The Solution (2nd Edition)

Michelle

In hindsight, updating Mikey, Sarah and Chon of Albers' antics on the Damon Weaver show had begun to pay off with regards to Xen. Before breaking dawn, Sarah had arrived and put a hot bread circle on my anchor desk like she used to do every morning. We'd even shared a smile. Sadly, it didn't last, and when Gail and Charlie followed her in minutes later, they beckoned me over to Chon's littered desk. "Michelle, don't forget," Charlie mused. "You even think about re-joining your old clique, and that anchor seat is Gail's."

    "You got that right!" Gail quipped, while hanging off Charlie's neck. In a brazen manor, she also looked back at me while blowing out a bitchy bubble of gum.

    I nodded reluctantly, hoping Sarah hadn't witnessed my confliction.

    As I breathed deeply, trying to refocus on the Election Day's morning broadcast, something else distracted me. Chon and Mikey strode purposefully into the office and my insides began to contort. Not only was I unsure of how Chon might react to me after such a long time without speaking properly. But Mikey had made me contemplate my future with my fiancée. By no fault of our own, Mikey and I had gotten closer this past year, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep him as my geeky friend, or more. Last of all, when Chon and Mikey did enter the technology plain, everyone gawped at them ridiculously. With an exception of myself, Gail, Charlie and Sarah, the venomous vipers and ravenous wolves of BTV abandoned Charlie's side and slithered and skulked up to Chon with vigor - all trying to get re-acquainted and plead for his forgiveness!

    Charlie stewed where he sat and looked as though he could commit multiple homicide.

    In and among the madness, I met Mikey's gaze. "'Vampirous leeches'," I mouthed, and true to form, the GGE caught it!

    "'I know'," Mikey mimed back, as our iLenses decoded our lip-reading. "And, if Blade were here, it sure as hell would be Open Season on all suckheads!"

    While Chon tried to deal with his rambunctious audience, Mikey and I shared one of our flirtatious chuckles, until the big guy regained focus and aided Chon. "People, back off, before you make me frickin' angry." Most of the crowd heeded Mikey's warning when he'd adjusted his ponytail and put down his hoverboard. For me, I always marveled a little inside whenever he got all, 'Incredible Hulk'. In fact, I'd begun to marvel in the real world, and stare at the Visual Holo-Engineer for longer than expected.

    Aptly so, Gail had noticed. She noticed everything. "You could do better," she mused.

    Thing was, I wasn't falling for Mikey for his looks, even though I thought he was handsome as Hell Boy. Refreshingly, he made me laugh, and his obsession with pop culture the world over tugged at my inner fan-girl - a nostalgic trait I'd suppressed long ago for my parents' and career's sake. Soon, though, I'd have to decide whether I'd act on my fanatical feelings, or not.

    As Chon walked through the sea of people that Mikey had cleared, he'd beckoned for Gail to accompany them. Automatically, the diva flapped her arms and threw a silent tantrum before leaving Charlie's side. Once moving, Gail dragged her feet until they'd reached Dieng's office where Mikey and Chon now stood. Then as always, Chon thrashed the fuzzing door with a clenched knuckle and waited for someone to let them in.