she will be loved // michael clifford fanfiction

chapter two

The sun was shining brightly and the wind was blowing softly through the trees. It was the perfect day to go for a walk. Michael and I sauntered down the street in a semi-awkward silence. I was out walking around town with a complete stranger instead of going to hang out with my boyfriend. It felt very weird, but still enjoyable. My eyes glanced down at my feet as I walked quickly to keep up with Michael’s pace. His legs were long and looked as if they never ended, so of course his steps were faster than what I was used to. 

He must have noticed me nearly running as he slowed down a bit. “Sorry,” he chuckled shyly as he looked at me. 

I smiled at him and laughed along, “No it’s ok. It’s not your fault that I’m short.” He found that humorous as he continued laughing. His laugh was nice to listen to, as weird as that sounds. 

“Being short is cute. I hate being the size of a skyscraper sometimes.” Michael smirked and I threw my head back in laughter. 

“You aren’t the size of a skyscraper… maybe just a tree. I hate being the size of a child.” I really did look like a child. I was short; like really short. I also had a stupid baby face that I hated with every fibre of everything. Everyone always told me I was just a late bloomer, but in reality I was just a never bloomer.

Michael shifted his eyes to me and scoffed. “You don’t look like a child. How old are you, like 20?”

I couldn’t help the burst of laughter that erupted from my throat. “Oh god no. I’m 16.” I continued laughing as his face turned to shock. 

“Seriously? You look older.” He shrugged and my lips turned into a smile. 

“Well, thanks. How old are you?” It felt funny to ask that question since Michael and I had hit it off so quickly and we didn’t even know each others’ ages.

“18,” He smiled proudly, “legal!” I chuckled again at his child-like enthusiasm about being an adult. How ironic. Our walk continued on down the street, leading to god knows where. My nerves started to get the best of me as I wondered where Michael was planning to take us. I didn’t even know the kid but here I was letting him lead me wherever.

My thoughts were interrupted by a buzz in my pocket and I knew it would be Ryan. I sighed and pulled my phone out, feeling Michael’s eyes on me as I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?” My voice was small.

“Where are you?” My boyfriend’s voice thundered through the phone. 

I rolled my eyes. “I was just gonna phone you. I’m not feeling well so I can’t hang out tonight.” I put on my best fake-feeling-sick-voice to try to convince him. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t want to lie to him at all, but I knew that if I went back to him tonight the result would get ugly. 

Ryan scoffed over the phone “Yeah, ok, whatever. Have a good night. Feel better.” I sensed a tinge of sarcasm in his voice on the last part of the sentence before he hung up. A pain shook through my heart at how harsh he was, even though this was something I was used to. But I remembered Michael was beside me so I tried my best to pull myself together. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and attempted to continue walking as if nothing happened.

“What was that all about?” Michael asked me with an underlying essence of concern in his voice. I sighed.

“Nothing, just my boyfriend. He’s kind of harsh sometimes.” I prayed with every aspect of my being that Michael would let it go and I could just forget about all this; I could just push it away until tomorrow.

I heard Michael scoff. “Harsh seems like an understatement.” He mumbled and I stopped in my tracks. 

“You don’t even know him, first of all, so you have no right to judge. And second of all, I don’t even know you so I should definitely not be listening to shit like this from some stranger.” I immediately regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. Michael had been nothing but nice to me since the second we met and I just flew off the handle like that. The worst part was that Michael was absolutely right. Harsh was an understatement. 

Michael looked down at the ground. His confident sense of self seemed to pour out of his body into the ground. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place to say. Really, I’m so sorry.” His voice sounded ever so slightly broken.

I shook my head, “N-no it’s ok don’t worry. It was my fault for snapping at you. You’re completely right, harsh can definitely be too mild of a word to describe him.” I forced a chuckle through my sentence to try to lighten the situation. Michael cleared his throat and kept walking with me following suit. 

An eery silence lurked upon us as we walked into a random coffee shop on the street. We mostly stopped there because my feet were tired from still trying to keep up with Michael, and also because Michael noted how hungry he was. I sat down at an empty table while Michael went and grabbed us both some coffee and a muffin for himself. The empty conversation lingered on until Michael finally broke the silence. 

“I’ve never done this before.”

My face scrunched in puzzlement. “Done what? Eat a muffin?” I inquired sarcastically making him laugh. 

“No,” he said wiping the corners of his mouth, “gone out with some random girl I’ve never met before. It’s kind of exhilarating.” That damn smirk was back on his face and I couldn’t help but feel a blush creep up on my cheeks.

“Same with me,” I began, “I usually don’t randomly go to coffee shops with boys who look like they just stepped out of juvie.” I giggled and Michael took on a comically offended face.

He scoffed, “You look no better yourself, mermaid. I’m surprised you don’t have 10 facial piercings and full sleeves of tattoos from prison.” 

It was my turn to take on the offended face, causing Michael to chortle. I slapped his arm playfully while muttering a “shut up” under my breath.

This was honestly really nice. It was nice to get my mind off Ryan for a minute. Considering most of my friends were also friends with Ryan, it was hard to ever get away from talking about him unless I was completely alone. But when you’re alone thoughts can sometimes consume your mind and make everything worse. It was nice to be starting a friendship with this Michael guy; it was almost like a fresh breath of air. How ironic… the punk rock degenerate was a sense of relief. 

We both took the last sips of our coffee before standing up and heading back onto the street. I glanced around to notice that the sun was setting. “Shit, I should get home.” I informed Michael as I checked the time.

He sighed, “Me too. Hey, do you wanna hang out again sometime soon? I really enjoyed meeting you, honestly. You seem really cool.” His plump lips moved into a smile and I couldn’t help but reciprocate it. 

“Absolutely.” I told him while we exchanged phone numbers and Skype addresses just for good measure. 

“Nice to meet you, mermaid.” Michael said grinning.

“Nice to meet you too, Michael.” I smiled before he waved and jogged off down the street to wherever he was headed. I turned on my heel and went in the direction of my house, my head spinning with so many thoughts. Do I call Ryan and apologize? Do I text Michael right away? Do I even mention Michael to Ryan? 

I felt like I had just gotten myself into a bit of a mess.