Sorry guys I guess religious!church-going!Mike sucked?
Senior year, Trevor's parents split up. Mike is lost. He spent his first seven years in a dysfunctional household, but then Gram and Choc came and showed him that love existed, and that people could have happy endings. Trevor's always accused him of being naïve, but neither of them understands why the separation happened. Mike had spent most of his years with Choc and Gram, and then just Gram, but their love was always tangible, all-encompassing. Everyone could feel it. The dedication they had to each other, the dedication Gram still has, is astounding; Mike and Trevor—who spent most of his days with Mike at Gram's, who didn't even know Choc—were under the impression that that's what it's like for everyone who's in love.
They just don't understand, and it hurts. Trevor stays with his mother, a thin, angry woman named Grace who constantly whines about Trevor's father, Henry. Trevor gets to visit Henry for a weekend every other week, and he almost always brings Mike; they were never separated, even now, as they were getting ready to graduate high school. Henry is almost pitiful in his sadness; it's like he's mourning the death of his wife, not the end of their marriage, although Mike could compare the two quite easily. They go to the zoo, they shoot hoops, they visit batting cages; all man things, and Mike thoroughly enjoys the time spent with Henry. Seeing the smile on Trevor's face is worth getting up early and not seeing Gram as much for the weekend.
Things change when Henry cracks, deciding he can't do it anymore, and starts drinking like his life depends on it. He skips meetings, and soon, Trevor's grown to not expect anything from the man anymore. Mike tries to make it up to him; he takes Trevor to the ocean like they did when they were younger, they make s'mores without chocolate on bonfires Mike makes on the outskirts of town (Trevor's adopted Mike's no-chocolate policy; putting chocolate on s'mores is associated with nasty, nasty things—Chocolate is Mike's father, not something you eat) but it just isn't the same. Trevor stops caring the last two months of his high school career, never handing in his work, or even trying to take his tests. All his teachers are concerned—while Mike is the smarter of the two, everyone genuinely likes Trevor, he's ambitious and cocky and charming—but seeing the slight shake of Mike's head every time they go near Trevor to ask him about it makes them decide not to.
Grace catches wind of her ex-husband's alcoholism in late June, and stops the bi-monthly meetings altogether.
All Trevor really has are Mike and Gram, but they're not enough. Mike's smiles and innocent laughter and geeky jokes, Gram's warm hugs and gentle, Mike-like smiles, her way of just knowing and doting on the slightly lost boy? They're not enough.
Trevor and Mike go off to law school in the fall.
Trevor starts doing pot in the winter.
Mike fakes getting high with Trevor, wanting to be near the uninhibited shadow of his best friend, but not willing to break the law himself. Trevor never notices, he just cuddles and eats and clings to Mike like he's a preserver, a hero, and suddenly, the roles are reversed. Trevor used to stand guard over Mike like he was the boy's only hope of survival, his last defense against the world, his protector, on the anniversary of Choc's death. Mike now stands guard over his misguided best friend while he mourns the loss of a life he wishes he could have again.
All Trevor wants is a family. All Mike has is Gram, but they're a family, can't Trevor see that, can't Trevor see how Gram sighs more and Mike smiles less, can't he see that they're all falling apart, this little make-shift family unit they are?
Trevor starts dealing in the spring.
The next fall, sophomore year of college, Mike gets expelled for selling the answers to a calculus test. He doesn't tell Gram why he sold the answers, she already knows. She already knows that he was saving money to send Trevor to rehab, to get him help and get him out of the life he's been knocked into.
Gram just sits and watches while her boy's lives are slowly ruined by a man named Henry and a woman named Grace. She's glad that Mike's middle name is Andrew—like her husbands—and not Henry.
Henry is an ugly name, anyway, and her boys, Mike and Trevor, are beautiful.
OH GOLLY IT'S MY LONGEST ONE YET.