Broken||M.C

*Thirty-One*

//I honestly didn't think that playing video games could be attractive...but I guess it can be\\

Luke

I sat on the bus, my headphones in and the music blasting. We had just finished a show and I was just relaxing some. Ashton and I were sitting in the main part of the bus, while Michael and Calum were in the back playing video games.

Michael hadn't been the same since he and Avery had broken up. He tried to act like everything was okay, but I knew it wasn't. I didn't say anything, though. I knew that when he was ready he would open up. I hadn't heard from her in a while though, so I decided to call her.

I went to the back and got into my bunk. I pulled the curtain and called her. She picked up almost immediately.

"Luke?"

She sounded surprised to hear from me.

"Hey Avery, I hope it's okay that I called."

"Yeah, it's okay. I just wasn't expecting to hear from you."

"Oh, well how are you? We haven't talked in a while."

There was a pause and then I heard her sigh. I should've known it was bad, maybe I shouldn't have called her.

"Avery, you can be honest with me."

"Well then honestly Luke, I just want to die."

Hearing her say that was almost enough to make me start crying. But, it wasn't so much that she said it, it was how she said it. No emotion, no feeling, like it was nothing.

"Avery, I don't know what to say, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's not even Michael's fault. It's my dad's, well if you can call him that. Michael just did it to protect me."

"Yeah, he told us."

"H-how is he?" She asked.

I didn't know what to tell her. He seemed like the same old crazy Michael, but at night I had heard him. He would be crying, sometimes almost sobbing, it had kept me up some nights when we slept on the bus. Sometimes he didn't even sleep, he just stayed up playing video games all night.

"He's doing okay. It's hard for him too, but he's doing okay."

"That's good. I'm glad he's getting over it." She said.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well hey, I gotta go." She said.

"Oh yeah that's fine."

"Thanks for calling though, you can call whenever you want." She said.

"Okay, same to you."

"Thanks. Bye, Luke."

"Bye, Avery."

After we hung up, I just laid back in my bunk. Part of me wanted to tell Michael what was going on, how she was feeling. But I thought better of it. He was trying to protect her, I know he was and so did she. I knew he was hurting, but I just didn't know how much. I was determined to fix this, I had to. If anyone deserved to be happy it was Michael, and he needed Avery. Whether he knew it or not, he did and I was going to make it happen.

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Avery

I woke up and got ready for work. I had to open the store today, so I had to be there a little earlier than usual. I walked into the bathroom and washed my face, put on some makeup and straightened my hair. The blue was fading some and I hadn't decided whether I was going to redye it or not. Mom had actually liked it, but it was my last reminder of Michael, aside from his flannel. So, I didn't know if it was a good idea to keep it or not.

I put on some skinny jeans,  a plain blue t shirt and I wrapped Michael's flannel around my waist. I wore my black converse, grabbed my bag and headed out. I grabbed a muffin and headed out to my car.

Once I arrived at the store, I turned the sign to the "Open" side and got things ready for the day. The bell jingled that someone had walked into the store, and I turned around from what I was doing and saw Ragan walk in.

"Well, you look good today." She said. "Did you actually sleep?"

"Yeah, I did. Hard too, it felt amazing."

I walked around from the counter and walked over to one of the CD cases and started putting in more CDs.

"Is that Michael's flannel?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah it is." I said.

"Oh Avery, you kept it? What else of his do you have?"

"This is it and I forgot that I had this. I found it last night. I know it's crazy but I think it's why I slept so good. I wrapped myself up in it and fell asleep. It smells like him, so it was almost like his arms were around me."

I felt a knot in my throat. I almost choked on those last words. Tears stung the back of my eyes, but I managed to keep them from falling. I went back to sorting through the CDs. Ragan walked over to me and started helping.

"Luke called last night." I said.

She stopped what she was doing and just stared at me.

"Really? Why?"

"He was just checking on me. I thought it was sweet of him."

"Yeah, I guess. Did he say how Michael was?"

"Okay, guess he's getting over it faster then I thought."

"Guys are like that. They'll nope around for a little while, but then they go right back to normal."

I don't know why, but it just bothered me. It bothered me that he didn't even seem to be phased by what happened. He hadn't said "I love you" back to me the day he left and now it seemed like he was getting over me just like that. Maybe the threats were just an excuse to leave....

"We should go out this weekend." She said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Ragan, you know me. I don't go out, I stay in."

"Well, you're going out. We'll have fun. Go to dinner, go see a movie. Who knows, maybe even go shopping or leave the state!"

"Dude, you're crazy." I said.

"You need to start having fun and forget about crappy boys."

"Okay, we could order pizza and watch Netflix." I said.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"Great." I said.

I even smiled a little. It wasn't much but it was a start for sure. I was feeling a little happier, but the sting was still there and I just hoped that it would go away. I mean it wouldn't last forever, would it?

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Holy crap look at that! I updated twice in one day! It's just that I've got so much planned for this story, but the sad part is that it's almost done😔 the good part is that I already have an idea for another!!😄 Anyways, keep voting and commenting and all that great stuff, byeeee