And the Stars up Above - Chapter 18

March 22nd, 1987
Jason

The phone rang, again. Jason did not pick up, again. He was sure that it would be Mike, and he just didn’t feel like explaining his actions. Mainly because he hadn’t thought of a good explanation yet; he knew that Mike wasn’t going to be happy with the explanation about the cells Jason gave him yesterday. Jason had called in sick today. He just could take another day of avoiding Mike. Besides, he had to clean the entire house before his father came home from God knows where, tomorrow.

Ever since the time when Mike should have come home from school the phone had rung. Once every tenth minute, driving Jason crazy. But he had not picked up; he was not going to lose this fight.

Fifteen minutes later he heard the door open; Jason froze. Was his father home already? His felt sweat staring to run along his spine. Jason swallowed hard, continuing to do the dishes, but his hands were shaking so bad that he could barely hold on to the plate. He heard steps approaching the kitchen; Jason dropped the plate. Luckily it landed in the sink and didn’t break, but Jason hadn’t even noticed he’d dropped it. He continued cleaning what he though was in his hand, staring into the wall, trying to ignore the steps that now had stopped in the kitchen, only a few steps away from him. He heard somebody breathing in the room. Jason swallowed again and closed his eyes, waiting for his father to speak.

“Jason, why are you cleaning the air?” Jason’s eyes widened. He looked down on his hands and realised that he had nothing in them but the dish-brush. He let out his breath that hadn’t noticed he’d held.
“Mike, what the fuck do you think you’re doing, just walking straight in like that!? You almost gave me a heart attack!” Jason said, trying to sound angry, but he didn’t do a very good job; he was glad it had been Mike and not his father. Mike grinned.
“Well, I missed my best friend, that’s all. Why weren’t you in school today?” Mike said. Jason didn’t answer, he just stared at Mike. Had Mike just called him his best friend? Jason’s stomach started to bubble and he smiled. Mike chuckled, took two steps towards Jason and knocked on his head.
“Hello, is there anybody in here? I asked you a question!” Mike said. Jason’s smiled grew wider.
“I’m sorry, what was it?” Jason said, still smiling. Mike sighed.
“You know, sometimes I wish you could take me to this fantasy place of yours. It must be amazing, since you go there all the time. I just asked why you weren’t in school today.”
“I’m not feeling very well.” Jason said and shrugged, but he was still unable to stop smiling.
“Yeah, I guess you don’t, seeing as you try to clean the air and don’t listen to what I say… No wait; those are absolutely normal things to do when it comes to Jason Relva!” Mike laughed and Jason’s smile became a laughter as well.
“Yeah, I guess they are, huh?” he said and winked at Mike. “Hey, you wanna go out and do something?”
“Like what? It’s already dark outside. I should’ve come earlier… I guess I just hoped that you eventually would pull yourself together and answer the phone.” Jason swallowed; he had forgotten why Mike had come here to begin with. “Why didn’t you?” Mike finished.
“Well, I… I didn’t know you had, I guess our phone must be broken or something.” Jason said and shrugged, but he could tell that Mike didn’t believe him.“Come on, let’s go outside. I want to show you something.” Jason said and started walking towards the hall. He heard Mike sigh behind him, but he did follow him.