The last thing Luke tells Michael before dropping him off at home is a sincere "good luck."
As Michael reviews the damaged car again, he knows he'll need it. Doom appears to be imminent.
A deep breath is taken in, a last minute preparation before his death. He knocks, his own key unable to be found, and he's not sure what's louder- his pounding heart or his knuckles rapping against the front door. All too soon, the front door swings open. Michael comes face to face with his sneering stepmother.
"Finally," she snaps.
Michael feels his throat tightening up out of fear. But no matter what happens, he wouldn't take back a second of the vandalism. Regret is one thing he doesn't feel.
His stepmother backs away in order for Michael to enter, which he does reluctantly.
Ashton comes rushing into the room to meet him, a glare plastered on his face. "Why the fuck?" He yells.
"Uh.." Michael starts.
"I know it was you!"
Michael sighs loudly, evaluating his options. He decides to go for sassy and says, "you can't prove that."
The other two roll their eyes and harden their glares.
"We'll talk later," his stepmother says, dismissing herself from the room. Ashton stays right where he is, though.
"So I'm thinking we need to talk," Michael says quietly. Ashton nods in response.
They agree on holding this conversation in the confinement of Michael's room. Sitting as far as possible from each other while still resting upon Michael's bed, the two are at a loss for words. Right and wrong are becoming two blurred concepts and apologies are loosing significance. Neither are sure where they stand.
When Michael finally finds his voice, he utters, "sorry about your car."
"No you're not."
"I know."
They lapse into another silence that's even more grating than the last.
It's Ashton who breaks this one. "I can't decide who I'm more mad at, though."
This catches Michael's attention. He throws a confused glance at his stepbrother.
"Of course I'm furious at you for my car," Ashton continues," but a part of me knows why you did it. Heck, I would have too, if I was either of you. I deserve it, I know. I just was kinda hoping that I would have made it up to you by now."
"It was mostly for Luke, okay? He had some steam to let off and that was the first thing I thought of," Michael explains.
Ashton nods thoughtfully. "How is he doing anyways?"
How is Luke doing? Michael would like to think he knows how he's doing, but in all honesty, he doesn't have a single clue what's going on in that boy's head. He can imagine that Luke must be beyond confused and hurt, what with Ashton lying to him and Michael forcing his way into his situation. He's awkwardly between the two stepbrothers, and though they shared that kiss, Michael doesn't know where he fits into his feelings. He'd like to think he's more than Luke's rebound, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
Instead of voicing his thoughts, Michael simply shrugs.
"But weren't you just with him? Did he seem okay?" Ashton asks persistently.
"Yeah I mean he seemed fine while I was there, but that doesn't exactly mean anything."
Ashton rolls his eyes dramatically before remembering something. "How'd spending the night over there go?"
"Fine."
"Just fine? Did anything- you know- happen?" Ashton inches towards him in suspense. He looks like a child getting ready for tonight's bed time story.
"Not really.." After Ashton pointedly raises his eyebrows at him, he sighs, "it was only a kiss."
Ashton claps his hands together, quickly transforming from a toddler to a teenage girl. "Really?" He practically squeals.
Michael chuckles abashedly, "Yeah."
"That's great!"
Now this catches Michael off guard. Ashton's enthusiasm isn't exactly what he had been expecting. Sure, he thought Ashton would be at least somewhat happy for him, but not to this extent. After all, just the other day, Ashton was expressing to him how much he liked Luke.
"That doesn't bother you at all?" Michael asks.
"Nope," Ashton replies, still overly joyous.
Michael regards him skeptically. "But.."
"I'm getting over it, okay."
Just then, Ashton is drawn to his phone, skimming over what looks like a text message. His face lights up the second it appears and Michael cranes his neck to see who could get such an expression out of him. Unfortunately, Ashton quickly tucks his phone away, leaving the identity a mystery to Michael.
"I um.. I have to go. I'm meeting up with a friend. Sorry," Ashton rushes to say.
"But what about your car?" Michael asks.
"Let's just leave it at I deserved it."
Ashton throws him a winning smile before darting out the room, not even trying to mask his hurry.
"Okay bye!" Michael yells towards the already empty hallway.
That leaves Michael alone yet again to dwindle in his thoughts. They're all over the place and it takes him a long time to settle on just one.
He first decides to mentally tackle the issue of the egging. Ashton claims it's okay now, but a small part of Michael is whispering to sleep with one eye open. His stepmother, on the other hand, probably won't be so easily forgiving. That's a terror he'll push off to another day.
Then there's obviously Luke. Luke might be completely torn up inside over this and he has to find a way to fix this. He can't stand the thought of just being Luke's rebound, but if that's what it takes to make him happy, he'll be whatever he wants him to be. All he can do is pray with all his heart that Luke felt at least a spark last night.
The stress that he's tried to bury away also begins to come creeping back. The need to finish school, find a job, and get the hell out of here are dire ones.
Michael shakes his head to try and clear it. There's just too much happening all at once.
He sends a short text to Calum, asking him for a trip to their usual ice cream spot since after all, ice cream fixes everything.
What he's not expecting is the denial that he gets a few minutes later.
Calum's responding text reads:
"Sorry I can't I'm with a friend"
Things click into place and soon Michael finds himself sprawling across the floor in laughter. He laughs and laughs and laughs until the air comes wheezing from his lungs. It's so perfectly ridiculous.
There's only one reason Calum would avoid the name of his "friend."
He knows exactly who Calum's with.
A/N: hi I've missed you guys a lot. shitty update again, but I thought you guys would be okay since I threw that last bit in there.
To be honest, this story isn't going to go on much longer. It'll end up being a pretty short fic, but I've continued it for way longer than I thought I would already. I want it to end with a Cinderella-ish elusive quality, you know? Okay sorry I'm rambling again.
Oh and if you caught the The Killers reference up there I love you.
