oblivion [michael clifford]

two

The beginning ride to my house was exactly how I thought it would turn out. Awkward and annoying.
"So, where do you live?" Michael questioned me.
"I'll just tell you where to turn and stuff. For now you've just gotta keep going straight." I replied. We didn't know what to say. We just sat there for awhile in silence. I could tell he was looking for something to say though. He didn't seem like he enjoyed not talking, not always being in conversation mode.
"Well.. how about some music?" He suggested while turning up the stereo in his car. I knew the starting of the song and I already wanted to throw myself out of the car.
"Oh my gosh. You can't seriously be listening to this?" I slapped my hand on my forehead and shook my head.
"What?" He glanced over at me away from the road. "You don't like Nikelback?"
"I hate them!" I chuckled, I would rather sit in silence.
"Wow. That's like saying you hate Nirvana."
"Oh I hate them too." I casually said.
"What the hell." Michael's got wide from shock. "Nickelback is amazing. Me and my friends love them. What music do you listen to?"
"Blink-182, Sublime, The Offspring, All-Time Low." I started naming off all of my favorites. Michael's face eased up a bit when I spoke.
"Well, I can't argue with you on those." He looked over at me and smiled.
"Yeah, keep your eyes on the road, buddy." We both giggled. His was musical. Mine was about well let's just say if me and a seal were in a talent show for singing, the seal would get first place.
"Sorry, I can't help it." He took his eyes off of me and put them back on the road. "I guess I have to change this now." He pressed the skip button and a song that I wasn't familiar with was playing. It was nice. The guitar was very cute. The singers voice very calming. I loved the lyrics too. I nodded my head to it in silence, enjoying the music.
"What song is this?" I asked.
"I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I don't really listen to this stuff, but I love this song. It's amazing."
"Wow, that's a mouthful." I laughed and wished I had my phone so I could download it right now. "I'll have to remember that."
"You like it?" His voice had an excited tone to it.
"I love it. The singer is mellow, but the lyrics mean so much.'If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs, if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then I'll follow you into the dark.'" I quoted the lyrics. Michael had that biggest, most genuine grin across his face.
"I'm glad you like it. Unfortunately that's the only song I have that is like that. I do have some All-Time Low though if you would like to listen to them?"
"No, can you just play this on replay if it's not too much trouble. I like it a lot." He nodded his head and put the song on replay. I closed my eyes tapped my foot to the beat.
We came to a four way intersection where a red light struck. We were the only people at the light so it was kind of frustrating. "You're gonna take a left here. Then you go quite aways until you're like halfway in the woods." I pointed to the destination.
"In the woods?" He looked over at me in a scared way.
"What? What's wrong with that?"
"I can't drive through there, I'm sorry, you'll have to walk."
What.
Who the hell can't drive through the woods? I gave him a confused look. I didn't know what to say. I was shocked.
"Are you s-"
"I'm just fucking with you." He chuckled.
"You asshole." I laughed. I playfully hit him on the arm. "I thought you were serious, Michael." I couldn't stop laughing at myself. He just kept staring at me, smiling. The light turned green and he was totally oblivious to it. His green eyes had that happiness to them. "Uhh, Michael, the lights green."
"Oh." He finally came back to reality and turned left. I giggled at him. "Sorry, the sound of my name on your lips was mesmerizing-" He was about to say more but he seemed to be thinking about something. "I just realized... I don't even know your name." That had totally skipped my mind as well. "All this time I was too caught up in getting to know you that I forgot probably the most first and important thing." He laughed at himself.
"Well my name is-"
"Wait, before you tell me," He must like to cut me off mid-sentence. "I want you to tell me all of the basic things about you." He grinned. "Okay, go."
"Well, as I was saying before, My name is Danielle-"
"Hmm Danielle. Cute." Goddamn.
"Can you stop cutting me off, Michael." I said to him. He gave me a scared look and took his hands off the wheel for a second to surrender. He put his palms out in front of him and smirked at me as he laid his big hands back atop if the steering wheel. "My name is Danielle Moore, I'm 17, will be 18 soon, I live in Graham, I go to Graham-Kapowsin High School, uhh.." It's funny how you think you know yourself until someone asks you. Then you know absolutely nothing at all. "I live with my dad, Steven and my 6 year old brother Quinton. That's about it I guess."
"Wow.. your dad's probably gonna be pissed at you. I thought you were my age. You act older, Danielle Moore."
"Nope, but if I was your age, everything would be a lot easier." I said, staring out the window as we came to the road with trees at the edge.
