All We Know

michael

From where he was standing, Michael had a perfect view of Gina Hall. The girl was sipping Great Value water from a plastic bottle that she hadn't put down since she had arrived at Bishop Henry's house. Her peers didn't notice. But if they had, they'd look at her strangely and call her bougie for it. But Micheal knew better. He knew that Gina's mother had probably drilled into her head to bring her own drink to any party before she was even allowed to go to one. She wasn't being bougie, she was being smart.

Michael knew he had been staring for too long when the girl's gaze briefly met his. He felt his skin warm at being caught watching the girl and quickly redirected his stare to the floor, the ceiling, before deciding to settle on the wall.

Bad decision.

Gina's stepbrother, Terry Hoffman, was leaning back against the surface with a brooding expression directed toward something across the room. Michael searched his surroundings for what he could possibly be looking at before his eyes went down to himself and oh-

Terry was glaring at him.

Michael's shame grew by a ten-fold and he quickly turned away to find something more productive to do than stalk his ex-girlfriend. Why did he even come to this party in the first place?

"Michael," Lacie Williams moaned from next to him, tugging on his arm incessantly. "I wanna go home."

Michael looked down at his drunken friend with unbridled annoyance and ripped his arm from her grasp.

"Okay, fine."

He felt at his pockets for his keys and phone and guided Lacie toward the front door. He cast one last look at Gina before he exited the party. He couldn't help himself.