Sodium 16 // michael clifford au

5. The Sandman

Sodium 16

5. The Sandman

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As I entered my front door after I drove home from Michael’s apartment, my brother and my mom were sitting on the couch in our living room with expectant looks on their faces.

“What?” I questioned.

“Well, how was your date?” My mom asked, pushing a strand of her curly blond hair away from her eyes. Probably so she can stare me down more.

“It wasn’t a date.” I groaned. “Can you both please just stop bothering me about Michael. It’s not even any of your business anyway.”

“I birthed you, missy. It’s all of my business. But I’ll let it slide this time.” My mom said as she got up from the couch, giving my brother a look, telling him not to bother me.

Making sure I glared at my brother before, I stomped up my stairs, pretending to be in a bad mood because of them. But in reality, I was really feeling fantastic.

Today was even better than I had imagined it to be. And Michael finally kissed me, which made the day even better.

I was excited to see what he had planned for tomorrow, because knowing him, he would drag me out of bed at an ungodly hour, and force me to some new random activity. But even if he woke me up before noon, I’d be fine with it, because I really really liked him. And it’s insane, because I had never liked anyone like this before, even though I have only liked him for a little while.

I fell asleep to the lovely thoughts of my reflection of the day with Michael.

***

Instead of waking up with the disruptive shaking from Michael, I woke up on my own today. As I sat up in my bed and looked at the clock on my night stand. 12:05 PM. It was after noon, and Michael still wasn’t here to take me somewhere. This was strange.

Maybe he hadn’t enjoyed last night as much as I did. Maybe he just wasn’t interested in me. Maybe he just thought of me as a friend.

But since when did friends kiss one another?

Oh, maybe Luke dared him the kiss me. Maybe Luke dared him to string me along this whole time. To make me fall in love with him so he could break by heart, like all those stupid teen fiction books Chloe read on Wattpad. But in all of those books, the main characters fall in love. I guess this story just made a depression twist on the original cliché idea.

When I finally got the courage to get out of bed, I dragged myself down stairs to hear my mom laughing with someone. Deep down I hoped that it was Michael and that I had just jumped to conclusions.

But, no. It was just Ford, my stupid brother.

My mom looked up at me, probably after hearing my footsteps as I came down the stairs.

“Hey, Bea, sweetie. Are you okay? You look kind of sad.” My mother asked, worriedly.

I just shrugged, not wanting to answer either of their possible questions and sat on a stool at the kitchen island. I reached for the food that sat on the island, wanting to push my disheartening thoughts further into my mind.

“Did your boyfriend break up with you or something?” Ford questioned, biting into a piece of bacon, while I choked on my own at the question.

I glared at him and muttered, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Yet.” My mom joked.

“What is with you people and making the same joke!” I yell, feeling agitated.