Mafia| Michael Conor

Chapter 8

Michael's POV

     The first thing I notice when Lexi and I come back over is how isolated everyone is. Stella and her group are sitting under a palm tree hugging each other. Jay's group, significantly smaller, actually look unfazed. Andrew Butcher and his group are sitting right by the plane, but they're awkwardly far from each other. Gavin and Jon are standing off to the side by themselves, probably meaning the rest of their group didn't make it. The same thing goes for Kendall and Anya. The nbc are in the middle of everything, completely away from the whole situation. Finally, our group, with exception of Sergio who is sitting off by himself, is in a tight circle, conversing quietly.

     "I'm going to go over with Sergio. You can go off with the others. You have no need to be upset with them," Lexi tells me as we're walking up.

     "Are you sure? I'll go with you if you want me to," I offer. She softly smiles at me, but shakes her head.

      "Danielle was really close to both of us. We can comfort each other," she pats my chest once,"but thank you for the offer. I appreciate it."

      "If you need me, you know where I'll be," I tell her as she starts walking away.

      "I won't hesitate to call you over," she looks over her shoulder to talk, turning her head back around to go to Sergio. I start my way over to the rest of the guys and Veronica, but they spot me before I make it all the way over there, and the guys charge me, tackling me in a hug.

      "Look who finally decided to wake up," Chance smiles, ruffling my hair gently. I quickly go to fix it afterwards.

      "We missed you Mike, even if you were only out for a day longer than the rest of us," Drew laughs, tightening his hug.

      "Is Lexi mad at all of us?" Brady asks cautiously. I sigh in response.

      "She's frustrated, respectively," I start, but Veronica cuts me off.

      "We were doing what was best for her," she interjects.

      "Anyone could've comforted her. Her best friend died. She should've been able to find out immediately," I defend Lexi.

      "But you know Lexi the best out of all of us and would know what to do and not to do. You're like her second best friend. You could do it the best," Veronica tries to convince me that she's right.

      "I might've been able to do it the best, but anyone could've done it. Any of you would've worked," I state the facts.

     "But Michael..." this time Veronica gets cut off.

      "Michael's right," Brady throws in. "We should've told her. The longer we waited, the more it was going to hurt. Yes, Michael is special to her and has the ability to comfort her and calm her down the best out of all of us, but any of us could've stepped in. We should've told her."

     "That's exactly what I said three hours ago, but no one listened to me!" Chance throws his hands up in the air dramatically.

      "You agree with me, right Drew?" Veronica asks, giving him a sweet look.

     "You agree with us, right Drew?" Chance counters, gesturing to the three of us.

     "Baby," Veronica sighs, using the girlfriend power to her advantage.

      "I see both sides," Drew takes the middle, not choosing a side.

     "Oh my gosh, Michael's up!" Stella calls, jumping up. "Everyone come to the center. We're going to do a role call of everyone who came on the trip, so we can keep records of who survived." She quickly goes to the middle, her group following behind her. Everyone else gradually comes to the middle, so we do as well.