Michael had to start work that next Monday, and he was not happy about it at all. He knew that he had to get a job, and he knew that he couldn't just sit around and be lazy for the rest of his life, but he just wasn't ready to give up doing nothing all day every day.

So after he dropped Parker off at school (and hung out with Melissa for a little bit and kissed her and did all that good boyfriend stuff) he headed off to the music shop downtown, absolutely dreading having to spend the rest of the day there. He took his own sweet time finding a place to park and walking into the store because he really just did not want to go. But he knew that he had to, so eventually he just sucked it up and walked in.

"Michael! What's up?" Matt yelled loudly as Michael walked through the front door of the store, as if he had been expecting him.

"Hi." Michael said shyly, giving Matt a small wave. He thought that Matt was really weird, and he also thought this job was really weird, because he was pretty sure that if Matt had actually given Michael a proper interview he wouldn't have gotten the job at all.

"Are you ready?" Matt asked. He grabbed the sleeve of Michael's shirt and dragged him over to the counter, where the cash register was.

"I guess." Michael shrugged.

"Good!" Matt smiled. He pulled out a stool and gestures for Michael to sit down, so he did. "You know how to work a cash register, right?"

"Yeah, of course." Michael lied. He had no idea, but he was sure that he could figure it out. It didn't look that hard.

"Good." Matt repeated. "So you can just sit here and ring people up if they want to buy something. If they need help with anything else just come get me, I'll be in the back."

"Okay."

"I don't think people will really start coming in for a couple hours, so feel free to just, like, mess around a little. But don't break anything." Matt instructed, and all Michael did was nod. This was so weird, definitely not like the job Michael'd had at the grocery store.

"Okay."

"If I need you to restock anything I'll come find you, but I don't think you'll need to do much for now." Matt continued. Michael just kept nodding, because he didn't know what else to say.

"Okay, good luck, bye." Matt said quickly before walking away and disappearing into the back of the store.

Michael awkwardly sat on the stool, not knowing what else he was supposed to do, praying that at least one person would come in just so he had something to occupy his time with. But Matt was right, no one was coming into the store, because who goes shopping for music at 9 o'clock in the morning? Finally Michael just gave up and texted Melissa, because he needed something to distract himself with.

Cliffoconda: mel mel mel

GirLFRIEND: what

Cliffoconda: I'm bored

GirLFRIEND: aren't you at work

Cliffoconda: still bored

Michael looked up from his phone for a second, just to check if anyone was in the store that he should be paying attention to. But no one was there, so Michael went back to texting Melissa.

GirLFRIEND: aw

GirLFRIEND: want me to come visit you??

Cliffoconda: NO

Cliffoconda: I mean

Cliffoconda: I just

Cliffoconda: you know

Part of Michael did want Melissa to come visit him at work, it might be fun, but he was a little nervous about it. He didn't exactly know a lot about her relationship with Matt (who was technically Michael's boss? He didn't even know...) and he felt kind of weird when he thought about Melissa and Matt possibly meeting again.

All he knew was that Matt had cheated on Melissa and she really didn't want to talk about it, so he wasn't sure what could happen if they were in the same place again and Michael was pretty scared considering that Melissa was his girlfriend now.

GiRLFRIEND: what the fuck michael no I don't know

Cliffoconda: :) you're cute

GirLFRIEND: shut up

Cliffoconda: im sorry

GirLFRIEND: for what

Cliffoconda: not wanting you to come see me

Cliffoconda: I'm just nervous

Cliffoconda: and matts really weird

Cliffoconda: and you're my girLFRIEND

GirLFRIEND: I don't like matt anymore

Cliffoconda: well that's what you tell me...

Michael hated the fact that sometimes he doubted Melissa, but he really couldn't help himself. She doubted him as well, and it was practically the same thing. He knew (or at least he thought) that Melissa probably had some feelings left for Matt just like Michael had some feelings left for Beth. They both understood that this whole relationship wasn't going to be easy, and Michael hoped that it would all work out in the end because he really liked Melissa.

