When you find yourself: byler

Lets play pretend

Pretending is something I got used too
If there's one think about Mike is that he's great at pretending. Mike was a dungeon master as a kid after-all. He spent hours in his basement spilling his heart out, creating intricate stories and thrilling adventures. He's an actor at heart but although not a great one. Maybe it was the bullying or the house he grew up in but Mike never seemed to act
Natural
He was always scared of something yet no one, not even Mike really understood. Mike tossed and turned on the couch with his thoughts, not letting him sleep. Why am I like this?, was the most common one.
Mike was interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. Will crept into the kitchen right next to the living room where Mike was sleeping. Mike perked up and that seemed to startle will.
"Oh shoot sorry if I woke you" will whispered at him
"Oh no I couldn't sleep anyways. What are you doing up?" Mike questioned.
"I Could ask you the same question wheeler" Will said slyly. Something in his voice seemed to have flowed, like the words just fell out of a natural unthought out place.
"Come sit down?" Mike asked him. He didn't really know exactly why he wanted to have him close to him in that moment. In reality Mike felt alone. Just keep it together Mike. Pretend everything is fine...
"Alright sure, not like I was up to anything anyways" Will said with a small smile and a quick natural laugh.
"Will... I'm sorry- like genuinely" Mike blurted out. This was the first opportunity to address what he heard while he was trapped in wills closet. The rest of the night was spent with El, using all the time they got. Mike couldn't help but notice will walking around with his head down and his door closed. Mike had to pretend to not notice.
He had already broken the promise to himself to keep it together. Wills face tightened and his body tensed with slow calculated breaths.
"Mike I don't understand what you mean" Will sounded concerned now
"Uh nothing I just idk- feel like I've been pushing you away..." Mike couldn't try to look at his friend who sat next to him on the medium brown couch.
"Well... you barely called, didn't write, and spent minimal time with me all day. I bet the surprise in the bathroom was really meant for El and I just walked it at the wrong time..." will Spoke into the air not trying to direct anything at Mike
"That's just not true!" Mike sounded hurt yet angry.
"What part Mike, what part?" Will snapped back.
Mike was trapped. He couldn't tell Will the truth, he definitely wouldn't like it. Mike slowly had to realize that truth, that Somethings has been different in Him since December 16 1984...
"Will I-" Mike voice broke out being quickly interrupted by Will
"Mike. Let's just go to bed and we can talk about it tomorrow okay!" And just like that Will was gone. Mike, left alone on the couch, was stunned.

The snowball dance, December 16 1984, was one of the better nights of my life. The shinny lights and the blue decorated gym glowed with such magic. It start out as a big group with Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Max. After making fun of Steve's hair advice to Dustin, the slow dances started. Lucas pulled the absolute least smooth move on max and surprisingly it worked. They danced and after a bit of struggle from Dustin he was dancing with- my sister? That left me and Will standing off to the sides. It was nice to get some normal time with Will. The past few days before were... difficult to say the least. I hated seeing him like that. My super spy...
But that's when a girl approached Will, asking him to dance. Will turned to me for help, his nerves probably got the best of him so I helped him say yes. Seeing Will walk away was the kicker. Something changed for me, seeing my best friend dancing with a girl. I wanted to be with him, alone on the sides, making fun of the couples and making each other laugh. But Will was gone, with a girl.
I tried to tell myself it's just because that I was alone with no one to talk too, tried to save myself, but I just had to pretend, pretend I didn't care.