echo // hemmings [completed]

thirty-eight | city

—February 2nd—  

Not many people saw eye to eye with Michael Clifford. Not his parents, not Ashton, and most certainly not Calum, but Riley did. Riley had always believed in the boy with colored hair and tattoos, the boy his parents called inadequate and his friends called crazy. She agreed with his ideas and ideals and believed that he always had the best of intentions. 

And after he had met Rowan, Michael would lay awake every night and wonder if Riley was right, if he really did have the best of intentions. Would she agree with his methods? Probably not, but Michael hoped that she would if she was alive. He wanted someone to tell him he was doing the right thing, because everywhere he looked, someone was telling him otherwise. 

Ever since Drew died in their building, Michael's neighbors would gossip about him. And the few times when Michael was with Calum or Ashton, they would question and argue with him. This made him doubt himself all the time, slowly tearing down his confidence in his idea. And Olivia's outburst with Rowan was what made him truly lose faith in it.

Right after Rowan called him with the results of the meeting with Dr. Jenkins, they would fly home and Michael would tell him everything. After that, he planned to move back home with his parents. He figured that all the bridges that connected him here would be burned and saw no point in staying in a place he had nothing to do with. At home he could at least help with the family business.

When he looked at the clock, he sighed. In about half an hour Rowan and Luke would be flying out to San Francisco, a city with a scarlet bridge, never-ending smog, and glossy blue water. Michael had never been there, but he imagined it to be like every other city he's ever been to: foggy, busy, and noisy. But Rowan would say otherwise.

To her San Francisco was like nowhere else. She grew up a city away, but she always felt connected to it. The first time she went was when she was 16, angry, and alone. Her mother had just grounded her and in a fit of rebellion she took the first bus out of Oakland and went as far as her pocket change could take her. The city appeared magical at first. Oakland was a terribly dull place and the city excited the teen, but the magic wore off as soon as she stepped off the bus. 

A whiff of the smoke filled air brought to her senses. The trash on the streets, the broken neon signs, it made her realize that there were in fact uglier places than Oakland. But even though San Francisco was no pretty sight, a part of her felt seduced by the city. She liked the way the lights blinked erratically and how the streets remained full of noise. 

She always hated silence, it made her feel pressured to say something, so the bustling nature was especially appealing to her. But she didn't stay long, her mother had tracked her phone and dragged her back home immediately. Running away made her punishment at that time worse, but discovering the city made her curious. The short haired girl wanted to see more of the world; she was sick of being cooped up and made a promise to herself that she would move out the second she turned 18.

And Rowan did exactly that, she went to her father's hometown of Sydney and brought together all of her money to pay for the cheapest room she could find: a little motel room in the very heart of the everything. It was no San Francisco, the weather was drier and the nights weren't as busy, but she loved it nonetheless.

Yet she now found herself sitting in the airport lobby with her hand holding Luke's. He was asleep on her shoulder and with their height difference it hurt his neck, but Luke didn't want to let go of her hand when he went to sleep. He liked her warmth and presence and Rowan liked his. He made her feel safe and she loved that.

The girl had to eventually shake the tall boy awake when the attendant began to get them to start boarding. He clutched her hand in his left and his white cane in the other. They boarded the plane without too much trouble and right before the plane took off, Rowan kissed Luke on the cheek. He smiled when she did so, unaware of the fact that after this trip he would never look at her the same.

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a/n: the end is drawing near!