GirLFRIEND: MICHAEL

Cliffoconda: IMSORRY I MJUST A JEALOIS BOYFRIEND DONT YELL AT ME

GirLFRIEND: AW I LOVE WHEN YOU SAY YOURE MY BOYFRIEND

Michael was blushing, like, really bad, and for once he actually hoped that no one would come into the store so they didn't have to see him giggling at his phone screen like he was a little teenage girl with a crush.

He practically was a little teenage girl with a crush, except he was a boy and not really a teenager anymore.

Cliffoconda: why are you still yelling

GirLFRIED: BECAUSE IM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOURE MY BOYFRIEND

Cliffoconda: we are so fucking cute

GirLFRIEND: I KNOW

Cliffoconda: stop yelling it hurts my ears

GirLFRIEND: omg

GirLFRIED: michael

GirLFRIEND: baby

GirLFRIEND: you can't even hear me

Michael actually had to stop for a minute and take a couple deep breaths because holy shit, Melissa called him baby. Beth hardly ever called Michael anything like that, she wasn't really in to pet names, so Michael never really knew what it was like for his girlfriend to call him baby. He liked it, a lot, he liked having a girlfriend that called him cute things like baby.

Michael was so happy, he didn't think he'd be able to explain it if he tried.

Cliffoconda: I don't like caps for some reason caps are not my friend

GirLFRIEND: OK SO ILL MAKE SURE TO TYPE IN CAPS EVERY SINGLE TIME I TEXT YOU NOW

Cliffoconda: god you're such a little shit I hate you

GirLFRIEND: NO YOU DONT

Cliffoconda: you're right I don't I'm sorry

GirLFRIEND: ;)

Cliffoconda: get your winky face out of here

Cliffoconda: oh hey you know what you can do to cure my boredom

GirLFRIEND: WHAT

Cliffoconda: send me some nudes

GirLFRIEND: ;)

GirLFRIEND: no

At this point Michael was actually laughing at himself, and he had to cover his mouth with his hands because he was scared that Matt would hear him from the back of the store and come see what Michael was laughing about. He wasn't afraid that he was going to get yelled at for texting, Michael was just scared that he'd actually tell Matt that he'd just asked his ex-girlfriend for nudes.

Cliffoconda: why not?

GirLFRIEND: you're at work what are you going to do go jack off in the bathroom

Cliffoconda: if I need to

Michael was totally kidding. Maybe.

GirLFRIEND: no

Cliffoconda: ugh just your boobs please

GirLFRIEND: no why

Cliffoconda: because I didn't get to see them the other night

GirLFRIEND: that's your fault

Cliffoconda: um no it's not

Technically it was Michael's fault, because he was the one that stopped their little make out session back at Melissa's house, and they probably would have gone a lot farther if he hadn't. He was just scared and nervous about them moving so fast and he wanted to slow down a bit, which he didn't see as a very bad thing.

Cliffoconda: come on I want to see your boobs

GirLFRIEND: later

Cliffoconda: so like tonight or

GirLFRIEND: no like next time we're hanging out together

GirLFRIEND: alone

GirLFRIEND: with no kids

Cliffoconda: the kids can watch

GirLFRIEND: kinky

GirLFRIEND: I'm serious though not tonight and don't say something stupid about you sending Parker off to that guy's house for the night

Cliffoconda: who

GirLFRIEND: the douchey one like calum or whatever

Cliffoconda: I would never make Parker spend the night with Calum

The last time Parker spent the night with Calum was almost two years ago, when Michael and Beth wanted some "alone time" and Calum was the only one of their friends available to watch Parker for the night. Things didn't really turn out too well, and now Michael was very hesitant about leaning Parker completely alone with Calum.

Cliffoconda: I can easily send him to Luke's house though

Cliffoconda: katie can go too

Part of Michael was joking and part of him really wasn't. He'd actually been thinking about that a lot in the past few days (it had only been two since he and Melissa made things "official" but it felt like a lot longer).Melissa was always running stupid errands for Katie's mom and now Michael had this ridiculous job, so it wasn't even like they could hang out during the day. He wasn't sure how he and Melissa were ever going to get some time completely alone with each other unless Parker was at Beth's and Katie was with her parents or something.

