Mikey Ross || Christmas Break-up

“You want to what?”

It’s almost as if a record was scratched — that is how violently Mikey Ross’ world came to a halt. Standing before him — dressed in a wholly inappropriate outfit for the sub-zero temperatures of middle-of-nowhere Ohio, stood his girlfriend of four months — Tiffani, or Tiffyxo, her artist name. The brunette popstar pouts — an annoyed look on her features as she looks up at the guitarist.

“I said I want to break up with you!” she huffs — frustrated that he was making her repeat herself. “When you said I should come with you for the holidays, I thought you were going to take me to Tulum or Paris! Not Ohio, ugh,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes.

Mickey Ross stood stunned in the airport baggage claim, staring in disbelief. To think that only hours ago, he was vibrating with excitement that he was bringing a girlfriend home for Christmas. He’d even told his mom and sister about her — something Mikey never did, and now — she was breaking up with him?

Sure, she’d seemed upset when he picked her up — and despite the private lounge and first-class tickets, she’d spent the entire flight buried in her phone, but that wasn’t out of the norm — he figured she was just nervous! He never expected she’d break up with him — especially not at the airport.

The brunette looks up at him, rolling her eyes at his surprise. It’s clear she’s over this and him. She thought this would be a hot and steamy relationship with a badass, sexy rockstar, but it was so — not that. Mikey Ross seemed more interested in doodling in his sketchbooks and perfecting his skateboard moves than in the badass and arrogant persona he put on for his fans.

He was less of a rock star and more of a clown. So not cool!

“Yeah — it’s just not working for me.”

She tells him bluntly, typing on her phone as she books herself a new flight. Mikey just stares, shocked. It was like all his worst nightmares come to life — he’d shunned relationships, thinking no one could understand him — but Tiffani did; or, at least, he thought she did. But clearly, he was too dumb to see the truth. Why did she ever think of exotic locations when he mentioned her meeting his parents?

He’s not anything fancy. Despite his rockstar status — he’s still just a boy from the cornfields of Ohio who felt more at home in a corn maze than he ever did on the streets of L.A. God, he’s such a stupid idiot. “Why did you think of Tulum when I said meet my parents?” He asks, building those thick walls back up around his heart, every fiber of him desperate to stop the hurt radiating from his heart.

Tiffani only sighs dramatically at his words. “Because that’s what real rock stars do, Mikey! They trash hotel rooms and shower their girls with lavish gifts! They don’t drag them to Ohio and get excited over labubus. This just — so isn’t working.”

Mikey just stares at the girl in disbelief — he’d called Kellin jealous for not liking her, and Ben uptight for not giving her a chance, but it turns out, in the end, they were both right all along, and he’d just been too blind to see it. A bitter laugh escapes his lips. Gone was the excited glint in his green eyes — replaced by a calculated shield of indifference.

His posture changes — Mikey slamming every wall he’d ever lowered back up in an instant at the face of rejection. “Whatever,” he replies, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “It figures you’d be this shallow.” Tiffani gasps at his words, slapping Mikey across the face.

“Fuck you, Mikey Ross! You’re so not cool!”

She grabs her bag as it cycles around the carousel, vanishing off towards the security line. She was getting the fuck away from Mikey Ross and this abysmal state and back to the civilization of Los Angeles. Mikey lets out a cold, shaky laugh — his cheek stinging. It figures he’d pick wrong — the thing he was most afraid of had come true like some self-fulfilling prophecy.

Several people watch the scene unfold, a couple snapping pictures. Mikey grimaces, knowing that his breakup — on Christmas Eve, no less — was probably making the TikTok rounds. This was a new level of humiliation, worse than the time he and Vic went streaking through a plaza in Italy, only to find out they had locked themselves out of the bus.

How was he ever going to live this down?

How was he going to tell his mom the girl he planned to bring home had broken up with him?

Mikey grabs his bags off the carousel, needing to get away from the crowds. He still had a two-hour drive ahead of him once he picked up his rental car after all. The cold Ohio air hits him as he steps out of the airport — stinging his cheeks. He pulls off to the side, leaning against the large stone pillar. His head rests against the concrete, Mikey closing his eyes as tears prick at the corners.

And with one exasperated groan of pain, Mikey loudly exclaims—

"Fuck!"