Chapter Text
“Lucas, set me up.” Mike said, his eyes glassy and his mouth clenched firmly.
“Mike, what?” Lucas said, choking on a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich.
“Set me up, please!” Mike asked desperately. “Find me a girl who would go with me to the party this weekend!”
“Why?” Lucas inquired, dropping his sandwich on the table as he gestured dramatically with both arms. “You and El JUST broke up, this really doesn’t seem like a good time for you”
“Yeah but it’s not fair!” he screeched, his voice an octave higher than usual. “You’re with Max, Dustin has Suzie, even Will has a girlfriend now. Will! Seriously!”
“Oh,” Lucas said, picking up his sandwich again and chuckling “I’m sorry Mike, but Will does NOT have a girlfriend”
Mike looked at him indignantly “um, YEAH HE DOES! He called me last night with the fantastic news that I’m the last single guy left in the party” he said bitterly, slumping into a heap on his chair.
Lucas took a thoughtful bite. “Hmmm, ya know Mike, I really don’t think Will’s the girlfriend type… ” he said vaguely.
“THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT!” Mike exclaimed, shooting his hand out and nearly toppling over his milk box. “But her name is Rosie and she’s real, all right! And from what I heard, she’s reeeeal cool too!”
“Uh huh. Have you ever met this girl, Mike?”
He laughed humorlessly “No. What, you think I’m gonna ride my bike all the way across county lines to see her? This perfect girl who loves art and D&D and makes Will happier than he’s ever been before? I think I’ll pass” Mike said, slumping down with a huff, strands of his curly hair falling in his face.
“I mean he’s coming down for Christmas. You’re going to see him at the party this weekend,” Lucas said sagely. “How about you worry about it then?”
With the subtle reminder of the upcoming reunion, Lucas could see a dim flicker in his best friend’s eyes, but as soon as it came it was gone, extinguished by something deeper within him.
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t really care, though,” Mike grumbled, his rogue right hand swatting away a thought he really didn’t wish to deal with right now. He picked up his bag of Fritos and began to crunch on them absentmindedly.
“Mmm yeah you do, but whatever,” Lucas said, rolling his eyes and taking a long sip of chocolate milk. “Keep telling yourself that”
Lucas’s words bounced right off of Mike, whose attention was buried too far inside his head to notice them. Spilling crumbs all over the table, Mike sat there trying to parse through fragmented thoughts shrouding an obscured truth that he was so close to understanding, but remained yet out of reach.