Learning to Love

"Heheh, yeah . . . minus the 'getting punched in the face' part it's been pretty fun," Joey agreed with a nod. "And even that wasn't too bad, considering my odd desire to get into a fight once in my life . . . Fun and life goals accomplished. Makes for a good day."

He crossed his arms on top of the table and looked down at its surface, following the wood grain as he thought for a moment. He was rather enjoying this few minutes of time he had to talk with Michelle alone. It wasn't that he didn't like Artemis--he was interesting enough, definitely someone Joey wouldn't mind hanging around more. For some reason, though, he just particularly liked this.

The thought made him frown. He didn't want to start thinking like that . . .

As Artemis went about his busy way, Avan cleaned off his station, sitting down on a stool behind the grill. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I'd like to thank you two." He said, looking to Michelle and Joey. "You've managed to make my son smile. Lately, he never smiles. But a yesterday, he told us he'd made some friends...And he was smiling about it. So, thank you." Avan stood, bowing at the waist with his arms at his sides. "Thank you for all the time you've spent with him. I do hope you come by to visit us again sometime."

Michelle laughed. Joey certainly had a certain gift for making bad situations seem good. She would have never have considered that fight as a 'goal accomplished'. She was surprised though, as Artemis' dad came up to them. His thank you shocked her even more. She smiled, unsure how to react.

"It was our pleasure, sir," she said finally. "Artemis is a great guy. It was certainly no sacrifice to befriend him."

"Heh, certainly wasn't any problem," Joey added in with a grin. "He's a cool enough guy, I certainly don't mind hanging out with him at all."

He glanced out the window and made a note of how late it was. He stood, then looked to Michelle. "We should probably get going," he said. "It's pretty late."

Avan looked out the window, nodding in agreement with Joey. "Indeed, I'm sure your parents must be worried. Do come by again, soon. I'm sure we'd love to have you, perhaps for dinner with the family."

Artemis finished with the family of four, then turned to face the others, walking over to them. "If you want, I can help take you home, Michelle." He dusted himself off, removing the small waist apron he was wearing and setting it down in his father's hands.

Michelle smiled.

"That'd be really nice, since it's getting a little dark to be wandering around. My car's still at the school. So unless you want to pick me up in the morning too. . ." she laughed lightly and looked back to Joey. "Thanks for hanging out today!" she exclaimed, giving him a small hug.

Joey awkwardly but stoically accepted the hug, unsure of what he was supposed to do with that. "You're welcome, I guess," he said with a slight laugh. "It was fun. Definitely will have to do it again sometime. But in the meantime, home."

He glanced outside and happened to catch sight of the girl from earlier. He frowned. She was kinda . . . weird, he thought. It seemed like she was waiting for the rest of them to do something despite how none of them really knew each other. He shoved the thought to the back of his mind and started to head for the door.

Avan waved to Michelle and Joey, as Artemis walked with them outside. "Well, I don't mind picking you up, as long as I know where you live and we can get to school on time."

As the chattering group left, Avan's eyes fell on the strange girl who had tried to make small talk. Walking out of the restaurant, he walked up to her for some unknown reason, his arms folded across his chest. "Is something wrong, dear child?" he asked, untying his hair to let it fall down as far as his waist, shaking it a bit and flipping it over his shoulder, braiding it.

Michelle shook her head.

"I'd hate to have you do that! You can just drop me off at my car. It won't take me long to get home from there."

Her eyes fell on the strange girl that had come in earlier. She seemed to be walking as if in a trance. Why was she staring at her hair with that strange smile on her face? She shrugged, relieved that Avan stepped up and went to check on her. A young girl shouldn't be by herself at night. Briefly, Michelle wondered if she would see the new girl at school.

"Heh, well, good luck with getting around and everything." Joey stopped by his motorcycle and picked up his helmet, pretending to inspect the inside for something that wasn't there. "I, meanwhile, will head home and stay up for five hours to do homework that is due tomorrow. Alas, the penalties for going out with friends."

Artemis waved to Joey. "Stay safe." He unlocked the car door and opened it, sitting down in the driver's seat and humming 'This is Halloween' to himself, for reasons he wasn't sure of.

Avan turned his blue eyes to the moon, silent for a moment. "Indeed...It is beautiful. But there are things in this world that are more beautiful than even the moon." As he spoke, he closed his eyes, then opened them to look at the others who were just leaving. "Much more beautiful, are the friends we make in life..."

Michelle winced at the reminder that there was still work to be done. She hadn't started on any of it yet. She sighed. Oh well. She had had so much fun that it was well worth it.

"Well, have fun with that, Joey," she said with a slight chuckle. "We'll have to be sure not to stay out so late next time." She smiled as Artemis began humming and turned to him.

"Ready to go?"

((Methinks we will want a timeskip soon.))

Joey laughed lightly at Michelle's comment and slipped his helmet on before leaving. As he maneuvered his bike out of the parking lot and onto the open road, he thought of his day and felt content. It had been his first day out in quite some time, and he wasn't sure it could have gone much better at all.

Artemis sneezed and nodded, waving to Joey as he left. As they turned out of the parking lot and zoomed down the street, he smiled the entire way. He had friends; wonderful, kind friends who understood him in a way that others didn't. They knew his likes, his dislikes, and accepted them. And he did the same for them. As he felt he always would, for however long they remained friends.

As Avan looked to the moon, he closed his eyes once more. So many memories, so many years, so many friends. Somehow, he felt that things were going to work out just fine for his son and the others. He could feel it in his soul.

End episode 1

[Yeah, I agree with Syl. Maybe we should skip ahead now, like a week or so.]

Michelle thanked Artemis briefly as he dropped her off at her car, and drove swiftly home. Her father was asleep in his armchair awaiting her return. She smiled fondly, and shook him awake. She put his questions on hold, promising to update him on her night when they woke up in the morning. She shuffled him off to bed, and then went to bed herself.

One week later. . . . .

Michelle arrived at school early, looking forward to spending those few minutes with her friends before her daily classes started. She spotted them at their normal table, and waved.

((Perhaps this would be a good time to introduce Aiko as an exchange student or something?))

Joey was considerably less cheerful that morning than he was most days. He sat at the table with his head down on top of his arms crossed arms, completely silent. His head hurt, he was exhausted, and he simply didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment for his own reasons. He didn't even glance up at Michelle as she approached--probably not even noticing.

Artemis was in about the same mindset as Joey. He had stayed up almost all night, playing a new game he'd just bought, and he had become so addicted in the first five minutes that he hadn't slept at all. So here he was, his eyes puffy and red from lack of sleep. Needless to say, keeping awake was hard, so he'd gotten a cup of coffee from the school's vending machine, loaded it with sugar, and was currently chugging it down. So instead of responding to Michelle as he normally did, he simply waved at her.

Michelle frowned, noticing the mood around her friends. She plopped down in her normal seat and propped her head on her hands.

"You guys don't seem so hot," she commented. "Everything alright?"