14: the right kind of relationship
sam's pov
I breathed in deeply as Maya and I walked down the stairs; I was unprepared to see Michael and spend time with him. As we reached the base of the stairs, Maya told me that Michael was waiting in the living room, and that she was going to let Calum in. Her words seemed far away as my nerves pushed themselves in front of everything else. It took a gentle push from Maya, but I eventually made my way to join Michael.
As I walked in, I saw Michael standing by the shelves that surrounded the television, with his back facing the doorway. He was looking at a picture frame that he had taken into his hands and I prayed it wasn't a picture of me.
"Ready to get your ass kicked?" I asked, softly, yet immediately regretted my decision to be straightforward and not at all sweet. I hadn't meant it to be mean, but I knew Maya would have scolded me for not being a little more flirtatious. I heard Michael laugh under his breath and he placed the picture back on the shelf before looking back at me.
He turned with a sly smirk planted on his face, but as he made eye contact with me, his smug expression slipped away. My eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me with both surprise and wonder. I brought my hands up to my face and hair as I started to ask if anything was on me.
"No... no," Michael said, laughing quietly as he took a couple steps toward me. "You look really good, Sam." My cheeks started to burn as I looked away from Michael; I was completely caught off guard by his compliment. "But I happen to be really good at bowling," Michael told me, and I was thankful that he switched the subject back. I looked at him again and he gave me a smile, which continued to surprise me.
Every time I talked to Michael he seemed so tame. I had grown up with him being loud and obnoxious, but it was as if he lost that sense of himself whenever I was around. In previous years, I had seen him with enough girls to know that wasn't necessarily something he did often. Girls often liked the side of him that was boisterous and unkind, for some unknown reason.
"Well, I'll let you in on a secret, I have to use the bumpers." I took a step toward Michael and placed my hand on his chest as I stood on my tiptoes to speak into his ear. Michael laughed at my statement and smiled at me as I stepped away from him. "Maya's basically a professional though," I said, unable to forget how many times Maya had crushed me at bowling. Her dad was on a team for years and she always practiced with him.
"Oh?" Michael asked, seeming surprised by my statement. I nodded and he seemed impressed. "We can play on teams and I'll help you out. Calum is fucking awful at bowling," Michael informed me and that caused me to laugh. "Should we get going?" I nodded and Michael gestured for me to lead the way out. As we were walking out of the living room, we heard Maya talking to Calum.
"Michael and Sam are—"
"Heading out." Michael cut Maya's statement off and as she turned to us, I saw Calum peek over her to see us. I kept my eyes on Calum, wanting to see how he acted around Maya, but everything seemed sped up as we continued walking.
Once we were outside, Maya was in the middle of locking the front door when she sighed to herself. "Oh, you guys go ahead. I have to run up and get something," Maya spoke as she turned toward me and I gave her a smile, figuring she was wondering if I would be okay on my own for a little while. She eventually smiled after reading into my expression and she unlocked the front door.
"We'll see you guys there," Michael told her and we both turned to walk to his car as Maya went back inside. I had the urge to race Michael there, but I remembered that I was supposed to be impressing him and that might not go over so well. Just as I reached for the handle of the passenger seat, Michael scooped down and placed his hand on the handle. "Not so fast, Crew." I took a step back as Michael spoke, and he stepped onto the other side of the door before opening it.
"Thank you," I told him. I sent him a smile before getting into his car. He closed the door once I was in and all I could do as I sat in his car alone was smile to myself.
It didn't take him long to get in on his side, however, and once he did, we didn't spend very long in the driveway.
"I missed bumping into you today... not that it's ever planned," Michael said, joking with me as he broke the silence in his car. "I might have ended up looking like a total idiot when I walked by your locker, but I don't think too many people noticed." I bit my lip as I held back a laugh and I looked over at him, staring at the side of his face as he kept his eyes on the road.
"Sorry I wasn't there... my Nan is an insane woman, and I was helping her out," I told him, figuring I might as well explain where I had been. "I really wish I could've seen you look like an idiot, though. It's a highlight of my day, you know." I saw the ends of Michael's lips curl into a smile and I felt myself become short of breath. I had a strange feeling being alone with Michael.
