Just For the Summer {Cashton}

( XI. ) : ALONE TOGETHER

NOTE: ANOTHER MUKE CHAPTER JUST FOR YOU GUYS! SINCE, IT HAS BEEN HIGHLY REQUESTED.


☼        ☼       ☼


Luke leaves in exactly two weeks.

Fourteen days. He remembered clearly like it was just yesterday; the first day he arrived on the beach. The sun was out and the weather was perfect, but it felt like he was still lacking something. Though his parents had sent him on this trip as some sort of a celebration thing after graduating, he didn't exactly feel thrilled. Everything was still dull in his life—maybe even duller.

That was before he met Michael Clifford, of course.

Ever since the day that neon blue plastic Frisbee hit him on the head, he had never felt so grateful. Without it, Luke would've been perpetually off in his isolated world, staying in his hotel room for about ninety-eight percent of the vacation. He wouldn't have been able to explore the vast unknown, and he wouldn't be able to make friends with a group who was surprisingly warm and welcoming. He liked them.

But most of all, he wouldn't have been able to experience what its like to fall in love.

Turning his head, Luke glanced at a sleeping Michael, face halfway hidden beneath the blue bed sheets. His eyes were fully closed and was emmitting hushed snores from being exhausted, most likely. (Michael usually snores when he's completely drained from the previous day of adventures—of course Luke would know from being a good observer and recently earning the privilege to own half of Michael's bed.) He only chuckled, wishing he could just reach out and run his fingers through his faded hair spontaneously or even just to hold him closer without the weirdness.

They were only friends. Close friends, if things had to get specific.

Subtly inching his head closer to the other's, Luke could feel Michael's warm breath radiating onto his skin. Just a few more centimeters in, and their lips would've met for the second time.

Everything was immediately disrupted the minute Luke's phone rang. It sang the Jaws theme song and vibrated violently, meaning it was a call that was meant to be ignored. Now frozen at the mere thought of that person trying to reach out to him, he cursed himself for not even putting it on silent to begin with.

A few minutes after of repetitive rings, Michael woke up from the disturbance. As much as Luke had tried to shut his phone up, the object was out of arm's reach. And if he got up, he would've made it worse. There were some groaning and shifting positions coming from Michael's side, and the latter casually glanced over to see the reaction. Luke withdrew his position and turned his back from the other.

"What the fuck is that..." Michael mumbled hoarsely, rolling over to his stomach in place to dig his head into the pillow. "It's creepy, and it's making my goddamn head hurt..."

"Sorry. Putting it on silent now," Luke apologized, hopping off the bed quickly and making his way towards Michael's desk where their phones were placed. He ruffled his messy blond quiff as he finally took the phone and changed its settings. Once he saw the thirty-three missed calls from the same person already, Luke immediately felt sick to the stomach. "There... it's done."

"Good... now get back in bed with me, it feels weird. Like, it suddenly got colder or some shit."

Smiling to himself, the latter shyly crawled back in bed as he was told. The sheets were now lower on Michael's body, only covering his bottom half. Their positions were propped up so that they were slightly sitting up on the headboard of the bed. Luke scooted a bit closer than before; just so that their shoulders were securely pressed on one another. "Sorry, it was a number I wasn't familiar with..." he lied.

"It's fine, the ring tone just freaked me out," Michael chuckled in dismissal. "I fucking hated the Jaws trilogy. And plus, Soul Surfer was based on a true story. True story."

"So do you have this fear of sharks, or?"

"I don't want to seem like some priss, so I'm going to have to go with no. But, they're dangerous, and I'm just being cautious I guess? Yeah, cautious."

"Bullshit," Luke laughed, nudging the other playfully with his elbow. Michael joined in too, returning the gesture by nudging back.

They both turned to face each other at the same time, and only realized how close their faces were. Luke stared straight at Michael's bright green eyes as if he were hypnotized by them, and Michael bit his bottom lip, building curiosity involving the latter's lip ring. It stayed like that for a few moments—until the sudden realization of the awkwardness between them. Michael was the first to look down and cough at the tension, feet shifting under the bed sheets.

