Please Take Me Home

First Date

Please Take Me Home

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Chapter Three

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First Date

One time when the boys were seven, back when they would go to parks and play in the street, when they would pretend they were superheroes and make capes out of old blankets, back when Luke and Michael would play in the sand pit at the park which was at the end of Luke's street, one time, all those years ago, the boys sat down and actually talked to each other. 

Now the boys always spent time together, talking as usual, but this time it was different. It was like talking with someone who understood you more than you understood yourself. The communication just came easy.

The boys had known each other for about a year now and Luke still couldn’t get over how such a cool and awesome person like Mikey, was so shy and anxious about everything.

Luke’s mum had decided to make the boys get outside of the house for a while and watched them leave from the front door. She watched as Luke bounced excitedly around and she watched how Michael kept up but could also see the happiness in both the boys. Michael was shy but he wasn’t a mean person, she thought to herself. He was polite and said please and thank you, it was only a matter of time until they broke him out of his shell.

The way Luke looked at Michael through, it tugged a string in her heart. Luke looked and treated Michael with absolute awe. It warmed her. Luke's mum was never able to give Luke a younger brother but the way he was with Mikey, she knew he would have been an amazing brother.

The boys walked shoulder to shoulder, down the street. Luke made casual small talk and Michael answered, but the littlest as possible. He knew Michael was just shy but didn't like it when he was uncomfortable.

"We might be learning about space soon! How cool is what? I heard Mrs Bainbridge talking about it with the other teachers, it's going to be so cool!"

Michael gave a little smile to Luke's words and Luke saw that as a victory, he wanted to make Michael smile as much as possible....or at least once a day for the rest of his life.

When they came up to the park they saw that it was empty. The two swings that said sat side by side were vacant so the boys ran to them first.

Mikey was more careful when it came to playing on playground equipment. Luke went flat out, swinging as high as he could. But Michael was timid. He never swung very high.

Both of the boys sat down and said nothing. Luke was waiting for Mikey to start swinging but Mikey was waiting for Luke.

Time passes by and both of the boys were just sitting there. Luke was trying to think of something to say but accidentally let something slip.

"Do you have a dad?"

Michael was a little shocked to hear that said to him because his mother took great lengths to avoid any conversation about him.

"N-No, I don't."

Luke realized he shouldn't have said anything and apologized straight away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."