I'm Not Perfect (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

“Well, they asked specifically for you to be there” He states.

Anxiety immediately begins churning inside of me. What could they possibly want with me? I think it is apparent that I was freaking out because Michael immediately starts to comfort me.

“It’s okay, darling. I’m sure whatever they say is going to be nothing” He says while rubbing my thigh. “We better go”

I just not because I am too scared to say anything other than that. We make the short drive through downtown to the large corporate building. Michael leads me through the large glass doors and into the modern lobby. He has a quick conversation with the woman at the front desk and she directs us to a room down the hall. When we get in there the other boys already sitting on the couch and there is only one spot left so Michael lets me have the seat and he sits on the arm rest. After a few minutes of tension filled silence and large man walks through the door and takes a seat at the desk.

“Hello boys,” He says “There are two pieces of business that we need to discuss today.”

“First off, I have booked you guys a show for tomorrow. My assistant will fill you on the other details in a little bit.”

Now that wasn’t too bad, so what was I here for?

“Second, it has come to attention that you have been spending a lot of time with this girl, what’s your name?” He asks me.

“Charlotte Malcom” I reply nervously.

“Well Charlotte, I can probably guess that one of these boys is currently your boyfriend, and if you want to keep it that way you need to keep it on the down low. So who is the lucky boy?” He asks with a fake smile.

“Me” Michael pipes up, so I don’t have to say anything else.

“Well Michael, and the other boys, what you might not understand is the fact that you all being single is a great selling point. Girls will see you all as attractive single boys making you seem even more desirable. Which will ultimately lead you to selling more music” Of course all this guy wants is more money.

“So it would be good to refrain from leaking any pictures of you all together, if any fan things are leaked out we will take care of it for you. You will all have to follow our instructions when we ask you to delete things off of social media.” He finishes, “I think that will be all for now. Thank you all for coming on such short notice.”

My mind is spinning like crazy, we just started this and we already have to keep it secret. This just put a damper on my day. It makes me feel so small that these people can have this much control over me and I can see that it is getting to Michael too. He is the first to leave the room and I quickly follow him out. He makes his way through the doors and starts down the street. I try to go after him but someone grabs my arm, I turn to see Luke with a serious face.

“Let him cool off, you have seen how he gets” He warns.

“You’re probably right” I give in taking a seat next to Ashton on the small couch in the lobby. I lean my head on his shoulder, he pats my leg in comfort. I feel like screaming but I know I can’t do that until I get back to the dorms. After waiting for Calum to get the details about the show tomorrow he returns with a few papers of information. They offer to drive me back to my dorms but I decided to go find Michael first, so some of my worry will go away. They wish me luck and both of us are on our way. I set off down the way Michael went, looking down every alley and in every café window. There is no sign of him anywhere but a flash of white hair across the street catches my attention. I see Michael slumped over on a park bench. I carefully cross the street and slowly make my way towards him. I take the vacant seat next to him and he glances at me, but it just seems to make his mood worse.

“Oh god” he mumbles. “It’s happening again”

“What is?” I ask with confusion

“This is what happened with my last girlfriend a few years ago, she got dragged into all of this management bull shit and it was too much for her so she ended it. I don’t want management to be the reason we break up, I want to have a normal people reason. I was hoping my job and passion wouldn’t interfere with your life but I guess now it’s too late. I’m sorry”

“Michael, It’s fine” I admit, “I can deal, as long as you don’t let it bother you it’s all good” I say putting my hand on top of his.

“So you’re going to try and make this work still?” He asks quietly.

“Let’s get started” I say with a smile before pulling him up from the bench and dragging him over to the playground. He sat on the swing next to mine, just like the first day we met, and he told me about funny things that have happened on stage.

“There was this one time,” He says inbetween laughs, “we tried to get Calum to go off of the stage because he cursed and my Nan was in the crowd! It was hilarious.”

“Also lots of bra’s and other weird things get thrown on stage, lots of water bottles, sometimes phones even.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun.” I say looking at him, he has a sparkle in his eye that I don’t see a lot, I can tell it is because he has so much love towards his job and fans, It’s amazing.

“It really is.” He says, kind of in a daze, “You should come to our show tomorrow”

“I will, but I’m not going to take a front row seat from any of your fans so just get me a seat in the back” I say with a grin, causing Michael to smile too.

“We can make that work.” He says standing up from his swing, and grabbing my hands before pulling me up. “Let’s stop back at management’s office so we can reserve you that ticket”