the propinquity effect

18

+ 18 +

When a knock came from the other side of my door I put down the book that I was rereading (The Fault in Our Stars, yet again) and pushed my glasses to the bridge of my nose. It was a Sunday, like any other Sundays in the year I wouldn't go out of the house and my mom swore she would never interfere my reading so I knew it wasn't Mom. Lexi would never go to my room except if she needed to. It wasn't my household members, who would it be?

I pushed the blanket away from my body and walked towards the door. The sound of my feet to the wooden floor gave me some sort of relaxation. I found relaxation in some weird ways, like the pitter patter of the droplets of the rain on the window or the sound of a cat meowing in the middle of the night. Those kind of things gave me a sense of release and tranquility.

I finally opened the door and was shocked by the two people facing me. Michael's mom was in front of me, her eyes red from the way she cried the night before. The way she styled her hair was different, it wasn't sleek and uncombed like she wasn't making any effort to fix the nest she called her hair. Beside her feet was Michelle, wearing one of Michael's band T-Shirt that touched the floor. If Michael was there, he would be totally furious.

"Can I help you?" I questioned, closing my bedroom door behind me so she couldn't see the mess I made upon the poor bedroom.

Since Michael kissed me the day before and he sped down the street, I blamed myself for his kiss and I became angry at myself. When I went to my room I threw some of my books to the wall, ripped of posters and kept on throwing pillows everywhere. I wasn't sure why I was angry at myself, I should be angry at Michael. He kissed me.

"Michael has not gone home since yesterday. He won't pick up his phone and he took his car with him, I've been worried sick. Do you have any idea where his whereabouts is?" Michael's mom asked, worry evident in his voice as she asked that. Michelle was clutching on one of her feet.

I really had no idea. Since Michael kissed me I shut him off. I didn't turn on my phone, in fear that Luke or Michael would call me. Shit, Luke! I just basically cheated on my boyfriend and I knew I couldn't live with that, cheating on him. That was an irresponsible thing to do, at least I didn't kiss Michael back.

"I have absolutely no idea. But I'll go look at Luke's house, in case he wanted to practice with his band in the middle of the night." I shrugged. The reason why I wanted to go to Luke's house, there were two. One, if Michael was there. Two, I wanted to tell Luke about mine and Michael's incident. Both would end in tears.

"Thank you, Alexa. You're a really good girlfriend to him." Michael's mom wiped away the tear from her cheek and I stood there. Girlfriend? Wasn't the title owned by our very own Natalie Adams?

"Oh.. you must have mistaken me for his real girlfriend. Natalie, uh, is his girlfriend. I'm just a - a" I tried to find a specific title for my relationship with Michael. Friends would never kiss each other when they were in a relationship. "I'm his ultra mega best-friend." I grinned.

"That wasn't what I saw, friends doesn't kiss after they got involved in a fight." She said, eyebrows furrowed as I mentally banged my head on the door. She obviously saw our kiss, maybe my mom saw our kiss too. I really didn't know how to feel. I was weak on the knees and I wanted to tell her it was just her hallucination. That didn't sound right.

"Oh, that! Uh, we just - we just - nothing. That was nothing, really." I smiled sweetly as I looked at Michelle. She was also apparently confused as I tried to prove to them that we were just friends, platonic.

"Do you think him, running away has something to do with the kiss you two shared?" Karen asked, raising her eyebrow as she did and I bit my bottom lip. I had not thought of that, probably.