Chapter 13
Everything changed between Michael and
Patience after that night, after that holiday. They tried to hide everything,
especially from Heather and Paul.
December in Michigan brought snow, and truckloads of it.
Patience was always joking that she was sure they all were in Alaska with the
Eskimos and just didn't know it. But, they all did enjoy the snow.
There were snowball fights coming to and from classes. There
were also an attempt to go sledding at a nearby hill, but that was quickly ended
by some administrators. The snowball fights kept going. At varying times,
Michael, Patience, Heather and Paul had shown up at classes covered in snow that
melted into puddles on the floor.
Michael and Patience became study buddies. Even if they
weren't in the same classes, they would study together. Heather at that time
started figuring out that something was up. She noticed they were getting along
very well. Even much better than Thanksgiving.
Finals week came up rather quickly after December started.
Patience knew that soon she'd be heading back to Marquette and Michael would be
heading back to Towson, possibly. She wasn't quite positive, since he had a
house there in Ann Arbor.
They had an end of finals party, the four of them. It was
just time to wind down, blow off steam. They rented a few movies and bought
snacks from the local grocery store. Then, they all went over to Michael's
house.
They all liked having the time to relax, not having to worry
about school, tests, anything like that. Nothing seemed to really matter much,
just the fun they were having that night.
They started by watching "Pirates of the Caribbean". Heather
and Patience had wanted to rent it, and to please them, it had ended up in the
rent pile.
Michael had command of the butter lover's popcorn while Paul
had the super size bag of potato chips. They sat on the couch, spending more
time making comments about the movie. Patience and Heather were lying on the
floor, a few inches from the television. They had a bowl of popcorn between
them, and every so often they would slowly grab a handful and then slowly eat
the handful, piece by piece. It was if they were afraid to miss a moment of
anything.
Next up on the movie list was "The Goonies". For this one,
the guys joined the girls on the floor, bringing their snack food with them.
There were no jokes thrown this time, unless you count quoting funny lines or
memorable lines over and over again, which they didn't.
After "The Goonies" was over, Michael and Patience started
bringing things into the kitchen. Heather and Paul started digging through the
movie pile, trying to find their next movie to watch.
Michael picked up the phone in the kitchen and ordered a
pizza, while Patience filled bowls back up with snacks or threw out empty
popcorn or chip bags. She kept looking up from her self-appointed task to watch
Michael pace.
Everyone had dressed down in sweats. They wanted to be in
comfortable clothes but knew that if they wore pajamas, they'd fall asleep. So,
everyone was in sweats and some form of shirt. Both Patience and Heather had on
black ADIDAS sweats and a white Hanes muscle shirt. Paul had on black ADIDAS
sweats and a grey baseball shirt with the sleeves ripped off. Michael had on
black ADIDAS sweats and his Athens Olympics t-shirt.
Michael kept pacing while Patience kept filling up the bowls
of snacks. He didn't keep a close eye on her, and he rethought that when a piece
of popcorn pegged him in the head.
Michael quickly finished up his call to the pizza place. Once
he hung up the phone, he quickly turned around to face Patience. Only, she had
disappeared. So, Michael made his way slowly to where Patience had been filling
bowls of snacks. And when he was close, he was pegged in the forehead by yet
another piece of popcorn.
Michael heard giggling, Patience's giggling. Michael smiled
as he carefully walked around the island. He found Patience sitting on the
floor, a popcorn bowl in her lap and some popcorn in her hand. When Michael came
around the corner, she pelted him with the popcorn she had in her hand.
Michael picked up some of the pieces, while Patience tried to
get up and get to the other side of the island. But, she was stopped by Michael
reaching out and grabbing her with one hand and throwing popcorn at her with the
other.
"Michael!" Patience said, the fact that she was laughing
making what she said sound weirder.
"I'm just fighting back." Michael said, pulling her closer to
him.
At that moment, Patience's mind reminded her that they had
friends out in the living room, friends who didn't know for sure that they two
were kinda dating. But then, she wasn't even fully sure if they were dating.
They had been hanging out a lot more, seeing more of each other, and they always
kissed good-bye when they parted ways.
"We're dating, right?" Patience asked softly, as Michael
laughed. The laughter vibrated her whole body, due to how tight Michael was
holding her to his body.
"Why would you ask?" Michael asked.
"Cause the people in the living room don't know that we're
dating, if we are. I'm not even sure if that's what we're doing." Patience said
as the smell of the cologne that Michael had put on slowly wafting down towards
her nose.
"Last I checked, we were dating." Michael said. "But,
something may have come up that apparently made you think we weren't."
"No, I just wanted to make sure." She said, leaning into him,
feeling more of him behind her than when he was just holding her close.
She slowly turned to face him, loving what it felt like being
held in his arms. They had to sneak moments like that, or they tried to.
"Hilary sent you a present. And, she made sure I knew that
you were supposed to open it with me there." Michael said, holding her tight
against his chest.
"Did you tell them we were seeing each other?" Patience
asked, a hint of laughter in her voice. She had already told her parents that
she was getting along very well with Michael. And, she knew Debbie was always
asking how Patience was doing, so it would be a miracle if he hadn't told them.
"I actually did, shortly after Thanksgiving. Mom kept asking
how you were doing and I asked how that it wasn't like you were here all the
time. And she quickly said that you were here so often
you would have thought we were dating. And then I had to tell her after she said
that." Michael explained.
"It's okay. I'm surprised you held out that long." Patience
said.
The doorbell rang at that moment, causing the two to
separate. "Guess the pizza's here." Patience said, as Michael picked his wallet
out of the basket sitting on top of the microwave.
"We'll finish this later." He explained with a smile on his
face.
Patience smiled, one of those smiles girls in the movies
always had on their face. One of the smiles of a girl in love.