things change - byler

.14

weeks had passed, it had been a really long but busy summer so far. Dustin and Lucas knew about mike and i, they were pretty chill and promised to keep quiet, which they didn't have to since it went without saying. El, max, and I were hanging out a lot, but only on the times where mike and I were together. Which was every other day. we were getting so much closer with every week that went by. Mike keeps getting sweeter and better as the days go on. I felt like I was actually starting to fall for him. But I'm not sure, I don't know what that kind of love feels like. But I feel like I'm getting there with him, I hope he feels the same way with me. We seem to be in sync. It was only July. July 4th. today, our friends had planned to go to the fair. I wore a navy blue and white stripped shirt, paired with Jean shorts and white converse. El, max and I were at the mall before it closed to get ice cream by ourselves. Mike was working, since he worked at the mall. I went by to see him before we left, he worked at the movie theater. I stopped by the ticket booth where he was. He smiled brightly when he saw me.
-"what movie would you like to see?" He joked.
-"shut up, I was already here, I wanted to stop by." I said.
he walked out of the booth and kissed me, swiftly and quickly. We weren't worried because the booth was near the back, and nobody was really at the mall today because of the holiday.
-"I'll see you tonight, okay?" He said, smiling at me.
-"are you still walking me?" I ask.
-"for sure." He said, waving at me.
i walked away towards el and max with a smile on my face.
-"you guys are actually so cute it makes me feel soft inside." El said.
-"ew?"
Max laughed.
-"you guys seem to be getting closer, have one of you popped the L word out yet?" Max asked.
-"what, no? It's only been a month! It's too soon, and I'm not sure either of us are ready to say anything yet." I said as we walked down the escalator.
-"really, so the tension between you guys just now, wasn't love?" El asked.
-"I don't know! Shut up, stop asking." I said, as my face began to get red.
They laughed at me as we walked out to max's car and drove to my house.
We hung out up in els room, listening to music and watching. Max was reading a magazine instead of focusing on the movie I liked to watch.
-"ooh, I found this q&a to question if you love your partner. Will, answer the questions about mike so we can see how much you love him." She teased me.
-"very funny." I fake chuckled, still paying attention to the movie.
-"how often do you think of him?" She asked.
I didn't think she was serious, so it took me a while to pause the movie and turn around.
-"hey, I was watching that!" El whined.
-"answer the question! How often?"
-"I don't know, every day?"
-"is he the first person you go to if you have a bad day."
-"sure."
-"do you find his quirks to be cute?" She giggled.
-"okay, q&a is over." I laughed, making her roll her eyes.
I unpaused the movie, watching with el as max continued to read the magazine.

•••

El went home with max hours ago, I had to take a nap. I started to get really tired lately, for no certain reason. My sleep schedule has been messing up. I walked outside when I saw mike walking up the street. I jogged up to him, he hugged me before we walked through the woods for a short cut. He held my hand as we walked through the covered area, it was only for 2 minutes, but still. we talked like we usually did and disconnected our hands when we saw the lights from the fair peaking from the trees. We walked out and saw max and el getting there at the same time as us, Lucas and Dustin waiting there as usual, being early.
-"you guys have your tickets?" Dustin asked us, which we replied with a nod. We all walked in and walked around trying to figure out what to do together. we were doing carnival games half of the night. Lucas and mike were doing a basketball game together.
-"you ready to get wrecked?" Lucas asked.
-"by you? no way." He smiled.
they starred shooting basketballs into the baskets, and my friends and I laughed as Lucas was getting behind mike. before the buzzer went out, Mike had scored one more than Lucas.
-"that's not fair, I wasn't ready!!" Lucas complained.
-"that's why you're on the bench 24/7." He laughed.
the guy working at the booth gave Mike a blue bear. As we were walking, mike gave me the bear and smiled at me.
-"thanks." I smiled, looking in his direction.
we continued walking with our friends, doing just about everything at the carnival. It was just getting dark, we were headed for the hill everyone was going to for the fireworks, but max stopped us.
-"we should do the photo booth together!" She said.
-"you sure we can all fit?" Dustin asked.
we all ignored him, climbing in the small booth. There wasn't big space, so Mike sat on my lap, trying not to block me out of the picture, el sat on max's lap, and Lucas sat on Dustin's.
we inserted money in the booth and it started talking pictures. We were having a hard time trying not to laugh at Lucas' face when the light would flash in his face.
It took about 6 pictures before it stopped. We climbed out one by one before looking in the slot where our photos were.
Lucas' eyes were closed and he was holding his hands up in the first pic, making everyone die of laughter.
-"you're such an idiot." Max laughed.
-"I didn't expect it to me right in my face!" He defended.
we began walking up to the hill, but mike grabbed the side of my arm.
-"hey." He whispered, pointing behind a booth where the hidden woods were.

