Don't Stop | Michael Clifford

Chapter 83

"Happyyyyy birthdaaaaaaay," I hear Michael sing-song as I open my eyes slightly, seeing that he was standing next to my bed with a tray. And by the smell of it, it was waffles, egg and bacon. I smile, sitting up as I stretch out. "I don't know about you-"

"Don't," I say holding up my hand.

"BUT I'M FEELING TWENTY TWOOOO," I hold my ears as I see Boomer on the floor do the same. He then laughs, placing the tray on my lap, me pulling him in for a kiss. "I made it all by myself, and I'm actually quite proud... and I really hope it tastes good or I will never cook again."

"Well, it looks really good," I say, smiling up at him. He crawls under the covers with me, me digging in as Michael watches me with eyes that are actually a tan scary. But it tastes really good, me actually quite surprised. On the other hand, I had made him cook with me more often, so I guess he'd learned it a bit. "It's good," I say, nodding at him. He smiles, digging in himself, and I could see he was genuinely proud of the fact that all of the things on our plates were delicious.

After our breakfast, I wanted to take a bath, which Michael joined me in. We ended up spending an hour and a half in the tub, splashing water at each other. We water ended up being cold by the time we got out. I laugh a bit at how wet the floor was before I wrap the towel around my body. "So far, my birthday is pretty dang amazing." Michael smiles, still butt naked as he takes his hand on my cheek before pressing his lips against mine. I smile through the kiss that only lasts a few seconds. I make my way out to the bedroom, looking for some clothes before I hear my phone buzz. I make my way over, not recognizing the number. "Hello?" I say as I answer it.

.

"Oh no," I say, opening the car door, stepping out.

"El," Michael says as he stands beside me looking at the massive building.

Or, what's left of it. My work building apparently caught fire last night, and pretty much nothing is left of it anymore. I stand there, near to frozen, Michael's arm wrapping around my shoulder. "I can't believe this." I don't even know if I said that out loud or what I did, but by how Michael squeezes my shoulder it tells me it was out loud.

We stand there for I don't know how long, Michael just holding me as I stare at the building that was only smoking now. I was literally shaking, a mix between some sort of shock and that it was freaking 20 degrees outside. "Come," Michael says, lightly tugging on my arm as we make our way back to the car, Michael turning on the heat, while I still just stare at the building.

"That building is literally the start of my life," I whisper a bit. I feel Michael's hand on my thigh, but I don't turn to look at him, I just turn to look out the front window. "I almost didn't have anything, I lived at Maddie's apartment for free before I got this job." I take a deep breath as I stare down at my hands clutching onto his. "When can I have a birthday without anything going wrong?" I know Michael feels like joking a bit, and I mentally thank him for shutting up, since he could probably feel that this wasn't the right time.

Michael's POV

"Yeah, uh-huh," Eleanor says, swinging side to side. I was sitting on the couch with Boomer lying on his back as his head was on my lap as I was scratching his belly. Eleanor was sitting on her office chair by her desk, sitting criss cross, her hand on the desk as she was on the phone.

I felt so bad that this had to happen right on the night of her birthday. I wanted to top her last birthday. It went perfectly until we lit on fire, and I figured that it wouldn't be too hard to top that. Well, I was fucking wrong. Not only did her workplace burn down – the place that helped her get on her own two feet after everything in her life.