Will's POV:
Monday 1st February, 1988-
Fumbling through my locker, I turned my back on all of the people in the hallway who still - even now - felt the need to mumble about me. The anxieties that had once forced me to keep a low profile under their reproachful stares no longer affected me and I ignored their remarks and grumbles so much I wasn't even sure which of the numerous things I was infamous in the school for was the topic of conversation this time.
Was it the whole "Zombie Boy" discussion again? Was it my assault? Was it the fact that I have a boyfriend? Who knows? And more appropriately, who fucking cares?
Besides, my mind was elsewhere.
I was chewing on my bottom lip, trying hard not to let the sadness I was feeling deep inside show on my face as I'd promised myself I wouldn't be that typical, clingy boyfriend who couldn't even go a short while without seeing the love of their life - even if a whole two days did seem like an eternity. I could technically live without him, for a short while, but that doesn't mean I'd ever want to and especially not on that day.
Mike had made it clear to me that he never wanted to go to the city with his family. My boyfriend had told me himself that he hated the idea of spending time away from me and he'd begged and begged his parents to allow him to stay home but that didn't make it any easier saying goodbye to him as he gave me a last, heart-wrenching kiss when they ultimately refused him and he climbed into the car, forcing me to watch him disappear into the distance.
I missed him, that much was clear to everyone I'd encountered over those few days apart. Whenever my mother would glance at me, I witnessed the worried expression etched into her facial features when our eyes locked and I was sure I knew what it was that was making her feel this way. Even I'd noticed that my eyes seemed different and the sparkle that had been held within them for months seemed to have vanished, leaving them cold and dull.
It's only a few days, Will. Get a grip.
"Hey!" The bright voice of my sister called as I heard her gentle footsteps approach me. My heart felt ever so slightly lighter as I was enveloped by the presence of the girl for the first time that day as I'd been house sitting for the Wheelers and hadn't been home since the previous night.
"Hi." I responded, spinning around to face the joyful girl and hoping against hope that my smile didn't look quite as obviously forced as it felt to me. Max embraced me tightly and patted my back a couple of times and I was sure that she'd already seen through my façade but, ultimately, that didn't surprise me at all. Few people in this world understood me quite the way my sister did.
The red-head's hands never left my shoulders, even after she drew back from the hug and I observed the way her eyes darted around my face, searching for the reason for my woes within it. "Haven't you seen Mike yet? He's back today, right?" Max pondered the question, a hint of confusion laced within her tone as she clearly was unsure as to how I couldn't be happy about the imminent return of the love of my life.
"Not anymore," I sighed, my eyes falling to the floor as my heart began to ache with sorrow and longing. "Jonathan called before school and said he's been on the phone to Nancy. She told him their mom has decided to extend the trip because she thinks it's good for "bonding time". She clearly doesn't care that Mike's missing school and Jonathan said they haven't even set a date to return yet. Mike never told me any of this when he called last night so I guess it was a decision made last minute after he'd hung up, or something."
"He's not back today?" My sister gasped as she finally understood what it was that had led to me being so obviously down-hearted, "He has to be back today. Isn't today-"
"Yes." I responded abruptly, cutting her off as I didn't want her to put into words the fact that I was spending Mike and I's one year anniversary all alone. "It is but it doesn't matter, I guess."
"It does matter." Max announced, her eyes reflecting the same sadness I was feeling.
Though I knew the girl was hoping to support me with her words, my mind jumped to the conclusion that she was blaming Mike for the turn of events and I leapt to his defence immediately, perhaps a little too hastily. "It's not his fault, Max. Don't act like it is." I snapped at the girl.
"I'm not, I swear. It's totally his parents who have done this. "Bonding time"? That sounds like total bull to me, since when do the Wheelers bond with their kids? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd done this intentionally so that Mike wouldn't be with you today." My sister spat, her feelings about how the Wheelers treated me had been more than apparent since the day Mike and I came home and he told her what his mother had said about the two of us.
I gave the girl yet another sad smile as we went our separate ways and I began to head towards Homeroom without Mike, feeling more alone than I could remember being in a long while.
