"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" I called out, dropping my hands to my sides and opening my eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!"
I bit my lip, glancing around Michael's living room briefly before going to work on checking behind all of the stacks of boxes for where Michael could be hiding.
It didn't take long, for Michael didn't exactly make it very difficult to be found. I found him in his room, walls bare of all of his band posters and pictures. Michael was sitting cross-legged on his bed, a familiar photo album on his lap.
"Found you," I said softly, startling him slightly.
"Sorry." His green eyes fell from my face and back onto the album. "I got a little distracted."
"What've you got there?" I asked, crawling onto the bed next to him. Immediately, Michael set the album to the side and leaned back against the pillows, pulling me onto his lap.
"I'm pretty sure we were supposed to return this a while ago." Michael set the album onto my lap, one of his hands resting over the one I used to hold the book.
My eyes skimmed over the pages and the faces I had spent hours studying into the late morning. It was the album from Scott's that held pictures off all of the people who've ever played at the bar. Quite a few of them went on to be successful at some point or another. "Oops."
"Librarians must hate you" Michael chuckled, leaving small kisses on my shoulder as he looked down at the pictures as well.
"They despise me," I nodded with a laugh, flipping through the pages and looking at the various pictures inside, many of them marked by a star for success.
"Their loss," Michael shrugged, before starting an assault of kisses on my neck and face that made me giggle.
"Michael stop!" I laughed, trying hard to push his face away.
"You don't want my kisses?" he pouted, sticking his bottom lip out and looking incredibly sad.
"Oh, don't give me that look," I chuckled and rolled my eyes, resting my head back against his shoulder. "You know I love your kisses."
Michael continued to pout.
"Oh, c'mere," I sighed, putting my hand on the back of his neck.
"Yay!" he cheered childishly, still grinning as our lips connected.
I sighed wistfully when we parted, my thumb stroking his cheek as I wondered exactly how many times I would get to do this before he left. It hadn't been too long since my interview and Concert in the Park, but things were rapidly changing. School was going to be starting up soon as another summer came to a close and the boys were already preparing to move down to LA. Meeting Michael, going to Santa Cruz, and first falling in love with him... That was all over a year ago, and time really flew by. A year ago, we were still realizing and admitting the fact that we love each other and now we were sitting in an empty apartment, counting the seconds before we really had to say goodbye.
"Hey." Michael said sternly, grabbing my attention. His palm cupped my cheek as he forced me to meet his pale green eyes. "Don't think about that."
"Think about what?" I sighed, trying to look down only for Michael to move his head, maintaining eye contact.
"You know what, Lanie," Michael frowned, turning me so I was sitting with my legs on either side of him so he could hold my face with both hands. "It's not goodbye. It's more of a... see you later, okay?"
"I know, I know." I let out a deep breath, glancing down at my hands that were resting limply on my lap. "It's just... I'll still miss you, you know?"
