Michael Afton x Reader ~ The Boy on The Bus

Chapter Four - The Bet

You swear that that sleep you had on that couch was one of the best nights of sleep you had ever had. You couldn't tell if it was because of all the pillows or if it was because Michael was there. Maybe both. Michael's presence had seemed like it brung some sort of harmony into your small apartment. It felt too empty when it was just you alone.

You woke up to the sun spilling out of the large window on the wall. It was fairly bright since you woke up sometime after 2 PM. You yawned, sitting up and stretching. You gazed over at Michael, who was still sleeping soundly despite the brightness of the room. You got up and stumbled over to your small bathroom, doing everything you needed to do. Brushing your teeth and your hair and all that good stuff before walking over to your bedroom and changing into a different outfit.

You decide that you were going to make some breakfast for yourself and Michael, you know, just to impress him with your awesome cooking skills (you had almost burned down your apartment building at least five times). You were going to make some eggs and bacon, something simple yet very yummy and good.

After burning yourself around a good ten times and almost dropping your eggs on the floor, breakfast was done. You placed both plates on your small dining table, filling two glasses with orange juice and praying that Michael would wake up soon. You peeked back into the living room and breathed a sigh of relief to see that he was awake. You were NOT looking forward to waking him up. You would feel bad, he looked too peaceful when he was sleeping.

"Good morning sleepyhead," You started, "I made breakfast."

He looked at the clock, "It's 2:45."

"So? We just woke up."

"I don't usually eat breakfast," He paused, "I will this time though, obviously. I'm just usually  too lazy to make anything in the mornings."

"What! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, mister! Do you need me to start bringing you food?"

"Nah, it's fine. I don't usually get hungry until later anyways," He said, getting up and stretching. The dark circles under his eyes had become lighter. He looked more well-rested than usual.

"Well, you better be hungry now. I made eggs!" You smiled, walking back into the kitchen. Michael followed after you, and you both sat at the table. You picked up your fork and prayed that the eggs you made were good.

"So," You asked, "How did you sleep?" You took a bite of one of your egg.

"Amazing. Probably the best sleep I've had in like, three weeks." He ate some of his own egg, "No nightmares or nothing,"

You smiled, "Oh, that's great to hear. You should start coming over more often then, huh?"

"I guess so," He smiled back, "What about you? How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good. That couch is comfy!"

The two of you made some more idle conversation, talking about this and that. You had both finished your breakfast and juice, and you were glad to see that Michael had enjoyed it. You cleaned up the couch area, throwing the popcorn bowl in the sink and snack wrappers in the trash.

You kept most of the pillows and blankets on the couch, collapsing on it when you were done cleaning. Michael sat next to you.

"So, what now?" He asked, staring at your wall.

You shrugged, "Uhhh, I dunno." You paused for a moment. Then, suddenly, you had a great idea, "Oh my God! What if we went roller skating?"

Michael smiled, "Wait, that would be fun..." Then he added,  "...if I could roller skate."

"You can't roller skate? That's so funny. I'm gonna laugh when you fall."

"Ugh, whatever, I'll drag you down with me." He laughed. You laughed with him. 

"Would you actually want to go roller skating?" You asked. You hoped he did. You didn't have any other ideas of fun things you two could do.

"Oh yeah, sure. I don't have anything else to do. Do you have work tonight?" He asked.

You nodded, "Yeah, do you?"

"Yeah, but we have time until then."

"True," You got up, "Welp, lets get going then, I can pay for you if you want."

"No, it's fine. I got money." He said, following you and getting up. You both got your shoes on and walked out the door. You ended up walking to the skating rink since the bus didn't come for another hour and it was only a few blocks away.

When you got to the skating rink, you did the usual skating rink stuff; paying for your tickets, getting your skates, and spending an hour lacing up your skates. Y'know, the usual. Eventually, you and Michael were ready to go and almost die on the rink. Just from looking at it, you were nervous both of you were gonna get run over. Everybody looked way too good at roller skating, they didn't even need to hold onto the wall! You shakily stood up on your skates, and Michael did the same. Both of you almost fell and immediately grabbed onto each other for support, laughing.

"I though you were good at roller skating?" He laughed.

"I may have overexaggerated a bit," You smiled, "I bet I can still skate better than you, though"

"Yeah, okay. I bet you can't. First person to skate a whole lap without hanging onto the wall wins."

"Bet. If I win, you have to give me twenty dollars." You really liked to bet on things for twenty dollars. If you won this bet, you would now have forty dollars, which sounded very good to you.

"Hmm..." Michael thought, trying to come up with something for his side of the bet, "If I win, you have to go on a date with me!" He finally decided.

You definitely weren't expecting him to say that, and you could feel your face getting hot, but instead of freaking out like you were internally, you just stuck out your hand and smiled, "Deal."

He shook your hand, giving you a wide smile "Deal!"

You both slowly made your way to the floor, almost falling on your faces many times. As soon as you got on the floor, you latched onto the wall. Michael did the same, obviously. You were confident you could win this bet... but you weren't exactly sure you wanted to. Would it be too obvious if you let him win? You really wanted to go on this date with him. Not only was he the most perfect-looking man on earth, but you were comfortable around him. You could joke and laugh and you loved how funny he was. You needed to lose this bet!

 You slowly made your way around the floor, the loud music mixing with people talking distracting you from how slow you were going. You could barely hear your own thoughts and had almost forgotten about the bet. 

After one lap, which took about seven minutes, you considered trying to let go of the wall. You could definitely do that. It wasn't like you did and almost immediately fell. In your defense, the floor felt frustratingly slippery. It was hard to keep your balance! You glanced behind you at Mike, who was pretty far behind you. He seemed to be working really hard on balancing and kept trying to let go of the wall. You decided to wait for him to catch up to you, then took his hand.

"Let's skate together, maybe it will be easier to balance?" You smiled.

Michael tried to say no, but you were already pulling him away from the wall. You both shakily and very slowly skated, grasping onto each other for support. It was scary, skating without the wall, but it was more fun this way, plus you were able to hold Mike's hand. 

After a few minutes, both of you were already getting better. Michael was somehow ten times better at skating than you, even if he did stumble a little from time to time. You realized that the lap was almost finished, and neither of you had touched the wall. You decided you were gonna let Michael win, letting go and shakily skating over to the wall and hanging onto it for dear life. 

Michael watched you as you skated towards the wall, and took that opportunity to skate the rest of the lap. Of course, he was happy he won the bet, throwing his hands up in the air, victorious. Then he promptly lost his balance and fell over, laughing.