Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #11

Mark's threat looms over Hale during the two weeks that follow their altercation. Hale hoped that it would be fairly simple to avoid any direct questions concerning that day. After all, the chance of Melissa asking him, "So, did you happen to see who Mark's been boning while you were over there?" seems extremely low.

But then Briony begins avoiding Melissa.

It sets Hale on edge. He tiptoes around the subject best he can.

"That's weird. Why didn't Briony ever answer my text?"

"Perhaps she's been busy with work."

"Huh, Briony says she doesn't want to go see the next VirtuSim with me. But Hayden Brocke Emerson's playing the romantic lead! Is she sick or something?"
"It is flu season."

"I haven't heard from Briony in two weeks. Do you think she's angry with me?"

"I don't see why she would be. You've done nothing wrong."

Hale's attempts to mollify, distract, or entertain her are temporary at best, but that doesn't prevent him from trying. He cooks her favourite meals. He goes shopping with her and compliments her every outfit. He lets her dress him in ass-less chaps so he can perform a strip tease to electronic music with too much bass.

It's been some time since he adapted the comparison model by which he could identify his emotions, and he knows that the only human feeling comparable to what he experiences now is desperation. He doubts Melissa would care who Briony chooses to sleep with, married or not. It is not her reaction, however, that unsettles him. It's Mark's.

The threat rings in Hale's ears like a broken audio clip on a loop. "Tell me you'll be keeping this to yourself, or I'll be telling Missy about the tragic accident you had with the lawn mower today."

He considers messaging Rayner about it. Often. Countless things prevent him from doing so. He can't accurately predict Rayner's reaction. Will he keep it a secret? Will he dismiss the threat as a bluff? Will he go over to Mark's house and punch him in the face? Hale realizes, after multiple attempts to compile a predictive model for Rayner's behaviour, that he hardly knows the man at all, and that distresses him nearly as much as Mark's threat.

He doesn't need a predictive model, though, to see that Melissa will not concede defeat in Briony's battle to ignore her. One afternoon, the skies open and the winds tear through the street at such speeds that Melissa is forced to batten down the storm shutters. After, she sits down with her Holophone opened to Briony's contact page and taps her fingers against her chin, staring at it. Hale watches with trepidation mounting in his chest.

"Can I get you anything to drink, Melissa?" he offers.

"Huh? Oh. Yes, please."

"Your usual?"

"Mm?"

Her distraction evident, Hale goes to make a gin and tonic anyway. When he returns, handing her the glass, she finally looks up from the Holophone.

"I think I'm going to call Briony and leave a message. A voice message, this time. She hasn't answered the texts."

Hale takes a deep breath. "Yes. Perhaps that will seem more personal."

"I'll be polite but direct," she continues, hardly listening. "I'll tell her how upset I am that she's ignoring me. Whatever the problem is we can patch it up if she just talks to me. But if she continues to ignore me like this, the friendship is over. I'm not just some—" Her voice breaks and her chin dimples with the strain of repressing the emotions welling up in her. "I'm not just some throwaway person. I deserve an explanation."