Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 25

She turns around, eyebrows raised, but I sit down.

"Oh, ok. I'll see you later then," she says.

I nod and smile at Michael.

He gives me a dull look. "You should've gone with her. You're making friends. That's good."

"I'm fine here." I lean over the table, stretching. It looks like we'll be here a while.

He scratches the back of his neck. "Sorry."

"For what?" I ask.

"You know." He gestures towards the table. "I'll try to make an effort to make friends. I guess."

Now that I have to laugh at.

His eyes widen. "What?"

"Making friends isn't in your nature."

"Hey." He narrows his eyes. He tries to attack me from across the table.

Half of the commons jump up, leaning towards us. My breath catches in my throat. Michael stands stock still, frozen, arm outstretched towards me. Our eyes connect. He slowly sinks back into his seat and everyone goes back to what they were doing.

We look at each other again with questioning eyes.

"Um," I start. "I'm just going to finish what I was saying before that happened."

"Please do," he says, still looking around the cafeteria.

"What I meant is that, it's fine Michael. You're just an acquired taste. They'll get used to you. And once they do, they always love you and want to get to know you, so don't push it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he smiles down at his hands. "You're not too bad yourself. I just feel bad that you can't socialize with other people because of me. I don't want to stunt your social growth."

I roll my eyes. I don't regret my choice for a second. I knew it was the right one the second I made it. "Regrettably enough, you are only my best friend so it's not terribly unfortunate to be stuck with you, Michael."

He smirks. "The gift of my presence can only be bestowed on so many people at a time after all. Taxing but true."

I shake my head and laugh. I love him.

He laughs too, but then it dies away. Not in a sad way, but in a serious way. The laugh dies to a frown and then he looks at me. "Mia... How fit would you say I am?"

When it comes to Michael, it's always best to just answer the question and the point will come later. It's the way he thinks and stopping to ask just slows it down and confuses him, so I answer. "Really fit. Why?"