ocean boulevard | 5sos | michael clifford

viii.

chapter eight.

“Payton, wake up.”

Coldness. That is the first thing that strikes me when I stir. I’m cold. Not the breeze-against-your-sweaty-neck kind of cold, but the sort of cold that makes you feel as if your body is marble and you’ve been lying on metal.

“Payton? Are you awake?”

I draw a breath in, just like you do when you’ve just woken up and have momentarily forgotten how to breathe, and open my eyes. Michael’s hand is on my knee and his gaze is intent, but not urgent.

I sit up and don’t even flinch when Michael’s hand moves to my back to help me. I’m not quite ready to admit it to myself, not just yet, but after what happened earlier today, I’ve found an ineluctable sense of comfort in Michael’s embrace. He was right – I usually hate physical intimacy, but with him it’s fine, it’s okay, I’m okay, I’m okay.

“What’s up?” My voice sounds muted.

“I want to show you something.”

“Sure, go ahead,” I say, and then I find myself staring out into the ocean, the liferaft flaps pulled apart, the wind unfurling against my skin like nectar down your throat. “Oh my God.” I let the words seep out with my breaths.

The ocean spreads around us, like butter on toast, but this time instead of uniformed fluid, it is a sea of stars. Pinpricks of cerulean blue light litter the water, electrified neon. It’s something straight off Avatar, something you’d expect to see in the Maldives. Yet here it is.

“I’ve heard of this. It’s a sort of natural phenomenon.” Excitement and fascination rolls off Michael’s tongue like acid. “It looks like a wishing well, doesn’t it? With blue coins. Glowing blue coins. God,” he breathes out sharply, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Bioluminescence,” I say. “It’s a chemical reaction.”

“God’s masterpiece.”

“One of them,” I smile.

“How is it that you seem to know just about everything under the sun?”

“Moon,” I correct, looking up at the night sky for emphasis. Briefly. “There are a lot of things I don’t know about, like quantum physics and engineering and all that shit. But I do a lot of research for storylines.”

“There we go. Another reason why you should honestly at least attempt to get an internship, then a job, at Marvel or DC or Dark Horse, or anything. You’re so serious and dedicated.”

I laugh in response and my eyes fixate the depths of the glowing mass around us. Under the blue aura glazing the water surface, I can see an entire array of aquatic creatures prowling their territory. A pair of manta rays breeze across the ocean beneath, solidly black and very much alive amidst the brilliant blue splendor. A school of pompano darts under the liferaft, disappearing from view, every individual tail flicking to form a body of synchronized silver.

My focus shifts from the view to Michael, who is immensely absorbed in thought and in the view. Silently, I trace the contours of his face and the shape of his parted lips with my eyes. He looks so thoughtful, so meticulously introspective as his eyes capture the scene and his mind deposits it into his memory bank, and suddenly I am happy. The feeling crinkles and spreads through me, warm and unidentifiable in origin, and I scoot over, no longer hindered by the discomfort of physical contact with him. I lean against his arm, but he slides it to my back, and shifts a little, so before I know it, I am lying down, and my head’s on his lap, and his fingers are butterflies against my skin, and I am not entirely used to the feeling, but I feel good, and it feels right; we feel right.

Somewhere along my train of thoughts, the carriage breaks to a halt, stopping dead in the middle of the tracks, and I fall asleep to Michael’s feather-light fingers trailing my skin.

[chapter dedicated to rachel bc she is so cute i can't explain it]

shortest chapter ever but it's been a long week and i wanted to update like i promised so here you go i hope you enjoyed it

someone (paradisestylesxx) commented on the previous chapter and asked about what payton is supposed to look like!!! shoutout to her for noticing that i haven't once described payton's physical appearance! i won't say who i picture her as just yet but comment and let me know what YOU think! do you picture her as an actress / model / singer / yourself / a friend / someone your mind has conjured up? let me know!