GirLFRIEND: no spend time with your son

GirLFRIEND: I don't want you to totally forget about little Pac-Man just because of me

Cliffoconda: Pac-Man is my nickname for him :(

GirLFRIEND: SHUT UP

Clffoconda: okay okay I see what you mean though

Cliffoconda: I won't forget about my little Pac-Man he's always gonna be my number 1

That was true, Parker was always going to be Michael's main priority and he hoped that Melissa would understand that. He was sure that she did, mostly because Melissa was the same way. Katie would always be number one for her, too, and Michael understood why. It was pretty clear to him that this was not going to be a normal relationship, and Michael was okay with that.

GirLFRIEND: good

Cliffoconda: halloween is in a couple days though and I think you should dress up as a sexy maid or something

GirLFRIEND: a maid why a maid

Cliffoconda: isn't that like the same thing as a nanny

GirLFRIEND: nooo

GirLFRIEND: I mean

Cliffoconda: JUST DRESS UP IN SOMETHING SEXY PLEASE FOR ME YOUR JEALOUS BOYFRIEND IM BEGGING

GirLFRIEND: stop yelling it hurts my ears

Cliffoconda: melissa I'm begging you

Cliffoconda: I'm on my knees

He really wasn't on his knees, but Melissa didn't have to know that.

GirLFRIEND: no you're not

GiRLFRIEND: and shouldn't I be the one on my knees

Cliffoconda: kinky

Michael shifted uncomfortably on his stool and looked around the room, wondering if someone was ever going to come in the store, impatiently awaiting his first customer. He liked sitting there and texting Melissa, of course, but he was still bored and wished that someone would just come in the store and give him something to do.

GirLFRIEND: are our kids even going trick or treating together anymore I'm pretty sure katie hates parker

Cliffoconda: well tell her to stop

GirLFRIEND: he kissed her that isn't ok

Cliffoconda: he's four he doesn't know what he's doing

GirLFRIEND: maybe if his father told him that it wasn't okay to just randomly kiss girls....

Cliffoconda: I did tell him after he told me what happened we actually had a nice chat about it I even threw in something about being gay

GirLFRIEND: he's four

Cliffoconda: so he should still know that gay is a-okay

GirLFRIEND: hm

GirLFRIEND: the problem is that you talked to him about it after it happened michael you should have said something before

Cliffoconda: was I supposed to randomly walk up to him one morning and say "hey park, don't go and kiss a girl even if you really like her"

GirLFRIEND: idk maybe

Michael let out a big sigh, debating whether or not to even text Melissa back, because now she was annoying him. It wasn't Michael's fault that Parker kissed Katie. He didn't know that Parker even knew what kissing was or that he knew how to do it. Michael had no idea that Parker even had the guts to walk up to a girl and kiss her.

Michael really wasn't going to text Melissa back for a while, but then he remembered that he had his read receipts on and realized that he kind of had to text her back.

Cliffoconda: that's so stupid oh my god you said yourself he's four

Cliffoconda: god I'm sorry that I didn't prep him on this beforehand it's not like I forced him to kiss her

GirLFRIEND: k

Cliffoconda: hey don't be a bitch oh my good

GirLFRIEND: I'm not being a bitch I'm just upset jesus christ

Cliffoconda: I don't even understand why you're mad though like wow parker kissed katie big deal

GirLFRIEND: it is a big deal because katie didn't like it and now she's upset

Cliffoconda: that's not my problem or parker's I'm sorry that I can't control every move my son makes

GirLFRIEND: why are we fighting

Michael sighed again, because he honestly didn't know. It seemed like he and Melissa had just made up from a fight, and now they were starting something that neither of them could really take the blame for. It wasn't either of their faults that Parker and Katie were now fighting with each other, so why were they making it seem like it was?

