Heartbreak Story - Byler

XXVII - Should've Been There From the Start

Unlatching myself and crawling out from beneath my sister, I called out, "I'll help!" and ran to meet the boy of my dreams halfway up the stairs, earning yet another smirk from Max.

"Hey." Mike beamed at me, a huge grin illuminating his whole face as our eyes locked and we ascended to his ground floor all alone. I gazed in wonder at my companion and found myself getting lost more and more into those dark, all consuming eyes of his.

"Hi." I replied, almost breathless. You'd think after spending two days in his company, I'd have gotten used to his beauty yet every time I looked at his face, I discovered new elements that set my heart racing and brought my breathing to a swift halt.

"You and Max are very giggly tonight." He pried, raising an eyebrow and I knew Mike was hinting at me to tell why my sister and I had been laughing.

"She's the worst at being subtle, I swear to god." I complained as I leapt onto the kitchen counter and sat myself down as Mike rummaged above my head in the cupboards for snacks.

"And why did you want her to be subtle? What were you talking about that you didn't want the rest of us to hear? Wait, if you don't want to tell me then you don't have to, I'm not going to force you to-"

"She figured out something had happened between me and you and she wanted to know about us. I didn't even mean to tell her, she kind of got it out of me."

"Huh, what did you tell her?"

"You know, that I said I do want to be with you eventually and that I love you and - what the fuck?" I began but was cut off as the bowl Mike was trying going to fill slipped from his grasp as he let go in shock at my absent-minded declaration of love for him and it bounced off my head, landing on the floor with a clatter.

Within the space of less than a second, Mike had abandoned his task and was standing between my legs, his hands on either side of my face and a look of horror on his own as he searched my head for any sign of injury. "Holy shit, Will, I'm so sorry! Oh my god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it...are you okay? Where does it hurt? I'm so fucking so-"

"Calm down, Mikey, I'm fine. It's okay. It barely touched me, I was just surprised."

"No no no no, it's not okay. Not okay at all. I can't believe I just-"

"Michael Wheeler!" I announced sternly, taking his face in my hands, the way mine was in his, and forcing him to look into my eyes rather than at the spot on my forehead of the collision. "Listen to me, I am perfectly 100% okay. Calm down, okay? Please, baby."

"I hurt you, I promised I would never." The boy whispered and I witnessed in shock as he began to cry at something I thought wasn't even serious enough to qualify as a minor incident. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled Mike closer to me in an embrace. He buried his face in my shoulder and I held him close as I felt his teardrops drip down my neck and my heart felt like it was shattering from the sorrow in his sobs.

"You didn't hurt me, baby, I promise. I've had far worse scrapes than this." I informed the boy in my arms.

"That isn't the point." He whimpered from my shoulder, still obviously devastated so I began to softly run my fingers through his hair in hope of calming him down and bringing him comfort.

"Then tell me what is the point, Mikey? What's upset you so much?"

"I'm supposed to be the one to protect you and put you back on your feet when you fall down. I'm supposed to be the one to make you eternally happy." Mike fought out between sobs, "And yet I keep hurting you sometimes even more than anyone else. We...we had s-sex when you weren't ready and, oh Will, it drove you to attempting to commit suicide and I can't forgive myself. I'm so sorry, darling, I'm so sorry."