Into An Idiot

13. Friends

Michael and I play video games at his house, even though I have no clue how to play.
"Christmas is in a week. What did you ask for?" Michael asks.
"I didn't." I sigh. "Ashton lost his job a while ago, and his new one isn't making enough money to pay our bills and get presents."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Michael says.
"I'm tired." I yawn.
"I'm not. It's summer, I don't go to bed till like, five in the morning."
"How do you survive?"
"I don't know, I manage."
I lay on his shoulder and he chuckles.
"You're such a sleepyhead." He puts his arm around me.
"I know."
He ends up stretching out on the sofa, cuddling me between his arms as he plays the game.
I feel safe and warm in his arms, he mutters things into my ear, softly cursing when he's losing or saying 'yes!' when he's winning.
I don't know when I fall asleep, but I start dreaming quickly.
Jack stands at the other side of the room, closing the door. I back against the wall, scared of what he's doing. He grins menacingly, coming towards me.
I scream as he throws himself onto me, the scent of liquor in his breath. Then, the door bursts open and Michael scrambles in, kicking Jack to the side and coming over to me. "It's okay, it's alright, I've got you." He says soothingly, picking me up and hugging me.
I jolt awake, panicking. Michael grabs my arm, bringing me into a warm embrace. "It's okay, Soph. It was just a dream. I've got you." He whispers, rocking me back and forth. "I've got you, don't cry. Aw Soph..." I hug him tighter than ever. "You're safe." His voice is soft and quiet and my heart is beating so hard I'm sure he can feel it.
It's dark now, the clock reads 2:57.
I whimper and bury my face in Michael's shoulder.
"It's okay." He says calmly. "Take a deep breath. You're fine."
"I can't go back to sleep." I whine.
"We don't have to." Michael says, laying back down.
I cuddle into him, and he sighs.
"I miss when we were young and practically fearless." He says.
"Me too."
"Do you ever just think nothing good is going to happen? Like you're just another wasted space in the world? Billions of people and you're just one of them." He gently strokes my hairline with his hand.
"Yeah."
"But you're so special. You're so sweet and gorgeous and amazing and talented and I can't describe it. But I can tell you're going to do great in the world, and you should never give up or feel overpowered or anything. Just look at you, you're beautiful. And don't ever second guess yourself. And I love seeing you smile... God, your smile... I love it. And your laugh, I love when you laugh. And I love your eyes and your..." He trails off. "You're worth my world. I mean it. You're my best friend ever. I don't know what I would do without you. Please don't be scared or stressed or upset ever because you mean too much to me."
"Mikey, I..." I trail off. I can't say it.
"You what?" He asks, a tone of concern in his voice.
"I... I don't know." I think I'm falling in love with you.
"That's okay. You can think about it."
I sigh. I don't want to tell him. But I know I should.
"You know what?" He jolts up suddenly.
"What?"
"You can spend Christmas with us. It won't be much, but there'll be food and movies and music and we can just hang out and have fun. You and Ash and my family."
"Really?" I ask, heart leaping into my throat from excitement.
"Yeah. I've just got to ask."
"We'll come." I decide, cuddling into him again.
He holds me tightly and hums softly as I begin to doze off. I can feel his lips on my temple. He whispers things I'm too tired to hear.
//
\\
When I wake up, I untangle myself from Michael's heavy, sleeping arms. Then I sit up. He wakes up, stretches, and looks up at me. "Morning, sleepyhead." I giggle.
"I'm tired." He smiles. "Come here."
I fall back onto him, and he laughs.
"Do you want to go home soon?" He ask, playing with my hair.
"I don't care. But we should probably go get Ash."
"Yeah. Is he alone?"
"Probably, unless he invited Cal over."
"Okay. Then let's go." Michael gets up, pushing me to the floor. I laugh, and he trips and falls onto me, and we explode into laughter.
"You're crushing my back!" I shriek, still laughing.
"Sorry, wait, hang on, I'm stuck." Michael pushes himself off of me and slides on his stomach to the floor. "Oi!" He yells, scrambling to his feet and pulling up his pants.
"What happened? Did your pants come off?"
"Did you see my underwear?" He smiles.
"No, Mikey." I giggle.
"Did you want to?" He jokes.
"I've seen you in your underwear before." I stand up, brushing the lint off my clothes.
"Come on, let's go get Ashton." He opens the door and runs outside into the warm summer air.
We sprint down the street, and when I get tired, Michael bends over and I jump on his back, and he carries me for a while.
"You're getting heavy!" He laughs.
"I'm getting taller!" I scream, hanging on for dear life.
"So am I!" He yells back.
Ashton walks out of the house as soon as we reach the yard.
"How was your night?" He asks
"It was fine." I say.
"Ash, do you want your bread toasted?"
Calum says, coming outside.
"Sure. I don't care." Ashton shoos Calum inside and talks to me and Michael.
"Listen... it's not that I don't trust you, because I do, it's just... I don't really like when you two have sleepovers. I don't know what's going on, and I don't want any problems to arise."
"Ashton, you sound like my mum." Michael says flatly.
"But your mum lets us have sleepovers." I say.
"True." He nods.
Ashton shakes his head. "Look, I don't care that you guys have been friends for a long time, and that you're really close, it's just you're getting older and either of you may have tendencies that-"
"Okay, okay, I get it." Michael interrupts.
I roll my eyes at my brother.
"God, Ashton, I can promise you that Michael and I will absolutely not ever do the thing."
"The thing." Michael snickers, elbowing me.
"Well I'm not going to say it!"
"I don't see the problem in stating that you aren't going to have sex with me."
"Michael!" I scold.
"There's so many other names though, the nasty, the do, the dirty-"
"Stop!" Ashton laughs.
"Intercourse." Michael whispers.
I laugh, hitting my face on his shoulder. He puts his hand around my waist and then grabs the back of my knees, flipping me upside down.
"Let me go!" I laugh, putting my hands on the ground.
He lowers my legs to the ground and gently puts me down.
"Okay. We're done. I swear." Michael smiles.
"Are you sure?" Ashton raises an eyebrow.
"Nope."
"Come on, let's go inside." I say, opening the door and letting all three of us inside.