poison & wine, mgc

nine

     Sunday, probably the worst day of the week. Everything goes by slow and there's really no highlights to it.

     I get ready for church. I throw on jeans and a band tee since I don't feel like putting any effort into my look today. For breakfast, I have just a bowl of cereal. I can already tell that today is going to feel long.

     Niall drops me off at the church. I know he can sense that something is wrong based off his expression when he looks at me but he isn't saying anything about it. Which is good because I don't even know what's wrong. Ever since I kissed Louis, everything feels off.

     Thankfully, Zayn is here today. I sit down beside him, earning a smile from him.

     "How was yesterday? Sorry I couldn't make it, my sister was sick so I had to help with that," Zayn explains.

    "It was okay. We just talked and played games for a while," I shrug. I'm not telling Zayn about smoking and the kiss. That's his best friend and I don't think he'd wanna hear it.

     "You didn't do anything else?" Zayn looks like he's trying to hold a smile back.

     "What do you mean?" I ask Zayn with a confused tone.

     "Well, a little birdie told me that you and Louis got a little handsy. Or should I say it as you two went all the way?" Zayn nudges me with a chuckle.

     Louis told him we fucked. Great.

     "Not true. Since you wanna know, we kissed but that's it," I explain my side but we all know who usually gets believed in these situations.

     "Don't be ashamed about it if you did it. I don't see you any different," Zayn shrugs.

     "Thanks for doing the bare minimum, Zayn. But I'm telling the truth, we didn't do anything like that," I roll my eyes. I forget how immature guys can be and how they expect praise for doing stuff like not changing their opinion on a girl after hearing she has sex.

     Zayn gives me an unconvinced "mhm" and begins paying attention to the pastor who's walking on the stage.

     Usually, I find the days where it's just a sermon boring. Listening to them preach the same ideas over and over could put me to sleep. But I'm actually happy to have one today. Zayn is getting on my nerves and the only other person my age to partner with is Michael so activities wouldn't improve my mood at all.

     We get out early since the pastor finished his sermon early. I text Niall to let him know that I'm waiting outside for him.

     I lean against the wall of the church. I can hear heavy footsteps coming towards the door. I've memorized the sound so I know that it's Michael. I also know that he's gonna have something to say when he walks by.

Of course, Michael walks over to me, except he doesn't have the usual sly expression on his face as he usually would. He looks sorry.

"Hey, I just wanted to apologize for the thing I said about your mom on Friday. It was a little much," Michael says, twirling his thumbs.

Is this a prank?

"You're apologizing to me? And like, you mean it?" I ask him, genuinely taken back by what he's saying.

Michael chuckles, "Yes, I mean it. I should've known that was too far."

"Oh, thank you. Uh, don't sweat it," I nod.

Niall's car pulls into the parking lot as Michael and I stand there awkwardly. That was something I never thought would happen.

     I give him an awkward wave goodbye and walk to Niall's car. I don't bother messing with the music because I'm too busy thinking of what just happened.

He apologized to me.

Michael's said some pretty messed up things before. Name-calling and teasing were always surface level. But I do remember one instance where Michael took it even further.

It was tenth grade. Some girls nudes got leaked and the photos were being passed around by every guy, besides Ashton and Calum because I would've set that straight, in the school. The only thing is, nobody knows who she was. Her face wasn't in them so the only thing people went off was her body.

There were a few conspiracies, all which I found stupid. I didn't get the excitement of trying to figure out who it was. I didn't want to know and it's really none of anybody's business.

But, Michael took it upon himself to say they were mine. Obviously, I denied it because it just wasn't true. But since Michael was semi-popular and people only knew me because of my boyfriend, they believed him.

I was bullied for months after that. People calling me easy, a slut, or really any degrading name in the book. Ashton would get asked how I was in bed and our personal lives would be dug at everyday. It was living hell.

People eventually forgot and stopped caring. I never forgot though. Every time one of those people who called me names of invaded my relationship tries to be my friend, all I can think about is how they participated in that.

That's probably the worst thing that Michael has ever done to me. He still hasn't apologized.

     On the other hand, I've done some pretty messed up things back as a revenge plot. I should've been the bigger person but oh well.

     One example of that would be after everything with the whole nudes situation, I got his number through Luke and signed it up to multiple weird text subscriptions. Daily feet pictures, daily pregnancy facts/updates, and a text bomber that would send him 500 texts at once everyday is just a short list.

     He'd get a new number and Luke would just blindly give it to me with no questions. Is it as bad as what he did? Definitely not. But was it annoying? Very.

     Neither of us have ever apologized for anything that we've said or done before. I've got no idea where this is coming from. Weird.

     I get home and remember what Zayn said. Louis is saying we had sex. I don't know if he's told anyone else that lie. Why would he even lie about that? I decide to text him and find out myself.

     Me: louis, why did you tell zayn that we fucked? you know we didn't

     Louis: i must've explained to him what happened wrong. my bad. can we talk about this at school tomorrow? i've got to help mom out right now.

     Me: fine. meet me in the hallway that's beside the old computer labs during second period. nobody's gonna be there so we can talk.

     Louis: okay xx

Things like this remind me of why I only have two close guy friends my age. Boys are just stupid and immature. They should probably just pick a struggle.

     I'm not even completely sure what there is even to talk about. He lied, end of story. He'll probably come up with some apology and I'll just nod before walking off. I don't have to forgive him if I don't want to.

     But I definitely don't want to keep talking to him. That's a red flag. Ashton was right.

    Sunday finishes of normally. Niall and I hang out the rest of the evening. Then I get ready for bed and mentally prepare myself for whatever Louis has to say.

______
authors note
what are we thinking? i'm getting nervous for the next chapter

i kinda like doing double updates so i might do them more often than not. i don't think the next one will be tho xx