Dead Love | Michael Clifford

epilogue (part 3).

Saturday finally rolls around. I get up at 9:30 and get ready. I put on my ripped white skinny jeans, a black Green Day shirt, and black converse high tops. Then I put on my signature thick, black winged eyeliner which I've gotten back into the routine of doing.
At 10:45 I decide to leave to pick Calum up. I get to his house and text him to come outside.
"Hey," he greets as he gets into the car.
"Hi," I reply. "You look much more punk rock today."
He's wearing a black jacket over a plain black shirt with black skinny jeans ripped in one knee and all black converse.
"Why thank you," he smiles. "You look nice too."
I have Future Hearts playing in my car so we listen to that and make small talk on the way to the coffee shop.
"So, do you play any instruments?" I ask, tapping on the steering wheel. We're stuck at a red light.
"Yeah, I play guitar and bass," he nods.
"Ah, cool. I play guitar too."
"Nice."
We eventually arrive at the place and I see Jasmyn's car pull into the parking lot at the same time.
Calum and I walk to the door and he holds it open for me.
We get inside and I see Ashton waiting for us at a table. I had told him that I'd recruited Calum, Luke, and the rest of the girls to come with us.
"Hi," I smile, walking up to hug Ashton.
"Hello," he greets, hugging back.
I back away and the two boys shake hands, saying their "hi"s. The girls come inside and everyone introduces themselves, then Luke arrives a minute later.
We all go to the counter to get beverages and I pay for everyone's despite their protests.
Then we all sit at a table and everyone talks and laughs and it feels natural. I mostly just listen while the others get to know each other.
"Lijy," Kyra changes the focus of the conversation to me. "Tell us about the dream."
"Um... Well, all of you guys were there. And there was a boy named Joe, too who I know lives in my neighborhood. My brother was dead and it was to protect Kyra so she had nightmares about his death. Ashton came in and you two fell in love," I smirk as I watch them look over at each other and blush, then look away. "Amanda fell in love with Calum, too."
She looks at him and smirks, raising her eyebrows suggestively. He laughs but bites his lip nervously.
"Luke fell in love with Joe and he was confused about it. But they were cute together."
"I'd look over and make eye contact with him if he was here," Luke jokes, making me laugh.
"There was a boy named Michael who I fell in love with," I sigh. "It's kinda sad, he was really hot."
"Would you say he was the man of your dreams?" Luke asks from across the table.
We all laugh, some harder than others. I realise this is probably one of the reasons he and Maddy get along so well. They have a similar sense of humor.
"Yes, I would. He was perfect to me..."
"Aw, I'm sorry we don't know him, if he exists," Calum puts his hand on my shoulder.
"It's fine. I'll find someone else eventually," I shrug.
"So what happened in it?" Kyra asks.
"Well, at first it was just us four girls. We had to survive in the zombie apocalypse and it worked for three years. Then the guys came to stay with us because they had nowhere else to go. I became friends with Michael and got closer to him and we started dating and then one day we had to chase the zombies away and throw them off a cliff. He was pulled over by a zombie and I jumped after him and we died together."
"Wow," Jas raises her eyebrows.
"You should write a book about it," Kyra suggests. I nod, thinking about how that might work out.
Ashton changes the subject and I kinda zone out.
I look around the shop and something catches my eye. I see a boy with bright red hair at the counter, ordering a drink.
He turns to the boy next to him and my heart skips a beat as I catch a glance of his face.
I smile to myself and watch him, trying to be discreet about it. I would go over to him if I had any confidence.
"Lijy, what did Michael look like?" Calum asks, nudging my shoulder.
"He had unnaturally bright red hair with emo fringe, a round-ish face, his jawline wasn't very prominent, he had grey-green eyes, pale skin, and dark, full lips," I explain, still staring at the guy. He turns in the general direction of me and I look away, at Calum.
"Hey, wait..." Cal squints at me. "You just described that guy you were looking at."
I nod subtly and lick my lips, looking into his eyes with a small smile.
"Oh my god, that's him?"
I nod again and he smiles, laughing a little.
"This is amazing. Are you gonna talk to him?"
"No, that's scary," I frown.
"Okay... But if he's going to leave or if we leave first, you're talking to him. If not, I'm talking to him," he bargains.
"Fine," I agree.
He joins the group conversation again and I look over at the boy. He's already looking at me.
I blush and look down but I see him smile at me just before I do. I look over at Luke, trying not to bring his attention onto me any further.
I get lost listening to Luke's story about how he met Maddy at a Good Charlotte concert and immediately went over to talk to her.
Looking back over at the counter, I find that the Michael boy is gone. The guy he was with earlier is leaving the shop. My heartbeat speeds up and I try not to panic or look around for him. Then I see a head of bright red hair out of my peripheral vision and glance over to see him walking towards us.
I nudge Calum's leg with mine under the table and he looks up at me. He smiles, a bit of a smirk on his lips.
"Hey," the boy says, stopping in front of our table. "Um... Can I talk to you?"
"Y-yeah, sure," I stand up, my cheeks burning up as Calum watches us.
The redhead takes me off to the side, standing between the tables, a few tables away from the large group of people.
"Hi, I'm Michael," he greets, smiling cutely at me.
"I'm Lijy," I respond.
"I know- I mean..." He laughs awkwardly, his cheeks turning an adorable pink.
I smile at him.
"So I don't know you and you don't know me, but... Can I tell you something that will potentially make you think I'm insane? Fuck, that sounded weirder than in my mind."
"Yes, you can, but I have something to tell you too that might be weirder than what you have to say," I reply, twisting the bracelet on my right wrist nervously.
"Okay, here goes," he takes a deep breath. "I've seen you in my dreams."
"Seriously?" I ask, my jaw dropping.
"Yeah. For three months. I've been writing down what's happened in them and..."
"And?"
"It's stupid, but we fell in love. But they stopped like a week ago," he breathes out a laugh and looks into my eyes. I stare back and feel myself blush again.
"I was in a coma for three months until about a week ago. I had a dream the whole time, too," I tell him, not breaking eye contact. "You were in my dream. We fell in love."
"That's crazy," he shakes his head. I nod in agreement. "So, um... Do you wanna hang out sometime?"
"Yes. I would love that," I smile.
"My band has a gig next Thursday. Wanna come?"
"You're in a band? Dammit."
"Yeah, why?"
"You need to quit and join my friends' band called 5 Seconds of Summer," I tell him.
"That name sounds familiar," he squints. "So, that's a no to the gig?"
"It's a yes from me," I giggle at my own joke. "But consider joining their band."
"I have to go now," he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Do you mind if I ask for your number?"
I shake my head and he hands me his phone to put my number into.
"Text me later," I tell him.
"I feel like we should hug," he chuckles.
I step forward and wrap my arms around his neck, breathing in his scent of cologne and hairspray.
"I'll see you on Thursday. Or maybe before then," I say, smiling at him.
"See ya," he returns the smile.
I go back to the table and everyone watches me.
"Was it him?" Ashton asks excitedly.
"Yeah," I nod, biting my lip and half-smiling. 
"Are you gonna see him again?"
I nod again with a huge smile growing on my face. This is the beginning of my new life with Michael.