"So that's why Cal was over at Maya's? Because you were gone?" I coughed awkwardly at Michael's question, for an unknown reason, but eventually nodded my head.
"Yeah... I guess so," I told him, bringing my arms—that seemed to be awkwardly dangling—up to my chest and crossing them. "Did he tell you that?"
"Well, I swung by Fryer's last night... and saw his car," Michael explained and I continued to slowly nod my head. "I hadn't even thought about him not saying anything about it... but I guess he didn't. I think they're just friends, don't you?"
"Oh, of course," I told him. "I doubt Calum's searching for the right kind of relationship from Maya." Without thinking, I spoke on pure judgement and I closed my eyes as I hoped Michael wouldn't take that the wrong way. I was talking purely to keep a conversation going, and I wasn't giving any of my true thoughts. I didn't need Michael finding out that Maya might like Calum from me, so words were just coming out to keep the silence away.
"The right kind of relationship?" Michael asked and I sighed quietly before looking out my window. "Sam... have you ever been in a relationship?" Michael's question annoyed me, and how he posed it made it sound like he would be giving some sort of lousy excuse for having shitty relationships.
"No, Michael, I haven't... but I can assure you I still know what the right kind of relationship for Maya, and myself, is." I looked over at Michael, and he glanced over at me as I spoke.
"No, I wasn't trying to say you didn't know what you deserved," Michael said and his sweet tone of voice confused me. I tilted my head at him and saw him bite his lip as he looked back at the road. "I was just curious, that's all. I also know I probably shouldn't tell you this, because girls are shit at not telling their friends everything they hear, but if Calum is looking for anything, he's looking for the right kind of relationship."
"With Maya?" I asked, as if the thought was bizarre.
"I've said enough," Michael told me and I let myself respect his secrecy, but him trying to be secretive gave away the answer to my question. "I really didn't mean to call you out for not having been in a relationship or anything, I just—"
"Michael, it's okay. I tend to be overly defensive... I guess there's plenty of reasons I haven't been in a relationship before." I laughed quietly at my own words, but Michael didn't seem to find them as funny. "I'm difficult, and I know I am. I don't give guys a chance, ever, so I can't expect them to run to me with open arms. I'm... well, a bitch, to put it nicely."
"Sam, you're not a bitch... you're just smart." Michael had stopped at a red light, so we looked at each other as we talked. "You might be the first to judge, but I think you have good judgement. Also, being brutally honest isn't always a bad thing... some people need criticism."
"Some people also need to be left alone and I don't know when to leave people alone about certain things," I told him, sighing quietly. "I'm not intriguing."
"You're so intriguing," Michael said, laughing quietly as he disagreed with me. "What makes you think you're not intriguing?"
"Don't lie to me," I told Michael as I gently hit his shoulder. "Maya is intriguing, I'm... intimidating and unwelcoming. Sometimes I have dreams about meeting myself... I can just be so cold and off-putting. They're not even dreams, they're nightmares."
"Sam... you're so wrong. Sure, you might be a little intimidating, but it just means you're emotionally strong. That doesn't necessarily mean your guard is always up, but it means you're aware of everything happening around you. That's not a bad thing." As Michael spoke, I was surprised to hear what he had to say. It was almost as if he had observed me intently, purposely trying to figure me out. "Plus, I'm sure you've made plenty of people's dreams much better." After being nice for a stretch, Michael's lips curled into a smirk and I scoffed as a blush crept onto my cheeks.
Before I knew it, we had pulled up to the bowling alley that was located in town. Michael got out of his car but told me to stay where I was so he could go around and open my door for me. I tried to refuse, but he was more stubborn than I could ever be.
"Douchebags aren't supposed to be gentlemen," I told Michael as I got out of his car. He raised his eyebrows at me and I smirked before crossing my arms across my chest. "You'll have to do more than open a couple doors to 'woo' me."
"I didn't think you'd be easy to impress; I'm not that big of an idiot." As we walked to the doors of the bowling alley, Michael of course held open the door so I could walk in. We walked to the front counter and paid for a few games. "Do you wanna go order a pizza while I get the shoes?"
"Sure, I'm a size seven."
"So small," Michael gaped and my eyes rolled as I tried my hardest not to laugh. Michael handed me a twenty dollar bill and I shrugged before walking off and over to the food counter. I ordered a pizza and a coke for the table, and met Michael at our lane. "Here you go." Michael handed me a pair of bowling shoes and I thanked him before taking a seat and changing shoes.
