He Was P(L)uke

9

"So why would you want us to hang out with you, if we have only spoken to you like once." Stacy asked. Luke shook his head, adjusting his flannel. My eyes wandered around the place: me, Stacy, and Luke where sat at a booth in a cafe near Stacy's house while Kiera planned some stuff for the baby.

"Charlie and I have quite spoken before."

"Not really." I claim, wiping my mouth with a napkin. "You only laugh at me, you know?" He giggled, and took a sip from his already cold coffee. We had been sitting there for hours, just basically talking about Kiera and Ben, without actually touching the main subject: the baby.

"Okay, but now we are speaking. That's too much improvement!" He mentioned giggling again. I sighed, and turned to look at the window. Luke and Stacy began blabbering about Kiera and stuff, so I preferred to stay quiet before I made a snarky remark about how fat she looks.

As I kept sipping, eyes looking everywhere, and my ears were deactivated, I spotted a certain black haired guy who I could recognize almost anywhere. He was my prom date, the one and only guy who had ever sang karaoke with me without feeling ashamed. Ashton had the awesome idea to pair me up with him, and although we were friends before my cousin's idea, we didn't talk that much until Prom occurred. And those were the best six hours of my life! And the worst, although he cleaned our table when I threw up.

"Guys." I said, hand moving to Stacy's mouth in order to shut her up. "Isn't that Michael?"

"Michael Clifford?" Luke remarked, making us both turn to him with a glare.

"No, dude. Michael Jackson is walking down the street even though he died a while ago." I said sarcastically. Stacy removed my hand from her mouth and kept skimming her eyes through the window.

"Oh bloody hell!" She jawed, standing up from our booth. "It is! And I really like his new look."

"We have to catch him. I miss him." I spoke. Luke turned to look at me, lip between his teeth. I smiled when I noticed him staring. He looked away, looking for Michael.

"Right. Wasn't he dead?" Luke asked as Stacy pressed her face against the window and passed her nails countless times to call Michael's attention.

"That was Michael Jackson, dude." I said mentally facepalming.

-/-

"Where did he went?" Stacy asked worriedly, holding her phone to her ear as she dialed Calum's number.

"Right."

"No, he went left." I stated.

"No, Charles. He went right." Luke argued. I shook my head and sighed. "There he goes!" He said pointing to the other side of the park. The day was turning into noon, the sun already hiding behind the mountains and it smelled like summer. Mike passed once again to the other side, hands pushed deep in his pockets.

Stacy didn't even hesitate much before she ran after him, both hands stretched to catch the young boy. Luke and I were laughing loudly at how pathetic she looked. I turned to look at Luke with a wide smile. He was perfect. But he had Kiera to tell him that. We stayed in silence, walking until we could reach for Stacy or Michael. After a few minutes, we caught Stacy who held a confused Michael to her chest as she panted.

"Guys, here he is" She said smiling.

"Oh my gosh!" Michael exclaimed excitedly, pulling out of Stacy's tight grip. "Charlie!!"

"Michael!" I yelled and ran towards him. He gave me a bone crushing hug, as we smiled without words coming from our mouths.

"Pathetic." Muttered Luke. Michael backed away, turning to look at Luke.

"Hey dude." Michael smiled. "How's life?" Luke glared at him, and crossed his arms over his chest. Michael scoffed and whispered in my ear "and you fell for this dude?"

I snorted and nodded with a smile. Stacy pushed me aside and hugged Michael once again. "I missed you Mike." She said. 

He tried to pull away, his face full of discomfort. "Stacy this is actually the first time you ever speak to me." He said. Luke rolled his eyes, and as soon as he did, his phone went off.

"Hi, yeah love. I'm going home, baby. No no... I'm okay. I'm with your sister, yeah. Yeah, Charlie is here too. Yeah okay, cool. Love you honey. Bye." Everything came out of his mouth like a bandana coming out from a clown's mouth. Michael furrowed his brows and said "Didn't knew you had a girlfriend."

"Oh she's not my girlfriend..." Luke sighed. "But we are soon to be parents."

"Oh." Michael breathed, biting his lip and turning to look at me. I furrowed my brows and sighed.

"Yeah oh." Luke said.

"And the girl is my sister." Stacy added, still holding onto Michael.

"Oh again." Michael repeated.

"And my brother was marrying her. But the baby kind of ruined all the plans."

"Oh Jesus." Sighed Michael, pushing Stacy away. "Check that time, mate. Better get going before mom gets mad. Charles, mind accompanying me?" He offered me his arm, soft smile on his lips.

I sighed. "Not at all." I smiled sadly, grabbing his arm as we walked away.