sweet dreams | | byler (ongoing)

chapter 4 : friends?

Wednesday, January 16th 1985

Mike got out of bed and opened the blinds to his window. The sky was grey and the snow was still there although some of it had melted. Mike stared at the outdoors and just thought to himself.

He was thinking about how he had been such a selfish person recently. All he'd been thinking about was himself and his girlfriend, Eleven. He'd been such a horrible friend to Will, heck, all of his friends even. They were the only friends he had, although he didn't like to admit it to himself, and he was just pushing them away. All for what? Some girl? He loved Eleven so much, but she could barely speak much English, and she could be very clingy and annoying at times.

The party had scheduled a sleepover tonight due to all the snow they were having, Mike decided he would make things right and apologize to Will, along with the rest of the party. But he didn't know how. Would Will even want to be his friend again after what hes been putting him through?

He tried to not overthink this situation, and decided he would ask someone for help. Mike went downstairs and looked around, the only other person home was his mother (and holly.) His father was at work, and Nancy was hanging with Steve.

"H-hey mom?" Mike asked

"What's up honey?" She turned away from the dishwasher to look at Mike

"Can we talk?" Mike asked in a soft voice "In the living room?"

"Oh- of course sweetie, just let me finish these dishes first."

Karen finished the dishes and sat down with Mike in the living room

"So what did you want to talk about?" Karen asked "Is everything all right? Did something happen between you and Jane?"

"Well- actually, it's about Will and I."

"Oh..." Karen said "I certainly haven't seen him in a while, did you guys get in to an argument?"

"Well no..." Mike replied "It's just that- I've been a horrible and selfish friend to him recently, I haven't talked to him or done anything with him, I think I might have even pushed him away at some point."

"Well, you have been spending a lot of time with your girlfriend recently." Karen replied

"It's not all because of her." Mike said "It's mostly my fault, I've been a horrible friend to Will and all of my other friends and I miss them, I wanna apologize to them but... i don't know how, I feel like Will might not wanna be my friend anymore after all I've put him through."

"Well, the best way to apologize to someone you love is not to just tell them you're sorry, but to show them you care. I'd say you should go up to Will's house, and apologize to him there."

"But what if-" Mike tries to say

"Don't focus on the 'What Ifs" Karen said "That's just going to make it harder for you and them. Besides, chances are, they probably miss you too and want to be friends with you again as well."

"I guess."

"Just show Will you care honey." Karen said "That's all you have to do."

Mike sat in silence for a while, and eventually decided he would do it.

"I'll go do that right now, thanks mom!"

"Anytime sweetie, good luck." Karen replied "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again!"

Mike packed up his stuff and went over to Will's house, he figured he'd apologize to him and then ask him if he wanted to hang out at the arcade. Just the two of them, that's exactly what he needed.