A\N: I'm sorry again for not updating this Wednesday, but I'm gonna make it up to you with this longer chapter! *squeals*

Also if you guys enjoy a good brain challenge, check out _sinfulvibes_ 's book. You may just know the answer for the first riddle :)

That being said, enjoy this update!

P.S. Please press play on the song above while reading this chapter. Thank you! ♡

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Twenty two:

I took another sip of my strawberry smoothie I'd ordered a few minutes before. I bent the blue straw and let the sweet content dance on my taste buds.

Matt arched his eyebrow at me and placed his elbows onto the table. "So that's how it's going to go?"

I frowned, swallowing down the smoothie. "What do you mean?"

"So you're just gonna stay here and wait for him?" He pointed towards Michael who stood alone at a table on the other side of the restaurant. His head was lowered to his cup of coffee, but I could notice him occasionally stealing glances in our direction. "You're just gonna wait for him to come to you and - and apologise, or... ask you to dance, or something equally stupid and unpredictable?"

"Obviously you find little things like dancing unpredictable, which isn't quite true," I pointed out, which made him scowl ever so slightly, "But to answer your question, no, I'm not." I let out a small sigh and continued my practiced speech. "To be honest, I - I still feel like crap. Okay? I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. He's mad at me, and I just... I don't know what to do."

He shook his head as the look in his eyes softened. "Look, I don't know what happened between you guys, but it's just gotta stop. You both like each other, and you know it. So please end this unnecessary drama, will you?"

I blinked, taking another sip of my pinkish drink. "Okay. You're perfectly right. Life is already a messy thing, we don't need to add more poop to make it even more complicated."

Matt's lips stretched into a smile. He sighed. "Thank God, Bree. I'm glad at least you get it. I tried reasoning with him, but I'm pretty sure all he saw was my lips moving. I don't think he's going to listen to anyone but you. So go talk to him."

"Will do. Thanks for the help, Matt. Will Michael murder you for leaving him to talk to me here?"

He waved the question off. "Nah. If he didn't do it yet, he never will. He loves me too much."

I chuckled and stood up from my wooden chair. "Aww, look at you two. Maybe you're the one who should end up with him, eh?"

He threw his head back and laughed. "Well, at least we'd know who would be the girl in this relationship," he casually pointed toward Michael with his thumb. "Just joking. Now go."

"Yeah, yeah."

I straightened my dress and travelled the whole room which was now an improvised dance floor for the adults. They slow danced to an Abba song, which looked pretty funny but also quite beautiful in a strange, '80's like way.

"Michael."

His eyes locked with mine as I took a seat across him at the table. My heart raced against my ribcage as I stared at him in silence.

Okay, something told me I really should had planned my future words more carefully.

But my problem was, I had too many things to say. Too many things to tell him, too much stuff to explain. But no correct way to tell any of it. So hypothetically speaking, that was what really made me speechless.

Luckily, it was Michael who first broke the silence. "Before you say anything, let me ask you a question."

I knit my eyebrows, my expression turning grim. I felt a wave of curiosity spread within me as I said, "Okay. What is it?"

Michael straightened in his chair, the purple light coming from the ceiling making his pale skin now look like porcelain. His gaze was focused toward his untouched cup of coffee as he blinked nervously.

I didn't think I'd ever seen him this serious and... affected. It was as if it was the first time this side of him surfaced to the eyes of the public. Or in this case, me.

He opened his mouth to speak, his eyes meeting mine again. "Haven't you ever been so attracted to someone's personality," he made a small pause, "That you just started to see them as simply... perfect, as a whole?"

I blinked, my eyes widening. I felt the butterflies being released. They flew into my stomach, their wings flapping wildly whilst the rest of my body remained frozen.

"Wow..." I breathed, unsure of what would come out of my mouth next. "You really are a writer, aren't you?"

His face remained blank, but I could notice the corner of his mouth being tempted into a small smile.

"This happened to me, Bree..."

I swallowed nervously, waiting for him to continue.

"This happened to me. With you."

My heart skipped a beat.

Or possibly a few dozens of them.

I sat there speechles, grabbing onto dear life for the perfect words to say. But once again, there were none.

So instead I just muttered a "Whu - Mphm kaay," which in my mind sounded much closer to a real sentence.

Michael eyed me with confusion. "What?"

"Umhmm..." I cleared my throat. "Uh, I mean... Let me get this straight. You're - you're actually saying you're attracted to me?"

He knit his eyebrows in confusion, but a small shade of red emphasised his cheeks. "I thought that was an understatement... " He cleared his throat and averted my gaze. "I guess your personality is what made the difference. You acted with me as if I were a nice person for real... Quite frankly, even I didn't treat myself this way. And I've been a douche to you -"

"And I've been a douche to you," I said.

"... And the worst part is," he continued, "I - I didn't even realize any of that. I called you names for over a year, without even bothering to discover who you really were."

He took a deep breath and placed another pack of sugar into his coffee. "And then it... It hit me, you know? You actually were a really sweet person, who tried to help me after that whole blog crap."

I winced, but didn't say anything. I let him continue.

"And that's exactly the thing, Bree," he pursed his lips, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly, "I started to see you as... I don't know... perfect. Even though the word itself is a cliché, that's the most accurate description I could find. And I think admitting this to myself was probably the hardest part..."

