them alone and went to chat with Mikalea. Noah sat down with Isak and snuggled under his arm. “So, what happened last night? Michael mentioned something.” Isak looked at Noah and grinned.

“Remember how I wanted to connect with your friends a bit more? Well, when Michael came home last night, I asked him how it went, and we talked. He kept bringing up how sweet it all was, and we had a great conversation. So, we connected pretty well and hopefully I may get to know him more.”

Noah pursed out his lips in a small smile,

“I’m glad. I know you’ve been trying to get to know my friends more.”

Isak kissed his head “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, but I prefer to sleep when you’re with me,” Noah poked his ribs and Isak chuckled.

“Well, I’ll give you cuddles all day when you can’t sleep beside me.”

An hour or so later they all set out for lunch together. Mikalea had bags under her eyes, which meant she was up all night in a conversation. They weren’t the types of bags that are worth staying up for…these ones were a “I need to sleep but I don’t want to lose _____”. Noah knit his eyebrows. He understands because he struggled with the same issue back when he was in college. “Hey M, can you and I talk for a minute?” Noah asked, after they ordered their food. She nodded and Noah excused them and went to talk to her off to the side. “How are you?” She looked down at first but quickly looked up again, “I’m fine.”

“What happened last night?”

“I just didn’t sleep. That’s all,” Mikalea sighed.

“Mikalea, I know you. Those eye bags weren’t worth it. Someone kept you up all night and you really were struggling. What’s wrong?”

Mikalea looked down and when she looked up again, tears were in her eyes.

“My friend- well…ex-friend was not being the best, and I didn’t want to lose her. So, I stayed up all night trying to fix a friendship I knew was toxic. No. The eye bags were not worth it. I’m tired. And I-...I’m just done with losing people.” Tears started to fall down her cheeks as Noah pulled her into a hug.

“It’s ok. I’m here, Michael is, and even Isak. We will never leave you.”

Isak looked over and saw Noah and Mikalea hugging, so when they sat down he didn’t bring up the subject. “None of you don’t eat meat, correct?” Isak asked.

“Yeah.” Each person responded.

Isak grinned, “Great because we will have a barbecue tonight with a few employers of mine. We can do Steak, cheeseburgers, barbecue chicken.”

”Ooh! Can we do hot dogs?” Michael asked.

”Yep! Bring Nick too.”

That made Michael grin wider than planned. Mikaela groaned, “Then I’ll be third wheeling.”

“Not necessarily. You can make burgers and all with me and Noah. I will have to talk to my colleagues at some point though.”

“Ok!”