𝕮𝖗𝖆𝖟𝖞 𝕿𝖔𝖌𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 / 𝔅𝔶𝔩𝔢𝔯

XVII

"Yes, but this time, we should dress up as D&D characters!" Dustin yelled happily.

"Well, I barely know anything about it, but thanks to you dorks, I have at least a favourite character." Max sighed.

Dustin, Lucas, Max and El went around looking for clothes that matched their favourites but Will just stood still near the counter. It seems he was looking for something. He grabbed a packet of strawberry flavoured gum and a cherry lollipop. At least that's what the colour looked like, I couldn't really tell from where I was standing.

After purchasing his gum and cherry, he came and stood beside Nancy. We were standing near the back if the store, me, Nancy then Will.

After a few minutes of silence, Nancy nudged me and gave me a wink when I looked down at her, as if telling me  ' Here's your chance! '

She left and pretended to look for new clothes, so it was just me and Will. He opened up his packet of gum and chewed on one until he could blow a bubble.

We just stood there for a few more moments in silence before Will spoke.

"Want one?" He asked, pointing to his gum packet, still not looking at me.

"U-Uh, um, sure.." I muttered. That ws the first time I've ever stuttered when talking to Will, how lame.

He held my hand and placed a piece of gum on my palm then let go. When he touched my hand, I felt a sudden electricity that ran through my body. My face felt hot and I could tell I was blushing. I grabbed a cap that I had recently bought while shopping with Nancy and put it on in attempt to hide my red face.

After a few more moments of silence passed by, Will spoke again.

"Why?" He whispered.

"W-What?" I asked.

"Why did you give me that board and that..letter?" He asked quietly.

"W-Well, um, I f-forgot your b-birthday which really is a shitty thing to do but I thought it would be a nice thing to do. O-Oh! And the l-letter! I figured since you d-didn't want to talk to m-me, you would be more comfortable reading it.. " I muttered, tears forming in my eyes. This was the first proper conversation we had with no forcefulness and no dullness and no cold talking.

"You're stuttering quite a lot. Is everything okay?" He questioned, looking up at me. I tried covering my face as much as I could with the hat but it couldn't hide the tears slowing rolling down my cheeks.

"H-Huh? What's wrong, Mike?" He asked, holding my hands in his. No matter how I hurt him, still cared. And yet, all I've ever done is make him feel like shit. It was the most embarrassing thing ever, I quite literally, broke down infront of Will.

"Mike!? What's wrong??" Will asked, his expression worried. "Come on, let's go outside."

He put his hand on my back and led me outside of the store. We sat down on a bench outside. We sat down and said nothing to each other for a few minutes, waiting for me to calm down.

"So, what's wrong?" Will asked quietly, holding my hands.

"I'm so sorry, Will. All I've ever done is hurt you and then come back with a shitty apology and then expect you to forgive me right away.. " I muffled with a few sniffles inbetween my sentences.

"Well, can't say that's a lie." Will laughed.

"At first when you came back, I couldn't care less because of the argument we had had. But not even an hour later, I felt incredibly sad because I wasn't able to talk to you. I missed you. Like a lot. And I still do." I muttered.

"Mike.." Will whispered. I noticed a pink tint on his cheeks as I squeezed his hands tighter.

"Will, I'm so sorry.." I muffled as more tears begun making their way down my face.

"Mike, stop crying." Will sighed as he used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe away my tears. He held my hands and smiled at me. He smiled. He smiled at me. A smile I longed for, for so long. I gently pulled him into a warm embrace. I hugged him tight, not wanting to let go and..

He hugged me back.

[AUTHOR NOTE]:

This was quite troubling to write. I don't think I'm good at emotional scenes so this might have been a  really bad chapter but I hope you enjoyed reading despite that!

Have a nice day/afternoon/night!

WORD COUNT: 1246
HIGHEST WORD COUNT: 2933