a/n omg I know I'm terrible. I also said that I wanted to finish this story on 30 chapters, but it'll probably be 29 because I just can't write any more of this story without sounding like a broken record. A million and one thanks to Livin on the EDGE, Showni13 and MistressMerows for their kind words.

I stared at the closed door and shook my head sadly. I wasn't going to cry. If he was going to be a prick, I'd let him be a prick.

I moved back into the dining room, flicked the lights on and blew out the candles. Before I went to clean up the dishes, I sat down in my seat. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the bright wrapping paper that contained Mike's present. I sighed, stood, and lifted it up. I looked between it and the door a few times before declaring, "Fuck it," and grabbing my keys from the bowl.

I had all the courage in the world as I stepped out the door but when I reached the bottom of my driveway I began to second guess myself. It was one of the dumbest ideas I had ever had – and, believe me, there had been plenty of them – but that wasn't going to stop me.

I grew more and more anxious with every step towards his house. When I finally reached his door I hesitated to knock. When I eventually did not, it was because it was gradually getting colder and I hadn't worn a coat.

The door was thrown open and Mike rolled his eyes at the sight of me.

"Thought you never wanted to see me again."

"I have your present." I told him slowly, watching as he raised an eyebrow. He pulled a face as I held out the small box to him. "Can you just take it? I'd prefer it if we didn't have a repeat of last time." He reached out, wrapped his fingers around the gift and paused. "Seriously, I'll go once you've opened it."

He held it up to his face and inspected it before shaking it beside his ear. I stared straight past him, through his house, not wanting to look him in the face. I couldn't be mad at him. I could never be mad at him.

"Tickets?" he asked me with a furrowed brow, "U2?"

"We were talking about it last year when they came out and you couldn't go." I reminded him, finally looking back up to his face. His lips were twitching upward slightly, "Uh, they're coming back next year and I guess I wanted you to go. And you're going to meet Bono. The band."

"Fuck." He swore under his breath, "How did you manage this?"

"It's taken awhile." I answered and a full smile appeared on his face. He shook his head a few times before he focused his eyes back on me.

"You're unbelievable."

I sighed gratefully, when I heard no sound of contempt in his voice. He exhaled and leant against the doorframe, pondering over the tickets. I brought my arms up to hug them around my body and the sudden movement seemed to bring him back into reality.

"Come inside. We can have dessert." He said, moving his arm around my shoulders to guide me inside. I didn't protest, just walked through to the kitchen and sat down at his dining table. "I'm sorry." He said slowly, stepping behind the counter. "I know that you didn't do anything wrong. I know you've explained everything to me. I know."

"Michael…" I trailed off, unsure of where I was going. "You hold grudges for too long."

"Says you." He said lightly, a small smile playing on his lips. "How long have we been friends?"

"Going on ten years, isn't it?" He turned, opened the freezer and searched for something – presumably ice-cream.

"Something like that."

"Why?" I asked him and he turned back to face me, a pensive smile on his face.

"Just wondering." He reached one last time into the freezer and pulled out a tub of plain vanilla ice-cream, checked the date and held it up so I could see it, "Ice-cream?"

He served up two bowls of the ice-cream and sat down in the seat next to me. I looked up at him and sighed deeply. What a mess we were. What a mess we'd always been.

"Do you love her?" I asked suddenly and he choked on his food.

"Who?" he asked carefully and I gave him a pointed look. "Yeah, I do."

"More than you love me?" That question was more surprising than my previous one and I watched the colour drain from his face. "Okay." I furiously scooped a large spoon of ice-cream into my mouth.

"Claire, it's not that easy."

"They're your emotions, how do you not know?" I asked him sharply.

"Don't tell me you've never been unsure, Claire." I watched him spoon some more ice-cream into his mouth. He was being calm. He wasn't raising his voice. He didn't want it to end like earlier that night. Neither did I. "I do love you." I closed my eyes tightly because I didn't want to look at him. I didn't want to be lied to.

"Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"Don't say it if you don't mean it." I heard the scraping of a chair and before I could even open my eyes, Mike was resting elbows on my knees, coaxing my hands into his.

"But I do mean. I always meant it. I always will mean it." I slowly opened my eyes and shook my head at him. He kissed the palms of my hands. "I love you Claire."

"Why would you?" I asked pathetically.

"Because you're kind of infuriating. Because you always keep me on my toes. Because you love me despite the fact that I'm an asshole." I laughed weakly. He stood up and bent over to kiss my nose. And then my nose lips.

I lost it, as one does when they've just been kissed by someone they love.

a/n the poll is still up if you haven't voted for it, the winning story will be put up after I've completed this. Check out the tumblr I created for my stories! You can find information about all of my OCs and read about upcoming stories! Woo!