Chapter Text
September makes way for October. Halloween is quickly approaching, and Jeremy has officially known Christine for about a month. She’s started sitting at their table, always next to Jeremy, always on his right side. Michael sits in his seat to Jeremeys left, and he doesn’t know how Christine knew that was the usual deal, but he’s glad he can keep sitting there without any uncomfortable confrontations. It’s a small piece of normal in what’s been an unusual month so far. Jeremy spends a lot of his free time practicing with Christine. This means he spends less time with his other friends. Oh sure the two of them join the group for stuff, but they always sort of keep to themselves a little. It’s like they’re seeing a new side of Jeremy. It’s sort of cute, seeing him blush and stumble over his words, like he did with all of them before he settled into his space within the group, until he got comfortable with them and started trusting them. But it’s also a bit…disconcerting in a way. They haven’t seen Jeremy this enthused over almost anything, except maybe video game night with Michael. It also doesn’t help that he’s become somewhat stagnant in his pursuit of Christine.
They see how she looks at him, she hangs onto every word and encourages him to open up, she latches onto his right arm (always the right arm) every time they hang out. It’s so obvious that she likes him! Like, look at them right now;
‘’A-and then I-I started doing her lines instead of mine!’’ Jeremy admits to the table during his re-telling of last nights rehearsal fiasco. His face is red, but he’s smiling, and there’s laughter in his voice. He’s so comfortable admitting to ding something wrong, it’s strange, because the Jeremy they know is so scared of failure.Always second guessing himself and worrying about what other people think. He worries a bit less that they’ll thing anything bad about him, but he had admitted once that even then he sometimes worries just because he can’t help it. Even though he logically knows that he doesn’t have to. So to see him like this, at ease with telling them about something embarrassing he did, Christine clothing his arm and laughing along with the story, interjecting a few comments from her perspective of the whole ordeal. It paints a strange, yet pleasant picture.
They’re good for each other, that much is plain for all to see. Christine used to hop lunch tables, not uncommon for someone with so many different interests, but it seems like it’s doing her some good with stable friendships. She’s been talking to the other girls a lot outside of school for instance. Connecting and sharing gossip, sharing tips and tricks for their daily lives. They’ve also found that while she isn’t that into video games she still likes watching them play, and she’s a blast to bring to the arcade. Watching her decimate previous high scores on the Dance Dance Revolution and karaoke machines is sight to behold. She looks so alive and happy with the neon lights illuminating her face, the cheers of support from the sidelines egging her on further than ever before. The Undefeated Queen of DDR is legendary.
Chatroom: F I G H T
AmericanDragon: hey hey hEYYYYY
AmericanDragon: HALLOWEEN PARTY CONFIRMED™
AmericanDragon: ur all comin no excuses
RichBich: hells yeah dude!
Player1: f yea
DDRqueen: I love halloween parties!!
MythicBinch: sure
GossipGirl: I’ll be there!
BeanieBabe: yay!!!! i’m gonna get my costume ready!!!!
Player2: nice!
AmericanDragon added RichBich, GossipGirl, BeanieBabe, MythicBinch and Player1 to the chat
AmericanDragon named chat ‘now kiss’
AmericanDragon: lets get our boy some ACTION
Player1: wtf jake
GossipGirl: What’s the plan?
AmericanDragon: good attitude
AmericanDragon: we’re gonna get jerms n chrissy together if its the last thing we do on halloween
BeanieBabe: but how???
MythicBinch: easy. truth or dare
Player1: remind me to never cross u
MythicBinch: do u even need a reminder?
Player1: good point
Player1: okay so we get drunk, we play truth or dare, then what? and isn’t this a bit juvenile?
AmericanDragon: nah this is perf!
RichBich: omfg yea totes, we dare him to tell her
Player1: that’s never gonna work dude, he’d just get mad at us
GossipGirl: We dare Chrissy to kiss Jerms, and then proceed from there?
RichBich: better plan okay fine i bow down in the dust for the power of Rolan
GosspiGirl: Finally, the respect I deserve
Player1: that might just work actually, let’s go
The party is in full swing that weekend. It’s mainly the gang and a few friends from their classes, but everyone is singing and drinking and dancing and having a good time. Jake is pretty sure he just saw Brooke dressed as the dog filter on snapchat, that’s fucking awesome. He wanders towards the kitchen and finds Christine talking to Jenna. She’s wearing a floor-length gown in deep purple, and she looks regal. Jenna is wearing a t-shirt that someone has written ‘COSTUME’ on in sharpie. It makes him chuckle. Christine catches his eye and she smiles, so he walks closer.
‘’So I said What the hell Michael Mell, and I didn’t even notice I was doing the rhyming thing too!’’ Jenna says and Christine bursts out laughing.