Michael and I became quiet as we waited for Calum and Maya, and I started to think they were never going to show. I had pulled my legs into my seat and was tapping my lack of nails on the table in front of me to distract myself from the anxiety swelling in my gut. Michael rolled his chair over to me and I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"Tell me something," Michael said, causing my eyebrows to furrow together tightly. "Just anything."
"I'm really hungry... and I'm mad that we only got a cheese pizza. I usually have nearly everything on my pizza. Both types of olives—always—ham, sausage, and mushrooms," I told Michael, short of drooling from thinking about a good pizza.
"I'll add that creation to the menu," Michael joked, referring to his job at the pizza place in town.
"No... that's my pizza. Only I can enjoy it," I told Michael and he smiled at me, but nodded in respect. "Well?"
"What?" Michael asked and I laughed quietly as I sat up straighter in my seat.
"Tell me something about you," I clarified, resting my arms on my knees that were pulled close to my chest. I placed my chin on my arms and Michael casually sat back as he thought of something to tell me.
"How about a confession?" Michael asked and I looked at him skeptically.
"That makes me nervous," I said, causing him to laugh. "What could you possibly want to confess to me?"
"It was Fryer's fourteenth birthday party," Michael began, catching my interest immediately. "It was the strangest group of kids because he had super recently started to switch from one friend group to another, so I was there with the boys, and you and Maya were there... Christian was there, and a couple kids that were kids of Fryer's parents' friends. It was in the basement, and a couple of us were losing our shit because it was the first girl-boy party we'd ever been to, so we took advantage and played a lame version of seven minutes in heaven. But you and Maya didn't want to know who you got paired with, so you guys put blindfolds on, and—"
"Michael, I swear to god if you break the promise and tell me that you were my first kiss, I will never forgive you." Michael suppressed a smile and he looked down before shrugging and throwing his hands up in surrender.
"I never said it was me... but I guess you'll never know."
"Hey, guys." I jumped as someone walked up to us and I let myself laugh as I realized it was only Calum. "Maya's getting shoes." I tilted my head to the side as I realized something seemed strange. Calum wasn't making eye contact with either of us and he couldn't keep still.
Calum took a seat on the other side of the table and I looked over at Michael to see him looking at me. We both had similar expressions on our faces, and I could tell we both knew something was going on.
"Hey." Maya walked up behind me and started to play with my hair, something she often did. She passed Calum his pair of shoes by gliding them across the table and he thanked her quietly. I turned to look at Maya and her cheeks were flush, which only continued to make me think something was wrong. I stood up from my chair and excused us for a second so that I could talk to her.
"What's wrong?" I asked her and she looked at me with a perplexed look.
"I... was almost a bet?" Maya asked, more than stated. "Which doesn't matter, but I think Calum and I just told each other that we like each other." I blinked slowly as I comprehended her words and she started to slowly nod. "I didn't tell him he was a bet."
"That bet stuff is stupid... we both know that, right?" I asked, my heart pounding for an unknown reason as I tried to make her feel better. "You like him?"
"I like the idea of having another person interested in speaking to me... he's nice to me, whether it's genuine or not."
"Just let something happen, live in the moment a little. If things start to go south... we'll figure it out. But you should enjoy yourself." I shrugged my shoulders and she bit her lip as she peeked around me to see him. "I think Michael almost just told me he was my first kiss."
"At Noah's birthday party?" Maya asked and I nodded her. Her eyes widened and she looked over me again. "What if Calum was mine?"
"We'll never know," I told her and she nodded, finally letting herself calm down a little. "Don't think of this as a date... we're all just hanging out, remember?" Maya gave me a smile and nodded her head, causing me to smile. "Now, please go kick their asses at bowling, because apparently you've got some competition with Michael."
"He doesn't stand a chance."
a/n:
ah i love michael and sam
that's all
but i wanna know how y'all are feeling about this story rn!!!
leave some comments pls i love when you guys comment :)))
i'll update soon-ish!!
i love you all :)
jill
(will i ever make an a/n that's longer than 5 lines??? comment on this is u just wanna talk lmao)