All My Love

Chapter 22

"Becca?" I hear a familiar voice and look up to see Michael dressed in a ridiculous costume. I sniff and stand up straight in a small laugh before greeting my friend. "What's wrong?" He asks, genuinely concerned and I shrug.

"Nothing." I fake a smile and check out his hotdog costume where I can only see his face and limbs. I can't help but stifle a short laugh from how hilarious he looks.

"Bullshit." Michael laughs and my eyes lock with his before I can feel the burning sensation forming once again in my eyes. "C'mere." He nods his head towards himself, keeping his hand out for me to take. I do just that and he guides me to a bench that sits in the middle of a beautiful garden behind the concrete patio. "Do me a favor and unzip the back of this so I can actually speak to you as a human being and not some obnoxious gas station snack." Michael chuckles turning around and I find the zipper, bringing it down to the bottom his his back. His arms get out of their placements in the holes and the front bends forward.

"Yeah I don't think I'd take you seriously." I laugh, picking up the front of the costume for a split second before letting it fall.

"True—" Michael lets out a breathy laugh and continues. "—But I couldn't help but over hear what happened over there with Luke and Harry." My body tenses and I begin to replay the events in my head. "It obviously wasn't good. I'm guessing he tried something with you? And I'm guessing it happened before?" Michael asks and I look away from him into the distance and slowly nod.

"It's over with now though." I say, trying to brush it off while standing up but he grabs my wrist. Michael gently brings me back down to sit and takes a deep breath before parting his extremely red lips.

"Luke isn't Luke." He tells me. I pinch my eyebrows together in utter confusion as to why he's telling me that. "You know Luke, you know he was never like that before."

"So I thought." I say giving him a chance to nod.

"Unfortunately, Luke has been getting into harder drugs. I don't know what exactly but I know he's been getting his hands on some stuff." Michael informs me and I feel a small gasp fall off my lips as I cover my mouth. "I know it doesn't give an excuse but he isn't the same person right now. I guarantee that if we were to go back to wherever you guys were, he'd still be laying there."

"I-I didn't know."

"No one knows. Besides me. He told me while he was overly excited, he then tried to get me to go back home with him to do whatever it is." Michael sighs and sits back against the bench, putting his hands together before continuing on. "Next week I'm taking him to a rehab center to get him off of it so it won't worsen... That's if he agrees to."

"That's good. Really good." I whisper. This is such a relief. I know it's not an excuse, just like Michael said, but it is pretty odd that out of nowhere he just became some kind of hands on guy. He usually is very sweet and never oversteps boundaries with anyone.

"But, that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about." Michael spills. My body begins to ignite with heat, causing me to rip my cardigan off and mask. Once the mask is ripped off, I finally feel like I can breathe properly. I've been suffocating ever since I put that damn thing on and this whole situation isn't helping. Why is it all happening so fast? Why can't I ever get a break? It's a constant go, go, go with me now. I need a break. A long one.

"What did you want to talk about?" I ask, trying to keep it cool.

"If I ask you a question, will you be one hundred percent honest with me?" Michael asks, tilting his head more to get a good view of my face.

"Sure." I respond, feeling the nerves run all over my body. I take a hard swallow and roll my thumbs around each other, anxiously waiting for the question to hit me. I have a feeling it's going to involve his roommate.