Out of reach (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 11

My head lolled to the side. I felt Michaels arms draped around my waist, and I lifted my head to see Michael awake before me. His pale green eyes stared in to mine, and we shared a small kiss. "Morning, doll." He grinned, playing with my pink hair.

I yawned, before saying goodmorning to him back. "So, what are we doing today?" I asked, running a finger down his bare chest. I could feel him shiver under my touch. Giving him a confused look, his cheeks turned pink. "What?" I frowned.

"You have no idea what you do to me, Lilac." He beamed at me, pulling me on top of him. "You wanna hang out today?" Michael asked, our noses touching.

"Sure, even though it's not called hanging out if I see you 24/7." I chuckled, Michael rolling his eyes.

"Whatever." He muttered, before closing the space inbetween us. His lips touched mine. Just like what always happened when we kissed, I felt a tingle in my stomach. I had butterflies. I still wasn't used to his sweet kisses.

His hands ran over my arms, and I felt a pain in my forearm, causing me to jerk away, leaning back. "What's up?" He shot up, worry in his eyes. I tugged back the sleeve of his Blink 182 shirt, revealing a purple, and quite large, bruise on my arm. I already knew how it was caused, I've been through this over a thousand times. "Steve did it. Didn't he?" Michael said through gritted teeth. I frowned, trying to pull the sleeve over it and forget about it. "The things I'm gonna do to him when I see him." He said, a new burning lust of anger in his voice.

This made me quite scared, but I shook it off. "Just forget about it. He's in the past, Michael." I muttered, trying to change the subject. He nodded, his face now blank of emotion.

I ran a hand through my fluffy hair, attempting to untangle myself from Michael. He pulled me back down on top of him, frowning. "I need to go to the bathroom, weirdo." I chuckled, rolling off him again. With a groan, Michael let me shuffle away. I head towards the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

Once I was in, I cursed under my breathe, feeling the sting of the bruise. I pulled the shirt over my head, dropping it on to the tiled floor. Turning to the side in the mirror, I got a good look of the purple bruise. It was just under the size of my fist, which made me grimace. How could Steve give me all this pain and get away with it?

Running a finger over it, I bit my lip to stop me from making a noise in pain. "Dammit." I whispered, quickly washing my face and pulling the shirt back on. As I did, I caught sight of a few faded scars on my stomach. I gulped. What if Michael sees them? I did them a few weeks ago, the day that Karly called me fat.. then I realised, it was also the day Michael said he loved me.

Did he still love me? He probably didn't then, I mean he said it was an accident. Jesus, why do I keep coming back to this? So Michael didn't suspect anything, I gripped the hem of my (or Michaels) shirt and shuffled back out the bathroom, seeing Michael wasn't on the bed anymore.

Frowning, I walked to the stairs, hearing no noise from down there. Did he leave? I looked down the hall, I rarely went down there, my bathroom was connected to my bedroom. I saw an open door and crept down, looking in to see Michael in there, his back facing me.

He was admiring some photos hung up on the wall, and I coughed, causing him to jump and spin to me. "God, you scared me." He smirked, scratching the back of his neck. I forced a smile, wrapping my arms around his waist. I was a few inches smaller than Michael, so my head fit perfectly on his shoulder.

"Snooping around, are we?" I murmered into his neck, feeling him shiver again. He gave a nervous laugh.

"Sorry. But you never did tell me about your family." It was true, since we've met, over a month ago now, I hadn't uttered a single thing of my parents. All I knew about his family was that they were supporting his band after he dropped out of school, and that he was a single child. He said there wasn't much to say about them, since they barely made contact since of all the things going on in his life.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Michael." I looked down, pulling away from our long-lasting hug. He arched his eyebrows, and I sighed. "I was kicked out." His mouth formed into an 'o' shape.

I began to explain that when my Mom left when I was 10, my Dad started drinking. A lot. He soon began to hit me, like slap and stuff for no reason. He said it was my fault she left, and he blamed me for everything. My grades were dropping and I started hanging out with a bunch of druggies and drunks much older than me. I was only 15 when I met them. My Dad had caught me smoking a cigarette with one of them at the park. I didn't want to smoke, but I guess it was due to peer pressure. Then at 16 kicked me out and I had dropped out of school at 17, after living with one of my older friends for a while. Then they got out of hand with the drugs, growing it in his backyard and the police caught him for it. I thought I was going to be sent to social services, but I was old enough to live on my own anyway. So here I am, at 19 with a better position at the Studios, and a boyfriend I could only have wished for.

After telling him the story, he practically pounced on me, giving me a bone-crushing hug. I felt the pain in my bruise sting again, making me flinch. Michael muttered an apology, letting me go. "I didn't want to tell you really. I'm embarassed." I went red, looking down.

"Embarassed for what? None of it was any of your fault." He smiled softly, stroking his thumb against my cheek, wiping a rolling tear away that had slipped from my eye.

"But what if I was the reason my Mum left." I couldn't help him, past memories were flooding back to me, and before I knew it, I was crying into Michaels bare shoulder. His arms were wrapped around my waist now, a kiss planted on my forehead.

"No, of course she didn't. Why would anyone leave you, Lilac? You're funny, amazing, and beautiful." He smiled, trying to cheer me up. I rubbed my eyes and reached up on my tiptoes, kissing his lips, muttering a thank you to him as we kissed.

There and then, I knew- that I love Michael Clifford.