January 19th, 2016, 10:57pm
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"Char!" My friend Laiah called out
Today is my 16th birthday, and all of my closest friends were here, and then some. Michael was here too. So was, Calum, Ashton, and Luke. The reason I consider this party a sweet sixteen is because all the people I love or are acquainted with are here. I don't need anything fancy, all I need are the people I can tolerate. Maybe a few more, just to liven things up.
Now, my family, which consists of my parents and two brothers, are currently out of town. They agreed to let me have my own party with my friends after they had thrown me my own little celebration with just family. They trust me enough to know I won't do anything stupid, and that makes everything much easier.
I pushed my way through the crowd of dancing people, making my way over to Laiah.
"Char, someone wants to talk to you." She nodded her head over to Michael, who then took my by the hand, and led me outside. We sat on the big white swing connected to my porch.
"You having fun, birthday girl?"
"Yeah, this is the best sweet sixteen I could have ever imagined."
Everything stayed silent for a moment until he spoke.
"Listen, I really need to talk to you."
"I know..."
He held my hand the whole time. It seemed like he was trying the find the words to say, but I already had an idea of what would come out of his mouth.
"Charriya, I love you, so so much, but you know tour is starting back...and then with the whole age gap thing."
"Are you positive there's literally no way to try to make something work here?"
"I-...really don't think so."
My eyes filled with tears, knowing that this would eventually come. Me and Michael have known each other for three going on four years. My random internet stalking by some lucky chance blossomed into a friendship with the boys and I. At that time, I also had an instagram account just for my singing, but I deleted it due to my own discouragement. That's how he found me though...told me how beautiful my singing was, and from that day forward, it was tight.
We'd been Skyping whenever we could. His character, his adorable accent, just his overall caring for me. Those deep, late night conversations that went into the am. Through the years, we-, well, I realized that I had a crush on him.
It didn't go away. Ever.
I tried with everything in me to stop having these feelings, because fifteen year old me knew damn well that a romantic relationship was illegal. To make things more complicated, he confessed that he felt a certain way about me too.
So, around late 2015, December somethin', he tells me that he'd try to be at my sweet sixteen. Obviously, I wasn't expecting him to actually show up, but he did. He also brought the rest of the boys with him, and I've never been so happy in my life. I ran up to him, and practically leaped into a meaningful, warm embrace from him.
Now, here we are, on the swing, pretty much saying our goodbyes.
"Listen, I know it's hard, but this is most definitely the best thing to do. You're just gonna have to understand that. This is wrong. I also can't continue to talk to you. Even as a friend."
"What the hell, Michael!?" It felt like my tears meant nothing to him.
As he stood up, I did the same. He wiped my tears away, and pulled me into another warm embrace.
