Michael or Mac Ep. 03

It returns when a couple of the guys that hang around the football team but don't play call his name. From their greeting, I gather that it is the first time he has returned to school since our scuffle.

I watch him look towards Emma. With most of the table now occupied, he sits just a couple of seats away from Emma. All the girls go quiet as they look towards Josh, expecting him to move out.

"What?" He says with his arms outstretched and a stupid grin on his face.

Emma packs her things together and stands. Still, Josh doesn't move; he's obviously not learned a dam thing.

Emma walks around the back of the table, then the back of me, and sits down next to me.

She doesn't say a word for a second, but shortly after Donna stands, and says "prick," staring straight at Josh. Donna is quickly followed by Mia and then, one by one, the rest of the table. They all then sit further away from me but on my table.

Josh stands, "what the hell is this about?"

"We all saw the video Josh," one of the cheerleaders says.

Again Josh's smile disappears as he turns.

Before Josh has time to sit, "Joshua White, my office now." Boomed Principal Keller's voice across the cafeteria.

Josh swears under his breath and turns to Emma, "look what you've caused now."

"Me, how the hell have I caused this, Josh?" Emma screams. She has stood and kept a hand on my shoulder, keeping me seated. "All this has happened because of your actions. Not Michael, not me, you Josh. So stop winning like a little baby." My hand automatically goes up to Emma's hand on my shoulder. Luckily all eyes are on Josh at this time.

Emma settles back down and takes a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down.

One of the football team walks over, "what's that about a video?"

"Emma," Donna calls. Emma looks across the table to her friend. Is it alright if I show the boys what we are angry about?"

Emma glances at me, and I shrug. She then nods, "but don't send it; they can see only from my phone." Emma hands Donna her phone, and she walks over to where the boys are still seated. They huddle around and watch the four-minute clip. Again there is an audible gasp as Emma gets pinned to the wall and then chucked across the corridor as I come at Josh. Finally, the phone gets handed back, and there's relative silence from that side of the room.

I have had enough and pack my things away and quietly leave. Emma can see I'm getting overwhelmed and lets me go without any fuss. It crosses my mind that it would be so much easier to handle this as Mac, but I am nowhere near that confident at this moment. So I go and sit in the library and plugin my buds.

I spend the rest of the day keeping a low profile and then disappear home as soon as I can.

It's strange walking into an empty house, and I find it troubling. It's not as though Paps is always in when I get home, but there's a coldness to the place as I walk upstairs to rid myself of the day.

I'm sitting in the kitchen wondering what to make myself for dinner when there's a knock on the front door--opening the door to a tall, beautiful brunet with incredible hazel eyes grinning back at me. I can't help but smile. I open the door to let Emma in and greet those soft lips with a kiss as she walks past without a word.

I close the door and follow her to the kitchen, "hi, Em." I say more to break the silence than anything.

"Hello, baby," she replies. "How are you feeling, Mac? You were very absent from everywhere after lunch."

"Yeah, I was in the library."

"Okay, I know where to find you next time then. So where do you want to study tonight?"

"Don't mind," I reply as my mood starts to lift.

"Well, I think Mom is expecting us at home at around half six, so we have an hour before we need to leave."

"Do you want a drink?" I ask and get a nod in response. She makes herself comfortable. "How are you feeling after what happened at lunch?" I add.

"I'm not sure; it's strange." She pauses, "Donna split up with her boyfriend Kurt, today." I nod my acknowledgment as I bring her ice tea over. "Oh, and Josh got a week's suspension for his actions in the cafeteria."

Putting her tea in front of her, she continues. "Thanks.........It's strange. Once the dust had settled, I felt a lot better. This afternoon was a lot calmer; some of the football team even came up and apologized for being jerks last week." She takes a sip of her tea, "Mmmmm, that's good........." Emma eyes me for a moment. "You are quiet this evening.....come on."

Emma stands, picks up her tea, and with her free hand, takes hold of mine. She leads me upstairs and into my bedroom. She puts her tea on the side and then proceeds to remove her skirt and then her top. "This is not what you think. I started my period this morning." She says with a slightly embarrassed smile that always makes my heart jump. She is standing there with just a t-shirt and panties and her long legs, one in front of the other, so she's not so exposed.

She eyes me, "what do you have under your trackie bottoms?"

"Boxer breaths," I reply.

"Okay, off." Emma points to my trackie bottoms. I am a little hesitant, but eventually, I do as she asks.

She pulls the duvet back and arranges the pillows on top of each other. Emma then sits in the middle of the bed and leans back against the stack of pillows, so she's reclining at a forty-five-degree angle.

