Don't Stop | Michael Clifford

Chapter 86

"Now watch me whip-"

"No," I say, trying to hold Michael's mouth, but he moves away.

"Now watch me Nae Nae," he says, as he keeps dancing. I then get to him, holding tightly onto his mouth. Apparently it had been on his mind all day, as the last four days. We had been in Africa a week now. The first few days we spend on decorating the minivan that Michael actually bought. We got all the seats out except the two up front, and got a madras, a little batteridriven fridge with a few different food. Just kind of what we really needed down here.

"So what do you want to do today?" I shrug a bit, thinking about it. We were currently in Tanzania, where we were at Zanzibar.

"What is there to do?" I smile, Michael shrugging. Since it was quite warm down here with the sun and everything, and I forced him to be in the sun, he'd already started to get a bit of color (quite proud of myself actually)

"I mean, I found this place where you can bungee ju-"

"I'm in," I say, a huge grin forming on my lips. "That is, if you're in." Michael wasn't exactly scared of heights, but I've noticed that every time I talk about something extreme sport that involves being in the air with not much to keep him from dying, he gets a bit freaked out.

"S-sure," Michael says, a nervous laughter escaping his lips. He wasn't one to admit that he was freaking out about it.

I wonder how far I can push that.

Honestly, Michael and I should hate each other by now, even though we'd only been here a week, we had started to push each other's limits and boundaries (mostly I had pushed his) and this was just another one. I had a feeling that once this trip was done with, both him and I would be two completely different people, but we would've evolved together on this journey. I honestly liked to see how far I could go with these things, and I was nice for a change.

Michael gives me a smile as he jumps to the front of the car, turning it on. I barely get to sit down on the passenger seat before the car is moving one again.

Once we get there, I look at Michael from the corner of my eye to see him taking a huge breath. "You okay?" I ask. "You don't have to do this."

"Pff, why wouldn't I?" he says, although his voice was shaky. He tried to act like nothing and cleared his voice. I didn't want to push him limits too much, so I just sit there, raising my eyebrows. "Okay I might be a bit nervous, but I'm good, I promise. Let's just go." I smile, leaning over to press my lips against his for a few seconds before I jump out of the car. Grabbing Michael's hand in mine, I drag him inside.

"You want bungee jump?" a little guy behind the desk asks with this thick accent. I just nod, taking a piece of hair behind my ear as I feel Michael's arm around my shoulder, while having his credit card ready. He pays, and then we're on our way. Michael is getting more nervous by the second, which honestly affects me a bit too. I am excited, but Michael drumming on his thighs while his right leg bounces freaks me out too. I place my hand on his thigh, Michael turning his head to look at me as his cheeks heat up a bit as I just caught him being as nervous as he is.

I give him an assuring smile as I wrap my arms around his arm, giving it a squeeze. "I love you," I say, and I feel Michael relax, even though it wasn't the thing that freaked him out. "Just think about that."

"Can I think of how you can show it to me?" I say, smirking down at me. I laugh, nodding as I kiss his cheek. It's now our turn to get ready, and a guy comes over with two body suits. I take on mine quickly before I realize that I took on Michael's.

"I thought it felt a bit big," I laugh, even though Michael just now realized as he was trying to get mine on. He stands there for a few seconds, before stepping out of the suit again. I laugh as we switch again. After that, we get inside an elevator. It's see-through, which causes Michael to grab my hand. I can't help but to squeeze his hand as well as I can feel my own heart starting to beat harder again, as I am getting quite nervous as well.

"You getting nervous as well?" Michael asks, laughing a bit at me.

"I might," I tell him, my cheeks heating up, biting my lip a bit. He laughs, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. "But I'm mostly excited. Who's going first-"

"Not it," Michael quickly says, touching his nose, standing still for a few seconds, before looking down at me, still touching his nose. I roll my eyes, mumbling a "fine" before chuckling a bit.

"Just let me be the brave man of this relationship, I don't care," I say, smirking up at him. I can see on his face that he thinks about jumping up, saying he'll jump first, but he really doesn't want to go first, so he ends up just letting me have the pants on.

By the way, I am rocking this bodysuit, although Michael does look good it in as well. We eventually get up, some guy with an even worse English accent than the guy at the desk, but he manages to tell me what is going on. Before I know, I'm standing by the end of the platform, being I don't know how far above the ground. I feel my heart beat faster, and my palms sweaty. "Whenever you ready, miss." I just nod, taking a huge breath.

"Falling in love. Weird concept, right?" Maddie says, lying down on her back as her feet swing over the back of the couch. The tv is still on, Friends just playing and netflix has now asked if we are still alive. Honestly, I am not sure.

"I don't believe in all that crap, I honestly don't." Maddie sighs, sitting up, nearly falling off the couch as we both laugh.

"I do."

"Of course you do. You are so in love with the thought of being in love." She rolls her eyes, before shrugging. "I mean, I do believe that you can love someone and all that crap, I just don't get the concept of falling in love, you know? I don't think that you can be so in love so nothing else matters."

"I think you'll change your mind once you experience it," Maddie tells me, making me look at her.

"You've never tried it before either..?" I say, but it sounds more like a question when it comes out.

"No, but I believe in it. And I think once I find that special someone, you will hate me." I laugh, rolling my eyes at the girl. "Just promise me... if you ever do fall in love... jump into it, head first if needed to."

I turn my head to look at Michael. He gives me a smile, his eyes showing care and kind of nervousness, but I don't know if it's for him or me.

I met James two weeks after Maddie and I had that conversation. James was the first person I was in love with and loved, at least in that way. I talked to Maddie about the whole concept of the falling in love, because I wasn't sure I felt it. She said that it probably wasn't everyone who really just fell like that, but it all came natural and gradually. Which is did with James, and then disappeared again.

Now Michael was another thing. With me trying not to fall, made me fall even harder. I remember trying to find something that would be a no-go for me, but everything about him just sucked me in deeper. Once I fell, I fell hard. I might still be falling. So this is nothing.

Looking away from Michael, the next thing I know is that I'm falling fast down towards the ground. I scream in joy, I didn't even have time to think about the possibilities of something going wrong, I just felt pure adrenaline and euphoria. I scream in shock as the robe stops me from getting even further to the ground and suddenly it's going up again, and then down again until I'm practically hanging still. I laugh in joy as I feel myself getting pulled up again. I smile as they unstrap me, and I just turn to Michael, jumping in his arms. "Try it. Now. You'll love it, I promise." I give him a kiss on his lips and he steps forward to get strapped up. He doesn't take nearly as long to jump, but when he does I am laughing because of the scream he lets out. I smile, looking down at the railing, wishing I could've seen his face up close.

"Wauw, what a kick!?" Michael laughs as he joins us up again, having a huge grin on his face – the grin I am still wearing on my face. He cups my face, kissing me hard as we both laugh.