| One Week Later. . .
Michael solemnly and quietly hummed to Differences by Ginuwine as his feet slowly shuffled across the wooden floor from the hallway bathroom. A brief shot of pain traveled through his shoulder when he adjusted the heap of clothes in his free arm, making him grit his teeth. He made his way down the stairs, careful not to knock his phone from his pocket as it continued to fill his ears with beautiful yet sorrowful melodies.
The mixture of impassioned songs that played on an endless loop pushed a deep sigh from within him as he thought back to Riley. Without her, he felt like a part himself was missing and a strange void was trapped within him. He missed her more than any words could describe and he couldn't push her nor the regret for how things ended between them from his troubled mind, which made his insomnia even worse.
He was worried about how she was taking in everything that happened that terrible day and had planned to contact her as soon as possible, but of course life threw another curve ball at him. Her new phone number was written at the bottom of the small card, but he lost it before he could memorize it or store it into his phone. Ever since, he's been kicking himself everyday about it. He wished he was awake when she came by the hospital just to hold her and kiss her despite any pain that may have shot through his feeble body.
"Michael." He barely heard Katherine's soothing voice over the music. He looked up and took out an earbud just as she came into view, stopping him before he reached the laundry room. "You remember what Dr. Perkins told you. You can't carry things around while your wounds are healing."
"It's just clothes, Mother." He said as she took the clothes from his arm, then made her way to the laundry room.
"I made you a plate in the kitchen." She told him, ignoring his protest.
Without another word, he dragged his feet into the kitchen and plopped down on the cushioned counter stool where his plate was sitting in front of him. The delicious aroma from the fresh, hot breakfast wafted in the air and it caused his stomach to loudly growl.
But he didn't feel like eating.
He placed the earbud back into his ear and turned up the volume, staring into the space beyond him as he sunk further and further into self-pity. His only want was to see Riley, even for several short minutes. The underlying guilt was eating him up from inside.
The pain in her eyes and the way her angelic voice was overcome with emotion as she begged him not to give up on their relationship struck him deeply to the core. He wanted to take back everything he said, but at the time, he had felt what he was doing was right at the time. She shouldn't be involved with him on such a personal level; she was supposed to be with someone a lot closer to her age.
However, those words that slipped from his lips were complete lies. He wanted to be with her and he was willing to take the risk. But he backtracked due to triggering her distress, and he couldn't forgive himself for doing that to her.
Coming back to his trashed office and seeing those hurtful words sprawled across a piece of paper, he knew she didn't mean it either. He assumed she was possibly beating herself up over it, especially after Javen showed up and started firing off bullets before they could possibly try to amend their mistakes.
He slowly snapped out his trance when he noticed Katherine standing across from him on the other side of the kitchen island, speaking to him. He couldn't hear her, but could see her lips moving.
He quickly removed the earbuds that were in the middle of blasting Did You Wrong by Pleasure P. "I'm sorry, what did you say, Mother?"
She pursed her lips and folded her arms across the top of the island. "What's wrong with you, Michael? You've been moping around here and blaring Luther Vandross for the last few weeks. I lost count of how many times I've heard 'I'd Rather'."
"I got shot." He laughed even though both he and his mother didn't find the situation funny at all, especially when the pain would start to come back in full force once the pain meds wore off.
"You could've been killed." Katherine chastised him as she shook her head. "But it's more than that. Something else is eating at you."
"It's nothing." He abruptly said, not really wanting to talk about Riley. Just thinking of her caused him to sink further into depression.
"It's something. I know my son, and you're acting the opposite of him. It's like losing Jor—"
"Mother, please don't bring her up." Michael quietly begged, not wanting to be reminded of her either. "It's still a sensitive subject for me."
She nodded with a heavy sigh, feeling a pang of guilt for causing him more distress on top of everything else. "I don't mean to upset you, honey. But how you're acting now, is how you were acting then. You're locking yourself in your room, tuning the world out by listening to loud music; you're just not yourself."
"I'm sorry." He said almost like a whisper, massaging both of his temples and staring down at the steaming food. "It's not something I'd really like to talk about right now."
"Okay." Katherine gently dropped the subject and watched silently as he grabbed a fork.
He still didn't eat and couldn't bring himself to, so he picked over his food as he got lost in his thoughts again.
"You're not hungry?" She asked after a minute of silence.
"Not really, no." He frowned, stabbing at his scrambled eggs in boredom. A part of him wished it was Javen he was driving his fork into for daring to lay his hands on Riley in the first place, then causing a rift between them that broke their relationship apart.
Katherine reached across the counter to take both the plate and fork from him. "I suppose you can go back upstairs, then. I just wanted you to get out of the room at least once. Maybe even go out to the store or something to get some fresh air."
"Maybe when I'm feeling better." He gave a weak, small smile as he prepared to slide himself off the counter stool. He suddenly paused when he heard several car doors slam and voices outside the house.
