Where ☹ Muke

XXIV ; cut to the chase.

« hemmings »

Ashton looked at Michael with surprise, his hazel eyes were wide with rage and before I knew it the sound of skin on skin echoed through the room followed by a deadly silence.

"Don't you ever, I mean ever say that again."

"S-sorry," Michael squeaked before looking down at his worn down converse.

"Now Luke let me explain this before you get all pissy."

I nodded and he sighed.

"Okay so what I told you originally was true, in fact when I got to Michaels house I was actually crying which is awkward to admit because I try not to cry. When I got there his father answered the door telling me Michael wasn't home, when obviously he was because he never went anywhere and the fact that his dad was jittery."

"So I told him goodbye but snuck around the back of the house and managed to climb through a window. Let me tell you my as is way too big for those windows. Anyway when I got in the house I landed in the main bathroom, which was two rooms away from Michaels."

"But I noticed how bad it smelled in there, not like ew filthy pigs, more like who's burning something? Then I realized why his dad was so jittery because he was trying to pack so he could run."

"So I ran to Michaels room having to unlatch about six locks on the door to get in, but when I got in I couldn't see Michael. Like it was a complete wreck in there but he was nowhere to be found until I noticed the door connected to it."

"it was a bathroom, and he was in there. He was in the floor i-in a pool of b-lood, and he wasn't responsive. Luke I thought he was dead when I found him, I was terrified. That was the first time I found him like that."

"I pulled him out and took him to Calums house and we tried to clean him up, a-and he woke up later that night screaming at me. He was so upset that I saved him that he hit me, but he ended up sobbing on the floor because he was just so weak."

"He told me he was in that room for two weeks living off of the occasional leftovers his parents would slip in. Over fourteen days crammed in that bedroom, all he could do was think, and Luke h-his thoughts are so bad."

"I kept him by my side nonstop, but one day he got away and made it to the bathroom a-and he tried again. I was terrified Luke, he just wouldn't give up."

"Then he finally told me everything; from the times he's been abused, when he's been sexually assaulted, when a boy broke his heart; the times he's starved himself to be beautiful, what the voices in his head have told him. And my heart shattered, I mean full on you could've heard it break because how upset I was. And the thing is the boy he loved hated him, or maybe he had a twisted way of showing love."

"Now he seemed to be getting better so I allowed him to venture off, and he went to the bridge. But just like this time he called me, he was crying about how cruel the world was, how the love of his life was an asshole, and how he loved me too much to do what he was doing."

"He didn't love me like this boy but he sure did have appreciation for me, but I ran. And I caught him just in time before he lifted his foot I wrapped my arms around his waist and he yelled. He was going insane Luke, it was terrifying but you know what."

"He thanked me afterwards, for giving so much to save him even when he didn't feel worthy. Now we decided that it was time for him to see you again, to prove him he was affecting other people. But he got scared the second we mentioned you."

"So he ran from me, and that's how we ended up at the bridge again. And I'm hoping with the effort I give and the boy he loves that maybe -- just maybe he'll stay strong and not try to do anything again. Luke I can't lose him."

We were all crying by now, except I felt a flaming pit in my stomach as I realized Michael loved a boy and it couldn't have been me. I've been nothing but an asshole to him, there's no way he could feel anything towards me -- nothing like love.

"W-who does Michael love exactly?" I sniffed rubbing my eyes to wisp away the last of my tears.

The boys looked at one another with an unreadable expression, I couldn't understand what it was meaning but it seemed like they were having a mental conversation. And they were leaving me out, of course I was left out of conversations like this, it's something I've always expected.

"Well he, um, well, uh." Calum began but scratched the back of his neck and loomed away.

"Fuck it," Michael whispered before standing up and walking towards me, "do you really want to know?"

I nodded rapidly not wanting to waste a second on my answers -- it felt vital for me to know, as if I were running out of air without knowing.

"It's you." And before I knew anything he'd pressed his lips gently to mine and begun to work them together in perfect sync.