I'm Not Perfect (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

“Good” He says “Ice cream time” he suggests as we get into the car

When we get to the ice cream shop there isn’t anyone else there but a cute old couple in the corner.

“Go find a seat, I’ll get you something” He says with a smile before walking up to the young girl at the counter. The girl was very beautiful and I felt self-conscious being around her, she was getting Michaels attention. But to my surprise, when he was done telling her our order he turns to me and flashes me a smile. She returns to him with an one ice cream cone and one cup. Michael thanks the girl and walks over to where I’m sitting.

“Here you go” Michael says with a grin while handing me the cup. “I remembered you said that your favorite was marshmallow chocolate, so I got you that.”

“Thank you,” I say, I think it’s sweet that he would remember a little detail like that. We eat our ice cream and make small conversation with lots of laughs. When we are about to leave a voice interrupts us.

“Charlotte!” I hear coming from the door, I turn around to see a cheery Leo come through the door. He walks over to our table and I stand up so he can embrace me in a tight hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Me and Michael wanted some ice cream so here we are” I explain.

“Oh, that’s nice.” He says, still with a huge grin.

“Is Sam here too?” I ask

“Yeah, he had to go get some money from the ATM” He says, as if on cue Sam comes in the door, making the small bell ring.

“Hi Sam” I greet him, he gives me a small wave before walking to the counter.

“We better get going, Char” Michael says, putting his hand on the small of my back.

“Yeah, it was nice to see you Leo”

“You too. See you in class on Monday” He replies before going over to the Sam.

Me and Michael walk out the door, his hand still on my back, it’s comforting somehow.

“Who was that?” Michael asks, jealousy definitely present.

“That’s just Leo, He’s in my writing class” I explain.

“Oh alright,” He says before starting the car, and leaving the little store. We drive in the normal LA traffic, making the ride way longer than it should be, but we manage.

Michael pulls into the garage, and opens up the door for me. When we opened the door into the hall, and hear a girlish scream. I close the door revealing a scared Ashton sitting on the floor. Me and Michael instantly burst into fits of laughter.

“It’s not funny! You scared the tits off of me” he exclaims. But we continue to laugh.

“Stop laughing at me! I’m not an animal!” He says before getting up and running off down the hall. We make our way into the living room and there is no one to be seen. There is laughter and screams coming from outside so I follow the sounds. I go out the open sliding glass door. Calum and Luke are in the pool filming a keek with the fake dog. Once they notice we are there they end the keek and a shirtless Calum immediately gets out of the pool and makes his way towards us.

“Charlotte! You look like you could use a hug” He says with a smirk.

“No!” I squeal, “Calum don’t you dare” But he squeezes me in the hug anyway, receiving a death glare from Michael. Suddenly I felt another pair of arms wrap themselves around me too. Before I knew it I was submerged by cool water. When I reach the surface Luke has appeared next to me with an orange inner tube and Michael and Calum are standing on the side laughing like maniacs. I shot both of them a death glare before swimming towards them.

“You could at least help me out” I complain, they both sigh, each taking one of my hands into theirs. But before they can do anything they are both in the pool on either side of me. Calum pops up next to me, his hair is soaked and dripping over his eyes. Michael still hasn’t come up, this can’t be good. Suddenly two lengthy arms wrap around my waist.

“That wasn’t very nice” He whispers in my ear.

“Well throwing me in wasn’t nice either, it was payback.” I reply.

“Touché” I hear him whisper before he sinks under the water, leaving me alone.

I look around and take everything in, Luke and Calum are out of the pool drying off. Michael comes back up for air before returning to his seat on the bottom of the pool. I take in a large breath before swimming down to the bottom and sitting criss cross in front of Michael. We sit and blurrily stare at each other for a few seconds before we have to go up for air. After that we both swim to the steps and out of the pool. My clothes are soaking, along with my shoes. Michael comes over to where I’m emptying the water out of my shoes and wraps a towel around me. He lingers with his arms around me before stepping back.

“I can give you some clothes if you want.” He offers, sweet.

“That’d be nice.” I say ringing out my shirt.

“Come on” He says before walking into the house. Ashton is sitting walks in from the kitchen and gives us a strange look.

“What did I miss?” He asks

“Nothing really” Michael says with a smirk before walking up the stairs, I flash Ashton an apologetic smile before following the soaking boy. I pad down the hall and into his room where he is rummaging through his drawers. He pulls out a pair of grey sweatpants and an All Time Low t-shirt and tosses them to me.

“Bathroom is down the hall” He says before looking for something to wear himself.

“Yep” I reply before walking to the bathroom. I slip off the tight wet jeans and slide on the warm comfortable clothes, they are a little big but they work. I set my wet clothes in the shower so I can at least say I made an effort to get them dry. I make my way back down the hall to Michael’s room, his door is shut.  So I decide to knock, he summons me in automatically. When I get in there he is facing his dresser, without a shirt on. I have to say, it was pretty attractive. He turns around and gives me an awkward smile, he is blushing and it is so cute that I just can handle myself. I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his back.

“Hey” He says awkwardly.

“Hi” I reply, with the same amount of awkwardness.

Nothing else is said but Michael turns around and faces me. He takes his hand and brushes the wet hair out of my face without breaking eye contact. Then he leans down and kisses my forehead.

“The boys are going to start a movie downstairs soon, they put a mattress in the living room so people can lay on it. Want to join? You’re invited.”

“Is it going to be fun?” I ask

“It will be if you’re there” He compliments

“I guess I need to be there then” I say with a grin