to the moon. /m.c./

t h i r t y f o u r

After I told Michael what was bothering me, he was over at my house within minutes. I heard a knock on my bedroom door, and then he entered.

"Hey, Josie."

I sniffled and brought my hands away from my face. "Mikey..."

He sat down next to me on the bed, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "You alright, Kitten?"

I leaned my head on his chest. "To be honest, kinda. I had a feeling something was going on."

He smiled sadly. "Yeah. Too bad it happened this way."

"What do you mean?" I looked up into his sea-green eyes and bit my lip.

"Ash didn't tell you?"

"Aren't you beyond pissed at him after all he did?"

Michael shook his head. "No, let me tell you what happened." He reached down and kicked off his shoes, pulling his legs up onto the bed. "It was at my birthday party before we arrived. Chelsea had already drank a few beers--hence why she was so rude to you--and had cornered Ashton against the wall, demanding he take her up to my room so that they could--"

"Your room?" My eyes widened.

"Yeah, my room. Anyway, Ashton said no, of course he did, I mean, the boy's a saint, but then she found some serious blackmail--"

"What kind of blackmail?"

"Jos," he put his hand on my cheek, "I'm getting to that part."

I giggled. "Sorry."

"Okay. So basically, she somehow had a video of Ashton in a bar fight, and he really messed the other guy up. It was a brutal video, I think the other dude's skull broke."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." He sucked in a shaky breath. "Ashton isn't a person you want angry at you. Trust me." He pulled his shirt sleeve up, revealing a scar.

"Ashton did that?"

Michael nodded. "It was when I pranked him this one day. I took his towel from the bathroom so that he had to walk across the house naked, and he accidentally ran into my mother."

I began laughing hysterically. "Holy shit Michael, that's hilarious."

"Not as hilarious as the look of sheer terror on his face when he saw me with a can of paint--or when he had the entire can poured over him."

"Mikey, that might have been a bit overboard."

"Overboard? Bullshit! It was the best!" He stopped laughing. "Or that is, until Ash pushed me down a flight of stairs."

I laughed again, leaning my head on his chest. "Thank you for telling me this story, Mikey."

"Anytime, kitten." He placed a kiss on my head and then we just sat there in silence, listening to the sound of the rain hitting the roof.