Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

And Who is Who?

Mike stayed in the bathroom after Will left again. He couldn't find the means of anything to say after Will confessed he didn't love him, so he'd just stared at him for however many seconds, trying to somehow change the answer. Mike was mad at himself because he should've been expecting it all along, even when he thought they were together, Will had never seemed fully there. It was to be completely expected, and Mike was the only one to blame because, in the end, he was just as bad as Brad. He was greedy and overprotective and he was a big, fat lair too. He thought back to what Will had said when Mike first said he didn't like Brad.

' You don't think I deserve better. You think I deserve you.' And it had been true too, which shook Mike to his very core. He was such an idiot!

Mike should've never expected anything because it was true. And now Will hated him, so anything Mike had been trying to accomplish was for nothing. It didn't matter.

He looked in the mirror again, giving his reflection a stern face. "It's not just your fault. He's the one being weird. He shouldn't have told everyone your secret like that."

You shouldn't have told anyone about Brad, his brain argued back.

Mike scoffed. "Yeah, but Will wouldn't do that... revenge thing, would he? Something's off. Something's wrong with him."

Will you stop being so paranoid about everyone? This is the fourth person you've said this about. Maybe it's just what Will said: people change. But Mike didn't want Will to change. He couldn't.

Mike leaned forward, putting his head against the wall and sighing. He started to cry again, which he hated, because he didn't deserve to cry right now. He couldn't help but feel that whatever was wrong with Will, it was his fault.

Mike heard the door opening again. He turned his head, half-expecting Will to walk through and say he was joking about what he said back there. It was not Will, although, but an older man, one of the ones who spends his nights drinking and riding around in the car that he thought looked cool after calling his neighbors various slurs. He looked at Mike, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you?"

Mike turned red, realizing he looked like he'd been crying in the public bathroom at the local diner, which he had been doing. He didn't want to deal with a random old guy making fun of him right now, which he supposed was something he'd do, so he turned to leave. "None of your concern." He brushed past the guy and heard him mutter something about disrespectful youth. Mike just rolled his eyes and left the bathroom.

"Hey!" the guy shouted. "Did you hear me?"

Mike turned slowly to face him again, annoyed. "Not to be rude, but I really don't care right now. There's a lot going on."

"Enough that you don't even answer my question?"

Mike scoffed. "Last time I checked, I don't know you, so it's really the least of my concerns. Have a good day, sir." Mike gave a cheeky smile, a middle finger, and turned around again.

He took a step to leave and felt something hit his back, making him gasp. He turned back to the man, fuming. This old guy had just punched him.

"Don't think you can disrespect me like that, kid. I'm tired of you kids and thinking you're so special." The man stepped forward, taller than Mike, definitely stronger by a mile. Sometimes Mike forgot he was built like a stick and probably shouldn't rile up a random buff dude.

Mike crossed his arms. "I'm not the one picking fights with random guys at a diner."

"Do I look like someone you wanna mess with, son?"