Bad Dreams //mgc

64.

*Alex's POV*

"Was that a giggle?" I ask. "Oh shit!" Cara starts laughing and leads me into the living room, "You're about to meet the band. And the real Michael Clifford!"

Michael's eyes light up when he sees Cara. "Band?" I ask. Michael turns to me, smiling a huge smile "Yeah, I'm in a band called 5 Seconds of Summer. The idiots you hear outside are my band mates, and my best friends since we were little." He answers the door and three really tall and really hot guys come barreling through. They're all talking a mile a minute, and have more of an accent than Michael. Once they spot Cara, they engulf her in a group hug. Its getting a bit chaotic and they all seem to be talking to her at once. Suddenly, she speaks up.

"GUYS! SHUT THE HELL UP!!" They all freeze and there's immediate silence. Who are you and what have you done with Cara?! Seeing her tiny little self being able to control 4 overgrown wildmen is shocking, to say the least.

"What are you guys doing here?!" She asks.

A curly headed sandy blonde with biceps the size of my thighs speaks up, "We're crashing the paaarrrtttyyy!" he slurs and starts giggling. Cara rolls her eyes then sticks her hand out, palm up, at him. He sticks his bottom lip out pouting, and she's really trying to hold back a laugh. She wiggles her fingers at him and he places his keys in her hand.

She turns to me. "Sorry Alex, looks like there's another three drunktards staying tonight!" as she rolls her eyes.

"Guys, since you decided to crash my house tonight... This is my friend and old roommate Alex, and her boyfriend Jason." Then she points to each of the three newcomers as she names them. "The dark haired one here is Calum, Regan's boyfriend. The blonde giant here is Luke. And this drunkass dipshit, who has somehow become one of my best friends" the giggly one she took the keys from "is Ashton." She looks back to Calum. "Speaking of.. Cal, where's Regan?"

"She'll be here soon. She's finishing homework so she has the weekend free."

She has managed to settle them all down and I still am in awe. Everyone's sitting around the living room catching up and getting to know each other. I'm on Jason's lap, next to Cara who's on Michael's lap, with Ashton next to Michael. Calum and Luke are in beanbags on the floor. Ashton gets up to the kitchen, coming back with three beers, handing one to both Michael and Cara. I'm really surprised. Cara quit drinking after the night of the incident with Trevor. She must see the concern in my eyes because she tells me "I only have one, occasionally two on special occasions. And only when Mikey's with me."

We continue chatting and as I get to know them better. They seem like really great guys. Michael is hysterical and so down to earth. I am seeing what Cara meant about him. And the way he looks at Cara, especially when she's not looking, melts my heart. He looks at her as if she is his entire world. I think I really like him with her. Ashton seems to be keyed in to Cara too, but he looks at her differently. It's more of a friendly concern. He is overly dramatic at times, and his laugh is quite contagious. There's something about him that makes it difficult to be in a bad mood around him.

I can really see that she has bonded with them already. They treat each other like family and they seem to all watch out for Cara, but she doesn't seem to pick up on that. But I've noticed that one of the four is watching her at all times.

There's a knock on the door and Calum jumps up and practically leaps to the door, almost falling on his face. Everyone starts laughing. It must be Regan!

I spend awhile catching up with her, then excuse myself to bed.

As I'm lying there, I run everything through my head. Cara is still the same fun, caring, loving person she always was. She always had problems trusting people and was really shy meeting new people. But after the incident with Trevor, she locked herself inside a shell. She became detached from everyone and everything,
and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember what happened.

She changed when she met Michael, and Regan confirmed that to me. According to Regan, within hours, literally, of meeting Michael, she started to remember. It scared her every time she would remember more, and Michael was the only person that could calm her down. She feels safe with him. He has given her confidence again, more than she's ever had. A really big step is that she's begun to trust people. She trusts Michael more than anyone else, even Regan, which I never saw coming. She trusts all four of these guys, quicker than ever before. Regan said she thinks that she trusts them because Michael does. He makes her genuinely happy, happier than I've ever seen her before, and he loves her. You have to be blind not to see that. He doesn't judge her, he genuinely cares about her. Michael is the the best thing that's ever happened to her. But if anything were to happen to Michael, or them, I'm afraid she could never recover.

*Michael's POV*

I'm not sure what to think of Alex yet. I admit I had a negative impression of her before I met her, which I've never told Cara. I'm kinda pissed at her because she let some guy they kind of were friends with take her home instead of being the one to make sure she got home safe.

But even since she's been here I'm not sure. She seems nice enough and was really happy to see Cara. But after my mates got here and things got crazy, Cara stepped in to settle us down. She's always been the only one able to do that and I saw the shock on Alex's face. I don't understand that at all. From the first day she got here, she took control of the room. Was she not like that before? Alex seemed almost intimidated of Cara after that. She's acting as if Cara's a completely different person, but to me I just see the real Cara.