Naive || Michael Clifford

fourteen

They landed in New York. She saw the pictures on Tumblr and let her tell you something, Michael looked... Like shit. She expected his usual smiley self, with bright eyes and wide smiles but instead, he looked tired. His skin was even paler than usual, his lips were almost white and his eyes looked dull. He looked sad. Rea felt bad for him, which was not okay because she was supposed to be mad at him but she was struggling with this whole thing. It's been two days, just two days, and she was barely surviving, honestly, she has issues. And seeing him like that made her even more confused. She wondered if he looked so sad because of her. Did her not talking to him really made him feel that bad? And if he really was feeling like that because of their argument, that meant that he probably genuinely felt sorry and she had no will­power to say no to him.

"Well don't you just look like a giant ball of sunshine," Lucy, her co­worker spoke as she passed the brunette girl with a box of new books in hands that she had to stack. Rea was sitting on the small black stool behind the cash register, feeling tired and kind of depressed and she glared at the black haired girl.

"Ha, ha, you're so funny," she murmured and Lucy widened her eyes.

"Whoa, what twisted your granny pants into a knot?" she said making Rea roll her eyes, looking at the computer screen in front of her. She could only see some of the security camera live videos but at the moment, those seemed to be the most interesting film she's ever seen. She just wanted Lucy to leave her alone so she could dwell about Michael alone and in peace. Which was all she seemed to be doing for the past few days. Even Daisy noticed but she didn't say anything.

Rea remained quiet and Lucy sighed, leaving without a word making Rea visibly relax. Why did everybody need to know everything? Seriously, she clearly had problems, leave her alone to solve them. She stared at the computer screen with blank eyes, she probably looked demented at that moment but she didn't care. Nobody payed attention to the girl behind the counter unless they were paying for something anyway. The door opened, letting a cold breeze engulf the room into an icy cloud of air and she heard a pair of boots walk towards the counter. The person probably needed help with finding a book but she one hundred percent didn't expect him to be standing in front of her. She let out a small gasp, blinking.

He looked, aside all circumstances, good. So good. His bright red hair was sticking up, slightly glistening in the light because of the melted snowflakes on his hair, his cheeks and nose flushed. It was cold outside. He wore a black jacket which he left unbuttoned, his old Metallica shirt peeking through the grey scarf he had wrapped around his neck. But what made her literally unable to move her eyes away from him, were his own ones. They looked sad, with bags under them and much like on the pictures, he looked tired. But he still smiled brightly at her.

"Hi, I need some help, please," he spoke and she could only nod, her eyes wide. She knew she probably looked like a crazed person and he already most likely knew she was a fan because of her frozen and shocked state but he didn't seem to care. Little did he know that she was freaking out on the inside for completely different reasons. What if he recognizes her voice? What if he recognizes her because of her hair? He did see it in that picture and maybe he could actually recognize it? Why did he visit this book store in particular? There were so many more of good ones in town and he chose this one. Did she tell him at which one she works at before and forgot about it? Um, no. She did not. Why was he here? What if he already knows it's her? Oh my god, she was really about to pass out. Was she sweating?

"Sure," she squeaked, freezing in place for a second, ­ what the hell was that voice? ­ before she cleared her throat, "Um, what do you need help with?" Maybe if she spoke very quietly, he won't be able to recognize her voice. He did raise an eyebrow for a moment before he spoke again, though, and she was seriously about to have a panic attack. Holy shit, he's onto her.