Lions & Lovers

All right, Tony didn't know where else to go. There was always..Michelle..wasn't there?

So..maybe they weren't exactly like that other Tony and Michelle that everyone else compared them too. As it was, didn't they go there separate ways when they started college?

This Tony and Michelle had been done, for some time now. She would not speak to him, look at him or even breathe the word Tony. So what was he expecting when he went to Sam and Michelle's?

"Are you lost?" Sam immediately was put off.

"Don't..don't shut me out! Please!" Tony promised he wouldn't stay long and he wouldn't even speak to Michelle alone. "I just need to..talk with her."

"She's asleep." Sam informed him. "What do you want from Michelle?"

"I dunno." And he didn't.

Evidently, Sam found something sad in Tony's look. He let him in and made tea.

"You know, Michelle's working now." Sam informed him as Tony took a seat at the dining table in the kitchen. It was peaceful there, just with the light over the stove on. They could barely see each other in the shadows, and Tony really wasn't looking to be studied at the moment.

"Cool." Tony nodded feeling practically numb from all the walking. Sam got out some cheese and crackers.

"She doesn't need you anymore." Sam told him.

"I know. I do. Its just-"

"What? You still need her?" Sam got the tea ready.

"I dunno." He watched Sam make the tea. "Its just- Its like I woke up and..I'm wonder..where did everybody go, you know." Tony bit his bottom lip.

"Yeah, that happens." Sam shrugged, as if he'd got used to it in his own life.

"I guess..the thing is..I-I know Michelle thinks I-I had that thing with Tea." Tony scratched the back of his head, as if he could scratch Tea away like a dried up scab now. "But-but..the truth is.." Tony let out sigh.

"What is the truth?" Sam's stare made Tony a little uneasy, yet he felt he had to be honest with someone. "I-I was in love with someone else."

"Michelle?"

Tony shook his head as he looked at his hot tea, still steaming.

"It was Stan." Tony's voice cracked. He knew it was true when Michelle got with Stan, but it still held on to him, even now. What would Stan think, if he knew?