This Deadbeat Town

34.

On September 19, 2015, I woke up in Michael's strong arms. He smelled of his beautiful cologne and strong deodorant.
Today, I woke up as a legal adult.
I know, it's stupid because nothing actually changed. Seventeen just went up to eighteen.
I took in a deep breath and sat up, causing the man next to me to stir. He must have already been awake, as he looked up at me, running his hand through his hair. "Good morning, baby." He grumbled softly.
"Mornin'," I sighed happily. I had a stupid grin across my face as the memories of my dreams from the night before flowed in.

I was back in high school and it was the week before I dropped out. My life had been going great. The Test the Escape Twitter account had made it to 500k followers, and Michael followed my personal account.
In my dream, he DMed me as if him and I had been friends forever. He asked when we could meet up again. I didn't get to answer before I was whipped away to another world.
Michael was with me and we were on a train. His hand laid next to mine as we sat, staring at each other with small smiles in silence.
I gently poked his hand, hoping that he'd realize I wanted to hold it. He looked down at his hand, then up into my eyes. He smiled the biggest, most beautiful smile I'd ever seen. He took my hand in his and I woke up.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked softly, playing with the bottom of the shirt I was wearing.
"You," I said softly, taking his hand in mine. He looked up at me with the smile I dreamt about. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his softly.
"I love you." He whispered, sitting up and putting me on his lap.
I squealed softly, letting out a slight giggle. "I love you, too."
"So, what do you want to do today?" Michael looked up at me, smiling brightly.
"Hm... I dunno." I shrugged, putting my hands up.
He laughed softly, "well I know Sarah wants to take you and the others out to lunch. Then I made dinner reservations for us at six. Any idea what you want to do until then?"
"Want to buy me stuff?" I smiled innocently, snuggling up to him.
He groaned softly, "I guess I will. Where should we go?"
"The only place I ever shop. Forever 21, you dipshit." I giggled and sat up, climbing out of bed.
"I gueeeeess." He sighed and sat up, running his hand through his matted hair.

We got dressed, pushing past each other in the bathroom while we did our hair and I put in my make up.
I tied my hair up in messy buns on either side of my head then walked back into our room. Last night, I had been too tired to unpack my bags, so I pulled my black jeans out and pulled them on. I had to wiggle slightly to pull them over my butt, sighing as I realized it had gotten bigger. I grabbed Mike's Def Leppard muscle tee and pulled it over my head, accidentally pulling a few loose strands of hair into my face.
Michael put on his jeans and a white t-shirt before sitting next to me as we put our shoes on.
"You know my dad grew up like an hour south of here." I said nonchalantly. Michael stopped what he was doing and looked at me.
"You never talk about your dad.." He said softly. I shrugged and stood up, pulling my pants up again. "I know."
I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder as Michael stared at me, probably trying to understand what I was saying.
"Let's go," I urged, tapping our toes together softly.

----

We arrived at the mall after fighting the classic LA traffic. I was too afraid to drive here and I didn't want to risk Michael prying into my emotions. So, I called an uber.
"Where to first?" He asked with a grin. "Well, my favorite store is Forever 21, so I think we should go there." I nodded once and smiled up at him. We made our way there. I walked in with an excited strut but froze in my tracks and looked around to find no plus size section. My stomach clenched - I knew this would happen one day. Thoughts that I hadn't had in years began flooding in. Thoughts that told me how disgusting my body was. I urged to Mike who had already begun looking at the clothes I couldn't wear. "Let's go," I said softly. "Hm? Michael hummed, turning his attention to me. "Let's go... Please?" I said again.