Jet Black Heart • {m.g.c}

1.4 • A f t e r M i d n i g h t

Evie

I swallowed nervously as I heard the sound of the door opening. Logan would know something was different as soon as he saw the makeup on my face and the skirt I was wearing instead of my usual jeans. I heard his footsteps moving through the house and then he appeared behind me but I could see him clearly in the mirror. I noticed his eyes surveying the room and myself looking around for any signs for what was going on. "What are you doing?" He asked with an authoritive edge to his voice.

"I'm going out." I stated but then realised that he would not like me telling him how things were going to be, even if it was about me. "Dinner with my parents."

"Why didn't I know about this?" He asked angrily.

"They only called a few hours ago." I said quickly thinking of the quick excuses and what would be believable. "They didn't invite you." I said quietly and he frowned but I knew he believed it because my parents really didn't like him and he knew that.

"You should have asked me." He snapped.

"It's just my parents." I shrugged looking at the clock on the wall and grabbing my leather jacket. I acted normal and went over to him kissing his cheek and embracing him half heartedly.

"You'll have to repay me when you get back, you know." He said as I walked towards the bedroom door. I stopped but did not turn to look at him. I didn't want to risk making him angry when I was so close to going out and being free with Mikey for a good few hours.

"Whatever you want." I said quickly leaving the house and breathing deeply in relief as I got out of the house that seemed to be suffocating me like a rope to the neck. I walked fast because I just wanted to get there, wherever there was. Michael was meeting me by the park we had met in that night, apparently it was on the way. I got there quickly and ran up to Michael as soon as I saw him. He had dyed his hair again, it was black now and suited him well just like every other colour. He picked me up and span me around with a smile as he placed his lips on mine and we moved them in sync until a voice interrupted us.

"Oy Clifford, stop snogging and come over here!"

"Yeah we have a party to go to!"

"My friends." Michael smiled grabbing my hand sweetly, he was always super gentle with me because he knew what Logan was like and he didn't want to be like that at all. I smiled as we walked over to the group of three boys and they looked at me cautiously but nicely.

"I'm Evie." I introduced myself.

"He's told us." A blonde boy said a bit coldly. "You have a boyfriend right."

"Yah." I said awkwardly clearly Michael hadn't told them the full story which I was pleased with. "He's not a good guy though."

"You're not a good girl though, if you're cheating on him." He said back quickly and I flinched. It was a horrible feeling, being judged like that, especially because I had immediately expected Michael's friends to be like Michael and Michael was fantastic. I was guilty of cheating on my boyfriend, there was no doubt about that and I had never pictured myself doing that because I thought it was terrible but I was being beat every other day and couldn't get away, so I didn't know if there was that much blame to be placed upon me.

"Luke." Michael said in a strained voice. "You don't understand the situation." The other two boys stood there awkwardly, there was a dark haired boy and another blonde one but it was darker blonde and had a bandana wrapped around it.

The boy with a quiff, Luke, laughed obnoxiously and I was unsure about him. I didn't think he seemed very nice, not nice at all. "You're having an affair, we get it."

Michael's eyes darkened, his jaw clenched. He had been respecting my privacy and I loved that but I didn't want to be the reason he fought with his friends. I planned to be around Michael Clifford for a long time and that would mean being around his best friends too. That's why as Michael opened his mouth to say what I'm sure would have been defensive on my behalf and maybe rude on his friends, I opened my mouth instead and cut him off, I was going to tell them the truth but I couldn' because I felt like they would judge me completely, so instead, I lied.

"It was arranged!" Everything stopped. Everybody looked surprised. "Our parents arranged it, they're old friends and they want us to get married. That's why I can't break up with him, not because I don't want to." Their widened eyes and dropped jaws were almost comedic. I merely shrugged. "Relationships suck. They really fucking suck."

"I'm really fucking sorry then, Evie. I didn't know." Luke fumbled for the words, cleary feeling bad about judging me and I felt bad about lying to them and surprised they had believed the movie plot I had just recited.

"It's fine." I smiled making eye contact with Michael who had a small grin but his eyes seemed sad, just like mine. I guess that's what we were though. Sad kids in love.

•

The five of us stumbled happily from the building, I wasn't drunk, just giddy. The party had been fun and we had stayed there for a few hours but it had dwindled down as time had went on. The music had got lower, the dancing stopped, people moved upstairs and collasped against the walls, the alchohol had ran out.

"I can't believe you two slow danced together." Ashton chuckled loudly at Luke and Calum as we fell in side step.

"It wasn't that slow, it was like a pasadoble." Calum said in a posh accent.

"Your mums been watching strictly again, Cal?" He nodded and we all just began to giggle. We done that for a while until we came to a turn in the road where the three boys parted ways with us, saying a simple goodbye.

"You could stay in mine, you know." Michael said, hope in his voice that broke my heart as I shook my head and my eyes trailed to the rose gold watch on my wrist.

"Mikey, you know I can't." The sadness was clear in my voice.

Moments of silent passed between us and it felt tragic because we both wanted to be a couple that stayed together, lived together maybe, could go out anytime they wanted and do whatever they wanted but we couldn't. Maybe we would one day, I liked to dream about that happening but right now it was him and I the way we were, secret and sad. He slowly brought his lips to my forehead before taking a step away from me.

"Maybe there's nothing after midnight, that will make you stay."