It wasn't until Luke chose to say something completely casual to break the silence. "Uh, what are we doing today, by the way? We've pretty much hit everything the past few weeks."

"This is what separates you and I, mate. Tourist and local," Michael nodded, draping an arm around the latter's shoulder. Even though they were still in bed shirtless and underwear clad, Luke felt comfortable. "I have this cool place under sleeves."

The two finally got out of bed together, and hit the showers. Michael found a note on the refrigerator from his mother saying she had left for work early and they had to buy breakfast lunch and dinner for themselves, leaving a few neatly folded bills on the counter. Finishing up their preparations, Michael quickly took the money and jammed it into his pocket before heading out the door for the day.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  

Cousin's was their first stop. It was like their to-go place every morning now, getting the same breakfast and just spending an hour or two engulfed in deep conversations. Luke didn't mind either. He'd never experienced anything like this before from living in such a sheltered lifestyle. But he was glad he had the opportunity to share it with someone. Besides, he even made friends with the workers now.

"Enjoy you two, okay?" Mau smiled sweetly at the two of them as she placed the pair of plates stacked high with waffles on the table. The two flashed a smile as a gratitude of thanks. "Everyday, you guys seem to get closer and closer." Her voice suddenly grew quiet while she leaned in. "How long?"

Michael was about take a waffle until he was stopped by her question. "How long...?" he repeated questioningly, waiting for Mau to finish her sentence.

Luke caught on, however. "Oh—we're not—we're not together. Just friends," he replied with his hands out. The minute Michael had realized what was going on, he began to cough.

"I don't want you boys lying to me," she eyed the two of them individually.

"I solemnly swear under the pizza gods that we're not together, Mau," Michael confessed, though there's a thought in the back of his mind that may state otherwise. "He's not my type anyway!"

"Michael Gordon Clifford, are you out of your mind?" Mau scooted closer to Luke's side; Luke making his best attempt to hold in his childish snickers from the happenings. "Not your type—look at this boy closely. He's handsome and intelligent. Tall. People probably swoon over him. If anything you're not his type."

Luke had never liked her more than now. He heard Michael groan, but once his head drifted to look back at him, he'd noticed something different. His cheeks were red. Luke had never witnessed him blushing before, and the thought of it made him feel happy.

After a back and forth argument on whether Michael and Luke were official or not, Mau had finally left them alone. The two could enjoy their waffles drenched in chocolate syrup and whipped cream in peace. While chewing, Michael twirled the black permanent marker with his fingers as he stared blankly at it. "I haven't written anything on the wall since like, last year holy shit," he murmured. "What should we do?"

The other swallowed his food completely before suggesting. "Er—our names? Draw something?"

"I'm a shit drawer, but that sounds fun," Michael reached over to stab his fork on a small piece of Luke's waffle, eating it himself. "I'm going to start. You can draw after me."

As Michael uncapped the marker and began to draw on an empty space, Luke watched. He liked doing it; he just found it nice watching the other do whatever he needed to do. He found Michael endearing.

When he was finished drawing, he handed the marker to Luke. Luke peeked at what Michael had drawn on, and chuckled softly upon seeing it. It was a badly drawn figure of him with big cheeks (from the waffles, he assumed) and chocolate syrup streaming down his mouth. It was adorable. There was already a table drawn on, so Luke just bent over to draw himself on the other side across from Michael's.

"I can hear you laughing, mate. You asshole," Michael scoffed with a light laugh, stealing another piece of the latter's food. Though he still had a waffle or two on his own place, he built this odd habit of just stealing things on Luke's plate.

"I'm laughing because it's cute," Luke tried swatting Michael's hand away, but failed. He continued to finish up on his drawing, adding little details here and there.