My eyes run the entire length of her body, my admiring looks are interrupted by a cough. "Sorry," I say, looking a little embarrassed.

Emma opens her arms, "come on. I'm getting a little cold."

I slide onto the bed, let her pull me to where she wants me. I pull the duvet up, ending up with my head lying on her soft chest and the rest of me on my side, half on half off of her. She wraps her arms around me and pulls me in tight.

I let out a sigh of contentment. Emma kisses the top of my head, knowing this wasn't a time for romance. So we just lay there contented, happy with just being together. Nothing is said because nothing needs to be said at this moment in time. Our understanding of each other over the last weeks has become evident.

I start to shake, and the tears begin to run down my cheeks. Emma pulls me in tighter, "it's okay, my love, let it out." I bury my face into her shoulder and shout as loud as I can. Finally, I take a deep breath and let the stress of the last week out.

All this time, Emma strokes me and runs her fingers through my hair. She doesn't speak, just letting her love for me tell me that she is there, whatever.

I'm not sure how long it was before I raised my head and looked into those loving eyes. "Thanks, Em, I needed that."

"Mmmmm, I know, baby. I felt that when you got up and left during lunch today. That's why I came looking for you."

I shifted myself a little to enable me to reach those lips and tenderly kiss her. She groans into my mouth as she slides down, so I am not stretching so much. "I wish we could do a little more, but.....you know."

We lay entwined in each other's arms and begin to talk. At first, our conversation is light, but it's not long until Emma starts asking and talking about deeper and more personal things. She tells me about her struggles after I left and how her mother helped her through painful times. In return, I explain about my year in West Virginia. We even think about our future for the first time, and she tells me that she would like to get into a university near MIT. I agree that now we have started our relationship, we need to stay together.

Emma's phone starts ringing, and she glances across to my clock, "sorry babe, time to go." I groan, having to move at this moment, but she pushes me off laughing. "Come on, you know we need to keep this week normal."

"I know, but it doesn't make it any easier. I was enjoying our conversation."

Emma gets up and walks into the bathroom. The next thing I hear is the tinkle of the water, and I can't help but laugh to myself at how different my life is now.

"Glad to see you laugh, baby," Emma says as she exits the bathroom.

We get dressed and make our way over to Emma's house. Kim has got in just before us and is in the process of ordering pizza, being Monday.

"Hey, honey, hello Mac. how was your day?" Kim asks as she gives Emma a peck on the cheek.

"Oh, I tell you in a minute. I need to get these off." Emma points to her clothes as she heads towards the stairs.

I follow Kim into the family room. "And I see you've had an exciting couple of days. Although I must admit, that youtube video of you playing at the Tavern is incredible."

"Thanks, Donna shot it on her new digital camera."

"And, I got a text for a very excited next-door neighbor at lunchtime. I hear that someone hugged her today."

"Really? I don't know who that might of been," I said, rolling my eyes.

"She thinks Emma is to blame and helping you to come out of your shell."

"I must admit, life is easier to understand when she is holding my hand," I say as Emma comes into the room.

"When who is holding your hand, baby?" Emma says, catching the end of my sentence.

So I ran through the conversation from the start again.

"Oh, baby, do I have to watch out for Susan now?" She says with a wide grin. "I'm pleased you felt you could do that, baby. Did you make her cry? I thought she looked a little upset when I walked in this morning."

I get rescued by the doorbell. I am first up and head to the door. I get my wallet out and hand the young lad thirty and tell him to keep the change as Kim reaches the door with her purse open, "Oh Mac, you didn't have to do that." I wave her away and carry the boxes into the family room.

When I get there, Emma is on the phone with Donna, "hang on, Donna, he's just walked back in." she says. She looks at me, "baby, Donna wants to know if there's any chance you can do a question and answer sesh live for her this week sometime?" I wrinkle my nose. "Oh, go on, Mac, please. It will be a laugh. Your concert has over three hundred thousand views at the last count, and it's gone viral. People want to know who you are."

"Okay, but this is the last thing I'm doing. I'm not......." Emma's too excited and not listening. "What night do you want to do it on?" I can hear Donna squeal through the phone. "Nah, can't do Friday........" Emma rolls her eyes, "because we are going down to the beach house for the weekend." Emma picks up a slice of pizza. "Thursday it is, and no, you can't come.........Because you're supposed to be going to visit your dad, and we are going to shut the place for winter........Exactly, there won't be much time for anything else." She rolls her eyes again and takes a bit. "Okay, I will see you tomorrow, Bye Donna." Emma put her phone down.