‘’Is that where it’s from? Jeremy says it all the time!’’ Christine says once she can breathe again. Jenna raises an eyebrow.
‘’He hasn’t told you? Doesn’t he talk about Michael?’’ Jenna asks, and Jake wants to shake her just a little bit. Jenna shoots him a glance as if she knows what he’s thinking, and telling him to let her do her thing. He swallows nervously.
‘’Oh all the time! It’s nice, they’ve been friends for so long so he has a lot of good stories.’’ Christine smiles, not a trace of jealousy in her expression. Jenna wants to frown. Christine is just too sweet for such a tactic.
‘’Speaking of Jeremy, you heard anything from him or Michael? They’re running late.’’ Jenna transitions smoothly. Christine looks expectantly at Jake.
‘’Nothing, I’ll text Jeremy. Michaels probably driving.’’ Jake says as he finds his phone.
To Jeremy:
yo dude where u guys at?
The phone in Jeremys pocket buzzes with the incoming text, but he doesn’t notice. He’s sitting in Michaels car, looking at Jakes front door, and not moving. He’s been like that for the past 5 minutes. Trying to convince himself that going in there won’t be the most horrible kind of torture he could put himself trough. It’s not working. He knows he’ll have a good time if he just goes. He always has a good time at Jakes parties, he always always has a good time with his friends, and lately also with Christine. And she’s in there too. The thought makes the weight in his stomach turn over nauseatingly. The thought of people looking at him is really no appealing though. He vaguely finds himself wishing he could just crawl into a deep dark abyss and never come back. Just disappear into nothingness so he doesn’t have to deal with everything.
‘’You ready?’’ Michael asks him. He’d said he needed a minute to prepare. And it’s true, sometimes he just needs to psyche himself up before social events like these. And then he goes out there and he’s fine and he has his friends if he’s not fine and it’s good. It’s all good.
It’s not working. Jeremy glances over and looks at Michaels expectant face. He doesn’t look too happy about this party either, but he hides it better than Jeremy, that’s for sure.
‘’I-I-I-I ca-a-an’t M-Mikey.’’ Jeremy stutters out. His hands are so cold. His skin feels like it’s too big and too tight, as if it’s been stretched over shapes it’s not supposed to cover. God he’s so uncomfortable. He closes his eyes, curls up in the passenger seat. Michael looks him over, then sighs.
‘’Wanna go home?’’ he asks, voice soft and understanding. He knows the feeling all too well himself. Jeremy peeks out at him, and the sight makes Michael a little sad. There’s so much tension in his posture, so much worry in his eyes. Michael has the urge to gather him up and tuck him away from the uncaring and unforgiving world Jeremy has built around himself.
‘’I’m sorry. You can drop me off and then come back.’’ he says in a tiny voice. Michaels heart breaks a little more.
‘’Nah dude, I’d rather hang with you.’’ Michael smiles, and starts the car before Jeremy can protest.
Chatroom: F I G H T
Player1: i’m taking miah home
RichBich: shot hopes he feels better soon!
RichBich: *shit
GosspiGirl: Send him our love!
BeanieBabe: <3 <3 <3 !!!
MythicBinch: <3
AmericanDragon: damn, keep him safe
Christine looks up from her phone as the messages stop appearing one after another. She looks over to Jenna quizzically, and when she catches her eye Jenna sighs.
‘’You’ve noticed that Jeremy gets nervous a lot, right?’’ she opens with, and Christine can only nod. Of course she knew, it wasn’t really something you could easily miss about the boy.
‘’Well he has like, social anxiety? It gets to him sometimes. Michael has it too, so he understands the best, and they usually take care of each other when it gets rough.’’ Jenna explains. Short and to the point. Christine is quick to unlock her phone again, pulling up the group chat.
DDRqueen: <3!!
The chat is a weird place for her sometimes. There are a lot of references she doesn’t get. Like why the chat is named ‘F I G H T’. Jeremy had mentioned it was left over from an argument they’d had about pastries ages ago, and then it had just stuck. But she enjoyed it nonetheless.
Then there are times like these when someone will say something and everyone has the same response and she’s left sitting in the dust until someone explains it to her. She’d admitted at one point that she felt a bit stupid when that happened, but they’d all quickly reassured her that it was fine. It was a lot of fun trying to explain the different things to her, and they wanted her to be able to join in of course, she was part of the group now! Sometimes she still felt like Jeremys tag along though. Like right now, she felt a little lost, adrift in a sea of people she doesn’t know all that well, with no Jeremy to tie her down. Oh well, she muses. No better time to get to know them better, right? She jumps back into animated conversation with Jenna and Jake.
