Life Saver (m.c.)

Ch. 24

Ch. 24

"Hey Charlotte!  Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Michael asked, pulling the teary-eyed girl into a huge hug at the studio.

"Ugh, not really.  I'm kind of confused and stressed and I just want to take a nap," Charlotte replied, cuddling into her friend's arms, locking her arms tightly around his waist.  She let a couple tears slip from her eye as he rubbed his hand up and down her back, resting his chin on top of her head. 

Michael chuckled, "I totally get it.  Come on inside, you can hang out with us and get your mind off whatever you're upset about."

Charlotte nodded and pulled back from him, looking into his green eyes.  He reached down and swiped the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone, cleaning up some makeup that was smeared by her tears.  She smiled at him softly, him doing the same before taking her hand and leading her through the large building, tangling his fingers with hers.

"Charlotte!" Calum cheered when she and Michael walked into the room where the other boys were writing and recording.  "What's up?"

"Hey Cal," she said, plopping onto the couch next to him, snuggling into his arm that he threw around her shoulders.

"You okay, Char?" Ashton asked from where he was sitting on the deep red carpet across from the black leather couch.  He grabbed a chip from the bag on the table in front of him as she shrugged.

"What's going on?" Luke asked, coming out of the recording booth and sitting on the floor next to Ashton, noticing the distressed look on Charlotte's face.

"I just got back from Christian's, and I feel really bad about the way I left him," Charlotte explained, more tears threatening to spill from her tired eyes.

"Are you guys okay now?" Calum asked, rubbing his hand up and down her arm and pulling her closer to him.  She rested her head on his shoulder and shrugged again.  "Will you tell us what happened?"

"Well, I went over there and apologized to him for whatever I did to make him so pissed at me, and he said it was because he was jealous of Cal and Mike.  And you guys were right; it's because he's in love with me.  I didn't know what to do, so I just grabbed my keys and told him I had to go and left.  I came straight here.  When Michael came down to get me, I fell into his chest and cried just because I don't know what to do and I'm stressing out about it way too much," Charlotte explained.  "He said he didn't want anything between us to change, but really, how can it not?  He's just revealed that he's in love with me.  What do I do?"

"Do you feel the same?" Ashton asked, leaning on his hands that were propped behind his back, his long legs stretched out and ankles crossed in front of him.

"N-no," Charlotte gulped.  She wiped a stray tear from her face, hoping no one saw it, but was proved wrong when Luke came and sat next to her, taking her hand from her lap and wrapping it in his own.

"Well, then I guess you need to just tell him that.  I'm sure he'll understand; I mean, you can't help who you fall in love with," Luke said, rubbing his thumb in circles on the back of Charlotte's little hand.

She sat up from leaning against Calum and took a deep breath.  "You're right," she sighed.  "I can't help that I don't love him.  I mean, I love him as my best friend, but nothing-"

She was interrupted by Michael's voice cutting through the room.  She looked through the window to the recording booth and saw him standing behind a microphone with large black headphones on, eyes closed as he sang the lyrics to a new song.

"Wow," she whispered, staring at him.  The other boys quietly laughed at her.  "I've never heard him sing without autotune or loads of fans screaming or singing with him.  He's really... Wow."

Luke squeezed her hand gently, reminding her that they were still there, and listening to her ramble about her friend's talent.  Michael opened his eyes and saw Charlotte watching him, so he smirked slightly and winked at her, making her heart melt.  She smiled and looked away as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red.  Why was he making her blush like this?  She never blushed unless she was embarrassed or someone said something really nice about her, which didn't happen very often.  She continued to watch him sing while the other guys engaged in a conversation (something about pizza), but Charlotte wasn't paying attention to anything they said.  She watched the red-haired boy sing his heart out, closing his eyes and leaning away from the mic at certain times, moving his hands at other parts, and really just feeling the words he was singing.  After the music finished, Michael came out from the booth and called Calum back to record his part.

"That was so good," Charlotte said as Michael took Calum's spot next to her.  She released Luke's hand and scooted closer to Michael. 

He chuckled, "thanks.  But you've heard me sing before, why were you so mesmerized by that?"

Ashton laughed loudly and said in a high-pitched girl voice, "'I've never heard him sing without autotune or fans screaming and singing along.  He's really... Wow!"  Luke and Michael laughed as Ashton batted his eyelashes and sighed deeply, like a schoolgirl talking about her newest crush.

"Shut up," Charlotte said, burying her face in her hands and falling back into the couch.  "Leave me alone."

"Oh come on, Char, it's cute.  And thanks, I know I'm great," Michael joked, putting his hand on her thigh, rubbing his thumb on the outside.

"Leave me alone," she repeated, still highly embarrassed by the whole situation.

"Nah, I'm good," Michael said, poking her side and making her flinch away from him.

"Don't do that, I'm ticklish!" Charlotte squealed, putting her hands over her side.

Michael cocked an eyebrow, "Oh you are?"  He pulled his hand away from her and before Charlotte could realize what was happening, Michael grabbed her hand pulled her onto his lap, tickling her sides and her stomach, making her laugh so hard her abs hurt. 

"Stop it!" She yelled, taking a deep breath and squirming in his arms.  He laughed and stopped, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her back to his chest, resting his chin on her shoulder.  She placed her hands on his, her breath becoming regular but her heart rapidly pounding on her chest.

Michael placed a tiny kiss on top of Charlotte's shoulder and murmured, "you're so cute, did you know that?"

"I did, thank you very much," she joked, turning to look into his green eyes.  She felt her stomach do a little flip as he smiled at her and she inhaled sharply before turning back around and relaxing into his arms.  After reading so many romance novels and having been through several crushes, Charlotte knew what these feelings were, and they slightly scared her.  She didn't want to like her friend, and she felt that she couldn't like her friend.  It would just make things weird, like how things were probably going to be weird between her and Christian now.  She reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone, making sure Michael wasn't paying attention and shooting Daniela a quick text.

CHARLOTTE

"It seems we may have a bit of a problem."

DANIELA

"Oh no what happened"

CHARLOTTE

"I think I might like Michael."