not broken, just bent

chapter seven // reunion dinner

Michael kept running down the street, he never looked back.

If he had looked back, he would of saw Luke chasing after him.

But he didn't.

-

When Michael got home, he tried knocking on his door but his mother wouldn't let him in. He honestly wasn't surprised. Michael sat down on his front steps, he was angry and sad and confused. He hated feeling like this, he hated feelings.

He tried taking deep breathes to calm himself down, but it didn't work. It normally didn't.

Michael sighed, then let himself cried. He couldn't care less if someone saw him, he only cared about Luke.

-

It was an hour and a half later when Michael's mom finally decided to let him in, Michael was beyond done with everything at that point and just went straight to bed.

-

The next morning, Michael woke up after noon. His mother wasn't home, which he was happy about. Michael hadn't bothered to check his phone at all, he knew he'd just be disappointed when he didn't see Luke's name.

I shouldn't want to see Luke's name, he tried to remind himself.

Should he be angry at Luke? Should he be upset? Or understanding? Should he try and be friends with Luke?

Michael lifted his head and banged it on his bed, while groaning. It was too early to be thinking about this.

But this was all he ever thought about, and it frustrated him so damn much.

-

It was almost three in the afternoon now and Michael decided it was finally time to get out of bed. He had a quick shower, then made his way to the kitchen to get some food.

Once he'd finished eating, he went to go watch tv. It seemed like this was all he did in the summer.

Halfway through the show, he heard someone knocking on his door. Michael had no idea who it could be, his mother was at work. He sighed before getting up to get it.

"hello" he said in an angry tone. He was quiet mad he had been interrupted from his show.

"Michael!" he heard a familiar voice call out, and before he had a chance to look up, the person was hugging him tightly.

Once the bone crushing hug was over, Michael finally had the chance to see who it was.

"Calum? What are you doing here?"

"my mom wanted to come home early" Calum said shrugging, with a grin on his face.

Michael smiled too, because this was Calum and Calum was his best friend, he missed him a lot and if Michael was being honest, he really needed someone right now.

"I tried calling you like ten times, you never answered, I thought something happened to you" Calum told him, and made his way in Michael's house.

"oh, um I left my phone in my room" Michael said, not wanting to go in detail why. He really didn't feel like talking about Luke right now, he'd cry and he didn't want to cry in front of Calum. Especially now, they hadn't seen each other in a month.

"so what have you done this summer so far?"

After Michael briefly went over what he had done that summer, leaving out the therapy session and anything that involved Luke, they played some video games. Surprisingly, Michael was actually having fun. It was nice to be around a friend.

-

"my mom wants me back home for dinner, you wanna come too?" Calum asked, a half hour after they stopped playing fifa.

"sure" Michael said and shrugged. It's not like he had anything else to do, his mother wouldn't be home till later that night.

"she's having a friend over for dinner too and her friend's kid, she says they're nice" Calum told him as they walked out of Michael's house and towards Calum's.

"if your mom's friend has a daughter, you better not be hitting on her the whole time" Michael said, half kidding.

"fine, only half of the time" Calum said, causing them both to chuckle.

-

It didn't take long for them to get to Calum's house, once they were there dinner was already made. Which Michael was very happy about. He was always hungry.

"my friend will be here right away" Calum's mom called out from the kitchen when they walked in the door.

And she was right, less than five minutes later there was a knock on the door.

Calum's mom went to get it, while Calum and Michael sat down at the set dinner table.

Michael could hear Calum's mom and another lady talking, then he heard a familuar voice.

shit, shit, shit.

"Calum, Michael, this is Liz and Luke"

-

Michael felt like crying, he also felt like puking. It wasn't a very pleasant mix.

Liz and Luke sat down, Liz sat across from Calum and Luke across Michael.

Liz and Calum's mom started a conversation while everyone else stayed quiet. Michael kept his head down, scared that if he looked at Luke he would cry and never stop.

-

"so, Luke what school do you go to?" Calum asked moments later, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm home schooled" Luke mumbled quietly, and Michael's stomach flipped just hearing his voice.

It was crazy how Luke affected him.

"that's cool" Calum said, grinning. He was always overly friendly with strangers.

-

Calum's mom set the food down on the table, and everyone quickly got their food. Except Luke. His mom questioned him on it, but he told her he already ate. She believed it, but Michael didn't.

Michael somehow found the courage to look up at Luke, Luke was looking right back at him. Michael gave him a sad look, he needed Luke to eat. He needed him to be okay. If something ever happened to Luke, Michael would be devastated.

Luke quickly looked back down, and Michael sighed quietly to himself.

He then got up and excused himself to go to the washroom.

-

Michael sat on the washroom floor, groaning. Why did Luke have to be here? Why did the world hate him? Why couldn't Luke just like him?

He had been in there for fifteen minutes, but he didn't care. He couldn't go back out there. He couldn't sit across from someone he was pretty sure he in love with, and pretend he didn't even know him.

Michael was debating if he should sneak out the window or not. He soon decided that was ridiculous, and Calum's mom would hate him. But what else was he supposed to do?

"Michael, are you alright? My mom sent me to check on you" Michael heard Calum say from the other side of the door.

"oh, um yeah I'm good. I'll be right out" Michael told him.

"alright" Calum said and Michael heard him walk away.

Michael stood up from the floor and looked in the mirror. He didn't look like himself anymore. He looked tried, pale, and really unhappy.

He splashed some water on his face, before hesitantly walking back into the kitchen.

A/N: sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I hope you guys like this. I'm working on the other part already. Ily guys and thank you for reading. most of the time I don't feel like continuing this because I feel like it's really awful but reading all of the comments keeps me motivated to continue so thank you. have a lovely week/summer/life. :) x