The Mess {Muke}

Epilogue; Far Away

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. ~Golda Meir 

Luke's POV 

I set down the uniform on the counter and gave Samantha a smile. "Well, this is it, huh?" 

"Take care of yourself Luke, if you ever change your mind, there's always a place for you here." Samantha smiled and I could see the coworkers present gather around the counter. "Time for bigger and better things, huh?"

"Well, I don't know if it'll turn out that way." I shrugged my shoulders.

"You did yourself well, after all, you would never be going to this school in the first place if you weren't so determined." Spencer smiled.

"Yeah, and we're behind you one hundred percent of the way, you gotta visit us though." Rosa laughed. I could never tell if she was about to cry, or to jump over the counter and embrace me, perhaps both? I never knew with this girl.

"Michael's waiting outside for me, I better get going." I smiled sadly, this place had kept so much of my sanity, and I never wanted to leave. To put myself out into a world where I was concerned I would be entirely alone

I walked out to the car where Michael was leaning back in the passenger seat. The music was off when I got inside of it, and Michael turned his head to me, there was a look on his face like something was wrong but I did not say a word.

We drove in silence, I figured Michael would not want to say anything. He was.. Pretty upset about what was going to happen. 

I got accepted to a college on a scholarship so I really would not have to pay for too much, there was only one issue with this. 

It was on the other side of the country. 

Michael was more than excited when I told him about it, when I told him where it was, well.. He no longer looked very excited, although he tried to keep it. I sighed as I glanced over him, you could see the misery of me going away in his face. I did get accepted to a lot of colleges locally, but never gained any sort of money source for attending these colleges. 

"Michael," I said quietly. "Are you okay?" 

"Wha - Yeah I'm fine." He replied. His eyes never once tracing over to me. He kept looking out the window and I let out a sigh, knowing that at any time Michael was not going to break. 

Michael never even applied to any colleges, I do not believe he had any intentions of continuing in education, which was fine. His job at Samantha's restaurant would suffice. I looked at him and felt my stomach twisting.

"I know you're upset that I'm going away for college." I told him. He said nothing in response, neither denying or agreeing with what I said. "But, you have to understand that I really can't afford to go around here." 

"It's fine, Luke." Michael choked out. 

"Mikey.." I mumbled. "I'm sorry but I don't know what to tell you." 

"I'm fine, you're fine. We're all fine. Don't even worry about it." Michael sighed. "I-I understand it's important for you to go through with this. What are you studying again?" 

"Nothing in particular." I shook my head.

"What? Really?" Michael turned his head to me for the first time this entire car ride. "You're paying money and you don't have a major." 

"I don't have to. I can spend two years without having a major and then chose it when I've decided. I don't know what I want to do with myself." I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't really have any.. Desires. Interests." 

"Why didn't you just wait to decide on what you wanted to do?" Michael asked.

"Because if I waited then I would have never gotten to college in the first place." I said. "I would have just pushed it back one more year, and then another, and so on, so forth." 

"You don't have any interests?" Michael asked. I shook my head. "There's really nothing you would be willing to spend the rest of your life doing?" I shook my head again. "What a waste of time." 

"It's not a waste of time." I rolled my eyes. "The first two years of college I can get all my academics out of the way and then for the next two I can focus on something I really like. Maybe I'll become a marine biologist or a social worker or an engineer. I don't know." 

"A marine biologist, he says." Michael scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

"Why are you getting mad for this? You don't have to go through college, you're not paying anything for it, I am." I huffed. "I leave tomorrow, and that's your issue, isn't it?" 

"No." 

"Yes it is," I groaned. "Just admit it, that's why you're upset about me not having a major, because you feel like if I'm not going to college for something, I should just stay here with you. It's not happening, Michael. I have to go either way. Whether it's here, the other side of the country, or a different country entirely." 

Michael said nothing else, maybe he knew I was right and he was just stubborn. Either way, it was fine by me if he didn't want to talk.

I sat back as we stopped at a red light. I looked at it and then turned my head to Michael. I opened my mouth as if I was going to say something and then closed it and shook my head. Some words, were just better left unsaid. 

We pulled up at Michael and Samantha's house and I got out of the car, Michael did too and he walked straight for the door without saying a word to me. He was in the house as I shut my door. I let out a sigh, was he this angry with me? 

I walked into the house and up the stairs into Michael's room, he was sitting on his bed, his back to me. "You're acting like a child about this, Michael." 

"You would too if it was you." Michael muttered. "Everyone is leaving, including you." 

"Michael I'm not leaving forever, I'm going to come back, you have to understand that." I sighed. "I love you way too much to just leave you forever. Would you rather I just stayed here?"

Michael sighed. "No, but you don't even have any aspirations." 

"Maybe I'll become a counselor." I shrugged. "You know, to help kids like us." I wrapped my arms around Michael's back and kissed his neck. "But I promise I'm never just going to leave you, Mikey. I won't ever leave unless you want me to. And just because I'm farther away for schooling doesn't mean I'll never see you. School breaks, and the weekends and then I always have my phone and my computer. There are a lot of ways that you can get ahold of me." 

"Okay.." Michael mumbled.

"Plus, you still get to work at Samantha's. It'll be fun." I smiled. I kissed his cheek. "I love you but I need you to be okay with this if I'm going to do it." 

"I am okay with it." Michael nodded his head. "I'm just a little selfish." 

"That's okay, at least I know you care." I smiled. "We'll be okay, I promise."

Michael said nothing in response but leaned into me, after all, it was going to be kind of rough for the years to come and as excited as I was, I was also scared out of my mind. I just had to trust that everything would be fine, I had to fall back and be determined that in the end it would all work out. 

AUTHOR'S NOTIFICATION; Ariana

First epilogue yay =3 

I meant to have this done by last night, but I didn't so I'll just post it now.

Also, my new Lashton - Porcelain Dolls - gets its first chapter today if you want to check that out later today =3 It'll probably go up in an hour.

Hugs, Kisses, Cuddles and Serenades xX