Under Pressure

Part 5

Jeremy didn't find out until after dinner where Michael and Christine had gone. Alex had sent the both of them on an errand to the convenience store a mile or two down the dirt road, and made them walk, which kept them out of the house for a few hours. Jeremy stayed holed up in his room, staring out the window as the sun slowly dipped lower and lower, and didn't talk to anyone until the dishes were clean and Alex put on some kind of movie.

Michael listened, blank-faced, as Jeremy tried to explain his earlier blow up.

"What a dick."

Jeremy almost laughed at the seriousness in Michael's voice. His anger had dissipated to almost nothing, just a simmering heat in the pit of his stomach now, but he wasn't willing to try and reopen the conversation with Linda again. He figured he'd give her the opportunity to come to him if she actually wanted to try and explain herself.

They got up to go to bed, Jeremy still desperately wishing Squip would hurry and wake up already. He was going to hang out in Michael's room until he was actually tired enough to sleep, but Michael was still lingering by the couch.

"Hey, Alex."

Alex was busy picking up empty bowls that previously held popcorn. He glanced over in Michael's direction, all smiles.

"What's up?"

And then, to Jeremy and Christine's extreme surprise, Michael hit Alex across the face with his fist. Alex seemed completely caught off guard, dropping the metal bowls and spilling unpopped kernels everywhere, stumbling back. He didn't say anything, just stared, gingerly prodding his cheek; he looked faintly amused, a little surprised, maybe, even, a bit aroused.

"Hit me again."

"What? No."

"Please?"

Michael left the room after that.

Jeremy had never seen Michael actually hit someone before, or even threaten to hit someone, and it completely surprised him. He was curled up on the floor of Michael's room, sharing a blanket with Christine, propped up against a wall. Michael carefully flexed and unflexed his hand, wincing. It was bruised and slightly swollen.

"You might want to put frozen peas on that or something." Christine peered carefully at Michael's hand, grimacing a little bit.

"Why peas?"

"That's what my dad always used."

"Your dad regularly punched things?"

"No, but I do have two older brothers..."

"I can't believe I did that." Michael carefully dropped his head back against the wall and removed his glasses with his non-busted hand.

"Dude, I can't believe you did that. I've known you for like, fifteen years. What happened?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know, I felt like I had to defend your honor or something."

"My honor?" Jeremy cracked a smile. "Well, thanks, I guess."

The conversation came to a quiet lull, the clock on the wall softly ticking the hour away. They camped out on the floor the whole night, talking quietly until dawn, when Jeremy finally managed to fall asleep.

"I guess I'm supposed to name you now."

Squip was awake. Fully awake, not just for a few minutes, but completely. Jeremy still couldn't believe it.

"Name me?"

"Yeah. That's what, uh, Alex said to do. When you woke up. So..."

"Of course." Squip lounged back on the bed, legs crossed. Jeremy wanted to touch him, but he couldn't bring himself to. "That's a sensible thing to do."