The day passed me by as I tried to focus on literally anything other than the dead weight of the heavy heart beating away inside my chest. I was commended by no less than three of my teachers for the extra effort I seemed to be putting into my school work and for the amount of questions I'd actively raised my hand to answer in class. None of this, however, had anything at all to do with any hopes to improve my academic achievements. I was well aware that every last second of attention I was paying in class meant a second less I had to dwell on the prospect of going to sleep in Mike's empty bed on a night that should be spent in his arms, the very arms I'd been held by almost every night for the past year.
As I was riding in Jonathan's car to Mike's home again that night, silence had consumed the both of us as I stared miserably out of the window. As I no longer had anything to distract me from the thoughts I'd been fighting against all day, the predatory sense of loneliness clawed at my heart and crept up my spine, leaving me feeling cold despite the fact that the car windows were rolled up tightly to keep out the chill.
I felt rather than witnessed my brother's eyes flick to me for a second before flitting back to the road and I was sure he was about to disrupt the silence. "Do you want me to stay over with you tonight? I'm not sure how I feel about you staying in the big house by yourself. I don't want you to be alone." Jonathan confirmed my suspicions as he asked me the question, not bothering one bit to keep the concern from his voice.
"I was fine last night and the night before." I responded dully and, though I greatly appreciated my brother's offer, I knew the sense of loneliness wouldn't disappear by spending time with him - there was only one person who could eradicate it and that person was definitely not the one in the car with me.
"Are you sure?" Jonathan asked, unconvinced but obviously not willing to push me too much further than he already had.
"Yup." I finished and fell silent once more and I never even bothered to turn my head towards the boy for the remainder of the now totally quiet drive.
Faint February stars attempted to peek through the clouds high above and had just begun to twinkle. The sunlight had vanished and, by the time I was climbing out of the old car and was heading towards the front door of the Wheelers' home, a trickle of starlight had lit my path.
A wild thought occurred to me as I twisted the key in the lock - the key that had been given to me by Mike's father two months prior as his mother pursed her lips indignantly by his side - that perhaps this was all some trick by my boyfriend who would actually be waiting to surprise me as soon as I stepped inside. However, as I swung the door wide open with my heart rate beginning to pick up ever so slightly in anticipation, I was left dispirited and disappointed to be greeted by an entirely empty house. It had all been a unrealistic dream at best, I had known that, but for one whole moment I had actually hoped it would be more than what it inevitably turned out to be.
I collapsed on the couch and, as the exhaustion of avoiding my feelings all day finally caught up to me, I began to weep.
Though I knew I was only feeling sorry for myself and I would see Mike soon enough, I couldn't help the tears and the belief that it was unfair that this was how I would be spending our anniversary. Finally giving into my emotions brought little relief but at least the tiniest amount was better than none at all so I allowed myself to mourn what this day should have been until I remembered that my boyfriend would at least be calling soon.
Taking a few deep breaths, I forced myself to regain some control as I desperately didn't want Mike to hear the emotions in my voice on the phone call because it would only make him feel worse than I was sure he already did about the entire situation.
My eyes and ears were trained so intently on the phone that I almost missed the sound of the doorbell's tinny ring that echoed throughout the house. For a brief moment, I considered not answering whoever it was so they'd just go away because I told myself that they'd only be looking for the Wheelers and then I'd have to explain to a stranger that yes, they're out of town...no, I don't know when they're coming back however the person pressed the doorbell again and I became aware that they were more insistent than I had originally given them credit for.
Trudging towards the door, I ran over the best ways in my mind to tell the person to leave me alone without seeming rude and hoped that, however I did it, the person at the door would get the message loud and clear. The words, however, died a happy death on my lips, never to be uttered, as I opened the door and stared into the dark eyes waiting on the other side.
"Sorry I'm so late." The boy muttered sheepishly before grinning at me. "Happy one year, beautiful."
