what's up with him?

Hannah, confused, caught up to Michael and asked, "You.... don't want me to like... suck you off or something?"

"Nope." Michael said, flatly.

"Oh, so you just wanna go straight to sex? We'll have to wait a minute, but I wanna rock your little world HARD after what you did for me, so gimme like 20 minutes and I'll-"

"I don't want to have sex with you, Hannah." Michael interrupted, impatiently.

"What?" Hannah said, stunned.

"I tried to feel something during that, I really did. But the pain's too raw still. You're very pretty, and it's great that you're trying to make up for all the shit you did to me, but it's just too raw, Hannah. I can't have sex with my..."

"Abuser." Hannah said plainly, her heart in a thousand pieces. End of the day, that is what she was, even if they'd buried the hatchet about it, even if they really did have an attraction to each other.

"Yeah..." Michael said, equally heartbroken. "I tried to make it work, but there's still too much in the way up here to accept it."

"I... I'm sorry." Hannah said feeling like a pile of shit.

"Me too... Really." Michael said with a look of sadness on his face too.

The couple walked the rest of the way until they reached the tree line, the back of Michael's house just in view.

They silently walked beyond the branches and brush onto the soft grass of his back yard and they crossed the lawn to the sliding glass door at the bottom level. Michael slid the door open,

"My folks never lock this thing, even when they're on vacation."

Hannah was quietly grateful she didn't have to add "seen naked by Michael's parents to her list of today's humiliations.

Michael showed Hannah to his mom's room and told her to pick out anything she wanted to wear. The only thing that fit her tall frame was a red dress that fit her too snugly. Not even any of the underwear fit and her crotch felt cold as she left the room. She met up with Michael, he was waiting by the phone, a landline.

"You can call your chauffer from this." He said, avoiding eye contact.

She made the call and reported her driver would be there in 20 minutes.

They waited in silence for an agonizingly long time until Michael broke the silence.

"Look... I'm sorry for... you know."

"I know... me too, Michael."

"I know you are! I know! And there's a HUGE part of me that wants to put the past aside and just BE with you! You're actually a real fun person to be around when you're not an ice cold bitch!"

Hannah smiled a little at that.

"That's why... fuck this is going to sound so fucking stupid. Hannah I have an idea, but it's gunna require a LOT from you. Are you sure you want to be with me too?"

"Yeah... yeah I want that Michael. Just tell me what you want and I'll do it. Anything!"

"See, no that, there, that right there is what's got me so squawked out about all this. It isn't the shit you did to me back then, not entirely anyway. No, it's the apologies and the begging and the self-flagellation! I don't WANT you to be desperately trying to please me all the time if we get together. That's why I'm suggesting, if we really want to make this work, we need to go to counseling."

"Like... couples counseling?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah. I think it might be the best way that we can both deal with our baggage on equal terms. What do you say?"

They heard a honk from outside. It was Hannah's ride.

"I... I'll think about it." Hannah said, as she got up and walked to the front door. She turned and looked back at him one last time, "Really, I mean it. I'll think."

...

And think she did, and of course she said yes. You didn't think this was the "BAD END" did you?

No, they acted like adults, got counseling, worked together for a long time and eventually, even though it was hard, Michael and Hannah ended up together in the end.

The 5'1" nerd and the 6'5" beauty loved each other, truly, from then on........ Yeesh, what the heck would their kids look like???