Band tees and Hair dye. (Michael Clifford)

Band tees and Hair dye. (Michael Clifford) Chapter five.

"When did you start wearing makeup?" Michael muttered and a quick glance at him in the mirror confirmed that his expression matched his tone of voice. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows were closely knit.

I shrugged and applied a thin coat of mascara to my eyelashes. "A while ago." I mumbled and finished off with some eyeliner, standing up.

"Are you finally ready?" Michael sighed impatiently holding out my jacket. I took it and tossed it on my bed, grabbing my shoes. "Yes, I'm finally ready." I rolled my eyes and shoved his shoulder lightly, walking to my bedroom door.

Making it downstairs, without any further arguing, we headed for the door. "I'm going out with Michael. See you later." I called to mum and slipped my shoes on, Michael already holding the door open impatiently. I rolled my eyes, for what seemed like the 100th time already since he'd arrived, and walked outside.

"You should have brought a jacket." Michael shrugged and started walking down the road, his long stride hard to match. "Because it's going to rain and you can't have mine." He added and looked back over his shoulder with a smirk. "What a gentleman." I huffed and caught up with him. "Get used to it. I've missed my little friend." Michael teased and messed my hair up, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I groaned and pushed my hair out of my eyes, following him into town.

"Where are we going?" I asked after a few minutes and Michael looked down at me, smirking again. "It's a secret." He shrugged.

Around 10 minutes later we arrived at the park, Michael dragging me along to the swings. The place was empty and the wind blew the swings slightly, giving everything an eery feel.

"Remember when mum used to bring us here after school?" Michael asked and smiled, standing next to the swing and pushing it halfheartedly, like he didn't want to seem too bothered about the memory. I nodded and smiled, sitting down on the other swing and rocking myself from heel to toe.

"Remember when you fell off and made me carry you home?" He then asked and I laughed, nodding and looking up at him. "It was the first time we were ever allowed on our own and I dislocated my shoulder." Michael nodded and laughed, taking a seat next to me.

"I had my first kiss here." He chucked, his head turned slightly away from me, picking at something on his jeans, a smile spread across his lips and his cheeks tinted a light pink rather than his usual pale complexion.

I'd always assumed that Michael never kissed anyone, until the day I kissed him before he left. He never told me. He was my first kiss and I thought, him being my best friend, he would have told me if he had kissed someone. Obviously at such a young age kissing isn't important but not telling your best friend?

"Oh. Really.."

"Mikey, come on. Get in the car." Karen called and I looked at Michael pleadingly. He just sighed sadly and wrapped his arms around me tightly.

"I'll miss you." He whispered and squeezed me even tighter. "And I love you." I loved Michael. He was my best friend. We were inseparable. We shared secrets and spent days together, enjoying each other's company. I didn't want to lose him knowing I'd never find a friend like him again. Obviously, being twelve, kissing wasn't something I was particularly good at (or had had much practice at for that matter) but I pressed my lips to Michaels softly and smiled, whispering "I love you too."

With that he stood up and skulked over to the car, not looking back.

We sat reminiscing for what felt like hours before the rain began to pour, shortly followed by thunder and lightening. I groaned and stood up, looking around. "It's too far to walk home. We'll get soaked." I sighed and Michael chuckled, standing up and grabbing my hand. "Who says we have to go?" He laughed and spun me around, pulling me into the middle of the park. I threw my arms out and started spinning, laughing loudly, the heavy drops soaking my clothes and sticking my hair to my head. I noticed Michael fall quiet and looked over at him. He leant casually against the climbing frame, droplets of water clinging to every feature and contour of his body and a smile plastered on his face as he watched me.

"Let's go find somewhere dry." He smiled and held out his hand, which I happily accepted. We ran all the way to the cafe on top of the hill, collapsing into a booth breathlessly, silent laughter still leaving our lips.