they walked up the hill, where everyone in town was and sat on the ground.
-"hey, where's mike and will?" max asked, not seeing them anywhere.
everyone started looking around to see if they could find them, but couldn't.

mike kissed me, as I rested my back on a tree behind me. He ran his hands down my waist and up my back behind my shirt, rubbing my skin. we weren't worried about anyone catching us, because you couldn't see anything from out there through here. our bodies were connected to each other, like magnets. we were sharing the same breath, but I could barely get a chance to breathe. the way he grabbed onto my waist made it harder for me to kiss back. he went from kissing my lips, to going down slowly from my jawline to my upper neck. I heard what sounded like leaves rustling from behind us, so I pushed his shoulders away from me, gently.
-"what's wrong?" He asked, as I turned around to where I heard it.
-"you didn't hear that?" I ask.
-"no.. I'm sure you're just being paranoid." He whispered, holding both of my hands.
-"yeah, you're probably right." I shook the feeling off, as he connected his lips with mine again. he was going slowly at first, running his hands through my soft, brown hair. it wasn't until he heard it to when he stopped kissing me.
-"uh-we should go. The fireworks should be starting any second." he said, looking behind me.
-"okay..." I said, also looking behind me.
i tried to shake off the nervous feeling I had in my stomach, it was probably just an animal or something. Either way, we couldn't take the risk.
we walked up the hill where our friends were sitting. We sat down next to them, and they gave us a worried look.
-"where were you guys?" max asked.
-"yeah, we thought you guys got lost." El said.
-"sorry, we were just talking to someone." mike lied.
max looked at me for a long time, I widened my eyes at her and she turned around.
after a while, the fireworks started going off. Lucas and max started cuddling with each other, they looked so cute it almost made me sad. I wonder what it would be like to be with the person you care about like that in public without having to worry about being hurt. Mike and I just sat next to each other, watching the sky. I was staying with mike at his house tonight, because nobodies will be home tomorrow to take me to work, so Mike offered to take me. I haven't been to his house in a while either, so he was letting me stay.

when the long and fun night was over, mike and I walked to his house holding hands. As we were walking in the silent and dark night, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following me. I felt like I could feel someone behind me and I was hearing someone breathing directly behind me.
-"did you have fun?" He asks, making me quietly gasp from the random burst of sound.
-"oh, yeah." I said.
-"what's wrong?" He asked, as we stopped walking.
I kept on looking behind me, looking around.
-"I feel like someone's following us." I whispered.
-"Will, you're being paranoid, It's okay. we're almost there." He assured me, chuckling.
he wrapped his arm around me as we continued walking, I stopped hearing the noises. But I could still feel eyes burning into my back. We walked up to his driveway and into the front door, pulling our hands away from each other. We walked in and holly was the only one in the living room.
-"took you long enough!" Holly complained.
-"it's 11, why are you still awake?" Mike remarked.
-"I'm not tired." She crossed her arms.
-"go to bed." He shook his head pointing upstairs.

she pouted and stomped her feet all the way up the stairs.
i walk to mikes bathroom after mike gets out of the shower. as I started the water and took my shirt off, I noticed there was a window across from me with open curtains.
I quickly shut them, still paranoid.
I try to quickly take a shower so that Mike wouldn't fall asleep.
when I was all dried off, I wore black pajama pants and a white short sleeve shirt.
i walked out and stopped when I passed my holly's room. I peaked through the wide open door, mike was reading her a story before bed. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen him do.
-"goodnight, hol." he smiled.
-"goodnight Mikey." She yawned, turning around to sleep.
mike saw me watching, which made his face turn red. He walked out and slowly shut the door behind him.
-"that was so cute." I gushed.
-"shush." He giggled, jokingly pushing me into his room.
he laid down on his bed and I rested my head on his chest and wrapped my leg around him.
he rubbed my back while whispering to me with his calming voice, making me fall asleep within seconds.

if only I knew who was watching us that night.