Monster Among Men ➵ Michael Clifford a.u.

Chapter 8

chapter 8; the dinner party pt. 1

"I already said I'm not going Ains, I'm sorry" I chuckle as we walk side by side down the hallway. it was almost the end of the school day, and she had been begging me all day to go to a dinner party her parents were throwing on Saturday. It had been a week since our little camping trip, which was just us sleeping in her giant tree house. Rich people really have it all.
"but I already told my parents you were coming" she pouts.
I stop walking and look down at her. she stares up at me with glistening eyes, her bottom lip sticking out prominently. She knows what she's doing. She also knows it'll work. It always does.
"fine, you win. I'll go." I give in with a groan. The absolute last thing I wanted was to be stuck conversing with a bunch of stuck up, rich folk. Not really my crowd. But for Ainsley, I'll just have to suck it up.
"YAY!!" she exclaims, jumping up and down in excitement.
"come on, we have to get to class." I chuckle lightly as we begin to walk to our last class of the day. Before we got to the end of the hallway we were stopped by a familiar face.

"Hey mike, hey Ainsley." Calum says with a smile. I knit my eyebrows in confusion. Well this is new. Not that I'm complaining.

"Hi Cal..." my voice trails off as I begin to look around us, a nervous habit.

"I was going to see what your guys' plans were for Saturday?" he asks abruptly, almost like he was scared to ask and needed to before he changed his mind.

"tomorrow?" I swallow the lump in my throat. I haven't officially hung out with Calum since.. well before benny...passed.

"We have my parents dinner party!" Ainsley speaks up from beside me.

oh no I can already see where this is going.

"you should come!" she adds quickly.

"Ains, don't you think your parents might mind if-" I begin to shut down her idea but she cuts me off before I can. "Like I said, you should come." she smiles sweetly, pinching my arm, telling me to shut up I'm assuming. It didn't even hurt, it just surprised me.

"oh, no.. I couldn't..I wouldn't want to intru-"

"don't be silly, you're more than welcome! I'll text Aubrie the details to give to you!" She cuts him off before he was able to turn down her offer. I look at her with a confused expression, mostly because she has Aubrie's number? since when..

she must've caught on because she answers my thoughts immediately.

"We're doing a book report together."

oh.

"well, if you're sure it's okay, I'll be there, see you tomorrow guys." Calum chuckles nervously before walking away.

"Ainsley Roberts. Why would you invite Calum over?" I ask sternly once Calum was out of sight.

"I see the way you looked at him, you want him there." she says simply.

what...???

"he was your best friend Mikey. I think it's time to get over the past and move on. I can see you both want to." she sighs, putting her hand in mine. I smile softly at her gesture. We had been spending a lot of time together this past almost two months, so naturally we've done a lot of talking, and have learned quite a lot about each-other. For example, Ainsley is a fixer. She can't stand when anything is awry or if two people aren't getting along, she always has the make the peace. A quality i admire.

"maybe you're right." I chuckle.

"I always am" she's quick to reply. before I could say another word the bell rings.

"shit."

"we're late."
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Author's Note;
super short chapter, it picks up in the next chapter i promise :)