Pulse

16

There's a tap on the front door, and I wake up. Its evening. The colors from the setting sun outside shine through the slightly opened living room curtain. The headache that was pounding in my head has settled along with the skull splitting voice that has been harassing me.
I figure whoever is at the door will go away. I must have slept for a good 7 hours at least...

Whoever is outside doesn't leave. They knock 4 more times and finally I get up to go see who it was.

I'm still rubbing the tiredness out of my groggy eyes when I open the door and look up to see Mike. He's wearing the same thing he was this morning when we spoke at my locker, and my mind flashes back to his hand on my arm as I escaped the school parking lot on a mission to get to Mrs Kathy's house. I take a deep break and roll my eyes. I turn around and push the door, trying to slam it in his face. His hand catches it before it shuts. Ugh.
I stand in the doorway, blocking Mikes vision to prevent him from peering in and seeing the wrecked living room. raising an eyebrow, I wait for him to talk.
Mike straightens his composure to appear more confident.
"Why did you leave school?" He asks. His voice is authoritative.

I bite my lip and lean against the door frame.
"Why do you want to know?" I mutter.
I can tell immediately that my words have the same affect as a slap in the face. Mike sincerely appears hurt. He takes a step back and seems to be thinking about my comment when his eyebrows twist into a glare and he looks up at me, pain in his eyes.

"So... what? I take you to the movies, we have a good time and suddenly you regress back to hating me?" He demands. His voice takes a stab at me and I consider slamming the door and locking it.

"N-no..." I stutter. I feel heat rising to my face.

"Then what is it?" Mike questions.

I contemplate his remark and stair down at the ground, wishing that I wasn't wearing his hoodie.

"You didn't need to come here." I whisper. I intend to say it confidently but my voice catches at the end and cracks. I know I've fucked up.

"you don't have to push away every fucking person around you." Mike shoots at me. His eyes dart to mine and for a second we are making direct eye contact. That doesn't last long though, before I look away. a long pause passes by with me unable to form words. Mikes glare softens as he realizes the anger that he's directed towards me.

"I didn't mean to cuss." He says quietly. "I just don't understand you, Austin."

my breath is caught in my throat and the lump that's forming Enables me from speaking.

"You don't need to." I reply, still looking down... Avoiding his gaze. my heart is on fire, every cell in my body shoots electricity up into my Chest. I search for more words, wanting so badly to explain myself. Mike just shakes his head in disappointment. He turns to leave and I can't stop him, I just watch his perfect form as he walks to his beat up truck.
He opens the door on his side and panic rises in me and I search hard for a jumble of words that will stop him from leaving. Finally I'm capable of forcing a sentence out of my mouth.

"Mike!" I yell. Tears are threatening to spill over and onto my cheeks. I wipe my eyes and swallow the lump in my throat. He looks up at me and I take off his hoodie. pulling it over my head, I jog over to his truck. his confusion is enough to nearly send me over the edge and into hysterics. I sniffle and take a shaky breath, entirely aware that I look like a young child that won't let their parents leave.

"I... I just want to give you your hoodie back." I say, choking on my own words. Mike stairs at me for a second, as if trying to pull my mind apart. He takes the hoodie slowly and just nods. Muttering the word 'thanks' , he gets in his truck and drives away.

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