By because_it_rhymes
"Why Troy?"
"Why not?"
Mike stands a couple of feet before me, concern glazing over his brown almond eyes. His eyelashes waver while he blinks, giving me a dead stare and not uttering a sound. He opens his mouth to speak, matte lips parting gently into a shape until he stops, clamping his jaw down quickly.
Going for round two, Mike exclaims, "Because he has bullied you for the past 2 years!" like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Troy has indeed bullied me for quite awhile, but I've always assumed it's to hide his real raw self. The part of everyone that people shut away, forbidden love that's classified as sinful.
I've certainly been through the works with that man, but I'll never forget the day while he was gripping the collar of my shirt, hand lost amongst the fabric while the other bunched up mid air, holding the pose of a fist. I finally saw Troy, he bared his soul to me that day and I've adored him ever since. His everlasting love that feels like a thousand knives stabbing into my chest, leaving me with blood trailing along my happy trail all the way down to my thighs.
It's a love that hurts but it's a love that's addictive. Of course though, I can't say he didn't hit me after confessing his love for me.
"People can change, Mike. He isn't the same boy he was 2 years ago."
An audible sigh escapes his mouth while he looks down at our feet, the ones that are so far away. Just mere centimetres, yet I stand here wishing there were none. Wrinkles appear just above his slightly bushy eyebrows while he ponders. He's thinking so hard I can almost hear the racing words being pulled apart by his brain.
Mike looks up at my face once more, shuffling closer to my stiff awkward body, "He isn't the same boy who still torments you every day? I see the way you look at him, your doe eyes just begging for reciprocated eye contact. But Will, I also see the way he looks at you. The hatred is crazy, you're mental for not noticing."
He doesn't think I don't notice? I notice the way fire burns in his eyes and everything falls to ashes around us when he looks at me, his lips mould into a snarl while he bares his teeth back like a predator and I'm his prey. Of course I notice, but I still love him.
I let out a shaky breath and edge myself backwards until I hit the side of my bed. The walls surrounding me showing years of memories from my best friends, fond ones mixed with upsetting ones. This moment right now is creating a mix of both, a memory I'll never forget as I lay in bed at night. The day Mike Wheeler confronted me about my secret boyfriend. I flop down on my bed, hiding my hands in my lap and looking down, ashamed that my best friend is looking at me with such disgust.
All I can muster up is, "I'm sorry."
"Hey no no, I didn't mean it like that," Mike reassures, quickly taking the empty place on the foam bed, "I just wanted to know the reason. He doesn't deserve you, Will, he really doesn't."
Words don't form out of my mouth. I just want to cry, scream, shout, but most of all bare my own heart and soul to Mike just how Troy did. I do love Troy, I truly do, but that love cannot compare to this love. The love between best friends, the unrequited love, the love that completes your soul. The love that's between Mike and I.
"I mean it Will, I care so much for you and I don't want you to get hurt."
The words I care so much for you just roll off Mike's tongue, I wish he could say that while he's grabbing my cheek and pulling me in, meshing our mouths together in a heated mess.
I need to take the risk, I can't sit around all day hoping he'll get with me when I have a boyfriend. I look up at him while he awaits a response out of me. I give him one. Not in the form of words but as the form of slipping my smaller hand into his bigger one, closing my fingers between his.
