I had my plan all set up in the car park of Michael’s apartment block. The canvas was propped up against a wall, under a light, with bricks at the base to keep it straight. I had filled all of the water balloons with different colour paints and pinned each one up in four lines at the top of the canvas and one through the middle. I left the darts on the floor as I ran up to the apartment to get Michael. I hadn’t wanted him to see the plan before it was finished.
“Clifford! Get your butt out here!” I was standing by his door, waiting. The boys had no idea what was going on but I guess they just shrugged it off. Calum was on the couch, mouth wide open and snoring. Luke was watching some football game and I hadn’t seen Ashton since we got back.
He was pulling on a black duffle coat I had never seen him wear before. He pulled the door closed, smiled and put his arm around me.
“I’m tempted to make you walk ahead so I can take a look at your ass again…” I gasped, slapping him yet again. My cheeks turned a rosy red and I was glad when we stepped into the dark outside.
“So, therapist, what are we doing?” I giggled as we walked around the corner. He stopped short, looking at my set up. I turned around grinning at his confused expression. “The point of this is to…?”
“Right so, you take a dart,” I picked up half of the darts as he walked slightly closer. “and you imagine the face of whoever is bothering you on each of those balloons, yeah?” He nodded along as I set myself up in a decent dart-throwing position.
“Then, you throw!” Smiling, I threw a dart and hit one of the top balloons. It burst and red paint splattered down the canvas. I watched his face go from confused to amused and he quickly picked up the other half of the darts. Laughing, he aimed and threw them at the balloons. Paint fell down the canvas.
We didn’t speak till we had to get all the darts from the canvas to continue throwing them.
“This is working, thank you” He shot me a genuine smile as we collected them, continuing our masterpiece. It took an hour or two but we had finally popped every single one of the balloons. We knew no one would have gone round this side of the building so felt confident in leaving it there till the morning.
On the way back up to his apartment, I was humming one of the band’s songs from the other night.
"Loved our band that much, huh?" Michael was smirking at me and I glared at him.
"It's the annoyingly shit songs that get stuck in your head." He mocked offence, holding his hand over his heart.
"How could you?" I suppressed a giggle. His acting skills were shit but they never failed to make me laugh.
"The truth is easy to tell sweetheart." I patted his arm as I spoke a little too sweetly.
"Why don't you tell it then?" I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he had won that one. It was always annoying when he did because he constantly knew and never failed to look smug about it.
We made our way into his room, me following him. I reached out my arms with my hands by his sides and tickled him. Instantly, he jumped away, tripping over his feet and onto the floor. I sat on top of him, continuing to tickle his sides. I giggled at his laughter that was bubbling from his mouth.
I didn’t have the upper hand for long though and he easily flipped us over.
"Ashton, Luke, Calum! Help! I'm being raped here!" I tried to wiggle myself free but Michael had a strong grip on my wrists which he was holding above my head. I knew what was coming and I really didn’t want him to get revenge.
"That's a little bit of an exaggeration," he smirked at me, knowing I couldn't get free.
"He's on top of me again!"
"Yeah but you enjoy it!" My struggling wasn't working at all considering he didn't even need two hands to trap me like this.
"No one would enjoy this!" I huffed just as Ashton appeared at Michael's door.
"My saviour! Help a damsel in distress?" Ashton stood grinning at me and I deflated. No way he was going to help.
"He'll only help if you call him daddy." Michael scoffed, earning a glare from the unhelpful boy.
I stared at Michael, challenging him, then to Ashton. I smiled, "Please can you help me, da -"
Michael's hand was slapped over my mouth, cutting me short. Ashton's eyes were wide, his hands fiddling with the bandana he was holding.
"If you're going to get kinky with anyone babe, it's going to be me." Michael looked dead serious but I just bit his hand making him yelp and loosen his grip on me.
"Thanks for all your help, Ashton. Greatly appreciated." I crossed my arms glaring at him as he walked away mumbling something that sounded similar to 'whatever'.
I turned back to Michael who was laying on his side propped up on his elbow. It looked like he was posing as some sort of vogue model. Let’s just say the whole model Michael thing didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He smirked at me and patted the bed next to him.
I shot him the finger and made sure I sat as far away from him as I could.
"I see how it is." He shook his head at me, still smiling and got up to go to his wardrobe. I watched him as he pulled off his top, tossing it into his wash basket. I nearly sighed as I watched the muscles in his back contract.
God, how could a back look so perfect?
He had been wearing a long sleeved baseball top, covering his biceps all day even though it was pretty hot outside. Now I understood why. I lifted myself off the bed quietly and walked towards him as he leaned into his wardrobe. Lifting my hand up, I trailed the red marks with my fingers.
He tensed as I spoke, "Was this me?" I vaguely remembered digging my nails into his arms during my meltdown and being sure that it hurt. Staring at his arms now, I felt terrible.
"They don't hurt." He didn't turn towards me, he just stood there. My finger passed over a bright red ditch in his skin that was scanning over and he winced at my touch.
"Don't hurt, my ass," I tugged on his forearm making him face me. "I am so, so sorry." I didn't want to move my hand away from him but he moved so our hands intertwined.
"It's okay, really. I'm glad you called me." He pulled on my hand that was gripped in his so I fell into him.
"I wouldn't go back and call anyone else." He squeezed me tight before letting me go, placing a sweater in my hand. I knew I was probably going to wake up sweltering – it was September and there was often heatwaves during this time of the year.
He pulled on another sweater after pushing off his jeans and getting into bed. I sighed and pulled off my dress - slipping on the too big sweater.
Michael was looking at me as I turned and I shook my head at him, giggling. He blushed slightly, opening his arms. This time I happily crawled into them.
"You look gorgeous in my clothes." His voice was soft and I felt like we were in a whole other world when under his covers.
"You look cute with sweater paws," I giggled as I traced circles over his sweater that was covering his outstretched palm.
"I'll make sure I have them more often then, babe." He chuckled.
I hoped I would be able to see Michael and his sweater paws for a long time.
~
i'm going on holiday tomorrow and i'm officially writing the last maybe last two chapters of this story (40/41) so you know what fuck the schedule i'm going to upload a little more often! c:
YOU ARE READING
that damned cigarette ↪ m.c
Fanfiction"This isn't a stupid chick flick movie, Clifford!" "Who said I wanted that?" Once upon a time, there was a boy and girl. She was beautiful and he was handsome. He saved her and she made him realise his wrongs. But what if there wasn't a happy e...
