I'm Not Fine At All 》Michael Clifford

Chapter Twenty-one

Riley's POV:

Christmas eve. Christmas eve was just a few hours away. It was 4 in the afternoon on December 23rd, and I had absolutely nothing planned for Michael. I was in trouble.

I pulled my phone out and flopped down onto my bed, and dialed Ashton's phone number. It rang and rang, but I got no answer. I huffed and hit the end button, and hit the very next contact, which was Calum. Again, no answer. I finally got to Luke's number and pressed call, hoping and praying that he'd pick up. After five or so rings, his quiet voice answered.

"Riley? What's up?"

"Luke, I'm in trouble." I heard him shuffling around and car keys jingling.

"What is it? Where are you? Where's Michael?" He asked and I heard a door shut.

"Luke it's not anything like that. Michael's in the guest room, helping Karen get ready for her family to come over for Christmas. But there's a problem. I don't have anything for Michael. Nothing. I need help!" I said.

"Say no more, I'm on my way."

"Thanks Luke."

"No problem."

I hung up and ran downstairs, and saw a car pull in, but it wasn't Luke's. I walked over to Michael. "Who's that?" I asked, and he smiled as his mother ran to get the door.

"My aunt and cousin." He replied leading me behind his mother. "They're here for Christmas." I nodded and took his arm, as a tall woman with blonde hair walked in and embraced Karen. Then, a miniature of her ran in and raced toward Michael.

"Miiikeeeyyy!" She squealed, and he squatted down with his arms open. The little girl jumped into his hug and he stood up holding her. She looked at me and grinned, and I smiled and waved at her.

"Leila! You've gotten so big!" Michael exclaimed. She pointed at me. "That's Riley. She's really nice." He told her. Leila giggled and jumped out of Michael's arms, and ran back the her mother, who was talking and smiling with Karen. Michael stepped forward, and he gave his aunt a hug.

"Michael, you're getting taller every year!" She exclaimed.

"Aunt Cass, it's so good to see you again." He said as they hugged. She stepped back and smiled, then looked at me.

"Who's this?" She asked with a huge grin, and I smiled and looked shyly at the floor.

"This is my girl, Riley. She's from New York." My heart fluttered the way it always did when he called me 'his girl.' The woman hugged me too.

"It's so great to meet you darling!" She said a a heavy Australian accent. Just then, I heard Luke's car pulling into the drive, and I smiled. Michael looked out the open door a scrunched his eyebrows.

"Why's Luke here?"

"He's here to get me."

"Whoa, hold on," He put his hands up and looked at me. "Why is he here to get you?"

"He... umm... wants to go shopping for his mother, but doesn't know what to get her, so he asked for my help. I'm going to help him find something that she'd like." I thought up quickly.

"You've never even met her...?" He trailed off.

"We're girls, we know what other girls like." I stated. This much was actually true, somewhat.

"Okay, well I'm coming too. Let me go get my-"

"No!" I said, a little too quickly, and he looked at me surprised. "I mean... you have to stay and help your aunt get moved in, right?" I looked over his shoulder at the other two women with a look that said "help me!"

"She's right!" Karen exclaimed. "We can't lift these heavy bags all by ourselves. We need a man with muscle! Right Cass?"

"Oh, of course we can't! We'd need a forklift without you Michael!" He was about to argue back when Luke walked in the front door.

"Hey Mike," He said giving him a fist bump. "Hi Karen, Aunt Cass, and Leila!" The little girl hugged Luke too. He lifted her up and turned to me. "You ready?"

"I'm ready." I replied with a nod, and gave Michael a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful." He said when I pulled back, then he looked at Luke as he put the little girl down. "You take care of her." I heard him say in a serious tone.

"Don't worry mate. She's in good hands." They gave each other a man hug, then Luke followed me out to his car. As soon as we got in, I buckled up and looked at him.

"I don't know what to do. I'm totally lost right now."

"I don't either." He admitted. "Let's just ride around for a little while, do some window shopping and some serious thinking." I nodded.

"Sounds like a plan."

>>>>>>

It was so much easier said than done. It had been two hours, and we had come up with absolutely nothing. We drove and drove, stopped for a bit for lunch, then drove again. We passed shop after shop after shop, and soon, got sick of driving, and parked the car and walked down the streets looking at different stores.

"I don't know, Ri. He's a lot harder to shop for than you'd think." Luke told me as we walked into a small store. I shook my head a huffed.

"I wish something would just like, you know, jump out and hit me like it was saying, 'pick me, pick me!'" I said. Right as I finished that sentence, a large object fell from a shelf and knocked into my side, causing me to stumble. Luke caught me before I fell, and I rubbed my forehead as I looked down at what had fallen into me. Luke waved a hand in front of my face.

"Riley? You there?" He asked. I replied in a whisper.

"It's perfect..."

》》》》》》

Author's Note >

Hello all! I am back!!!! I'm sorry to leave you hanging. I was going through some things (nothing major, like, at all, just mostly helping my brother's fiancé and some other stuff) and I kinda left you hanging. But I'm back now, and it's all good.

This chapter was kind of hard to write, and was thrown together in like, 2 hours, but I hope you like it.

I'm sad to announce that this book may be coming to a close. I'll put up another two chapters for sure, then possibly an epilogue. But I will have other stories, like a Luke Hemmings fanfic and a Calum Hood fanfic and an Ashton Irwin fanfiction as well. I have a few ideas... ;)

Oh, and one more thing,
This whole story is dedicated to DemoniCake. You are an amazing person, and you've supported me through the writing of this story. Thank you for your kindness and help!

Lots of love from me! ♡♡

Ri ~