A series of not so chill events

Michael is better off in the bathroom.

Michael's POV again bc I love writing through his perspective

I sat in my P.T cruiser as I watched Jeremy enter the hospital. I was smiling until he was out of view, and I slumped in my carseat. I couldn't believe he would just leave me like that. I sighed. He said he would come back later, but when exactly is that? I guess I'll just have to count on his word.  I turned on the radio and watched all the people walk around. After about 20 minutes of spacing out, I noticed a bunch of high schoolers come out of the hospital. This was most likely Jeremy and his friends, and I was right.

They were all laughing. I wondered what was so funny..? Then, Jenna looked in my direction and I ducked down so that she wouldn't see me. I peeked through the window and she just shrugged, and continued rambling over whatever it was she was obsessed with today. God, she was so annoying. And I didn't even have a particular reason of not liking Jeremy's friends, I just didn't. Brooke, of course, was an exception but we still didn't talk that much.

The only one who wasn't talking, was Rich. He seemed a bit troubled. Part of me wanted to find out why but I shrugged. I didn't care. We weren't friends. Then, the wonderful Christine Canigula caught my eye. I never would've thought that she would be friends with the 'popular kids' but here we are. I never thought Jeremy or I for that matter would even talk to one of them, but again, here we are.

As soon as they were all out of sight, I exhaled and slumped back in the seat of my car. I looked down at myself and realized I had left the house in my Pijamas. How nice.

I drove back to my house and got out of the car. I didn't have anything to do today, and I didn't know what to do now that Jeremy was gone, but I suppose I could take the day off for myself. I unlocked the front door, and saw Mamá watching one of her telenovelas. I suddenly thought about Nanay, and realized I could've said hi to her in the hospital. I barely got to see her, she was so busy!

"Ma, I'm going to change and then i'm going to go out."

"Oh, Michael, is that you? Where's Jeremy?"

"He went.. out."

"Ah, okay. Have fun!"

I could tell she wasn't paying attention, which was honestly good in my case since I didn't really want to talk.

I changed my clothes and grabbed my headphones, as well as my wallet and phone.

I ran back downstairs and said bye to my mom. I went back inside my car and started driving. I didn't know where I would go, but just driving around helps me clear my head.

I went to 7/11 and parked in the parking lot.

If Jeremy didn't want to do it with me, then I'd do it myself.

I mixed every single slushee flavor together, and even bought ice cream to mix it in as well. Everyone looked at me weirdly, but the girl at the counter seemed unfazed. She knew me well, and she knew my.. habits. It was practically free therapy. 

I mean, as long as I was paying for everything, they couldn't really do anything, so everyone should just mind their own business.

I also picked out some other snacks for later when Jeremy and I were going to finally hang out, because I trusted him to come back.

I walked back to my car and happily sipped my slushee. I bit down on my lip  and scrunched my eyes up... Brainfreeze...

I drove to the park, where I ate my small cup of ice cream on a bench. I put a few spoonfuls of it inside my drink and mixed it with my straw. This would be interesting. I grinned and took a sip.

• • •

Well then. That is something I'll never try again. I cleaned up my area and got up from the bench.

I watched people around  in the park; Children playing in the playground and sandbox together, couples walking hand-in-hand, people walking their dogs, musicians with large crowds gathered near them, and many others. I liked watching people. You can tell what kind of person they are by looking at just a few details.

I walked back to my car. It was 12:57. I didn't know what to do next so my first thought was the mall. Then I realized that's where Jeremy was. The mall is huge, though so surely we won't bump into each other..? I sighed and just turned on my P.T Cruiser.

I drove while listening to the Top 50 Hits on the radio, and most of them were honestly bad, but whatever. In about 30 minutes, I arrived at the mall.

On the weekends, you didn't have to pay for a parking ticket, which was weird because that's when most people would actually come, but I was grateful that I didn't have to pay regardless.

I locked my car and entered the mall. Where shall I go first? I was craving pretzels from Auntie Anne's, but I decided to go window shopping first and then see if I was still hungry.

Of course, the first store I went to was Spencer's Gifts.  They had a bunch of weird stuff and I loved that. In the end, I bought some more Crystal Pepsi because Jeremy never got to try it, and some cute dog stickers. They were corgis.. I love corgis.

It's funny that even though I was taking this day for myself, I kept thinking about what Jeremy would like, or what I should get for him. It was frustrating.

I went to some other stores just to look around, and then I decided to go to the food court to get my pretzels.

I was just about to step onto the escalator, when I heard my name.

I ignored it, though, it was probably some other Michael.

But that's when I saw a short kid with a patch of red hair run behind me. "Michael?!"