Grease • muke • part of the reality series•

Chapter Two : Michael

Looking off put, Luke looked blatantly in the other direction, ignoring me.

"You here by yourself?" I asked, before a silence could build an impenetrable wall between us.

He shook his head.

"Why are you sitting by yourself then?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't care, I'm intrigued."

Making a face he turned away again, however again the silence was short lived, this time interrupted by a feral growl from his stomach.

Noticeably embarrassed, he crossed his arms.

"Hungry?" I questioned.

He shook his head.

"There's a Burger King over there." I noted.

"I know." he muttered, "I work there."

"Can you get us free food?"

Again, he shook his head, "I've only worked there one day, they probably won't even recognize me."

I nodded, then looked around, "You want a hot dog."

He made a face.

"You don't like hot dogs?"

He offered a shake of the head disgusted face combo.

"What are you vegetarian?"

"Vegan."

"What is that? Like a meat virgin?"

Looking at me with a mix of disbelief and pity he shook his head.

"Is Popcorn vegan?"

"No."

"Pizza?"

"No."

"No wonder you're so skinny." I muttered under my breath, partially jealous of the way Luke's wrist bone stood apart from the rest of his arm forming a graceful bump.

He frowned.

"Are drinks vegan?" I pressed, trying to amend that I'd offended him.

"Most, yeah."

"Do you want to get like, a soda?"

"I'm not allowed."

"What do you mean you're not allowed?"

My mind began to race, maybe he had an eating disorder, it would certainly explain the thinness, maybe he was hearing voices in his head. I'd read a book like that one time, the girl had voices telling her she couldn't eat and she didn't until she died.

I didn't realize that I'd voiced my concern until Luke spoke.

"No, I don't have an eating disorder? My parents don't believe in soda."

That one stumped me. I knew the kid was weird from the get go but that was some next level stuff. Maybe he was in a cult or raised in a closet or home schooled, I heard those people were a little off, perhaps he was Amish, it would explain the weird pants.

"How do your parents not believe in soda?" I demanded, "It doesn't come down your chimney and creep around your house at night, or steal your teeth.. It's like a real thing. It exists, it's everywhere."

"No," Luke laughed, showing an emotion other then confusion or disgust for the first time, "They don't believe in eating it, they're weird like that, I don't know, my Mom has a blog about it."

"First of all." I said slowly, "You don't eat soda, you drink it..."

Appearing to be opening up, Luke blushed and looked down, trying to suppress a smirk.

"....and second, your Mom has an anti soda blog?"

"It's anti a lot of things, GMO, gluten, dairy, meat..."

Seeming amused by the look of disbelief on my face, a surprisingly child like laugh interrupted his string of weird, hippy food restrictions.

"That's not funny." I informed him, "It's sad, I mean, do you even have a favorite candy?"

"I like raisins."

"Jesus."

Luke flinched at the word but didn't comment.

"Do you ever like, have fun?" I asked.

He hesitated, his eyes rolling up genuinely trying to recollect a time he'd enjoyed himself.

"You don't have fun?"

"I'm used to being sick." he admitted, "Now that I'm not, I don't know what to do. My whole life I've been trying to get rid of my cancer, but now that it's gone, I don't know what to do."

Surprised, at how much he was opening up to me for having met me no more then fifteen minutes prior I nodded slowly, "First of all, don't call it your cancer, that's weird. It wasn't your pet, or your arm it was a blob of deadly gunk kicking it inside you."

"What do you want me to call it."

"Nothing, that's your problem, quit talking about it. It's over, and done with gone, you'll never be move on if you're always bringing up the cancer, like that one relative who can't keep his mouth shut about politics at family gatherings."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Learn how to live to die instead of living to live."

"You want me to be a reckless hooligan?"

"No, but if you spend your whole life getting excited about raisins, you're going to end up disappointed when you look back and realize you never did anything worth remembering."

"I won't remember anyway. I'm predisposed for Alzheimer's, family on my Mom and Dad's side have it."

I blinked slowly, "You're missing the point. I'm trying to be all insightful and wise here, you're killing my vibe."

"I'm sorry, perhaps another analogy?"

I groaned, "Luke, if you have one chocolate bar would you rather eat the whole thing and enjoy it or take a tiny ass bite everyday that did nothing to satisfy your sweet tooth."

"Well, I'd probably save it because once it's gone it's gone, maybe I wouldn't eat any of it for a while and then eat all of it."

"Luke."

"What?"

"Wrong answer, let's try again. Would you rather have eight hours of sleep or take a bunch or fifteen minute cat caps."

"Eight hours of sleep."

"Thank you." I breathed, "You see, it's better to enjoy yourself then deprive yourself. You have the rest of your life to be lame. You can hand out raisins for Halloween when you're seventy and be the house everyone skips. But right now, you should live in the moment. You know?"

Seeming thoughtful, Luke looked out at the setting sun behind the Ferris wheel in the distance and nodded, seeming to take my words of wisdom in.

My eyes landing on my friends who were making their way back towards me, I pulled a pen out of my pocket and taking a hold of Luke's arm, rolled up his sleeve just enough before hastily scribbling my number.

"Call me sometime," I instructed, "If you need someone to show you how to live."

Seeming incapable of verbal communication Luke nodded.

Capping my pen and cramming it back into my pocket I stood up and walked towards my friends, leaving the strange meat virgin alone on the curb where I'd found him.

"Who was that?" Maya asked.

"Kid from school." I lied.

"I've never seen him."

I shrugged. I didn't know why I didn't just tell them the truth, but for some reason I couldn't, because I couldn't explain why I'd talked to Luke or what had drawn me over to him in the first place, and it didn't matter anyway, he wouldn't call me, the kid was a hopeless case, he was just another memory that came and disappeared in the night like smoke with the carnival.