cigarette daydreams • mgc

chapter 5

"charlie"

no response.

"come on lee, get up."

still no response.

michael was losing his patience with charlie wrapped around him like this.

after a night of watching the stars, they retreated to the back seats of michaels small car which was where charlie fell asleep on the mans chest, wrapped tightly in a blanket.

sure, yesterday's vulnerable michael wouldn't have minded, but right now, all michael wanted was to go have a smoke and this girl was getting in his way of achieving just that. he kept poking at her sides and even nudged her face with his fingers.

still no movement.

was she even breathing?

panic quickly arose within michael before he maneuvered his arm to press his fingers under the girls neck, checking for a pulse. when he felt a pulse, he groaned dramatically before sitting up, basically throwing her off of him. he felt annoyed with himself for getting all touchy and cuddly with someone, especially a chick he picked off the street. 

'you're michael fucking clifford, snap out of it mate.' he thought to himself before getting out of the car. the space was becoming too confining and with his overbearing thoughts, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

how a cigarette would change that? the very thing that sickens your lungs? michael wouldn't know, but he also couldn't bring himself to care either. 

he leaned against the hood of his car and looked off into the field where him and charlie only laid hours prior, watching the shining light of the sunrise peeking through the trees.

it was beautiful, charlie would've loved to see this. 

fuck.

the man just tilted his head in annoyance at the very name floating through his tired and overworked mind. when was the last time he got to relax and not think, simply smoke a joint and drink some beer? far too fucking long was the answer the red haired man felt content with. 

he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, not surprised by the fact that they were crushed. 

he took the most decent looking one and lit the end, watching the gentle smoke drift through the clean air, polluting it with its toxins. isn't that how all life is? so innocent and pure before life itself poisoned it? that's what michael liked to think, but even michael didn't think he was that poetic. 

feeling the toxins reach his lungs only made him sigh in relief, feeling the effects of the nicotine reaching his brain and running through his veins. 

an instant relaxer michael has grown so accustomed to.  

and so he watched the gorgeous sunrise there, now seated on the hood of his car with a cigarette comfortably slotted between his rough and cut fingers. his mind was finally drifting away from the girl he's been travelling with for the past few days.

there was just something about her that almost rubbed michael the wrong way, but maybe wrong in a way of never feeling this way before.

he ran a hand down his face in exhaustion before dropping his cigarette to the ground, pressing his converse clad foot over it to put it out. he didn't feel like causing a forest fire today. with that being said, he just sat there, zoned out on the image in front of him. the early morning air nipped at his arms but he didn't mind. it refreshed him in ways a cold glass of water couldn't.

meanwhile, charlie was just starting to wake up in the backseat, barely realizing that michael tossed her body over like some rag doll. she brought her hands up to rub at her tired eyes before looking through the front windshield to view michael's back, watching the motionless man on the hood of the car.