Cliffoconda: idk but I don't like it

GirLFRIEND: I'm sorry

GirLFRIEND: I just love katie so much I don't want to see her upset over something like this

Cliffoconda: aw I know you do I'm sorry that parker's such a little shit sometimes I have no idea where he got the idea that he was supposed to go around kissing girls

GirLFRIEND: I know ugh but you're so right he's four he doesn't know any better I shouldn't have gotten so upset over that

Cliffoconda: I understand why you did though if it was the other way around I bet I would have done the exact same thing

GirLFRIEND: I know but I'm still sorry that I'm so bitchy and annoying sometimes

Cliffoconda: mel it's okay don't apologize I get it

GirLFRIEND: okay

Michael felt a lot better with himself now that he and Melissa had resolved their little fight. It actually gave him some hope for this relationship. He figured that if all of their arguments were as stupid and pointless as this one then they could just easily work things out without causing too much drama. Hopefully it would always be like that.

Cliffoconda: so... back to halloween

Cliffoconda: I will talk to parker and try to get him to apologize to katie if you talk to her

GirLFRIEND: well I'll try but she's very stubborn

Cliffoconda: even if they don't go trick or treating together can you still come over dressed up like a sexy maid

GirLFRIEND: IM NOT A MAID

Cliffoconda: sexy nurse??? school girl?? nun???

GirLFRIEND: do sexy nuns even exist

Cliffoconda: ....yes

GirLFRIEND: kinky

Michael was about to type back a response but then he finally heard someone open the front door to the store and the little bell rings, letting Michael know that he actually had to pay attention and go his job now. He quickly greeted the guy that had walked in before looking down at his phone, sending a message back to Melissa.

Cliffoconda: SOMEONE FINALLY CAME IN THE STORE I NEED TO WORK NOW BYE BYE ILL SEE YOU LATER TODAY AND HOPEFULLY YOULL SHOW ME YOUR BOOBS OR SOMETHING

GirLFRIEND: just shut up and do your job

Cliffoconda: don't be so rude

GirLFRIEND: I'm not

GirLFRIEND: go do your job don't fuck up I'll see you later today okay maybe I'll show you my boobs

And that was good enough for Michael, so he set his phone down and decided to focus on his new job.

*•*•*

"Daddy, I have a question!" Parker yelled from his place on the couch. They'd been home from school for about an hour now and Parker had automatically gone to his usual spot on the couch so he could play Mario Kart.

"Yeah?" Michael yelled back at him from the kitchen, where he was trying to find something to make for dinner. He hadn't been shopping in a few days (and even when he did go shopping he only bought, like, two things) and Michael was having trouble finding something for Parker and him to eat.

"Why was Uncle Cal crying?" Parker asked. Michael slowly turned around and walked back into the living room, having no idea what Parker was talking about.

"What?"

"When I had to stay at Uncle Lukey's house, Cal was crying." Parker explained briefly, not once taking his eyes off of the TV.

"Why?" Michael asked. Michael really had no idea what Parker was talking about, he hadn't even talked to Luke or Calum since Saturday night, before he went to dinner with Beth. He spent the rest of the weekend with Melissa until it was time for Parker to come home again.

"That's what I'm asking." Parker whined.

"What do you mean by crying?" Michael asked, taking a seat next to Parker. He was kind of worried, because he had seen Calum cry maybe once in their whole friendship, and Michael had known Calum for a long time.

"He made me food and then - "

"What did he make you?" Michael interrupted, just because he was also a little worried about Calum making Parker food. Last time it didn't turn out too well.

"Sammich." Parker shrugged, and Michael obviously let out a little laugh at just how cute Parker sounded.

"Okay, keep going." Michael nodded, encouraging Parker to finish his story.

"Cal made me a sammich and then he hugged me and cried." Parker shrugged again, still looking at his video game and not at Michael.

"Did he say why?" Michael questioned. He took out his phone and checked to see if he had any missed calls or unopened texts from Calum, maybe explaining what had happened, but there was nothing.

"Nope." Parker said, shaking his head. "It was weird. Why was he crying?"

"I don't know why." Michael said, slightly agrivated, because he'd told Parker that he didn't know a few times already.

"I thought only babies cried." Parker said, still confused. He finally paused his game and turned to face Michael again.

"You cry sometimes." Michael countered.

"I know." Parker shrugged. He crawled over onto Michael's lap, curling himself into a little ball.