When Jeremy gets home he collapses face first into his bed before clutching his pillow to his chest and curling up on his side, facing outwards. Michael puts the ‘Sad Chill’ playlist on from Jeremys laptop. The soft notes slowly fill the room, and Michael sits down with his back against the bed. While the circumstances aren’t ideal, it feels nice, being just the two of them again. Jeremys arm creeps out over the edge of the bed and dangles next to Michaels shoulder. He reaches up and grabs it, running his fingers over the knuckles and noting the way it’s slowly warming up. Jeremy sighs deeply, trying to melt into the welcoming softness of his bedsheets. Maybe if he could just disappear into the comforting softness it would all be better. The warm hand holding his isn’t too bad either.
‘’Wanna talk?’’ Michaels voice cuts into the music, but Jeremy doesn’t really mind. He likes Michaels voice.
‘’I’m sorry for stopping you from going to the party.’’ Jeremy says instead of a real answer. Michael squeezes his hand.
‘’Don’t apologize dude, it’s cool. You’d do the same for me.’’ Jeremy smiles slightly and tucks his face into the pillow.
‘’Yeah, I would.’’ is the muffled answer, but Michael still hears it, and it makes him smile. It’s the quickest way to get Jeremy to stop beating himself up over something like this. They both know Jermey would drop just about anything to come to Michaels aid, and vice versa. It’s a good feeling to be able to trust someone like that. Of course there are always things you just can’t drop, instances where just being there isn’t an option, but the good thing about friends is that they understand that too.
‘’You’re my favorite person, Mikey.’’ Jeremy says, and he sounds so very tired, and it’s adorable. It’s not the first time a half-asleep Jeremy has said something like that to him, but it doesn’t stop the way his stomach flutters, the way his face heats up and a smile involuntarily stretches across his lips.
‘’You’re mine too, Miah. Now take a nap’’ he answers. The hand in his goes slack not soon after, breaths evening out. He doesn’t let go.
Chatroom: now kiss
RichBich: well thats that plan out the window
RichBich: any other suggestions?
Player1: i’m sorta happy we didn’t go trough with the plan, looking back it’s a terrible plan
GosspiGirl: How dare you
Player1: no i’m serious! it would be a hell of an uncomfy sitch
Player1: we’ll just figure out something else
AmericanDragon: i’ve got an idea!
BeanieBabe:??
MythicBinch: jake?
RichBich: Where’d he go?
GosspiGirl: I see him, he’s talking to Chrissy
AmericanDragon: what??
Player1: well what he sayin?
GosspiGirl: idk hang on
Jake had made his way over to Christine with purpose in his step. She’d been hanging by the wall, taking a break from trying to interact with people, and didn’t notice Jake until he’d leaned up against the wall next to her. She turned her head and smiled at him, but before she could say anything he started speaking.
‘’Look, I need to tell you something.’’ he said it with the most serious tone she’d ever heard him use, and that put her on edge immediately.
‘’Jeremy joined the musical so he could ask you out, but we think he’s starting to doubt himself again, so as his friends we’re stepping in. We see the way you are together, and you’re good for each other. I mean, you like him, don’t you?’’ Jake looks at hr like he already knows the answer, as if she herself has admitted to him she’s completely gone for Jeremy Heere. She doesn’t answer him, only stares in stunned silence, feeling a stab of something run trough her stomach.
‘’Next week, Pinkberry? You guys could get lunch and just, i dunno, talk about stuff?’’ he looks like he’s not 100% sure where he’s going with this, which leaves Christine even more lost. Had Jake just asked her out, on behalf of Jeremy. All the new information turns over in her head slowly, before she nods at him, Her eyes tighten just a bit, her smile is forced for once. But he doesn’t know her well enough to spot it. If Jeremy was here he’d recognize the smile, the facial expression, but he’s not, so Jake is left to give her a relieved smile before he nods and heads off. HE’s immediately intercepted by Jenna.
‘’I can’t believe you just did that!’’ she almost shouts at him.
‘’Hey! It worked, didn’t it?’’ he says defensively.
‘’Wait, it did?’’ Jenna asks, her face morphing from rage to confusion in the blink of an eye.
‘’Totally!’’ Jake answers cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear.
‘’What worked, exactly?’’ Jenna asks, reproachful.
Chatroom: now kiss
GosspiGirl: JAKE WTF
MythicBinch: o shit rolan pulled out the caps, how much did he fuck up?
AmericanDragon: HEY
AmericanDragon: i thought i did good!
AmericanDragon: i got her to agree to go on a date with jerms next week!
BeanieBabe: !!!!!!!!!!!
MythicBinch: o dhit
Player1: YOU DID WHAT
MythicBinch: *shit