"Are you okay?" Luke asks, his eyes watching Michael's fork as he pushes his food around the plate, not really eating. "Michael." He speaks his friend's name when he doesn't get a response, reaching out to shake Michael's arm, finally getting him to meet his eye, "What is going on with you?" Luke asks, very concerned for his friend.
"Just, a lot on my mind tonight." Michael sighs heavily, shrugging his shoulders.
"Clearly. So talk." Luke pushes, "This isn't an 'I miss my girlfriend funk' so what's happened?"
"Nothing. Everything... I don't know." Michael sighs, scrubbing his hand down his face.
"Is it Jordan? Her injury? You two? Is something going on we should be aware of?"
"No." Michael sighs, "I mean, yes it is Jordan, but I don't know if I should be talking about our issues." He shrugs.
"I can't give you any advice if you don't tell me what's going on." Luke points out.
"I told her I love her in New York, and I don't know if she's going to ever say it back..." Michael mumbles, keeping his voice down.
"Jordan? The girl who was literally glued to your side the entire day of the concert. The one who proudly purchased the tour crewneck and wore it to her game the next day. The girl who climbed into your lap and fell asleep in the green room wrapped in your arms. The girl who proudly puts your photo on her Instagram, and calls you any chance she gets, even just for a moment. You don't think she loves you?" Luke's eyebrows raise in surprise.
"I'm not questioning that she could, I'm just afraid she isn't going to let herself." Michael sighs, "She brought it up on our call earlier, and the conversation we had about it didn't seem to get us anywhere. It was like we were skirting the argument we should have been having because we were both afraid to fight over the phone. It's like we are both waiting to be in the same place so we can have a giant blow up over it, and I hate that. I don't want to fight with her, but I need to know where she actually stands on this, I need to know she can invest herself in us, because my heart is so fucking attached."
"I'm saying this for perspective's sake, not to make you feel worse. But, you do realize that in the not quite four months since you met her for the first time ever, you haven't actually spent an entire week in the same city as her? That you've only spent not even nine actual days with her. I understand that you two talk a lot, that you FaceTime daily at this point, that you've logged thousands of texts in that time. But not everyone can decide something as big as if they are in love with another person over the phone."
"Logically, I get that. Emotionally, not so on board with the statistics of it." Michael groans, running a hand through his hair.
"Look, I know I've been Mr. Skeptical of the entire relationship you and Jordan have been forming. I was terrified of watching you get hurt by a girl you'd spend less than ten minutes with when you told us about you two flirting. But after meeting her, after seeing the two of you together with my own eyes, it's real, Mike. The way she looks at you, there's magic in her eyes when she sees you. Don't give up on that magic just because her heart is a little more reserved than yours, some of us need a little more reassurance before we can open our vulnerable hearts to someone."
"That doesn't make it hurt any less when she skirts my confession of love with comments about being safe or calling when I get wherever I'm going." Michael sighs.
"I'm not saying it does, I'm just saying you shouldn't give up on something so good for you simply because she doesn't move at your speed when it comes to these things. Maybe there's a reason she's so protective of her heart, and it has nothing to do with you. If that's the case, the harder you fight the harder it will be for her to let down her guard."
"Ya..." Michael sighs, knowing the boyfriend Jo had had in Texas was at least somewhat to blame for her hang ups with love. The bastard had used the team's move to Vegas as a way to slowly ghost her, and repeatedly cheat on her, leaving her to contemplate what she did wrong and why he felt he couldn't just break it off cleanly. Logically knowing the long distance they'd been doing for the last four months couldn't be good for her mentally after that mess.
"Give her a chance once tour is over next week, Mike. Spend some real time together, see what happens when you're not living out of a carry on with the bare minimum inside. If things are still rocky when you come back to LA for album prep, then we can revisit the advice I'm giving you today. That said, I think she probably just needs time, because the look every single one of us could see in her eyes was one of love. She absolutely adores you, Mike, give her a solid chance to realize how in love with you she actually is."
"I'll try." Michael nods, "I really did meet her at the absolute worst moment for our lives to intersect, didn't I?"
"Could not imagine a worse moment, no. But you two have done better than I ever could have imagined given the circumstances you started with. You're so close to a real chance, a real chance at an almost normal relationship, don't throw in the towel now."
"Thanks, Luke." Michael sighs, "It feels good just to share my frustration, to get another perspective on the situation."
"Always here to offer any help I can, Michael. You know that. And I'm rooting for you and Jordan. I admire how far you two have come together through a tour, a professional sporting season, and time zones so off you should have called it quits after two days. Your story will be one of perseverance and beating the odds, so long as you keep fighting for it. No one should have made it as far as the two of you have, and that is a testament to the two of you. Two people who didn't ignore the spark ignited in that first conversation four months ago now."
"You make us sound so much cooler than middle of the night facetime calls and too many goodbyes at the airport." Michael chuckles.
"I'm just speaking the truth on the matter. The two of you are something special, something that's defied all odds, and I don't want to see you forget that because your ego is a bit bruised, and you're hurt by her timing."
"I haven't canceled my flight to Vegas next week, and I'm feeling much less likely to do so after this chat. Thank you for that, Luke."
"Of course."
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What does Michael do with Luke's advice?
How does it play out for Jo and Michael..?
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~M =)
YOU ARE READING
End Game
Fanfiction"Everything in my life has always been a game, a goal, or a distraction. So which one are you?" "A game." Michael answers confidently. "So the truth comes out..." Her tone quite clearly tells him how hurtful she found his response. "Let me finish...