"Ah, shit." He cursed in utter annoyance, then he glanced up at his mother and smiled sheepishly at her disapproving glare.
"Michael Joseph Jackson, I've told you about using foul language." She scolded him.
"I know, I'm sorry. It slipped." He quickly apologized and stood from the stool, unable to walk out the kitchen fast enough before the front door flew open and Janet was the first to race down the hall towards him.
"Be gentle!" Michael screeched in time just as Janet suddenly stopped running to warmly embrace her big brother. He smiled, wrapping his arm around her and resting his chip atop her head. "Hey, Dunk. How was your vacation in Miami?"
"It was fine. But I didn't stop by to talk about me, I wanna talk about you." She said, pulling away as La Toya headed straight toward them with the rest of their siblings beginning to file inside behind her.
"What about me?" He asked, dreading any questions regarding the shooting and the girl he took two bullets for.
"Don't play dumb, you know what I want to talk about." She said, crossing her arms over chest and pursing her lips.
La Toya immediately butted in as she stood next to her younger sister. "Mhmm. Like why was there a school shooting, who was doing the shooting, how'd you end up taking two bullets to the body, et cetera."
"We wanna know everything." Tito added as he walked in with the rest of the Jackson gang. Michael sucked his teeth in pure annoyance.
"Y'all so nosy." He muttered as he rolled his eyes. "Watch every single news channel. Everybody's been talking about it for a good minute. The information you want is there."
La Toya disagreed with a shake of her head. "Did they see the shooter up close? Did they get shot? No, you did. Therefore, we want to know the whole story from you."
"I don't wanna talk about it." Michael firmly stated while gently adjusting his arm in the sling.
"Just let him rest. It's a traumatic experience for him." Katherine came to his aid and shooed her children away, and they all pouted as they slowly began to scatter about before Jermaine opened his mouth.
"Does it have something to do with Riley?" He asked, both Michael and Marlon staring at him wide-eyed with a tinge of anger.
"Shut up, big mouth." Marlon half-whispered with a slap on his arm, knowing the cat was out of the bag now.
Michael shook his head, throwing his arm up in exasperation. "See, this is why I barely tell you shit. You don't know how to hold water."
"Michael Jose—"
"I'm sorry, Mother." He interrupted, keeping his back turned to her.
"Wait, who is Riley?" Rebbie asked as she stood between her sisters, all three eyeing him suspiciously. Katherine walked around the kitchen island and joined them.
"She's a girl I know." He kept it vague with a nonchalant shrug, then cringed from the slight pain.
"So, what's she got to do with the shooting?" Jackie asked next as he leaned against the door frame of the kitchen.
Before Michael could answer, a loud, exaggerated gasp was suddenly heard and everyone turned toward the cause of the source.
"Did you finally find someone else?!" La Toya asked in high-pitch excitement, her eyes wide and a large grin plastered across her youthful face.
Michael was quiet momentarily as he stared at the marble floor. "...yeah, I did." He cowered from his sister's over-the-top, shrill scream as La Toya suddenly ran over and hugged him tightly. "OW, TOYA!! Damn."
"Sorry, sorry! I just can't help but to be happy. My little brother is in love again!" She giddily clapped her hands with her pearly whites on full display.
"I didn't say I was in love, I just said I found someone." He corrected in a lackluster tone and she rolled her eyes with a scoff.
"It's close enough. When do we get to meet her?" She asked.
That question crushed his spirit a little.
"I don't think you will." He looked up as they all frowned at him.
"Hol' up," Randy finally spoke up as he walked closer to his brother, "this girl that you like, she had somethin' to do with the shootin'?"
"Oh my God, did she have a hit on your head or something?" La Toya questioned and Michael quickly shook his head.
"No, she didn't mean for me to get hurt. I was trying to protect her and she was trying to protect me, and I ended up like this." He explained in his own vague way again, resulting in the confused stares on his family's faces. "The shooter was some idiot that didn't know how to take rejection."
La Toya tilted her head slightly from a sudden memory and cautiously asked, "Was it that guy from that certain situation we talked about a few months ago?"
Both of them could feel the curious and perplexed stares directed their way, and Michael anxiously rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah... anyway, I'd rather not talk about this anymore. It's bringing back memories I really don't want to remember." He said, starting to move towards the main hallway.
"It's okay, you can go Michael." Katherine nodded, all watching as he silently left the kitchen and trudged toward the stairs.
Janet quirked a brow as she swiveled on her heels and stared her older sister down. "We're over here trying to pull some information out of Mike and you got some secrets of your own. Spill it."
Though La Toya lived for some type of juicy gossip and never turned down the opportunity to talk, this was one thing she decided to keep for herself. She knew how serious the topic was and how much it pained her little brother.
"I can't. Michael has to tell you when he's ready." She simply said, receiving annoyed looks from some of her siblings. Janet rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath.
