November Dreams (M.C.)

Chapter Forty

I followed Michael back into the bus to get ready for the day; I was overly eager to see where the day would take us. I was ready to start making new memories with him since we had already lost so much time. Michael just threw on a new pair of pants, staying in the same t-shirt from the night before. I looked at him with raised eyebrows as he looked at me with a goofy smile.

"Mike, aren't you going to change your shirt?"

He shook his head violently, a giant, toothy smile spread across his face.

"Mike, change your shirt!" I laughed at the face he was making.

"Nope!"

"Why?"

"Because I want to smell like you all day."

Okay, he was too cute. He ran over to me from across the bus without warning, scooping me up in a giant hug. He nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck and tickled my sides, my high-pitched squeals filling the bus.

"Michael! Michael stop!" I screamed as he tickled my sides violently.

"Never!!" He bellowed between laughs.

I couldn't control my laughter and I was a little scared that I was going to wet myself.

"But you stink!"

He stopped tickling me and pulled off his shirt, throwing a clean one over his messy black hair. He stared at me with his arms out, inviting me back in. I shuffled back into him and he twisted his arms back around me, our heads apart just enough for him to look down at me.

"I don't stink now, do I?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes lingered on me, warming me up from the inside out.

"No, you smell like you."

"Is that good or bad?" He smirked.

"A good thing. I missed your smell."

He chuckled, twisting his arms around me a bit tighter. I brought my head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat for a moment as he kissed the top of my head. He pulled away after a moment, his green eyes meeting mine. I don't think I would ever get used to the way he looked at me; his eyes were so soft and filled with longing that it made me melt every time he caught me in his gaze.

"Come on, bug. Let's go have some fun."

//

Today was just him and I. Luke and Czara were out and about and Ashton and Cal had decided to hit the arcade, so we had the whole day to ourselves. The world was ours.

He led me by my hand down the street, not bothering to look at the people pointing at us from across the street and out car windows as they passed. People shouted his name and shot me funny looks,; a few even tried following us, but Michael lost them as he zigzagged around corners and through alleyways until we came to a lonely door next to a dumpster.

"Michael where are we—"

He tugged my hand as he pushed the door open excitedly.

"Its okay, just follow me babe. You're going to love this," he glanced at me as he led me through a back hallway stacked high with boxes, a smile pricking at the corners of his lips.

He stopped me suddenly, causing me to bump into his back and whacking my nose on his shoulder. He turned around, surprised.

"Sorry, hon," he frowned sympathetically as he bent down to place a small kiss on the tip of my nose.

I smiled up at him, admiring his small, yet kind gesture. It was all about the little things with him.  A wink here, a quick embrace there, a flashing twinkle of the eye; these were all the things that made Michael the only person on the planet that could fill me with this kind of feeling.

Michael looked like he was getting giddier and giddier by the second.

"Babe, where are we?"

Michael smiled ear to ear.

"Close your eyes. Go on, close them or no surprise for November!" He lifted my hands to my eyes and grabbed me by my elbows. I giggled a bit as he steered me in front of him and led me through a curtain, his knees bumping into the backs of my legs as he walked behind me.

"No peeking!" His hands left my elbows and I felt him run around the front of me.

"Michael!" I giggled loudly.

"Okay, open!"

When I took my hands off my eyes, Michael stood in front of me, his arms spread wide and a bright grin shining at me.

"What are you—" But then my eyes found what he had been so eager to show me.

All around him, up the walls all the way up to the ceiling were shelves and shelves of records. INXS, The Beatles, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails. Alternative, rock, jazz, classical; every record you could possibly think of with every genre imaginable.

"Michael, how did you—"

"Calum told me about it. What do you think? Do you like it? Oh shit, this was a lame surprise, wasn't it? Shit, I'm—"

"Michael, this is amazing!" I gaped at the massive amounts of records the begged for me to touch them.

I ran over to him, catching him off guard and tackling him with a giant hug.

"I love it," I whispered into his chest as he planted drawn-out kisses on the top of my head and down to my cheek.

//

Michael

We spent the next few hours roaming around the shop. I followed close behind her as twisted back and forth between the racks, her smile growing bigger and bigger as the stack of records grew in her arms. All I could do was smile as I watched her; the way she flipped through the records and snapped her head up at me with a gasp whenever she found something that excited her.

The second Calum told me about this place, I knew I had to take her here. She had always shared my affinity for music and appreciated so much the fact that the sound of vinyl would always surpass the sound of CD's and cassette. And the fact that this place was a well-kept secret made it all the better. The last thing I wanted was to be mobbed by fans when I was with her; I already knew the things they would say about her would tear her in two. I wasn't ready to subject her to that.

She ran up to me after a bit with her arms piled high with about twenty new records and a toothy grin.

"Michael, help me! Which ones should I get?"

I couldn't help but admire her excitement. But I knew she would never be able to choose just one.

"I think you should get...all of them."

Her mouth formed a wide "O" and her eyes bugged out.

"Michael—"

"I'm not letting you leave here without everything you want, princess."

She jumped up and down, hugging her records and squealing.

As I followed her to the register, I realized just how much I had been missing without her. Her happiness was what had always kept me going, and it filled me up to be able to be a part of that happiness again.

As I watched her smile glow brighter and brighter, I hoped to God that this would last forever.

//

Sorry this chapter kinda sucks