Too Late | m.c [completed]

Chapter 1-Meeting Each Other

"I lost her, Luke" I wipe the tears away, all of the memories flooding back into my head. "You didn't lose her" he shakes his head, not accepting it. Not wanting to. "I did lose her! It's all my fault" I wipe my face with my hands and groan. "It's not your fault, Mikey" he tried his best to comfort me, it's clearly not working. "Don't ever call me that again. She used to call me that. Before she-"

He cut me off, "Don't say it, man"

"Whatever" I shake my head and start crying again, like I have been for the past month.

"I lost the most important person to me. I was just too late"

Luke doesn't say anything. I don't think he knows what to say. "I remember the way she screamed like it was yesterday. She was in so much pain" A few more tears escape my eyes. "They ended it. They did what was right and they ended the pain for her" I sob now, Luke doesn't do anything. He's not good with this kind of situation.

***

1 year ago

***

"Dad, I don't want to go to work" I whine, laying down on the floor like a two year old. "You're going. You need a job"

"The only way I'm going is if you drag me there" and he did just that.

At the family store, he makes me get out along with him. "Dad" I groan. "Come on" he orders and I obey him mostly because I'm scared of him at times. He hands me a name tag made for me. 'Michael'' I read. "Can it say Mikey? Or King of the World?" I ask, looking up at him. "No. Get to work. I have to go on some errands for your mother" he sighs and leaves the store after saying goodbye to me.

It's just my dad, mom and I that run this store. It's a book store. Which my mom owns. My dad and I just work here. It's my turn today and I'm dreading over it.

Maybe 30 minutes later of scrolling through Twitter, I finally hear the bell from the door. I look over and see a girl. A really pretty girl. She flashes a smile at me before disappearing behind the book shelves. I push back my red hair in attempt to fix it or make it look better. I then stand up and walk over to where she is, not finding her. I furrow my eyebrows and look around. No sign of her. "Looking for something?" I hear a girl's voice from behind me. I turn around quickly and see her scanning some books in front of her. She pulls one out and runs her fingers along the cover. "More like looking for someone" I smirk at her, but she doesn't see.

"Me, perhaps?" she asks, looking over to me. "Yeah. Kinda. I was just wondering if you needed any help finding anything" I stammer. "You never did that for any other of your customers" she mumbles, putting the book back where it belongs.

"Excuse me?" I furrow my eyebrows at her and step closer. "I've been here before. Every time I'm here, you're either on your phone or reading something" she shrugs and pulls out another book. "Oh" I nervously laugh.

"You're cute when you're nervous" she says, nodding intently. "Uh, thanks"

"This is a good book" she pulls one out, which is my favorite book of all time. "That is an amazing book" I correct her and she giggles. "The Outsiders. My favorite"

"It explains how a boy can grow up to become a man. It quite beautiful" I joke. "Deep, Michael Clifford" she laughs. "How did you know my name?" I ask curiously. "You're popular. I go to your school" she shrugs and walks towards me. "Oh" is all I can say. I nervously rub the back of my neck. She walks away and continues to talk, so I follow her. "My name is Hanna. Nice to meet you" she extends her hand out to me. I shake it. "Nice to meet you too"

Hours later, we talk and talk. Non stop. We laugh and we get serious. But most of our conversations are funny. "My shift is over" I say as I check my phone. "Okay, well, it was nice talking to you, Michael. Goodbye" she says and grabs her phone before leaving. But I stop her. "Wait, would you like to go out for some coffee?" I ask rather quickly.

"Actually, I would love that" she says with a smile that brightens up the room. "Come on, then" I say, holding her back as we exit. I could feel her stiffen by my touch.

She shivers, and I know she's cold. "Here" I take off my coat and hand it to her. "Why don't you have a coat on?" I ask her. "Because I didn't think I would be out all night" she giggles. I nod, believing her.

We spend the next hour talking with hot coffee in our hands in this small and cute café. It was nice. Spending this time with Hanna. I like her.

"Give me your hand" she says, nodding toward my hand that's wrapped around my mug. "Why?" I ask, scared. "You'll see" she chuckles. I give my hand to her and she pulls out a pen. She writes something down on my hand, and I try my best to read it but I can't see. "I will talk to you soon. Use this wisely" she says as she collects her things and hands my coat back to me.

"Why do you have a pen with you?" I ask, reading my hand which has her phone number on it. "Some people just has to have a pen in their pocket at times. Never know when you'll need it" she shrugs and walks out.

I immediately put her phone number in my phone.

***

The next day, I volunteered to work. That was questioned by my parents but they brushed it off when I didn't answer them.

I waited all day to see her, if she would come. She didn't yet. Before I packed up to go home, the bell went off. "We're closing" I grumble, without looking at the door. "Too bad. I was hoping I could see you" I hear that familiar voice behind me so I turn around. There she was, smiling at me from the door frame. "I thought you wouldn't come" I say, smiling. "Didn't know I was needed" she shrugged, walking over to me.

"I was going to text you this but I thought I could do it the next time I saw you. So since you're here, I need to ask you something..." I trail off. "Would you like to watch a movie with me? Like hanging out, not a date" I say nervously. "I would love to" she says, smiling up at me.

So we went out and watched a movie. On the way to her house, we discussed the movie. It was so much fun with her. I know that I love to hang out with her. I haven't even seen her true colors but yet I like her.

By her door, we say our goodbyes. But before she leaves, she kisses me on the cheek. My cheeks probably are red. As red as my hair.