"Right, Thursday around six at yours. Okay?" Now it's my time to roll my eyes.

"So, why's the film got so many views? I thought it would be a couple hundred at most." I ask, with a mouth full of pizza.

"Because you are getting a lot of the artists you covered linking the video to their sites. I'm talking Tic Tok, Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter. Baby, this is just the beginning. You'll see it'll be over a million by next weekend."

I shake my head, swallowing my mouthful of pizza, thinking what the hell have I got myself involved in.

Once done, we put the boxes in the recycling bin and make our way up the stairs to the bedroom. Emma switches the TV on and grabs some of the cushions from the window ledge. Once set, she gets me to sit on the bed first, this time, almost the same position as before. Then, she turns the light off, crawls between my legs, and leans back, using me as a backrest.

She pulls her light blanket over us, wraps my arms around her, and we settle in to watch whatever is on. Unfortunately, I've never been the biggest TV watcher, so I'm lost on many of the programs Emma is flicking through, and she finally settles on something called Love Island? The moment I see the type of people taking part, I can tell that the program will be pretentious. Nevertheless, Emma goes through the basic premise of it, and we begin to watch. I don't say anything but switch off after about thirty seconds. She seems to enjoy all the twists and turns as they are revealed.

I don't remember falling asleep, but the next thing I know, there is a hand gently shaking me awake. I open my eyes to see Kim's smiling face.

"Hi Mac, you both fell asleep watching TV," she whispers.

"What?" I say as I become more aware of my surroundings. Emma is now fast asleep, cuddled into me. "Sorry," I say.

"Ahhh, that's okay. It's just before ten."

I gently twist myself and ease her over to my left. She moans as her head touches the cooler surface of the pillow, but she is a deep sleeper and quickly settles again. I pull the cover back over her and kiss her before I follow a smiling Kim out of the door.

"Do you want to sleep in the spare room tonight, Mac?"

"Not tonight Kim, I have things to do at home before school tomorrow."

"Well, do you want a drink before you leave?"

"Okay, one of your decaf coffees would be good," I say with an appreciative smile.

We walk into the kitchen, and I take a seat at the table. Kim busies herself making me a coffee. I get the feeling that she has an ulterior motive.

She sets the coffee mug in front of me and puts her own one down opposite before sitting herself down. Then, she picks her mug up, blows the top, and takes a sip--all the time scanning my face.

I smile, "are we going to have 'the talk' Kim."

She smiles at me, doing quotations with my fingers, "no, just a chat tonight."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Mac, there's no need for 'the talk,' as you put it. I have known you since you were seven. I knew your parents and your grandparents. So I know what a good person you are. The only conversation I need is to know you are alright and that things are fine at home and school."

"Well, I am okay. Home is good, and school is its usual minefield for me."

"And how are you handling being back with Emma?"

"Being with her calms me. If anything, I find being apart more stressful." I say, smiling as I think about our cuddle earlier.

"So, where next?"

"Now, or life generally?"

"Either, or."

"Well, my immediate focus is to finish this last year at school. Help Emma to get where she wants to be. As for Emma and I, that is an unknown. I know how I feel about her, and I am confident that she feels the same way."

"She told us the other day that she didn't want to go to one of the local colleges but wants to go to university."

"Yes, that's right. She's already improved enough to get past the entrance criteria for some." Kim purses her lips and looks away. "Is there a problem with that?"

"We have saved only with a view of her commuting from home. Unfortunately, there's not enough money to pay for rent and university tuition." She looks back at me apologetically.

"You do realize that isn't a problem."

"Mac, you don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to. There is a condition, though."

"Oh?"

"Emma's not to know unless she asks directly."

"I don't know Mac, Ron did tell me what you told him the other day, but it doesn't make your generosity any easier to accept. Do you mind if I talk to Ron first?"

"Sure, it's not as though it's happening tomorrow. Just so you know, though, she is now looking to be near me at MIT. So this conversation could be unnecessary." I look at my watch, "I best get going. Have you heard from Ron?"

"Not yet; he should phone around eleven with the time difference."

I get up and go and get my jacket on. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, goodnight Mac and thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you, Mac." She smiles at me as I walk out of the back door.

I lock the side gate behind me and turn right towards home. I hear a car start up further back on the road, but I pay it no attention. There's a slight chill in the air as I cross the street and take a left.

I hear a car come around the corner at speed, and I turn, recognizing the driver instantly as the car screeches to a stop, just in front of me.

To be continued.............................

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