Simple Magic {Michael Clifford}

Chapter 5: Discoveries

Michael and I shared a concerned glance, shifting our gaze from each other, down to Calum, back up to each other, and finally up at his bedroom window. We couldn't hold back our laughter, and ended up busting out into hysterics.
"Oh gosh, that's good," I chuckle, wiping a tear from my eye "that's gonna happen to you a lot."
Mikey hunches over, holding his stomach, still letting out short, raspy giggles. "What the hell are we gonna do with him?" he asks.
"Hold up."
I kneel on my knees behind Calum's head, pulling his head up into my lap. I place my hands on his temples and close my eyes. After a few seconds, I snap my fingers next to his ears, and he startles awake.
"IT BURNS!!!" He exclaims, gripping his ears and scooting out of my lap. "What did you do to me, Grayson?"
"I'm sorry! It seems that my powers have worked best with fire so far," I say, hiding my face behind my hands, before jumping and lowering them to my sides, "ouch... still kinda toasty."
"TOASTY?! You set my EARS on FIRE!!" Calum yells again.
"Calum, be quiet! Nan is sleeping! At least you're awake and okay." Michael places a hand on Calum's shoulder to calm him down.
"Fine. But next time, just throw me in the bushes. I'll live." He stands and brushes off his jeans, before gripping his ears again.
I rise to my feet as well, stretching my hand out to Calum for him to shake, "Will do."
He stares at my hand before lifting it and closely inspecting my palms, "I'm not even gonna ask what just happened. I think I just need sleep."
"Mate," Mikey stares at him "why did you come here in the first place?"
"Oh shit, right... um.. I finally asked Beth to the dance." Cal blushes.
"Gross," I mumble from the side, which causes me to catch a glare from Mikey. I act perky instead, "I mean great... that's... great, um what did she say?"
"Well actually, smart ass, she said yes!" Cal says in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Wow," I mutter, walking towards the ladder so i can escape this whole awkward situation, "I'm going to bed. Bye Calum."
I climb the ladder and swing myself into what I assume is Michael's bedroom. I look around at the dim light and glance at the stand up lamp in the corner. It turns on. The small room is scattered with school supplies, dirty clothes, and soda cans. The walls are plastered with posters and polaroid pictures. I stare closely at one, holding an image of Michael and a fair girl, with small lips and curly blonde hair.
I pluck the picture off the wall, turning it over in my hands, trying to find any indication of who the girl was, or any time frame. As I flip it over, I notice the year written very small in the corner with a heart. Jealousy bubbles up inside me and my chest begins to rapidly rise and fall. First my friend ditches me to go to the dance with Calum, now Michael has some sort of secret love.
Before I can stop myself, I let a small flame ignite off my palms, quickly turning the polaroid into a pile of ash.
A loud thud sounds behind me, and I jump. The lamp goes out.
"What are you doing?" Michael growls from the window, his voice low and angry.
"I... I don't... I don't know.. it just happened." I turn to face him, my hands cupped in front of me, holding the small pile of ash.
His eyes grow.
"I couldn't control it..."
"Make it come back, Grayson." He whispers.
"Michael... I can't..." I stutter.
"MAKE IT COME BACK!" He launches towards me, gripping my wrists and shaking me back and forth, "BRING IT BACK!"
A loud cry escapes my lips. I try to pull away but his grip is too tight. I start to feel a burning. Where his palms are, an extreme heat begins to rise to my skin. I yelp, and try to burn him back. I look up into his stare, my pleading eyes meet his, which are holding a small flame inside them.
"Please Mikey... you're hurting me..." I whimper.
With those words, he slowly blinks the flames away and lets go of my wrists. I drop to the floor, softly crying. While I rub the scorched skin on my arms, he rubs his eyes with the heels of his hand, before looking at me and sighing.
"Oh Grayson," he lowers to the floor next to me, softly petting my hair. I jump away from his touch. "I'm sorry."
I sit up and look at him through my hair. He softly cups my chin and draws my face closer to his.
A small flame dances in between our lips, extinguished by our contact.
~~~~~~~
We fall asleep in this position: curled on the floor when there is a bed right next to us, the heat being produced by the combination of our powers keeping us warm. Blankets were unnecessary. I crawl out from underneath Mikey's arm, snoozing the alarm that was screaming from my phone.
Knowing it would go off again in 10 minutes, I chuckle and place the speaker next to Mikey's ear.
I glance around the room, and my eyes fall on the ash scattered around the floor. Closing my eyes, I circle my hand, causing the ash to gather and land in my hand. I close my eyes and hope with everything I have for the picture to come back. No matter how hard I try, it won't form back together.
I sigh and drop the ash again. I hope one day he will forgive me. I sneak a look at the red-haired boy sleeping peacefully on the floor. The power he has over me makes me... uncomfortable. I feel strange.
I rub the permanent sleep out of my eyes and take a look at my dark circles in the mirror above the dresser. I blink at my hair and it detangles. Deciding that I had no other choice, I pull a white tshirt out of the dresser drawer and put it on.
Behind me, the alarm goes off. Mikey's eyes shoot open and he flails his limbs, sending my phone flying across the floor. I stare at it and it ends up at my feet. I reach down and turn it off.
"I hate you." he groans, shoving his face back into his pillow.
I sit criss cross on the floor next to him, pulling my bag towards me. "Cigarette?" I ask, rummaging through my bag for my pack.
"Sure. I guess. I'm not really a smoker." he lifts his head and squints his eyes at me. I place a cigarette between his lips and one between mine.
"Um... lighter?" he questions.
"You have got to be kidding me." I chuckle and simply point to the end of the stick in his mouth. It lights red and starts smoking.
"Oh... right."
"You try." I turn towards him and cross my eyes, staring at the end of the Marlboro. He repeats my actions, and it starts smoking.
We sit there in a comfortable silence, flicking the ashes onto his floor and watching the smoke travel around the corners of the room.
After what feels like hours, I drop my cigarette butt into a stray bottle of water I pulled from under his bed, passing it to him so he can do the same. I notice he only smoked half.
"You know that thing they tell you at assemblies about how you don't have to give in to peer pressure? You just failed." I chuckle, sealing the water bottle and throwing it back under his bed.
"I smoke sometimes." He scoffs, making it obvious that he's lying.
"No you don't." I spit back, not skipping a beat.
"Oh right, I forgot. You can tell when I'm not being truthful."
"Nah, you just suck at lying."
•••••••
Omg it's been over a YEAR since i have updated this story! but i'm gonna get back into it bc this fanfic is my baby. i love it so much and i am so far soooo proud of it. so yeah! i'm back babyyyyy! hopefully there are still some people out there who wanna read about 5sos, considering they WON'T DO ANYTHING!!! But if you're reading this, you are beautiful, thank you for the support, and i like your face! muah!!! ❤️😘  -Roz 💕