Pompeii ➳ muke

eleven

The club lights barely illuminate the room. Bodies, dripping with beads of sweat make their way about the crowded space. A girl in the corner cries as her friends fawn over her, a boy at the bar spills his drink while he attempts to sweet talk the blond next to him. All of the little details surrounding Michael are all he can seem to focus on.

Noah slides another shot in front of him before raising his own to his mouth. Michael naturally follows in suit, tilting his head back as the liquid burns his throat.

"Are you okay? I can feel the tension radiating off of you," Noah says, sliding in closer.

Michael nods, "Yeah, I'm fine. There's just a lot going on, you know? With life and work and just in my head."

The club is busy for a Sunday night, Michael notices, but after all it is Los Angeles. Sometimes he wonders if this city ever sleeps.

Tristian sits upright rather quickly before blurring out, "Are you sure you aren't getting bad again?"

And then it's like the whole club has gone quiet, even though it hasn't. It's like everyone around them has frozen, the music has stopped, and the world is spinning uncontrollably around them. Michael's head spins and his mouth goes dry.

Ajax slaps Tris on the arm, giving him a horrified look, "Dude, you can't just ask that! What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, come on! You know we have all been thinking it. He's been acting erratically lately," Tris attempts to reason before turning to Michael, "Listen, Mikey. We care about you, okay? We love you, man. I'm the only one with big enough balls to actually say something about it, but I know we've all been questioning it. If you were getting bad again, you would tell us, right?"

Michael just laughs. A quick little sound that's barely audible. It comes off more like a scoff than anything else and then he's standing, practically pushing himself away from the table.

"I have to go," he says blankly before turning and making his way toward the exit.

"Should we go after him?" Noah asks, ready to chase after the boy.

Ajax simply shakes his head, knowing that there is no use in trying.