"No, it doesn't get any easier. I mean, yeah you don't have parents breathing down you neck 24/7 but you have new responsibilities. Like you can vote for the president of the United States. It's very stressful work." He explained to me.
"Oh yeah? And how so?"
"Well, the whole country decides their fate. What if we chose some guy that was terrible? The whole United States would be in trouble. And if I was the last vote to say who I wanted to be president, I could screw it up for everyone. Is that just a little scary?" Michael had a point. Imagine how many people would be angry.
"Wow, I never thought of it that way. But you could always just not vote." He shot me a look and shook his head.
"Not my point, Danielle Moore." He smiled at me and I could see we were getting closer to my house.
"So you're gonna take another left at that brown house. With.. all of the toys in the front yard." Quinton needed to learn to clean up one day or another.
"Yup, I think it's obvious you have a little brother." He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes. I glanced down at the clock on his radio and it was 11:30. He was right. My dad is going to be pissed. I dreaded the walk inside the house.
"Well.. thank you for the forced ride, it wasn't so bad." I said to Michael.
"Anytime. Maybe next time you go skating, I'll hide your friends so I can give you another ride home." He grinned from ear to ear.
"I don't even know if I'll go there again or anywhere with my friends." I admitted. He frowned at my words.
"That's a shame.. Could I at least get your number? Or vice versa?" He gave me a sympathetic look.
"I'm sure you'll see me soon enough." I smiled and got out of his car. The ending of this wasn't so bad. I walked up to the front door and thankfully it was open. I looked behind me and saw Michael fully showing his amazing half smile. I waved to him and closed the door behind me. I stood there for a second smiling at the fact that what just happened was amazing. I wish I could replay it over and over. At least I have my imagination.
"Ahem." I jumped at the sound of my dad's voice. I turned around to see my dad sitting on the couch with the house phone in his hand in a stressed out stance.
"Oh.. hi daddy." I shuffled a few steps to see him better. He looked up at me and glared. I knew he was mad, I would be too if I didn't know what happened. To see my daughter super late, about an hour past curfew, getting dropped off by some random boy, not answering her phone. I mean, it looked bad from his view, and it was bad from mine. But I different kind of bad. "Before you say anything, dad, I can explain."
"Go ahead, I'm sure there's not much to explain." My dad wasn't always one to want to listen to my side of the story.
"Alright so we went to Tiffany's and just like every time, I left my phone and purse in the car. Because I don't want either getting lost and lockers are very expensive. So then Whitney and Nadine went to go get food, I wasn't hungry so I skated around for awhile. I lost track of time. I went to go check on them and I couldn't find them anywhere. Like they had vanished. So there I was, Alone and phone-less. So this boy that I had met earlier offered me a ride and I declined his request. So I decided to start walking home. About 10 minutes of walking and pulls up next to me and demands I get in the car. I say no, because I was taught to not get into strangers cars. But he was holding up all of the cars and people were getting upset and he said if I didn't let him drive me home he'd follow me the whole way. So I wasn't going to let him get in an accident because people can't be patient or go around him, so I got in and he drove me home. And now.. here we are." He sat there thinking. Probably thinking up my punishment.
"Just go to bed, Dani. I am far too tired to be dealing with this right now." He got up and headed for the hall.
"What about my phone? And my purse? I kinda need those." He stopped in his tracks.
"We will call the police in the morning if those girls don't show up. They probably just ran off looking for fun. But the police can get into the car if they're not safe and sound. Okay?"
"Alright..."
"Goodnight, Danielle." My dad finished walking the steps he needed to take and turned the corner to his room.
I walked slowly up the stairs. It seemed to take forever to get to the top. I was exhausted. I needed lots of sleep. I wish I could sleep for days, but you don't always get what you wish for. When I arrived to my room I removed my clothes, shoes, and jewelry. I slipped into soft cotton dark green shorts and a white camisole. My favorite outfit for bed. It was comfy and not too suffocating. I walked over to my bathroom and decided to leave my hair in the braid. I removed my makeup with a wipe and washed my face. I wouldn't doubt it if I got a little bit of stress acne after tonight.
When I was all ready to get into beds I walked over to my computer and searched for the song that Michael played in the car. I bought the song on iTunes and then put it ok replay. My speakers softly played the song. I turned out my light and crawled into bed. As my eyes fluttered closed, I imagined myself actually loving someone and feeling how the singer must have felt. An almost alien feeling to me. One that I hoped to learn one day.