"Parker," Michael laughed, "did you just call yourself a baby?"

"No!" Parker protested.

"I don't know why Uncle Cal was crying, Park." Michael said again. "But I can try to find out for you."

"Okay." Parker said quietly. "I just want him to be happy. I don't like seeing Cal sad."

"I know, buddy, I don't either." Michael admitted. Even though Calum annoyed the hell out of him sometimes he was still Michael's best friend, and hearing that something was wrong made Michael upset as well.

"Just make sure he's okay." Parker instructed.

"I will." Michael said, pausing for a second. He remembered that he actually had to talk to Parker about something, so he decided to take this as an opportunity to do so. "Parker, I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Parker asked, looking up at Michael.

"When are you going to be friends with Katie again?" Michael asked.

"Kitty?"

"Yeah, her." Michael scoffed. "When are you two going to be friends again?"

"I don't know, maybe tomorrow." Parker shrugged.

"Really?" Michael asked hopefully, thinking for a second that this may be easier than he thought.

"No."

"Oh." Michael sighed. "Please, Parker, I really think you and Katie should become friends again."

"But why? She doesn't like me anymore, I don't think it will work." Parker laughed.

"I think it will." Michael said slowly, even though he wasn't sure how Parker could possibly make up with Katie. She was so stubborn, Michael didn't think if was going to work either.

"It's okay." Parker shrugged.

"Don't you want to go trick or treating with Katie, though? I thought you were going to be Spiderman and she was going to be a cat." Michael explained.

He really hoped that Melissa was talking to Katie about this too, because if she wasn't then he would feel like he was doing all of this for nothing. Parker could easily be influenced to go say sorry to Katie, but Katie seemed to not take shit from anyone, so Michael didn't think that she would forgive Parker so easily.

"I'll just go trick or treating with you." Parker shrugged.

"Wouldn't it be more fun with Katie?" Michael asked.

"Yes." Parker nodded. "I'm hungry, Daddy, can we have mac n' cheese for dinner?"

"Don't change the subject." Michael groaned, poking Parker in the stomach.

"Katie doesn't like me." Parker whined.

"Just say sorry to her, I'm sure that she'll forgive you." Michael assured him.

"I don't even have a Spiderman costume!" Parker screamed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"We can go get one, as soon as you say sorry to Katie." Michael promised, not sure if it was really going to work.

"Maybe." Parker shrugged.

"Please, Park." Michael begged.

"You can go trick or treating with Kitty." Parker laughed, reaching up and poking Michael's cheek. Michael just swatted his hand away, growing more annoyed with Parker by the second. Since when was he so stubborn?

"I don't want to go trick or treating with Katie." Michael said, giving Parker a very fake smile.

"You can go with Kitty." Parker repeated. "Can I have mac n' cheese now?"

"Please, Parker!" Michael groaned, trying one last time to get Parker to listen.

"I'm hungry!" Parker yelled, ignoring Michael and rolling off of him, walking away.

"Parker, get back here." Michael said, leaning over to reach for Parker, who was trying to run into the kitchen. Michael grabbed him by the back of his shirt, not allowing Parker to move.

"I want mac n' cheese!" Parker screeched loudly, still trying to run away.

"Apologize to Katie!" Michael screeched back.

"I want mac n' cheese!"

"I'll make you some if you promise to say you're sorry!" Michael yelled, still fighting against Parker.

"Stop being so mean to me!"

"I'm not being mean!" Michael scoffed, because he really wasn't being mean at all.

"Let go of me!"

"No!"

"Make me mac n' cheese!"

"Say sorry!"

"Sorry!" Parker yelled, a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Not to me!" Michael groaned.

"Sorry Kitty!" Parker giggled, flopping down on the floor so Michael couldn't old him by the back of his shirt anymore.

"In person!" Michael said sternly.

"Fine!" Parker gave up, finally defeated. "I'll say sorry to her."

"Good." Michael brushed himself off and got up off of the couch, leaving Parker on the floor as he walked into the kitchen.

-

michaels so funny

btw I wrote the first half of this chapter super late at night I was basically having a conversation with myself