Warped Love

6.

We walk out of the hotel, without the paparazzi bothering us, and start to walk towards downtown. It's so peaceful and beautiful at night. All the lights are on, and there's only the sound of traffic. We start to walk towards a Starbucks so I can get some coffee. On the way he asks me all sorts of questions about my childhood; grew up an only child with a single mom, my dad hated me, went through a lot of depressing stages. "Music is what made me want to live. Music was there when no one else was." I tell him. "That's exactly how I felt. I had no one but music." Michael says.

"I've never actually been to Starbucks before so I have no idea what to get." I whisper into Michael's ear. I walk up to the counter. "Hi, can I have something cold, and with a shit ton of caffeine in it?" I ask the barista. She laughs, "Sure, I'll put triple espresso in it. Sound good?" "Sounds great."

"Shelby? Triple espresso?" I walk up and get my drink. Michael & I head for the door and start to walk. "Any idea where we're going?" I ask him, sipping on my caffeine. "Yeah, is it okay if we go to the park over here? I really... wanna swing on the swings." He mumbles the last part. I ruffle his hair, "Of course."

"SWINGSSSS!" Michael makes a run for the swings and plops down on one. I laugh and try to catch up with him and sit on the one next to him. He starts to twist around in circles and then spins around. I get my phone out and take an Instagram video, "This dork ;P haha @Michael5SOS" I put my phone away before he can catch me. "Okay, I'm done being 3, let's go somewhere else." We walk over to a picnic table and he sits down. I put my head on his lap and look up at the stars. He smiles down at me and plays with my hair. We talked about anything and everything, for hours. We talked about anything from music to food, from space to past relationships. He said he dated a girl in highschool, she ended up only dating him to get closer to Luke. He looked really heartbroken when he said that, so I got up and hugged him. I couldn't imagine finding something out like that. What if a guy only dated me to get closer to my best friend? Well, that wouldn't happen since Parker is a lesbian. But still, I couldn't imagine that. I told him about Kevin, even though he knew most of the details. I talked while Michael listened. God, he was such a good listener. I started blushing and we hugged for what felt like forever. Wow, did I wish it could have lasted forever.

The paparazzi just seem to not have lives. We start walking towards them. They don't seem scared of Michael anymore because he's smiling while holding my hand. "Guys," He starts saying to them. "please excuse me." The paparazzi act like piranhas. "Are you two dating now?" "How did you two meet?" "Have you kissed yet?" "What is her name?" We don't answer any of the questions and head up to his hotel room.

"Okay, so scary movie or chick flick?" Michael asks as he's scrolling through Netflix and I'm washing all my makeup off. "Hm.. You pick. Oh shit." I curse to myself. "What's wrong?" Michael asks from the other room. "I forgot something to sleep in. I didn't think I'd be spending the night." I walk out of the bathroom patting my face with a towel. "Oh, you can have something from me. Boxers & a tee shirt okay?" He rummages through his suitcase. "Yeah, thanks. As long as they're clean." I laugh and stick my tongue out. He throws me the clothes & I go to change.

"So what movie are we watching?" I ask, coming out of the bathroom and sitting on the bed. "Insidious." He smirks. "Oh dear lord, you want me to have nightmares, don't you?" He laughs and closes the curtains. "No, but it was funny when you kept jumping at the movie theater." My phone starts ringing so I run across the room to pick it up. Parker. "Hey Park, what's up?" Silence. "You know what's up. What the hell happened? Kevin was there? And now there are rumors going around that you might be dating Michael?" I fill her in on what happened in the parking lot. "Oh and the rumors aren't true. We aren't dating." "I SHIP IT!" I hear from Liam in the background. Parker tells him to hush. "Well just make sure-" I cut her off. "Yes mom, I understand. But that won't be happening this soon, so you can save the talk. Goodbye, see you tomorrow." I hang up and chuckle. I have weird friends.

When I turn around I find Michael has redecorated the area. "Ta-da!" He declares. He pushed both of the beds together to make one gigantic bed. I laugh and crawl into the huge bed with him. He turns off the light and plays the movie. We lay together and cuddle. I occasionally hide under the bedsheets when there is a jumpscare while Michael chuckles at me. It's already 2 A.M.. I should probably.. go to sleep..