The drawing was placed dead center from where the two were sitting. There was the table and two chairs, the drawing of Michael on the end where Michael was truly sitting, and the same for Luke. Luke's drawing was of him with a slightly disproportioned head and tall quiff, lip ring prominent on the smile.  The hand was holding a large fork with a badly drawn waffle, and an arrow pointing to Michael's drawing that had small letterings written: 'Fatass lol :-P'

This time, Michael let it go. If it was someone like Calum or Ashton who wrote something like that on the wall, he would've been pissed off. But because it was Luke, he didn't mind. In fact, he found it adorable.

Their conversation went on and on as per usual. Michael asked Luke what his plans were once he starts college, and Luke asked Michael if he'd miss him. The topic of movies also came to the table, and in the end, they have both decided to see the movies they'd recommend together. It was just a nice and easy-going thing while they ate.

Finishing up on their big breakfast, Jeffrey (Mau's oldest son) stopped by their table. He had a Polaroid camera on his grip, eyes crinkling from excitement. "My mum wanted me to waste these Polaroid films, so would you guys like a photo? It's free."

They both looked at each other hesitantly, but made the decision to accept Jeffrey's offer. Jeffrey went ahead and took a few steps back to get a better angle of the two leaning into each other with smiles before capturing it. When the photo came out of the camera, Jeffrey shook it and placed it on the table, along with a thumbtack in case they wanted to pin it with the other pictures.

"We're not even dating, and we've already taken more photos with each other than probably Will Jay and Jacey," Michael clicked his tongue, looking down at the Polaroid of them in his hands. Him and Luke have already left their table with full stomachs and stood before the bakery's large bulletin board.

"Well, to be fair, everyone keeps telling us we're cute and stuff," Luke rubbed the back of his neck as an answer.

Michael smiled to himself as he pinned their picture up on the wall with the others. "...True. We should might as well be together because everyone already assumes that, y'know?"

"But I want to be with you, Michael."

Michael snapped out of his train of thought. "Hm? What was that? I'm sorry, I got lost with the turtles."

"...Nothing."

"You sure, Luke? I feel like you said something."

"Nah, it's not important."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"... Okay."

"Okay."

Silence fell soon after. No one said anything—and their eyes were fixated on the glass tank with the moving turtles. Michael placed his hand in, grabbing a piece of lettuce off the bowl and sticking it near one of the turtle's mouth. The turtle gradually took bites of the vegetable, making Luke grin widely.

"Did you know that I was the one who named this one back when I was like, eight?" Michael said, tearing a small piece of the lettuce and handing it to Luke. "I was obsessed with the Ninja Turtles back then, so I secretly named him Michelangelo. Because he was my favorite."

"Aw, that's cute," Luke responded soon after, taking the lettuce that was offered and feeding the other one. "Leonardo was mine."

So they spent a good few minutes discussing about the Ninja Turtles, and the new movie that was coming out in a week or so. Michael claimed that he was never really a fan of the non cartoon-looking ones, because it ruins what he had when he was a kid. Luke didn't mind however, in fact he thought it would look cooler with the advanced graphics and technology.

But in the end, they both made plans to see it together once it comes out.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  

"Michael, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Why the fuck are we standing in front of an abandoned laundromat?"
Even if they were well delved into their conversations about mutant turtles, the two decided to leave Cousin's and head onto their next destination. They walked a couple of blocks before literally standing in front of an old and empty-looking laundromat. Luke wasn't sure on why Michael would take them both on a place like this, but he had to trust him and hope for the best.

"Shut up Luke, don't ask and just trust me," Michael grinned excitedly before taking Luke's hand out of instinct and entering the building.

The interior was completely different from the exterior. Surroundings were dark—fluorescent lights and upbeat music filling the environment. It wasn't a laundromat, Luke thought. It was some sort of an underground hangout only close locals knew about.

A front table was the first thing they see. There was also a small gate-like thing that blocked the pathway to the actual hangout on the other side. On a wall hung a large board written in ink that glowed in the dark, saying that the movie now playing was Wreck It Ralph.

