School Bus [m. clifford]

71

Michael ended up spending the first few days of summer alone. He just wanted to relax for a bit. His friends were okay with that, and he was glad. All he wanted was to sort things out, a lot was changing and more would be changing soon. He was nervous, and he just wanted time to himself.

He hears the door open, and he just assumes it's his mom. But it wasn't.

"Michael! Michael, I- I can't do it." Laura cries, entering Michael's house without warning.

"Woah, babe, what's wrong?" Michael worries, standing up off the couch and almost throwing his phone in panic.

"I- I-" Laura chokes out between sobs.

"Hey, Laur, it's okay. I don't know what's wrong but I'm here. I'm here for you." He tells her, his voice soft as he hugs her tightly.

She continues to wail, her body shaking as she does so.

Michael was panicking a little, not sure what to do. Laura was having a full panic attack in his arms, and he wanted to help but he has no idea how. 

"I- I can't move. I can't go to Duke. I keep having panic attacks when I think about going there alone. I can't leave you guys. I can't leave you. Things in my life were starting to get good. I don't live in a shitty house in a shitty neighbourhood anymore. I have good friends and I have you.  The more I think about leaving Ty behind with Kevin the fucking the more sick I feel. I don't know if I can do it. I can just go to Syracuse and live at home. We'll be at the same school and I can watch Ty and-"

"Laura! Hey, listen to me." Michael interrupts, grabbing her arms tightly, holding her to face him.

Her eyes are squeezed tightly shut, as tears continue to stream down her cheeks. Loud sobs continue to slip past Laura's lips, as Michael tries not to cry while seeing his girlfriend in this state.

Laura just shakes her head, whispering, "I can't do it."

"Come here." Michael says, picking her up and sitting her on the couch with him.

Once they're on the couch, she just holds onto him tightly. She didn't want to let go.

Michael sniffles, still trying not to show how hurt he was that Laura felt this way.

"Babe, Laura, listen to me. Please look at me, please." He begs, pulling away from her so he can see her.

She nods, wiping her eyes before looking at Michael. Just seeing him made her want to completely break down again. She couldn't handle it.

"Okay, you're okay. I love you so much, but you're going to Duke." Michael starts, but can't say everything he wants to say, for she starts to cry again.

Laura shakes her head at his statement, as her tears continue.

"You know you're going to love it there. It's been your dream to get out of here. You don't want to live here. You know that."

"B-but Ty." She stammers, her lip quivering as she tries to hold it together.

"I don't live very far. He has me, Laur. I don't have siblings, Ty is like my little brother. I will drive him to and from school everyday if he wanted. I will do everything you did for him. If he ever needs to stay here, we have the space for him. I love him too, babe." Michael tells her, looking her in the eyes as he speaks.

"You're too good to me. I don't deserve this. You shouldn't be treating my brother better than his own mother and step-dad."

"But I will. I promise."

"I don't want to lose you guys as friends. It's not just the fact I'm leaving. Everybody is." She adds, frowning as she looks down at her hands.

He sighs, "I know. But I don't think we'll all stop talking. I'm sure in ten years we'll all still be hanging out in somebody's garage to remind us of the good old days."

"Michael, I love you. I can't be ten hours away from you. I won't be able to just run over here and curl up in your arms. I won't be able to see you everyday."

Michael sniffles as tears pool in his eyes, "I love you. It's going to be hard. I know that. We'll be okay."

"I'll just stay here. It's okay, I'll transfer and-"

"No. Laur, no. I refuse to let you throw this away. I love you, so you're going to go to Duke. It's all you could've ever wanted. You're not giving it up now." He tells her, tears still welling up in her eyes as she nods.

"It just hurts."

"Baby, I know. I know it does. But I told you that we're still here for you, and I'm here for Ty whenever he needs me. You can do it, Laura. I believe in you."

Laura doesn't say anything, she just quickly places her lips on Michael's. She just felt so much love for him and from him in that moment she didn't know what else to do.

"Michael, I'm so in love with you and I can't leave you." Laura cries, the second she pulls away from him, "I know people would say I'm crazy but, fuck, you're my entire world. I can't imagine being without you."

"Hey, I'm not letting you give this up because of me. Laura, I fucking love and care about you so much that I refuse to let you do this. I am going to drive you there and I'm going to help you move in like we planned. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you didn't go to Duke." Michael tells her, still trying so hard not to break down. He hated the fact she was so broken over this.

She nods, "I get it. I do. Duke is an amazing opportunity. I know. I just can't explain how awful this feeling is."

Laura really did know that this was an amazing opportunity. She was going to one of the best schools in the country. It was just painful to think about leaving everybody, even though she's always wanted to leave.

"Babe, we won't talk about it right now, okay? There's no reason to talk about it. We still have lots of time." Michael tells her, forcing a smile.

Laura nods, "Thank you for being here for me."

"Hey, if you ever want to talk about it though, don't hold back. I'm here for you." He tells her, pulling Laura onto his lap.

"Thank you, again. I love you." She grins, quickly pecking his lips.

"I'm so in love with you." He laughs, tightening his grip on her.

Laura couldn't help but smile, before changing the subject, "I need a distraction, Chloe and Ashton are at Calum's. Wanna go?"

Michael chuckles, "Of course."

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Hiii!!! thanks for reading, like I said I want to skip time, but I also have a few chapters/ideas ready, so we'll see what happens (still kinda wanna shorten it)