After the latest sequence of events, Luke seems to have returned to locking himself in his room. Michael’s heard not a peep from that side of the hallway; if Michael didn’t know better, he’d assume Luke died, since he can’t even definitively say if Luke’s been out for bathroom trips. The only thing to suggest any sort of life form existing in that dark room is Ashton and Calum bringing Luke meals now and then. Even then, it doesn’t look to be enough food to actually sustain a living being.
Michael’s not even sure why he’s noticed anything at all; he doesn’t feel guilty, he doesn’t, and he’s not interested in Luke at all. And it’s a miracle, frankly, that he even pokes his head out of his room with all the goddamn drama blowing up his phone.
He had been almost convinced, almost, that it was a clean break, that he could start completely over, but guess who called him up last night?
His mother, and he was none too happy about it.
“Why’d you leave me, Michael? What did I do?”
“Mum, I can’t--”
“I would have let you have what you wanted, if you’d stayed, I would have done everything for you.”
“I know, I just needed a break.”
“A break? I’m your mother, Michael. That’s not how it works.”
“You’re going to be fine. Aunt Madison will take care of you.”
“I’m not a child, Michael, I don’t need to be taken care of.”
“Mum--”
“You should have been more considerate. What am I going to do now? You need to come back...”
And then Michael had sighed and let her ramble on. Even granted that she had been completely lucid and justifiably irritated, he hadn’t felt like reasoning with her. There simply is no reasoning with her.
Michael also got a text from his aunt saying that his mother’s doing well. He’s not sure exactly what to think.
“Hey,” Calum says, and Michael looks up from where he’s lying on his bed...as usual. “We’re going to watch a movie. Wanna watch?”
Michael flip flops on it. “What movie?” he asks, mildly interested.
Calum shrugs. “I don’t know. Probably Mean Girls.”
Michael plays it cool; he won’t admit to liking Mean Girls, but it’s definitely acceptable. More than acceptable. “Yeah, sure. I guess that’ll be cool.”
Calum beams. “Great. I think if we watch Mean Girls we can coax Luke out of his room. We can try, anyway. It’s one of his favorite movies.”
Irritation eats at Michael. Of course. It’s because of Luke.
“Whatever,” Michael says, and makes himself get up and leave the room while Calum knocks on Luke’s door.
“Luke?” he hears Calum say as he settles himself on the couch. Ashton passes him and walks down the hall to barrage Luke with requests too. “We’re going to watch Mean Girls.”
“Lukey baby,” Ashton says, a smile in his voice. “Come on, it’ll be fun. You can sit with me, and we can make popcorn and shit.”
They wait, their ears to the door. Michael sighs. Why do they put so much effort into the damn boy?
“Pleaaaaase?” Ashton says. “It’s no fun without you.”
After a minute or so, the door creaks open just a crack, and Luke emerges.
YOU ARE READING
Give Me Love (Muke)
FanfictionMichael is looking for a new start and a way to manage his anger issues when he moves back to Sydney, leaving his mum behind, and moves in with his former best friend, Ashton. Unfortunately, Michael finds that starting over is much more difficult th...
