the babysitter ; muke

sixteen

"Thank you for getting me away for a little while," Michael said to Luke as they stood upon Michael's porch, smiling as he did so. Luke had decided to walk Michael to his home from the woods, just because it was close by.

"I don't mind; spending time with you is never a burden. Even if it did cause me to miss work," Luke returned the gesture, his dimples peeking up from beneathe his cheeks as they were summoned. His hands were shoved in his pockets, his feet were curled inward.

The wind sat at a soft chill, slightly blowing strands of Michael's blonde hair in his light eyes. Giving Michael another short smile, Luke turned and almost set foot down the stairs. He turned back around, and looked to Michael.

Without warning, he grabbed Michael's back and brought their bodies together in a tight hug. Michael was hesitant, but he soon recovered and wrapped his arms around his friend, resting his head on Luke's shoulder. Michael never knew how much he could enjoy a hug.

It was merely 50 seconds before they bothered to let go of each other, the hug being needed both ways around. When they did let go, a shy smile sat on both of their faces.

"See you," Michael waved, opening his front door and leaving Luke alone, wanting to be back in the comfort of Michael.

When Michael shut the door behind him, the first thing his eyes landed on was his mother on the couch, a newspaper in one hand and another hand resting on her temple as if she were stressed. Michael wouldn't be surprised if she were; he knew he was a handful.

However, when he walked right past his mother and she didn't dare look up from her newspaper, Michael didn't care if he was a handful.  He wanted to run right back outside and go away again with Luke, because that is the only thing that helped him in the way he knew he needed.

Though he didn't, of course. Luke might have been sick of seeing him so much, and Michael didn't want that.

So instead, Michael took his time as he climbed the stairs. His body was slouched as if he couldn't hold himself up, only because he was dreading being bored.

But when Michael's phone went off, indicating he had a text, he was ecstatic to see one of his "friends" John had invited him to a party later on. Looks like he wasn't going to be bored after all.