Reaching the desk, there was a young man (around twenty-one or so) who sat behind, feet up on the table. "Hey, Mikey my boy!" he greeted, waving a hand. "You're here earlier than usual."

"It's like, one in the afternoon Declan," Michael rolled his eyes, still holding onto Luke's hand. "My friend and I just wanted a head start before a shitload of people start coming in."

 "Suit yourself, kiddo," Declan smiled at the sight of the two, opening the barrier that separated them and what was waiting inside. "Is this like, a date or something? That's cute. I'm cool with the PDA, just no fucking in the bathroom alright? Save that for somewhere else."

Luke immediately turned red at his words. He could also feel Michael's grip on his hand tighten a bit, waiting for him to deny the fact that they weren't a thing to begin with. But he didn't. He only walked over to the other side still holding on before telling Declan, "We'll try not to."

Just as Luke thought it was some kind of a club, he was completely wrong. It was an arcade. Various machines from vintage to modern scattered around the large area, bright lights illuminating the dark space. There was good music playing in the background—with a small corner of machines that exchanged money to game tokens and counted tickets. There was even a large stand with prizes to get once redeeming tickets. No surprise Michael visits this place frequently.

They both just stood around and watched the few people in the arcade play their games to soak it in. It was a lot, Luke had to admit. But it was good a lot.

"Uh—I'll go get us some tokens, and you can choose the game we'll play first?" Michael suggested, gradually letting go of the latter's hand. "Whatever you want, mate. We'll even play every fucking game on here. Just text me which one and we'll meet up. I'll be back." And before the other could say anything at all, Michael disappeared from his sight.

Despite his hand being all sweaty from holding onto Michael's hand, Luke just had this urge to grab it again. There was no particular reason why, it was something he felt.

In the end, Michael met up with Luke at the Guitar Hero Machine with a large bag of tokens in his grip. Michael shook his head and laughed seeing Luke already had the gaming guitar around his body, ready to play. Michael went ahead and slid two coins in the machine before putting the guitar strap around himself and starting the game. "I hope you know that the high score on this game is mine," he teased over at Luke with a wink.

"Well, I'm about to beat that shitty high score of yours, mate," Luke smiled cheekily.

They played a few favorite songs and even sang throughout the match. Michael suggested they both go on the hardest setting as they versed each other, and surprisingly, they pressed and strummed with ease and at a swift pace. Their streaks were at its most high until the end of the song.

The winners were different each round. Michael would win a few rounds, and Luke would win the next. Even though they agreed to only play one round, the fun they were having only caused it to turn into twenty.

Luke beat Michael's high score on the seventeenth round by a measly nine points. Michael was in a state of shock with slight denial, because countless of people have attempted to break the record in the game but failed to do so. And the fact that Luke had done it, only made him question his life even more. If another person besides Luke beat his score, he'd probably act out and most likely kick the machine down. But of course, because it was Luke, Michael let it slide and recommended other games to play.

The next game they decided to play was Dance Dance Revolution. It was sort of similar to the idea of Guitar Hero; the difference being only was that it involved dancing. Michael absolutely despised this game because it always left him out of breath, but he figured Luke would hate it even more. So he chose it just to mess with him.

"I'm going to kill you after we finish this," Luke gritted his teeth as he watched Michael choose the song they were about to dance to. "This is my worst nightmare."

"Relax, you'll be fine," Michael reassured as he continued to pick, though on the inside he regretted this decision deeply. Luke was athletically more inclined. If he felt like he was going to die, how would Michael feel after three seconds into the game?

Since all of the songs were in Japanese, Michael just chose whichever sounded the fastest. He chose this one where it sounded like five year old girls were singing—it made him want to regurgitate, but if it meant to see Luke suffer for his own personal entertainment, he'd be willing to withstand it. He also chose the hardest level before it started.