I'm Not Perfect (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 8

“I dare you to kiss Charlotte.”

Oh god. She did not just say that, I did not just hear my name. I can feel the color drain out of my face. I look over at Calum he seems pretty nervous too. I glance over at Lauren with a huge smirk on her face, she just wants to start drama doesn’t she. I guess I have to do this, I look back at Calum. He gives me a look of sympathy before leaning in. I lean in and meet him halfway. His lips were soft and warm, the kiss was very gentle but I felt a little bit of passion. We both pulled back and I kept my eyes closed for a minute. The kiss was surprisingly nice, but now Calum won’t even look at me. I don’t know what the problem is, great Lauren just had to go and ruin my only friendship.

I look around and I see Michael stand up and walk out of the house slamming the door behind him. What’s his problem now? I knew playing this was a horrible idea. Maybe I should go check on him… Or will he just get mad at me like before. I’m just gonna wait a couple minutes and see if he comes back, if he doesn’t im going to go look for him. After a few more minutes of this pointless game I can’t stand the curiosity. I stand up from next to Calum.

“Where are you going?” Luke asks with concern.

“I’ll be right back.” I say without making eye contact with anyone as I walk out, shutting the door lightly behind me.

 I walk outside and there is no sign of Michael anywhere. I just decide to walk the same way we did earlier and see if I can find him. I walk at least 10 blocks and see no trace of him, I figured his hair would be pretty easy to spot. I reach the park we were at less than an hour ago. I decide to give up on finding him. I sit down on the swing and swing lightly back and forth. I really hope he is okay, I want to know what made him leave. For some odd reason I care for this boy that I barely know. I can’t imagine him walking too far from the house in that little time. Either he went farther than the park or I went the total wrong way. After thinking for a few more minutes I walk over to a bench and slump down on it with a sigh of frustration. I close my eyes and try to think about all the places Michael could possibly be. Suddenly a branch cracks in the woods in front of me. I hear many footsteps coming towards me when I finally get the courage to look up Michael is standing 5 feet in front of me.

“What are you doing here?” He asks with pain in his voice.

“Looking for you because you kinda just caused a scene.” I spat. “Plus, I was worried about you…” I add on to make it seem less harsh.

“Why would you worry about me?” he says turning away.

“Well you seemed a bit upset when you left.”

“Oh really? I couldn’t tell.” He says. The sarcasm in his voice stings me. I mean, I’m just trying to help here.

“Well, if you’d like to tell me I would love to hear why you are so upset” I say.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go back.” He says starting to walk away, but I grab his arm before he can get too far.

“Michael.” I say looking him dead in the eyes. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s just a little bit of everything, it doesn’t matter. Now can you let go of my arm so we can go back.” He says. “ I assume you will be joining me.”

“Yeah, whatever, let’s just go.” I say with annoyance.

We walk in silence most of the way back which gives me a lot of time to think. I know he is hiding something from me and the curiosity is eating at me. But I know if I ask him about it he will just put up walls and not tell me what is really going on. Maybe I can get an explanation from Calum, he will probably know. Everyone has a secret, and sometimes people just need to know them, and I need to know what Michael’s is and why it affects him so much. As were walking I can feel the temperature dropping, I start to shiver, that’s what I get for not bringing a hoodie.

“Are you cold?” Michael asks with concern.

“No, I’m fine.” I lie.

“No you aren’t, you’re shivering. Here take my sweatshirt.” He offers, but before I can reply he stops so he is behind me and wraps the jacket around my shoulders.

“Thank you” I say sincerely. Why is he being such a gentleman now? I swear this boy has mood swings, one minute he is angry and the next he is being sweet.

We reach the house and we both walk in, getting stares from everyone in the room. I noticed that Calum wasn’t there anymore. He must have gone up to bed. So I plop down on the couch and Michael sits down next to me. I notice Luke grab his phone and start taking a video of Ashton chugging a 2 liter.

“Hurry up Ash! We only have 8 seconds left!” He pushes.

Ashton manages to chug the whole drink while me and Michael just watch. We’re both just sitting there giggling away at the strange sight. Next Calum just comes out of nowhere with a plastic dog. Then Ashton and him start fighting over who gets to hold it for the picture. Calum finally wins when he yells “I took Ketchup out of the pool last night before he drowned! I get to hold him!” And that was it. Lauren grabs Ashton’s phone and takes a few pictures of them with their strange plastic dog before telling everyone that she is going back to the dorm. She asks me if I want a ride but I’m not quite ready to go.

The boys and I joke around for a bit longer before they decide to put a movie on. After fighting like children for about which horror film we should watch they decide on Paranormal Activity 3. I’m the kind of person that is easily scared so this movie is not the thing for me. I watch the movie for at least 30 minutes without a problem. But then they hear a noise in the closet and they go and see what it is. The suspense is killing me, and then the girl jumps out of the closet with the mask on. I scream and burry my face into Michael’s shoulder, and he protectively wraps his arms around me. I take in his smell, whatever cologne  or body spay he is wearing is amazing. I slip out of his embrace and he leans down.

“It’s just a movie, you’re okay.” He whispers.

I’m extremely glad he said that because if he hadn’t I would probably be having a full on panic attack. After another hour the movie is over and everyone is asleep except me and Michael. It is a bit awkward but he finally breaks the silence.

“Do you wanna come upstairs with me?” he asks awkwardly.

“Yeah, sure.” I reply with a smile. He stands up from the couch and helps me up before taking my hand and leading me through the house.