when you were here

Chapter III

Song: "Funnel of Love" -Wanda Jackson, The Cramps
Ronnie
I didn't see Michael at school on Thursday or Friday which was inconvenient considering we had a play to read. English class also wasn't the same without him. I did consider going to his house at one point but also didn't know where he lived.

I managed to find his friends, Chris, Joe, and Kim. Kim was a girl who looked like she was stuck in her middle school goth phase, Chris was very handsome, and Joe...well it wasn't very easy to describe him.

I approached them assuming they'd know where Michael was, but I ended up coming out empty handed.

"Hi," I say shyly. They all look up at me, all with a curious expression.

"Hey," Kim says in a friendly way, replacing her expression of confusion to one of kindness and warmth.

"Aren't you that Veronica chick?" Chris asks with not even half of the friendliness that Kim spoke with. His voice is surprisingly higher than I thought, not matching his tall and muscular body type.

I almost cringe at hearing my full name, but instead nod in response. "Most people just call me Ronnie."

"Ah, you're the girl that Mike has gone head over heels for," Joe says with a chuckle. I shake my head. It's not like that, we're just partners for English, is what I should've said. Instead I ask,

"He said that?"

"No. He hasn't even danced around the thought," Kim says matter-of-factly. "But we know Mike. We've seen him act like this before for someone else. We just hope you don't crush him in the same way." I shake my head again, even more confused than I was before.

"We can tell he really sees something in you. I'm not sure what it is, but when he wants something he goes out of his way and does anything to get it," Chris states. I feel slightly offended by the first part of the statement, so I ignore it.

"Do you know where he is?" I ask. They all shrug in response, seeming indifferent about his spontaneous disappearance.

"He does this. He disappears. For days at a time, most of the time just two days," Kim states.

"Why?"

"Because he's Michael."

For some reason this statement from Kim really stuck with me for the rest of the day. Because he's Michael. Even in the evening when I was getting ready for my date with Reed.

I was just about to text Reed that I was ready when someone rang the doorbell. I didn't think much of it, probably just a friend of my parents, until Simon yelled up to me that someone was here for me, he didn't sound too pleased.

Curious, I made my way down the stairs in my slick silver silk dress. It was a nice but not over the top cocktail dress, I had picked it up from the mall for if I had any semi-formal events to attend. It hugged my body just right and I felt great in it.

I caught eyes with Michael who waited at the front door, dressed up in black pants and a white collared semi-formal dress shirt, and a fancy belt that looked like it costed more than his mama's rent.

The sight of him made me feel angry. I didn't get a single text from him and I haven't seen him in two days and here he is ringing my front door like nothing happened.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" I ask with my teeth clenched slightly. I push him out of my house and close the front door behind us, not wanting Simon to eavesdrop.

"Don't you look like a doll," he comments, eyeing me up and down which makes me feel insecure. I cross my arms in front of my body to feel more covered.