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Maybe it was his unkempt physical demeanor that repelled his peers. Maybe it was his way of answering to people who asked him simple questions, like if he had a pencil they could borrow or how his day was. Maybe it was the fact he never bothered to talk to anyone and always sat by himself.
No, it was definitely all of those combined.
But one thing he knew for sure was that no one wanted to be near him.
Michael didn't blame those people. He wasn't exactly a people person, anyway. He just felt awkward talking to anyone, especially when most of the time it was just small talk and he wasn't a fan of those kinds of conversations. It was obvious people were not interested in talking to him in the first place and only bothered to talk to him in order to be nice and make things less awkward for them, but it wasn't helping him at all in that situation.
Michael tended to avoid people to prevent awkwardness for himself. Talking was never Michael's strongest quality, and when it came to his classmates at school, talking only made him more anxious than if it were with an adult.
So, he resorted to keeping to himself and avoided socializing. And everyone else avoided him.
Well, almost everyone.
For some reason, there was one guy--his name was Luke--who just didn't get the hint that Michael didn't want to be bothered. No matter how disinterested Michael appeared, Luke always came back and tried to talk to him whenever he got the chance. He was the kind of guy that just liked to talk to anyone. He didn't seem to care what kind of person people were. If he wanted to talk to someone, he would do it without another thought.
Michael didn't understand why anyone would want to do that. It seemed so stressful and it was way too much work for him to handle. He only needed two people in his life, and they were his parents.
Except they were working most days and nights.
Michael only ever saw them over the weekend, but even then they would also be working at home as well. He didn't complain. He knew they were working overtime to help increase money for the family, since they weren't exactly in the position where they didn't have to worry about anything financially.
He was grateful for his parents and their hard work, but sometimes he wished that he could spend some time with them.
But in the mean time, he had only himself to deal with.
Today was Michael's birthday, but he had a feeling that he would have to spend it alone.
He didn't have any friends to wish him happy birthday, nor did he care to share his birthday with anyone, so naturally no one wished him happy birthday. Not even his parents, since they were gone by the time Michael woke up that morning and they never left any texts, calls, or notes that told him happy birthday.
Perhaps today wasn't going to be a very happy birthday to Michael.
He was currently in the library during his free period, and he had an open book in front of him that he randomly grabbed off the shelf. However, he wasn't paying attention to it, but rather had headphones over his ears as music played out of them from his phone. He had his arms folded on top of the table and his head on top of said arms. His eyes were half open, and he felt like he was about to pass out at any given moment.
Someone slid into the seat next to Michael and scooted closer to him--he didn't need to look to know it was Luke; who else would want to sit near Michael?--so Michael removed his headphones and sat up straight, glancing over at Luke who was beaming at him.
"Hey, are you free tonight?" Luke asked.
Michael simply shook his head, but mainly because he didn't want to do anything with Luke. He was about to put his headphones back on, but then Luke stopped him, lowering them down from his ears.
"What plans do you have tonight?"
Michael shrugged.
"Is it something special?"
Michael didn't respond this time.
"Okay. Well, I hope you enjoy doing whatever stuff. If you change your mind, give me a call. You have my number." Luke winked and then lightly patted Michael on the shoulder before leaving to talk to a group of friends.
Michael did have Luke's number, but only because Luke put his number in Michael's phone and Michael would forget to delete it, but when he did remember he would be too lazy.
But Michael didn't plan on reaching out to Luke whatsoever. He only wanted to go home and celebrate his birthday--ideally with his parents, but he wasn't going to bring up his hopes. He bet to himself that he would celebrate his birthday alone. Again.
With that thought in mind, Michael adjusted the headphones over his ears, closed the book, and stood before exiting the library.
-
Just as Michael expected when he got home, he was going to celebrate his birthday alone.
On the way home, he had bought himself a small cake and candles. He would have liked to eat the cake with his parents, but they weren't home and were most likely not going to be home for his birthday.
He supposed he was going to have to light the candles and eat the cake on his own.
Michael set the cake down on the coffee table and proceeded to unbox it. He opened up the candles and only grabbed one, sticking that into the cake. He went into the kitchen to grab a plate, a fork, and a matchbox. He returned to the cake and then lit the candle.
He sat on the ground and crossed his legs, staring at the flame blazing in front of him. He hummed happy birthday to himself before closing his eyes to make his wish.
Just before he could blow out the candle, there was a knock at the door. He walked up to the door and looked through the peephole, and there he saw Luke standing with his hands behind his back.
Michael opened the door and tilted his head at the sight of Luke.
"Hi, um--" Luke said with a smile. He brought his hands in front of him to reveal a small box with a tiny green bow on it. "I--Okay, you have every right to think I'm creepy, but I know today's your birthday. I sort of, kind of, maybe looked through your information in the school office earlier today when I was given files to sort, and saw that today was your birthday and also got your address so I could surprise you."
Michael blinked at Luke. Yeah, he agreed that Luke was definitely creepy. He should call the police for stalking.
"Anyway," Luke continued as he held out the gift to Michael, "Happy birthday, Michael."
Michael was going to not accept the gift, but Luke put himself through all the trouble to come here just to wish him happy birthday. So, he took the gift from Luke and lifted the lid from the box, revealing a shiny necklace with the letter M on it.