"Fuck it, I'll figure it out myself since everybody got their own secrets and shit." Janet angrily said as she pulled out her phone and opened the internet browser.
Katherine turned her glare towards her youngest. "Damita Jo."
"Sorry, Momma." Janet apologized while she was walking out the kitchen with her eyes glued to the phone screen.
"If Joe was still here, he'd wash your mouths out with soap." Katherine huffed with a shake of her head, her dark curls mixed with salt and pepper swaying along.
As some of the siblings followed Janet and others remained in the kitchen with Katherine, Rebbie quietly separated herself from the group and trailed behind Michael upstairs. By the time she reached his bedroom, he was sprawled across the bed on his back and the music volume was up loud again. He could feel the tears welling behind his closed eyelids as the lyrics that caressed his ears resonated so deeply within him.
"I'd rather be beside you in a storm than safe and warm by myself. I'd rather have hard times together than to have it easy apart. I'd rather have the one who holds my heart." Luther's velvety voice sung as Michael held back the tears that threatened to escape once his eyes would eventually open.
Rebbie didn't bother knocking and quietly pushed open the bedroom door. From afar, she could tell her brother was a bit emotional since she heard a sniffle or two, and his forearm was draped across his eyes. She frowned as she debated whether to leave him be or talk to him.
After a quick second, she slowly approached the bed and lightly kicked his dangling foot. Subtly, he wiped away the wetness that coated his eyes with the arm of his shirt, then revealed his face with one opened eye. He exhaled a heavy sigh before slowly sitting up and taking out the earbuds as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"What's up, sis?"
"How are you?" She asked him as she sat down beside him. "And don't lie to me. Tell me how you're really feeling."
He looked down at his mismatched socks for a few seconds before muttering, "I'm alright, I guess."
"Whoever she is, you miss her, don't you?" She asked softly, but he didn't respond. "What really happened at that school, Michael?"
"Rebbie, I didn't leave the kitchen just for you to come up here and interrogate me about that idiot that shot me." His nostrils flared slightly as he bent forward to rest his arm across the top of his knees and dropped his head down.
Not only did that day leave him with deep regrets and nightmares of losing Riley, he could still remember quite vividly the barrel of the gun glowering at him before that unbearable burning sensation traveled through his shoulder and chest. He may not have appeared scared, but he most certainly was. The only person who pumped enough courage into him to fight was Riley; he promised to protect her and he wanted to stick by his words.
Rebbie reached over and stroked his unkempt curls. "Remember what the therapist said a while ago? You're not supposed to keep these things bottled up inside of you. We're just worried, that's all. We could've lost you again."
He closed his eyes and sighed.
"I noticed since around November, you've been acting differently. I thought maybe you found a nice colleague you were interested in and y'all hit it off. But something tells me she's not a faculty member, is she?"
Michael stared at the floor. "...no."
"She was your student, huh?"
He was quiet.
Disappointment settled over her soft facial features as she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose before asking, "Did you sleep with her?"
"No, Rebbie." She could tell he was getting agitated from his annoyed tone and abrupt answer.
"Why did she get you into this mess? Did she have a boyfriend and you were messing with her? What's the story?"
He knew she wasn't going to leave it alone, so he swallowed his annoyance and sat up straighter, looking into her eyes. "It wasn't her fault. She was single when I met her and she was talking to this guy before we started getting together."
He explained everything to his oldest sister and throughout the story, Rebbie's poker face never faltered. By the time he was done, she heaved another sigh and gently rubbed his shoulder.
"I'm not going to say anything to anybody and you're more than old enough to make your own decisions, but please be careful when it comes to her. No amount of love is going to protect you from a ruined reputation and sex offender list." Rebbie said, making Michael pinch his eyebrows together.
"She's eighteen and already graduated. They can't do anything to me." He scoffed.
"Well on that note, if word gets out how she was once your student and you were messing around with her, it can affect your reputation and job opportunities. Speaking of which, are you going back to that school?"
Michael briskly shook his head. "Hell no. I haven't told Mother yet, but I applied some time back at an elementary school near the outskirts of the city. I have an interview coming up one day this week."
"That's good, I'm glad you're not going back." She patted his knee, then got up to walk to the door. "I'll give you some space, okay?"
He nodded and she smiled at him before closing the door behind her. He scooted down the bed to reach his nightstand and opened the drawer where it held the prom picture that he took with Riley and her friends. He had bought all of the group pictures from the photographer to prevent any suspicion, but ended up only keeping that specific one.
This picture alone reminded him that he was willing to risk everything for the girl that stole his heart and get her back. He reached into his shirt to pull out the chain necklace and stared at it. He correctly assumed it was from Riley since Katherine didn't have any knowledge of it and Riley had come by to see him.
A deep sigh pushed through his lips as he moved his gaze back to the picture and smiled small at the positive memories of that night. "I hope one day soon I'll see you again, Bambi."