Wingless {Clifford A.U}

Chapter Fifteen

It had been an extremely long day for her and Michael both, and now the two of them sat in her room on her bed, a little more awkwardly than they usually were. The tension was obvious between them, and neither of them liked it. Astrid was still a bit confused about what had happened earlier between them, and had to ask.

"What are we?" she asked, Michael thought about it, he wasn't sure about it either; yes he kissed her and admitted that he had strong feelings towards her, but he didn't think this far ahead.

"Whatever you want us to be." he replied.

"Oh," she said and bit her lip. "well, what do you want?" she asked shyly.

"Honestly, I do want there to be an us together, but if that's not what you want I'd be okay with that too, I mean, I am dead so I understand if you don't want to." he said and she gave him a smile, a real smile.

"I'd like that, a lot." she said looking at him.

They sat in silence for a few moments, but it didn't feel as awkward as before, until she yawned and rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted.

"You should go to sleep, it's been a long day." he said and she sighed.

"Fine." she said, turning off her lamp and curling up under the comforter, "Wait, will you, um, sleep with me?" she asked awkwardly, she wanted him next to her, he made her feel safer. He didn't answer her, but he lied down beside her and she turned her body towards him so she was looking at him. There wasn't much light, only what was seeping through the window from the moon and street lights, but she could see him looking back at her in the darkness. His hand found hers, and he laced his fingers through hers. She moved closer to him and curled up against him.

"Good night Michael." she whispered, feeling him wrap his other arm around her, before falling asleep.

He lied there silently beside her, watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful, it sometimes made him forget how broken she actually was, but she wasn't going to stay broken for long. He was going to be the one to put her back together again.

+++

The next morning, Astrid woke up to Luke knocking on her door. "Astrid, wake up." he said from outside the door. She groaned and pulled the comforter over her face. 

"It's too early Luke!" she said in an irritated voice and she heard him laugh from the other side of the door. 

"Get up or I'll drag you out of bed" he said and she sighed. 

"Fine I'll get up in a minute." she said but not without muttering under her breath. 

"Be downstairs in twenty minutes." he said.

"Alright, whatever." she said and waited until she heard his foot steps walking away before she turned to face Michael who was still beside her.

"Good morning beautiful." he said, and she blushed.

"Good morning." she said snuggling closer to him, causing him to smile down at her. 

"As much as I'd like to stay like this, I think you should get up. You have therapy this morning." he said and she sighed and got out of bed. 

"Fine, I'll be back in a few minutes." she said grabbing some clothes and taking them to the bathroom, she also changed the bandages that covered her wrists after getting dressed. She dressed in dark jeans and a long sleeved hoodie, with her hair in a beanie. She walked back to her bedroom where Michael was waiting and she beckoned him to follow her down stairs where Luke was waiting. 

"Naomi didn't want to take you so I'm going to, let's go." he said, and they got into his car and started heading towards the therapists office. 

+++

They arrived not to long after they left the house and Astrid got out at the front. "I'll pick you up later, just call." Luke said and she nodded before he drove away. Michael looked down at her.

"You nervous?" he asked but she shook her head.

"Not this time." she said walking inside, nodding at the secretary before walking down the corridor towards Dr. Marx's office. She knocked a couple of times on the door and walked in when she heard him say come in. He looked up from his computer and smiled at her when he saw her. 

"Welcome back Astrid." he said and she sat down. "How's everything going at home?" he asked and she shrugged. 

"Same as usual I guess." she said.

"Okay, what about school? How's that going?" he asked and she bit her lip.

"Not exactly how I'd like it to be." she said and he nodded. 

"Would you like to explain?" he asked and she shrugged.

"I guess, I mean there's not much to tell. When you're automatically labeled as the school's freak show just because of how you dress and the music you listen to it's not exactly easy." she said.

"I see. So there's a lot of bullying at your school then?" he asked and she nodded.

"Every school has their mean girls, I'm just their biggest target." she said. 

"And, is there anyone else who bullies you, or makes you feel uncomfortable around them?" he asked, she automatically thought about Ashton, but quickly shook that thought away. 

"Well, I guess mainly everyone, but the worst are the track girls. They make everything hell." she replied finally.

"What do the track girls do that causes you so much trouble and to feel like you're a target?"

"Different things, insult me, throw things at me, trip me, steal my books, other things." she said and he nodded.

"Have they ever gotten physical with you? Like hit you or hurt you in any physical way." he asked and she nodded. 

"There have been a few times, they cornered me after school while my brother was helping one of his teachers after class or had somewhere to be, he had an after school job for a short amount of time, they'd all fight me. All at once so I was out numbered, and I would come home covered in bruises and scratches."

"Did your foster mother ever do anything about it?" he asked and she scoffed. 

"Of course not. She could care less about her foster kids, she only cares about the agency checks." she said. 

"Really now, is there any abuse that goes on in your home?" he asked and she didn't reply, she's already said too much.

"I'd rather not get into that much personal information like that, maybe next time. I still don't completely trust you, even if you are a therapist." she said and he nodded. 

"I understand that, and you don't have to talk about anything that you're not comfortable with." he said. He leaned back in his chair and stretched, the long sleeves of his shirt sliding up a little, and Astrid noticed curling black lines of a tattoo on his left arm, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"What's that tattoo of?" she asked and he glanced down at his half revealed tattoo and pulled his sleeve back down.

"You have things that you're not ready to talk about yet as do I. Maybe next time." he said, not in a rude way but in a way that told her he'd rather not talk about and she nodded.

"Yeah, maybe next time."

A/N: So hi again, here's chapter 15. It's more of a filler chapter to just move the story along, but one part of it is actually going to be really important in the future chapters so it's not completely useless. Thanks for reading, please vote and comment, and chapter 16 will be up soon.

-Xx E.J