This was the first time he had received a gift from anyone on his birthday, not to mention something like a necklace.
Luke held his hands out towards Michael. "May I help you put the necklace on?"
Michael nodded and handed the necklace back to Luke, turning himself around as Luke proceeded to help him put on the necklace.
Once it was on, Luke held the M in his hand. "It suits you."
Michael was feeling a little awkward, since he wasn't that used to compliments, but accepted it anyway.
"Oh!" Luke suddenly exclaimed, the loud noise making Michael wince. "Where are your parents? I think I should at least introduce myself if I'm taking up your time on your birthday."
Michael hung his head and bit his lip. He felt a pang in his chest.
"Wait, you're just celebrating your birthday by yourself?"
Michael nodded his head, feeling his eyes grow slightly teary. He wiped them away with the back of his hand.
It was silent for a moment before Luke asked, "May I celebrate with you?"
A small smile tugged at Michael's lips, and he let Luke into his home.
Michael sat back down where he was before and Luke took a seat next to Michael, placing a hand behind Michael. "Make a wish, birthday boy," Luke said.
Michael closed his eyes and repeated his wish in his head once more. Then he blew out the candles and Luke began clapping.
"Whatever you wished for, I hope it comes true," Luke said with a wide grin. "Okay, let's eat some cake now."
Michael unwrapped the plastic knife that came with the cake and began cutting the cake into slices. Once he got one slice, he placed it on the single plate and handed it to Luke.
Luke shook his head. "You eat it. It's your cake, so you should get the first bite."
Michael glanced down at the cake before he grabbed a fork and took a piece, putting it into his mouth. When the flavor kicked in, he smiled and ate another bite.
"Must be a really good cake if it makes you smile," Luke commented.
For some reason, Michael took another piece of cake and brought it up to Luke's mouth. He didn't know where the burst of confidence came from, but he was glad when Luke ate the cake.
"Wow," Luke moaned, "that is really good. What is it?"
"Chocolate mousse," Michael said softly.
"It's delicious, I think I'll get this kind of cake for my birthday--" Luke suddenly gasped. "You spoke! Oh, this is breaking news! I feel so honored to have you speak to me."
Michael got embarrassed at Luke's words, his cheeks heating up as he glanced down at the ground. He bit his bottom lip and then looked up at Luke.
"Why do you talk to me?" he asked. "You're different from everyone else. You try to get to know me, even if I am cold to you."
"I think you're more cool than cold," Luke answered with a shrug.
"Those mean the same thing."
"But there is a subtle difference in meaning between the two. I don't think you're a weird person at all. Maybe more shy and introverted, but people take it as you being bitter to them." Luke's hand behind Michael began finding its way around Michael's waist. Michael didn't push it away.
"Do I not give off bad auras?"
Luke shook his head. "No. If anything, you were really mysterious to me and I wanted to know more about you."
Michael was surprised to hear that someone actually cared to know about him and not just talk to him without purpose other than to fill the awkward void. Unlike anyone else, Luke never gave up trying to talk to Michael, and now Michael knew that Luke was genuinely interested in him. Well, he still had some doubts.
He took in a deep breath before letting it out. Then he opened his mouth to speak.
"I never liked it when people made small talk with me," Michael began to explain. This was the first time he was explaining his behavior to anyone, and it felt strange to have someone else know of it. "I didn't know what to say, so it only made things awkward for me. Plus, no one actually cared to know about me, so I saw no point in even talking about anything to people."
"Ah, that explains a lot," Luke said, nodding his head.
Michael shrugged. "I'm still not entirely certain you're interested in me."
Luke moved closer to Michael and placed his hand that was behind Michael on the latter's lower back. "It's okay if you don't believe me now. Hopefully one day you will see that I am genuine about my feelings for you." Suddenly Luke withdrew his hand and said, "I-I mean my interest in you. Like, getting to know you and all. But I am glad that you're opening up to me."
Michael smiled. "Well, you did look up my information without my permission, which I find extremely creepy, and I did think about calling the police on you."
"I'm sorry." Luke brought a hand up to his face. "I got too curious and wanted to know about you, but couldn't get you to talk to me about yourself. I won't do that again and will ask you directly if I want to know anything about you."
Michael laughed a bit. He brought a hand up to the necklace Luke gave him. "You didn't have to get me a gift, you know. You didn't even have to wish me happy birthday."
"I wanted to. And I'm glad that I did." Luke paused. "N-Not that I'm condoning my actions to get your information. I'm just glad that I found out your birthday was today and managed to celebrate it with you rather than you doing it alone."
A smile nearly formed on Michael's lips. "Just don't do that creepy stuff again."
Luke nodded his head. "Okay. I promise."
Michael let go of the necklace and reached for Luke's hand, linking their pinkies together. "You promised." He then stood up and tugged Luke up.
"Where are we going?" Luke questioned as he stood.
"My room," Michael answered. "There are way more interesting things we can do in there than out here. Like play 21 questions."
Luke smiled. "We could do it out here, but sure. Let's do that in your room."
So then Michael led Luke to his room where they spent the rest of the night on the bed chatting and getting to know one another.
Tonight was by far the best birthday Michael had had in a long time, since this was the only birthday where his wish came true.
His wish to not be alone anymore.