wasting time » lh ; mc

five

:: 05 ::

       Coach Clifford had told Luke that he would think about letting him on the baseball team, but only after seeing his novice skills and hearing Michael tell the man that he'd be helping Luke out.

Everything was fine. Except for the sudden buddy-buddy mode that Michael had fallen into. He doesn't know how or why it happened, but Luke is confused. He's not showing it, just trying to enjoy it while it lasts. It's the kind of friendship you'd see in those dumb teen movies where they realized the other wasn't so repulsive, but there's still undeniable amounts of taunting and underlying tension with every encounter.

Luke, although finding it strange and having a difficult time adjusting to this new routine they had, agreed to when Michael offered to help as soon as possible. He did need it, anyway.

"So, Friday, you said?" Luke asked Michael at lunch on Wednesday. "My dad might be home. Mom always is, but Dad can get annoying sometimes," he added. Usually Luke sits in a teacher's room to avoid anyone faking their way into a friendship and Michael sits with his hockey buddies, but today Michael insisted on getting a pass to the fields. Not that they really needed one, seeing who Michael's father was at the school.

Michael was quick to reply with a shake of his head and, "No, no; that's fine, really. We'd be in the yard anyway, wouldn't we?"

"Yeah, I guess," Luke shrugged. "But I kind of told him about you helping me out and stuff, and how you play hockey and any other sport out there—"

"You told your dad about me?" Michael interrupted, eyes flashing with excitement for a quick moment.

"Well, yeah. My parents don't like random strangers in the house," Luke explained. He did understand their stand on that, since Andrew Hemmings could spark any kind of reaction and, unfortunately, the use of his own flesh and blood—also known as Luke—to get to him. It's happened only twice before, but Luke's gotten over it. Maybe he should be more careful, though.

In reply, Michael lets out a small chuckle and says, "Yeah, of course. Just didn't expect you to like tell them about me. Mention, maybe."

"Sorry?"

Michael shakes his head again, quickly moving on from the conversation. "No! It fine, I just—yeah, anyway. Have you decided to help me in my quest to save the school rugby team?" he asked.

"Maybe, but I haven't ever talked to that Ashton guy." Of course, Luke was just as eager as Michael was for this vision of them rescuing the rugby team, but the realist side of him knew that it would be a lot harder than the two of them were making it seem. Not only would they have to find Ashton and talk to him, but also the former coach (who wasn't Michael's dad, which made it harder), and then the coach would have to talk to the principal and then the principal would have to talk to the superintendent. It's all far too difficult for Luke to believe that the result will be a positive one.

"I have Tech with him this year, I'll talk to him about the whole thing," Michael offered.

In all honesty, Luke wanted to avoid this plan. The only possibilities filling his mind were the negative ones, and he didn't want to risk any of them happening, so trying to distract Michael away from this difficult task was the best Luke could do to get it to never go through.

But, if Michael was going to help him do something, the least Luke could do was be nice and help him in return, right?

       + + +

Luke and Michael met outside the school in the student parking lot on Friday. To say Luke was nervous for Michael to see and critique his baseball skills would be an understatement. Even if the cocky boy got a glimpse of how well—or rather, rubbish Luke is at the sport the other day, he wasn't watching to make corrections. It was most likely a mere accident that Michael stumbled upon the boy.

"So, like I told you Wednesday, my dad might be home," Luke once again warns Michael. He didn't know why he was, but just in case his dad got any idea from what he was told about Michael's undeniable gift in the athleticism department (Luke still thinks Michael isn't as good as everyone makes him out to be, but he'll admit the obvious).

Michael shrugged, "And I told you, its fine." He smiled reassuringly as the pair made their way inside of Michael's car. It smelled vaguely like body odor, but that was mostly because of Michael's dirty sports uniforms stuffed inside of a bag in the back seat.

Luke was awkward and nervous the whole car ride, while Michael kept a smile on his face as his fingers tapped along to the beat of I'm Not Down on the steering wheel.

Luke hated being judged in general—how was he supposed to deal with the inevitable comments he's going to get from Michael? Is it too late to back out now?

To make the blonde feel worse, his father was in fact home and sitting on their large front porch with Wayne Gretzky. Andrew Hemmings and Wayne Gretzky were best friends, so Luke should've been expecting this.

"Holy shit, that's—"

"Wayne Gretzky, hockey legend and statistically the best hockey player in history," Luke cut Michael off, finished the boy's thoughts for him. It was so normal for Luke to see this that the sentence came out sounding incredibly uninterested.

Luke wanted to go around the house to get to the backyard, so he and Michael could avoid his father, but Mr. Hemmings was already waving and calling the pair over. This is one of the main reasons Luke never brings over the friends (or the true ones, anyway) he manages to make; his dad always takes the attention away. Luke then decides that Andrew and Michael have lots in common—mostly the fact that they're both self-centered.

"Luke! This is Michael, isn't it?" Mr. Hemmings beamed, beer can in his hand and smile on his face.

Luke grumbled, "It is." He turns toward the other hockey legend standing in front of him and says a quick, almost bitter, "Nice seeing you again, Mr. Gretzky. And now we're going.

"No, not yet," the man protested. "You haven't given me the chance to talk to Easton Valley's very own superstar." Michael's eyes lit up and his lips stretched out into an even bigger smile than he had before.

This was all way too much for Luke to handle. He just wanted help with something, if he knew the meeting his father part of this would play out like it has been, he would've asked Michael to do this at his house instead. But Michael seems to be enjoying the attention he's getting and the conversation they're making. Luke should've seen all of this coming, he really should've.

It's not Michael's fault, Luke finally convinces himself. The hockey player keeps turning to Luke and giving him a small smile and a mouthed apology, and Luke knows how much his father can talk, so Michael was stuck in this conversation whether he or Luke wanted to be or not.

If Luke could play a sport, maybe his father would give him this much praise and attention, too.

       • • •

michael is a sly little shit who is up to no good and cannot be trusted stay away tater tot

side note: michael fckin clifford is my precious baby and i love him so much and my mom watched me cry every time my sister talked about the video goodbye cruel world