"Mike!" I practically screamed as I flung myself towards him, the force and momentum almost having us both toppling to the floor. The boy barely had the chance to steady us before I caught his lips in my own and I marvelled at how I seemed to have forgotten just how incredible that sensation felt. How could I have forgotten that, when we kissed, it was more than just our mouths that were connected but our souls and lives too were forever entwined with one another?
I separated from the boy I truly adored for a mere second to catch a breath and respond with my own "Happy Anniversary" before I was kissing him again, more intensely than I'm pretty sure I ever had before.
Mike had to be the one to eventually pull away from the kiss as I was only deepening it with every second we remained locked together. "Woah, woah. Slow down." The dark-haired boy giggled slightly as he spoke to me, "At least let me get inside my house before we continue this."
Still not quite believing that the boy who meant absolutely everything to me was right here, I continued to clutch tightly onto him as if to keep him from disappearing as the two of us walked together into the house. I soon became aware that Mike's whole body was cold and shaking as I held onto him and a question suddenly dawned on my mind. "Wait, how did you get here?" I asked, aware he'd come all this way alone.
"Well, Nance didn't have her car so she couldn't bring me and my mom refused to drive me but I made it clear to her that, under no circumstances would I not come home today...so I took multiple buses and then walked two miles to get here. Honestly, it was a bit of a nightmare but nothing in the world could have kept me from you today and seeing your gorgeous face right now has made it all so worth it." The boy looked downwards and gave me a goofy, tired-looking smile as he absentmindedly ran a free hand through his slightly matted curls.
My heart surged with adoration and never in my life up until then had I felt more love for the boy standing before me. I'd previously convinced myself that I couldn't possibly love him any more than I did but, as Mike continued to smile down at me, I knew I'd been completely and utterly wrong as I fell a million times more in love with him. I was absolutely sure that this was the best moment of my life.
All of a sudden, as the dark eyes that glittered with unequalled splendour gazed down intently into my own, I felt something change deep within me. It was as though a switch I never knew existed had been flicked and what had once horrified me beyond almost anything suddenly became something I could now only see as truly beautiful, something that had always felt wrong before suddenly felt more right than anything else ever had.
With Mike's arm still wrapped around my waist, I removed one of my hands from where I had buried it within his shirt and raised it to caress his freckled cheek. My heart fluttered wildly with a mixture of excitement, anticipation and anxiety as I opened my mouth to tell my boyfriend something I now knew to be true. "Mike?" I said quietly, my voice teetering upwards and turning his name into a question.
"Mmm?" The boy I loved hummed back, contentedly.
Taking a deep breath didn't help me at all as I still stammered and spluttered over the words as I fought to get them to leave the safety and confinement of my own mouth. "I wa-want...I want you."
"What?" Mike choked on his own spit as he responded, the smile falling from his face to be replaced by an obviously shocked but otherwise unreadable expression.
"I want you." I repeated, this time much more surely than before as I gained a newfound confidence I knew had been created out of sheer love for the boy I knew was my soulmate. "I'm sure of it now. Do you want me too?"
The boy didn't say a single word as he continued to stare at me and then slowly, so slowly that the movement was almost completely still, he began to nod his head and I reached up to kiss him again. As I pulled back from the kiss, my lips slid towards his ear where I whispered words I knew I wanted no one else in the world to ever hear from my own mouth as they were reserved for Mike Wheeler alone:
"Make love to me."
And so Mike Wheeler carried me up the stairs to his room.
*
Sorry the end was cringey but I wanted it to be VERY clear that Will was never ready before but he DEFINITELY is this time. THIS IS NOT ONLY A MILESTONE IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP, GUYS BUT ALSO A MILESTONE IN HIS LIFE!
Sorry this has taken so long, I've been on holiday and didn't take my iPad so I've been out of contact with the entire Wattpad world for a week.
Also, here's some self promo but I recently published a new Byler fic if ya wanna check it out 😉😉 it's very different to this one but I hope you still enjoy it if ya wanna check it out.
Again, sorry this is cringey af but it needed to be clear and I couldn't do it without the cringe.
Hope you enjoyed.
Love you.
Oh, and though we're nearly there, we're still not quite done here.
- Niamh.