Rainstorm

four

Not much editing, but I wanted to write something. Have some slushpuppies.
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Michael: jeremy, i'm sorry. we can talk again. i've been petty and selfish and i'm sorry.

Michael: wanna come over rn to just hang out like we used to? brooke's here atm but she won't mind. (she made me tell you that. and she's mad at me for not using caps :0)

Brooke laughs, playfully shoving Michael as he sends the second text.

"Michael you're such a dork," she laughs.

"You know you love me," Michael says, kissing her.

"Yeah but you didn't have to send THAT," she points at the last text Michael sent. "Its just weird, Michael. You're so weird."

Michael laughs, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and picking his game controller back up.
"Wanna keep playing now?" He asks, resuming the game before hearing a response.

Brooke quickly picks up her remote. "Micha, you cheater!"

"Oh shut up. You were just. Being a slow poke."

He hears a ding come from his phone and pauses the game again, pulling it out of his pocket.

Jeremy: ok lol omw

Michael smiles at Brooke. "Ok. I guess it worked, thanks for pushing me to contact him again."

"You know I'm always right. Never should've doubted me in the first place, you dumbass."

Michael gapses dramatically. "Excuse me? How dare you call me a dumbass. And you're not right all the time, remember when-"

"Ok, no. Do not bring that up I swear- Michael-"

"It's not that bad, you know. You've only been in school for what, 11 or so years?"

"Stop it. Say anything more and I'll kick your ass."

Before Michael can say anything, there's a knock on the door. He jumps up off the couch and runs upstairs. After a couple deep breaths, he opens the door.

"Hey, Michael," Jeremy says hesitantly.

He looks different from when Michael last saw him, before the hospital at least. Back to his old shirts, a jacket pulled over the top. Hair a wild mess on top of his head, falling into his eyes. The same anxious look in his eyes he's seen a lot on Jeremy before.

"Hi Jere. Come in."

As much as Michael tries to loosen up and keep things normal, he feels like everything is awkward between them. Like no matter how hard he tries, it will never be the same.

He leads Jeremy downstairs. Even though he said so in his texts, Jeremy still seems surprised to see Brooke Lohst sitting on the couch, game controller held loosely in one hand and scrolling through her phone with the other. There's a look on his face that Michael can't pinpoint.

Brooke looks up when they enter the room, smiling softly. "Hey, Jeremy. How are you?"

"I-I'm good. You?"

"Yeah I'm good too."

Michael sits down next to Brooke, Jeremy taking a seat on the other side of him. God why is this so awkward? He regrets inviting him over already. They should've just talked over the phone.

"So...are you two like a thing now?" Jeremy asks hesitantly as they start the video game over, switching to 3 player.

"Yeah," Michael responds. "1 month now."

Hard to believe it's been a month already. While Jeremy was still in the hospital, he met Brooke at an after school club. They started talking and realized they both had a lot in common. Pretty soon they became friends, and then Michael realized he had feelings for her. He asked her out at 7-11.

Brooke is helping him a lot. She convinces him to step out of his comfort zone and try new things. Like frozen yogurt, rather than slushies (they had had long debates over which was better, each being stubborn and refusing to see the other's side). And, like talking to Jeremy again. She's been trying to get him to text back ever since Jeremy's message was first sent. Michael is so grateful for her and for her amazing personality. She's so much more now that she's not just Chloe's sidekick. She's her own person, sweet and caring, but fiery when she's protecting her friends or something she loves. Michael finds himself falling in love more and more with the blonde, fro-yo loving girl every day.

Jeremy acts indifferent to his response, turning back to focus on the game. But Michael sees that same, unfamiliar look in his eyes again. What does it mean? Is he upset about their relationship?

Michael brushes it off and instead tries to focus on having a good time. Some of the awkwardness fades away, as they talk and laugh more, but most of it stays. They need to really talk, and discuss what happened, and both of them know it. For now, they can just play video games though, right?

Neither of them want to face their problems at the moment. Maybe, if they ignore them forever things can just go back to the way they were. Video games, no need to talk about feelings.

Michael watches Jeremy wave and walk away, after several hours of playing. As he turns back to Brooke, slinging an arm around her shoulders and hugging her, he knows he's not gonna be able to avoid his feelings forever.

He and Jeremy need to talk about this, if they're gonna repair their friendship. If they're gonna live normally again. If they're gonna forgive each other, and theirselves.