I'm Not Fine At All 》Michael Clifford

Chapter Twenty

Riley's POV:

Streetlamps flashing. Rain pounding. Cars honking. Music softly playing. My name being called.

I opened my eyes and saw a familiar face looking down at me, then back at the road he was driving on. "Ashton?" I mumbled.

"Morning, sunshine!" He said with a quick smile.

"Where are we?"

"About thirty minutes away from Michael's house. You hungry?" He asked looking down at me quickly, then back at the road. At the mention of his name, I felt my stomach knotting.

"Oh god, please don't take me back to his place right now," I begged. He raised his eyebrows, but kept his eyes on the road.

"Are you hungry?" He repeated his previous question. It was only then that I realised I was in fact starving.

"Yeah, a little bit." I answered. He nodded and found a small restaurant, and pulled in and parked the car. The second we stopped moving, he turned to me with a serious expression.

"What happened?" I looked at him not answering, and he looked expectantly. "Look, all I know is that you're mad at Michael, and that he's torn up over you running off. Who said what? What went down between the two of you guys? Because yesterday, you were happily in love, and today, you're pissed at him and he's totally destroyed." Ashton seemed a bit aggravated, and I sighed.

"It wasn't anything he said... it was what he didn't say, I guess. This girl saw us today while we were eating, and came up and started talking about how she thought Michael wouldn't be back around anymore, and how I was her replacement, and how she and Michael hooked up... you know... like in bed and all. I guess I was upset that he never told me about it." I huffed and Ashton looked at me.

"Ashley? The cake-faced blonde? You actually believed everything she said?" I looked at him wide eyed, and he shook his head and looked forward. "I can tell you that whatever she said was a lie. You see, it all went down about three years ago. Yeah, she used to be with Michael... for about three weeks. I never like her, she was too full of herself. The other boys agreed with me, she was no good. Michael, unfortunately, didn't see that until she told him that he needed to either choose her or the band. He almost left the band for her, until that same night, she told him that she wanted to... like, hook up... you know... I think you get the point." I nodded and looked at my lap. "The second she brought up sleeping with him, he dropped her like a hot potato." He sighed and looked down at me. "It never happened. And you walked out on him today, believing a lie... it tore him apart, Riley. And it scared him to death, not knowing where you went. He thinks it's his fault..." I felt so angry at myself for believing Ashley, and for not even giving Michael a chance. I way overreacted, and I was being stupid to listen to what the girl said.

"I feel terrible. I should've stayed there with Michael. I should've listened. I'm a terrible girlfriend." I said, putting my face in my hands and sobbing.

"Hey there, it's not totally your fault." He said in a gentler voice, and rubbing my back in a friendly way. "Ashley is a bit of a jerk sometimes, and loves nothing more than to ruin people's relationships. Her problem is, when she sees a successful relationship, she gets jealous because she's never had that, and she wants to destroy it. Does that make sense?" I nodded and wiped my eyes a bit, then sniffled.

"But I still didn't ever give him a chance to explain." I argued.

"And that was wrong on your part. But you just have to go to him and make it right." The rain outside the car had begun to lighten, and I figured that by then, we could probably make it into the restaurant without getting drenched. Ashton must have read my mind, because he looked up and smiled. "Shall we?" He asked holding out his hand, gesturing to the outside of the car. I wiped my eyes again and nodded.

"Let's go."

We jumped out of the car and made a break for the door. As soon as we were inside, Ashton took me into a hug, which helped me relax. Then, we walked to the front desk and waited for our table.

>>>>>>

"We pulled into the drive at Michael's house, and I saw three cars parked and every light on, inside the house and out. I sighed and unbuckled my seat belt as Ashton parked. We got out and walked up the steps together to the front door, and I began to get nervous... since when was I ever nervous to talk to Michael?

We walked inside, and saw Calum and Luke chilling on the sofa in the living room, watching Friends and eating pizza - shocker - and Michael was pacing the room behind them. He was the first to look up and see us, and the second he did, he ran and embraced me. I stiffened slightly, until he let go and looked down brushing the wet hair from my face and searching my eyes.

"Are you okay? Where did you go? Are you hurt? I'm so sorry, Riley. How do you feel? What took you and Ashton so long? How long did you walk for? Riley, talk to me." He bombarded me with questions as he checked me over for injuries I guess.

"Michael, I'm okay. But we need to talk." I replied, and he slowed down a bit. "Please?"

"Okay,"

Upstairs, in his bedroom, I sat on his bed and he stood in front of me. I admired the guitars standing over in the corner, and all of the band posters hung on the walls. I didn't look him in the eye when I took a deep breath and began.

"Mikey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have believed her. I should have listened to you, and given you a chance. I way overreacted, and I feel horrible now. Ashton told me what really happened, and I... I just feel like an idiot for believing that you'd ever keep something like that from me. You're a better person than that. And I..." I sighed. "Forgive me?" I looked up at his beautiful green eyes and saw the love in them as he took my hands.

"Always." He replied. I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck, and he hugged me close.

"I screwed up, Michael. I'm so sorry." I whispered.

"It's okay. Ashley is a pretty good liar." He replied with a light chuckle. "Now let's get you cleaned up. Your clothes are still soaked. Oh, and I've got your phone downstairs." I smiled and backed up.

"That would be great, thanks."

>>>>>>

After taking a hot shower, drying off, and robbing Michael of one of his t-shirts, I found myself curled up on his sofa in his bedroom listening to old covers that he and the boys used to do before they got famous, while he played a video game on his laptop. It made me incredibly proud, knowing that they started from absolutely nothing and became what they are now.

I was currently watching their cover of What Makes You Beautiful/One Thing by One Direction. I looked at them all and smiled at how young they were. They all had little kid faces, and crazy hair. Michael had this golden brown fringe thing going on, flipped over to the left side of his head and all the way down to his chin. He had none of the tattoos or piercings that he had now, and he looked different, but it was a good different. I loved him exactly how he was.

I guessed that he got curious about all my smiling and giggling and whatnot, and eventually came to sit next to me. He paused his game and flopped down on the sofa, and leaned over to look at my computer screen, and the second he saw his fifteen year old self, he covered my eyes.

"Oh no! Don't watch fetus me! It's too painful to bear!" I laughed and pried his hands away from my face.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I mean we were terrible! At least I was terrible. Oh my lord look at my hair! Ugh!" He hid his face in the sofa and I continued to laugh.

"Come on now, you were adorable!" I said patting his back. He just groaned and stayed hidden, so I continued to watch the old videos. He always had a way of making me smile.