To the Moon and Back (MJ fanfic)

Old Friends

I paused what I was doing and stood infront of the door as stiff as a statue.

There was no way... Not one way in all of God's green earth.

Every nerve in my body was suddenly a live wire and I was aware of everything. I swallowed the lump in my throat and breathed slowly through my mouth. Could it really be? Was it really...

I slowly turned around to face him, and started from the floor up. Saving his face for last. God, his face. It made me have the same reaction now as it did five years ago. Even after half a decade.

I stared up at him from across the room completely speechless. Wanting to capture the moment in a Kodak Polaroid. He was real. He was here. He was right infront of me. The man who I religiously tired to keep out of my thought process during the last few years. I could hardly wrap my brain around it.

He didn't look exactly the same, but I suppose five years did that to a person. Of course his skin tone was alot lighter, but besides the obvious, it was the small things that I noticed. He had matured in alot of ways that most people would have overlooked. He looked taller, and thinner, and more mature. Gone was the guy who had just celebrated his 30th birthday, and now infront of me was a 35 year old man.

My mouth wanted to talk, but my brain wasn't exactly cooperating. I licked my dry lips, never taking my eyes off of his. "Michael?" I whispered.

He smiled, looking relived for some reason. "Hi, Emily." He said back quietly, watching me as if I might bolt at any moment.

"You..." I shook my head in disbelief. "You remember my name?" I asked in genuine shock. Out of all the mundane things this was what surprised me.

"Yes," He smiled, confusion flickering in his eyes. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I... I just thought you would've forgotten by now." I shrugged, my cheeks heating up.

"Emily," He said in a gently tone that made me look up at him. "I could never forget you."

Pleasure pooled in the pit of my stomach and the unspoken worry and doubt that I had been carrying with me all these years disappeared. He did remember me. I wasn't just another meaningless one night stand for him, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders - a weight I didn't even know I had until now. Knowing that it was as special for him as it was for me made me feel a million times lighter.

"What... How --?" I looked around.

"I seen you through the glass." He explained. "I like coming to places like this and just watching other people have fun and act normal. Once I go down there all hell breaks lose. So I like to stay up here and observe what I can."

"And you seen me tonight?" I asked quietly.

A smile lit up on his face. "Out of all the people in the world I just happen to see you tonight." He says with wonder. "Call it fate."

"Yeah, fate." I whisper, still drinking the sight of him in, but neither of us making a move to go forward.

"Your hair's longer." He murmurs, and it sounds like an accusation.

I automatically reach up and grab the ends of my hair that lay over my chest, playing with it between my fingers. I had decided to grow it out a few years ago. "Yeah," I laugh a little. "I'm surprised that you even recognized me."

"Like I said; I could never forget you, Emily."

Because he's the bravest out of the two of us, he's the first one to take a step forward... and then another and then another and then another until he's right infront of me and I'm surrounded by him. He towers over me like he always has and the close proximity almost feels like too much after such a long time... almost. It's like taking heavy doses of medicine to make up for lost time, and just like the strongest medicine, he's making me feel all loopy and ditsy.