My jaw hung open. I wanted to speak, but my words were blocked by the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. I was bewildered.

"Yes, this must be strange coming from someone like me," he said, "A complete feelingless person in appearance... But then again, people are never the way they seem to be, right?"

He looked at me with such a fragile expression, almost baby-like, that I ended up mirroring his face involuntarily in response.

"And when Carly sprung the truth on me," he shook his head, his tone of voice lowered down to almost a whisper, which made it almost impossible to be heard into the music, "When she told me that you wrote that blog about me... To be honest, I - I didn't believe her. I couldn't imagine how you would do this to me."

I bit my lip and let my gaze fall to my feet. Hearing these words coming from his mouth somehow made the guilt more painful, almost unbearable.

"But then she showed me the screenshot, and your conversation on Facebook where you sent her the picture, and told me what your friend, Chloe, had told her... And it just dawned on me."

"Michael, I said I was sorry, it was for Mr. Brunner, come on -"

"You don't get it," he cut me off, regret flashing through his eyes, "It didn't bother me so much that you wrote that post."

"It didn't?" I asked surprised.

"No," he shook his head, "It's how you lied to me that bothers me the most. I had to find out about this from Carly, Bree..." His voice shook. "From Carly. You couldn't even admit it on your own."

"I was afraid you'd hate me," I admitted, feeling my eyes sting. "You have no idea how bad I felt... I dunno, I guess it just seemed worth it at first. You'd made me feel bad, a lot actually, ignoring me all the time, so I just - "

"Wait, ignoring you? But we weren't even speaking real stuff back then."

"Exactly," I nodded, "And that literally destroyed me."

Michael blinked, small lines appearing on his forehead as he frowned. He looked strange... self conscious maybe?

He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him before he could say anything.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," I quickly added, my cheeks already flared up, "The point is, I realize this idea was stupid. I never thought of the consequences. I mean, look at this. I almost lost my Princess."

Despite the seriousness of our previous confessions, Michael's face broke into a grin. "Yeah, thank you, Prince."

I bowed my head. "You're very welcome, your highness."

He laughed and nudged my shoulder. "Shut up. I'm still mad at you."

"Yeah, I can totally see that from your yellow teeth being put on display."

"That is so not true," He laughed again, "My teeth are pearly white, and you know it."

"So I can see the arrogance is still holding onto you," I smiled.

He passed me one of his signature smirks, but this time in a mocking gesture. "I know you like it, babe."

I made a gagging face to prove my point, but I burst out laughing the next second.

And Michael didn't hesitate to follow me with another laugh of his own.

Aww, look at this, my inner voice cooed, He can't stay mad at you for too long.

Oh, shut up, I snapped back (at my own self). You're distracting me.

But it was true. Funny how a couple of inside jokes and sarcasm can turn an argument into a series of childish laughs.

But weren't childish laughs the best ones? The kind that just made you forget about anything, and just laugh your heart out?

And I can happily say that that's the point where our fight ended. At least, that's how it seemed like, anyway.

Matt eventually joined in on our jokes, plopping down onto the empty seat from our table, his face painted with a large smile.

We - the only teenagers and people sitting down into a sea of adults dancing around and reliving their youths - had just defeated the storm.

For the second time.

Maybe we didn't entirely realize it at that point, but our lives took a whole new turn after that.

Sure, I couldn't exactly tell if Michael was still mad at me... But at least I knew his anger slash disappointment had faded away, if not completely, at least some of it.

However, Michael's words still didn't quite sink in.

He likes you. He likes you. He likes you.

My inner voice was very much caught up in its own cheering fest inside my head. However, I put on my best straight face and hoped for the love of God Michael wouldn't notice my burning cheeks.

Still, I couldn't exactly understand how he could have such deep feelings for me... Me.

It was as if all the scenarios I'd played inside my head back in freshman year actually morphed into reality.

And somehow, it still felt unreal.

But it didn't matter. Cause I had plenty of time to process the information.

Plus, even though there was a torment of confused emotions wrestling inside me, I could always come back to them when I got home.

I knew I had a whole night of overthinking ahead of me.

A new song started playing from the speakers. I woke up from my trance just as Amazing from Aerosmith burst throughout the restaurant.

A warm feeling settled in me and my pulse increased inside my veins.

People gently swayed to the first lyrics, while others continued with their energetic moves, not caring about anything else.

We, on the other hand, remained seated at our table at the edge of the crowd and mouthed the lyrics.

It's amazing,

With the blink of an eye you finally see the light.

It's amazing,

When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright.

It's amazing,

And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight.

I think it was that moment when I finally realized that everything was going to be okay.

Somehow, someday... But it would be.

And yes, that was indeed amazing...

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Soo what did you think of this chapter? I wanted it to make it a little bit longer since there was a lot of emotion into it and also because you know I missed the Wednesday update again *swallows nervously*

So the end is pretty near now, I'm not sure how many chapters are left tho.

I can't believe I've reached this point with this book. I really enjoyed writing it, and I really hope you guys enjoyed it just as much :)

Btw I think I'm going to update once a week now, probably every Friday, because school is catching up on me and yeah highschool ain't easy, as I'm sure you know 😅

With that being said, thank you so much once again for your support. Don't forget to vote, comment and share, and add this book to your reading lists ;)

Thank you! See ya to the next update :3

Cheers ✌