"You Jerk..." Michael Afton x Reader

Chapter 9. Candle Flicker

Evan perks up once he realizes she was talking to him. He squirms a bit in his chair, "I'm good." He looks away and fixes his gaze on a candle lit in the middle of the table, trying desperately to avoid conversation. Not because he didn't like Y/N, he was just timid to see her. Y/N hums with a small smile and turns her head to look at Michael. She knew she had to talk to him eventually. With a deep breath she mentally prepares herself, and finally spoke to him, "Michael, how are you?"

Michael was slouched forward in his chair, elbows propped on the table carelessly. He barely lifts his head to look at Y/N. "I'm peachy." The sarcasm was practically dripping off his tongue. Y/N chooses to ignore this and keep this conversation flowing. Often, the best thing to do is kill somebody with kindness; and that's just what she's doing. "That's great. I've been well myself, done anything exciting lately?" She smiles at him, a twinge of triumph hinting at her lips.

He furrows his eyebrows as he looks at her, confused by her gentle voice, which was accompanied with that signature carefree smile she always seemed to give him. She seemed as if the incident at the park never happened, she seemed so unbothered. It annoyed him.

"Nope." He says flatly, never breaking eye contact with her. In a way, he was trying to give her the signal he didn't want to talk to her. However, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't trying to slightly intimidate her. Not missing a beat, Y/N has her response at the ready.
"Oh well, that's alright. It's been a slow week for me too. I've gotten into a new show on Netflix, it's great." She too never looks away from Michael.

She took the opportunity to take in his appearance. His bright blue eyes were more of a dim grey against the warm light of the flickering flames. Even if his family was dressed up, he stayed as casual as he could. His wavy brown hair was styled as messy as usual. He wore a solid black t-shirt, and blue jeans. For once, his jeans didn't have rips in them, and his shirt didn't have a band logo printed on it, and that's what his idea of 'formal' was.

Michael finally responded, which made her snap out of her thoughts and back to reality. "I don't watch TV." Is all he said before reluctantly breaking eye contact. Mom, Dad, William, and Vera walk in with the food, setting it towards the middle of the table.

"Alright! Is everybody ready to eat? I hope you folks brought your appetite." William chuckles and looks toward Mom and Dad. "Oh you know we did," Dad nudges him playfully with his elbow, and takes a seat at the table next to Mom.

Everybody dishes out their meal onto their plates, making small talk as they did so. Elizabeth was chattering away with Y/N again, talking about everything her little heart desired. Michael sat and watched silently as he ate. The constant sound of Elizabeth rambling was driving him insane, but his main focus was Y/N.

Did he feel bad for what happened at the park? A little, not really. Y/N annoyed him at times, her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, every little phrase she often uses, and quirk she had, it all picked at him little by little. How she always has that smile on her face, how she always makes conversation with him about the little things that he considered dumb. It made him want to snap at her.

He had a small scowl on his face while he looked at her. How her hair fell down her face, how the flames from the candles seem to flicker in her eyes, her gentle smile as she listened to Elizabeth.

'She must think she's so perfect.' Michael thought to himself, 'Goodie-two-shoes, always has her hair done, always talking to my siblings like she actually means anything. Her family is just like any other employees for Dad, she isn't fucking special.' He picks at his food with his fork as all these thoughts ran through his head.

'She thinks she's just so perfect... what a joke.' He gnaws on his lip and looks up at her again. Y/N was still talking with Elizabeth, they were both giggling about something. He wasn't paying attention to their conversation, but he assumed it wasn't that funny regardless.

His mind was overflowing with thoughts of
Y/N. He picked apart everything about her that drove him nuts. He just wanted her to move back where she came from and forget about her. But nothing stopped these thoughts racing through Michael's head. But while the thoughts remained spiteful for now, Michael had no idea how eventually, they'd completely change.

𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚

𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙜𝙪𝙮𝙨! 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬. 𝙄𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙄'𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙘; 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙙. 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜. 𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

𝙈𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, <3