Micah's Story Chapter 12: Gains and Losses

**Disclaimer** Woohoo© the site is almost working again! Yay! Um, This is just to say for the twelfth time that I don't own any of the important characters, and anyone from the city of Middleburg Heights is mine, but no one from the movies is. Hope you like it, and please R/R!!

The next morning, I woke up, and was still tired. I didn't know what to expect from everyone, because I didn't know how many people had been alerted to what Marie and I had done. I was used to living in a small town, and knew that news traveled fast there. Walking into the kitchen, Danny looked at me and smiled. "What are you smiling at, blondie?" I asked him with a small smile. He only stared back.
After I ate, Danny said that I had to go with him so we could pick out tuxedos for the wedding. I told him that I didn't care what they looked like as long as they were black. I didn't really care about much anymore. I had lost my friend, and I had possibly lost every single one of them, just to get closer to Marie. Even that hadn't worked. her words from yesterday afternoon had hurt.
"Pretend to kiss me, Micah" she said with a smile. "Please do it." Closing my eyes, remembering how close we had been, how much I wanted to kiss her, I could almost feel her. Danny's voice had brought me back to reality. Snapping my eyes open, I looked at where he was standing in a black tux, all decked out.
"Pretty nice, huh?" He said smiling. I nodded. "What size are you, Micah?" I told him, and he ordered two tux's, one on his size, one in mine. Walking out of the store, Danny looked at me. "Micah, what's wrong? You look sad. You can tell me. Please? I won't say anything."
This was the part where I was supposed to go to my dad, and ask him what to do. This is where my Mom tells me that everything is going to be all right. But no, I didn't have either of those people to talk to. I was alone, with no one but Danny. I sighed. "you really wanna know, Danny?" He nodded. "OK. It started out with me going to the park with Marie and her friends the second day that we were here. I met her boyfriend, Dave," Telling him everything, not leaving out a single part, I finished twenty minutes later with "Even after Jenny said that she liked me, she still told me to pretend. Ant then, she went off to find Dave to tell him that she loves him, and wants to take him back. How is that fair?"
Danny looked at me. "I didn't know that you had that dream. I had it too. so did Lacey, for that matter. You had it in the early evening, and we had it that night. That is strange. Getting on to Marie, I don't think that you did the wrong thing. You liked her, and wanted to help her. She's your friend. Dave will not change that. I hope for your sake, that she won't leave you out in the cold, because you need each other. If you want, I could talk to her for you, and see what's going on." Shaking my head I told him No, that it was my problem, not his. He had to concentrate on his wedding. sighing, he stood up. "OK then, let's go."
Walking to the car, we didn't talk. On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds, and got lunch for everyone. Setting the food on the table, I didn't say a word. We ate, and Lacey asked me to be the one who walked her down the aisle at her wedding. "Marie will be one-." She stopped suddenly as if she had been kicked. I realized that Danny had probably kicked her under the table, and I told her that I would be happy to walk her down the aisle, and smiled. She smiled back. "I'm glad, Micah. It'll be fun. You've never been to a wedding, have you?" I shook my head. "Ooh! That's even better!" She began to tell me all about what happened.
After about an hour, she was finally done, and by that time it was almost two PM. Excusing myself to clean up my mess, I poured all of my garbage into the can, and walked over to the window. I saw Dave going into Marie's house, and smiled. "Good for her. She made her choice, and I'm happy. Maybe I'll see her sometime soon, and we can talk." Walking away from the window, I answered the phone. "Hello?"
"It's Joe. What's up?"
"Nothing, you?"
"Notta lotta. You want to go and play basketball or something?"
"I guess. I'm not doing anything right now, anyway. What time?"
"Meet me at the park in about twenty minutes. There'll be about five of us there, so it'll actually be fun.
"'Kay. I'll be there. Bye." Hanging up the phone, I went and put my shoes on. Yelling to whoever was home, I said that I was leaving. On the way to the park, I thought about my situation. I still had friends. Either they didn't know, or they knew, and didn't care. I hoped that it was the latter, because I didn't want to lie anymore. When I got to the basketball courts, everyone stopped playing and waited for me to join them. After a long game of 3-on-3, we sat down to rest. Chris looked at me, and asked me what it was like to be going out with Marie.
"I'm not really dating her, it was a joke so she could have Dave back." They nodded. Joe told me that they all knew, they were just testing me to see if I would lie to them. "I only suggested it in the first place to make her happy. She's so, I don't even know what it is, not innocent, but naive, I think describes her. You just want to hug her, and it's almost impossible to tell her no. So, I did what at the time seemed right. I decided to help her. And when I fell for her, it backfired, because she still wants Dave, and I know he wants her, so I'm screwed." I looked down.
"Micah, come on. She likes you. I know it." Joe said kind of reassuringly. "We all do. Dave is all wrong for her. You two are perfect. You just have to tell her." I looked up.
"If she likes me so much, then how come last night she talked to him for two hours before she got home, and right before I left to come here, he went into her house. I think that if she's happy, then I'm going to have to deal with it." Getting up, we all played another game, and it was almost six by the time we all left. Saying good-bye and walking home, I thought about a lot. by the time I got back, I realized that maybe Jen had been wrong. If she had been, then I could accept that. I was Micah, the Chosen one. I had lived through tougher times then this, and I could take it.
When I got back to the house, dinner was almost on the table. By the time that I washed my hands, it was being served. Cory was over again, and I was getting to like the little guy. We had become friends because he had been over so much, and it was nice to have someone almost my age to talk to that was a guy. After dinner, Cory was sitting on the couch, Danny and Robbie were out in the backyard setting up the sleeping bags because the boys (Danny and I were included) were going to camp outside that night.
There was a knock on the door, and I wen to get it. Opening it, I was looking away, talking through the window to Danny. When I turned around, my stomach churned. Standing in the doorway were Dave and Marie. He had his arm around her waist, and she was leaning against him much the same way she had with me. She was wearing a short light blue halter with a pair of black shorts, and she looked like she was out of a magazine. Perfect. That was the only way to describe her. Standing there, next to Dave, looking like that, she made me want to smile. So I did. "Hey, Micah." She said softly. "Can we come in? Or would you rather we go to the treehouse? I think that we need to talk."
She smiled slightly, and looked at me with those big blue eyes. I wanted to melt. "Treehouse." I said. We the three of us began to walk, past Danny. Past the sleeping bags. Past Cory and Robbie. Up the steps nailed to the tree, and finally into the treehouse. sitting down, the three of us looked at each other. After a few seconds, Marie looked at me right in the eyes, and repeated what she had said before.
"Micah? I think we need to talk."