Michael can't help but laugh loudly as the notification crosses his screen, covering his mouth seeing as he'd just taken a bite of his food.
"You okay over there, Mike?" Ashton asks, his eyebrow cocked in curiosity.
"Fine." Michael waves him off, unable to stop himself from smirking as he likes her comment on his oldest post.
"Who are you talking to? You seem to be extremely captivated." Luke laughs.
"Just a friend." He chuckles, turning his phone off and setting it down, trying to refocus on his bandmates. They'd come out to a late breakfast to spend some relaxed time together before shows start.
"I don't know... that smile looks kind of suspicious. I'm thinking this friend is a girl." Calum accuses.
"Blushing!" Ashton gasps, pointing at Michael's face. "It is a girl!"
"Who is she?" Luke pushes, all three of his bandmates leaning in excitedly.
"I barely know her, I only actually met her yesterday. Don't read too much into it." Michael rolls his eyes.
"When did you meet her yesterday? We were traveling all day."
"At the airport in New York... I thought she was my friend... but she wasn't." He chuckles nervously.
"Is that why it took you so long to get snacks?" Calum laughs.
"Ya, I ran over to her very excitedly, confused her, and then actually met and talked to her." He laughs. "The friend I thought she was is actually her twin sister, so at least it wasn't totally my bad."
"And then you slid into her DMs?" Ashton chuckles.
"She followed me first." Michael quickly defends.
"Following you and sliding into her DMs are two very different things." Calum points out, "Did you use her following you as an excuse to slide into her DMs." He laughs.
"No, but I might have used her liking one of my posts for it." He admits sheepishly.
"Smooth..." Luke shakes his head, almost seeming disappointed.
"She responded!" Michael scoffs, "Don't knock it, because it worked."
"For today. Who's to say she responds again though?" Ashton points out.
"I'm hopeful." He shrugs.
"What's her name?" Calum asks nonchalantly.
"Jordan. Her sister is Jackie P."
"Wait, the twitch streamer you're friends with?" Calum grins.
"Ya. They're identical twins."
"Isn't Jackie P's sister a professional athlete?" Luke frowns, his forehead creasing like he's trying to remember something.
"Ya, and apparently a really good one at that." Michael nods, "How did you know Jackie had a sister? I didn't until I met her yesterday."
"We played with Jackie once and she mentioned she had to change her next stream because her sister had some important basketball game she needed to be at." Luke shrugs.
"That's a really random detail to remember." Michael chuckles.
"I've only played with a professional streamer like her once, I kind of remember it, because it was pretty cool. Other than the part where it reminded me that I actually suck at video games." Luke chuckles.
"Wait, so she's a basketball player? Is she tall then?" Ashton butts back in.
"She was sitting the whole time I was talking to her, but I don't think she was insanely tall. She said she plays point guard, usually that's the shortest player on the team."
"But short for basketball and actually short aren't the same thing." Calum points out.
"I don't know what's considered short or not in women's basketball, I can't answer that." Michael laughs.
"Jordan Plum, height five foot eight inches. She's taller than average but I wouldn't call her tall." Ashton suddenly speaks up. "Drafted in 2017 by the San Antonio Stars, and moved with the franchise when it was purchased and relocated to Las Vegas in 2018, rebranded the Aces. She has played for the franchise in all four of her professional career seasons. She has also played for more than one Turkish club I cannot pronounce in her off seasons. Oh and she helped the USA national team win both the FIBA World Cup in 2018 and the Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It is presumed that unless injury occurs she will join team USA again this September in Sydney to go for a repeat at the FIBA World Cup. Plum and the Aces start their 2022 pre-season on May 1st in Minneapolis, Minnesota facing off against Sylvia Fowels and the Lynx. It sounds like your girl here is a decorated athlete. A good looking one too."
"How did you even find all that?" Michael chuckles.
"Let me see!" Calum and Luke both make grabby hands for Ashton's phone.
"I googled her." He shrugs at Michael, handing over the phone to the other two.
"That's not entirely weird..." Calum rolls his eyes at Ashton before going back to looking at whatever picture Ashton found.
"None of that was personal information, it was all about her career." Ashton points out. "Do you think she can dunk? That would be really cool."
"She'd have to be able to jump like four feet in the air, I doubt it." Michael laughs, "It does sound like she's really good at basketball though."
"She is pretty, but remember she's probably busy as fuck, and so are you. So what are you going to do? Keep flirting in her DMs?" Luke points out.
"Vegas isn't too far from LA, it's not like we're on tour all the time. Plus, who says it's turning into anything? We've had one conversation in person and one conversation on Instagram, I wouldn't be writing a wedding speech yet, Luke." Michael chuckles.
"I'm just saying, think of some of those things logically. Especially if she's going to be living in Turkey half the year, that's a long way from LA."
"I'll keep that in mind if it becomes something. So far it's innocent flirting."
"Innocent flirting that made you laugh out loud." Calum points out.
"She's funny." He shrugs, his mind refusing to let her smile leave focus.
"Mike's got it bad for this girl, it's cute." Ashton chuckles, "Just be careful, we'd hate to see you get hurt."
"I just met her, we could literally never talk again." He rolls his eyes, "But since I doubt that, I will be careful, at least as careful as I can be."
"Good. So now that Michael's flirting with a girl who's about 5000 miles away, can we focus on the tour that starts this weekend, and is here, in Europe for the next couple months." Luke laughs.
"Why are you so grumpy about Michael flirting with a girl online?" Ashton laughs, bumping Luke's shoulder with his own.
"It's fine, but it's new and it isn't worth getting all excited over yet. I don't want to see him get hurt, so I refuse to get excited when it seems so unlikely that anything could actually happen for him."
"Thanks for keeping the pessimism alive for us, Luke." Michael rolls his eyes at the blonde.
"Happy to help." Luke shrug, "For the record I'm not against you finding a girl and falling in love. This girl just seems to have too many variables for my comfort, that's all. If it works out I'll be happy for you."
"I appreciate your honesty, Luke, and your level head." Mike nods, knowing Luke is just speaking from experience and concern.
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Michael told the band about Jordan! Was it too soon?
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End Game
Fanfic"Everything in my life has always been a game, a goal, or a distraction. So which one are you?" "A game." Michael answers confidently. "So the truth comes out..." Her tone quite clearly tells him how hurtful she found his response. "Let me finish...
