What Now ⇔ Muke ✓

Epilogue: Do you remember me?

be sure that you read the last chapter before this one! i double updated :)

LUKE

Surprisingly, my life has taken a sudden turn for the better over the last couple of weeks.

Surprising only because I was convinced that moving back away from Greenwood would be the worst decision of my entire life. It proved not to be, although it certainly has its cons against the pros.

Fortunately for me, Miller and Simon have quit bugging me. Apparently they got in huge trouble with their parents from when our last fight caught the police's attention, and they don't have the balls to start up another argument again. I certainly don't mind.

I've got myself a job at a record store downtown, which is a lot more boring than it sounds. I spend long hours sitting motionless behind the counter, and then a couple more long hours adjusting already previously adjusted records. The only bonus to it is that I get major discounts, which is awesome if you ask me. So I'm fairly content with it.

My mum's been a bit more motherly lately, which is odd, but actually reassuring at the same time. She's seventeen years too late, but I'm not one to complain. I think now is when I've needed it the most.

The only thing missing in the picture is Michael. I've come to realize that he probably won't be coming back, at least not any time soon. I think that if he really wanted to be with me, then he would have come back to me by now. It hurts sometimes (all the time) to remember it, and there are times when I've contemplated simply travelling to every single country in the world in search of the boy, but my mum was right. I need to learn to accept that he is probably happy where he is now. And I do love him, so I have to learn to accept that he can find happiness in my absence.

At least, that's what I tell myself. I haven't exactly fully grasped the idea yet.

I've been working at the record store all day today, because it's a Saturday and nobody else was willing to work on the weekend. I have nothing else to do other than sit at home, so I'm usually the person they schedule for work on Saturdays. I've grown not to mind.

The store is quiet on Saturdays. Sometimes on Fridays there will be a few teens who come in and laugh along the rows and rows of records without sparing a glance at them, but on Saturdays, the store is dead. Which is fine with me, because that means I can just sit alone for a little while and blast Green Day from the speakers. Which is positivity all around, in my opinion.

My boss let me off today at five, which is about an hour earlier than usual, but I don't mind. It just leaves me to walk home instead of my mum coming to pick me up. I suppose I need the exercise anyway.

Which is where I am now, walking down the streets of Sydney and thanking the sun for chilling out for a little while. It was overbearingly hot this morning, and I could barely get from my mum's car to the record store's front door without blacking out on the sidewalk.

I gratefully walk through the cooled down air as I push through the busy crowd on my way to my apartment building. The sidewalk is crowded, filled with people getting off work and heading home. I try and avoid the crowds as much as possible, but it is inevitable today.

Through the crowd, I can almost see the building coming up on my right, and I sigh in relief, feeling people's shoulders brush against mine in their hurry to get past. I reside to keeping my head down, trying to keep out of anyone's way, my eyes trained on my feet.

Once I reach my usual crosswalk, I look back up and wait for the light to turn green, leaning up against the post and crossing my arms over my chest. I look around, surveying the crowd in front of my building. It's dense, thick and full of people hurrying along the streets.

My eye catches on one particular head, significantly shorter than the majority of the people around them. Their hair is a vibrant blue, strands sticking up in every which way, setting a brick in my stomach. The hairstyle has an uncanny resemblance to what Michael's was, except Michael's hair was a soft purple, not blue.

Nonetheless, I watch the person as they pass my building, walking in front of the crosswalk on the other side of the street as they continue down the sidewalk. I almost look away right when a break in the crowd parts, and I catch a glance of smooth pale skin, achingly familiar green eyes catching against the lights of the city as he looks around the street, appearing seemingly lost.

My heart stops, flat lining inside my chest.

I sit back up, pushing off the post and pushing past the people gathered around the sidewalk to get to the front. I watch the boy walk farther away from me on the other side, and I stare at the red cross light with utmost impatience. I bounce on my toes, ignoring the irritated glares from the pedestrians around me, until the light flashes a bright green.

I hurry across the sidewalk, breaking into a run as I sprint across the crosswalk, reaching the other side of the street quickly and turning away from my apartment, throwing myself into the slow pace of the crowd. I couldn't have lost him, I couldn't have.

I push through the crowd, searching for that bright set of hair, my eyes straining almost painfully to no relief. Panic settles in my brain when the blue hair is lost from my vision, and I almost want to just sit down and cry, right when I see it.

He's standing on the corner of the street, pressed against a building to avoid the crowd and squinting at his phone, clearly confused. He looks up at the street sign above his head and then looks back down at his phone, and I want to scream. It looks like Michael. It looks so much like Michael, just with new hair.

I break away from the busy sidewalk, keeping my eyes trained on him as I rush towards him. He turns away as I approach him, his back facing me as he tilts his head at the street in front of him.

I pause right behind the boy, my nerves springing against my skin in pure stress. It has to be him. There is no way it could be him, but still. It has to be.

I hesitate for a moment before tapping on his right shoulder, watching as he tenses up slightly before turning around warily. I watch, achingly hopeful, as the boy's smaller body turns around to face me.

And then I want to break down and sob, because it's him.

Michael.

It's Michael.

Michael's eyes widen at the sight of me, his green eyes filling with surprise and relief, sparkling beautifully with every green ember thought imaginable. His pretty pink lips pull into a smile before his hand comes up to cover his mouth in shock.

"Luke," He says, voice soft and melodic just as how I remembered it. "Luke. Do--Do you remember me?"

I almost want to laugh, because yes, yes of course I remember him. "Oh my God, Michael." I say, my voice cracking slightly. "I haven't stopped thinking about you."

He smiles even wider and I frantically pull him to my chest, securely wrapping my arms around his smaller body with no intention of ever letting go.

---

A/N ALRIGHT FRIENDS IT'S OVER

this is the first fanfic i ever wrote so it's pretty cool that i actually managed to complete it.

thank you to everyone who actually stuck with me through this whole thing, you guys are amazing.

thanks so much for reading, and i love you so much. i've got other books published and many more coming up if you want to read those i mean idk

anyways i love you so much, and thank you.

bye.