Our reality //m.g.c//

Sixteen

"The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention."
~ Richard Warren

Every show Ava watched was amazing but the one on November 20th was just magical. The performance was filled up with energy even more so then usual and the crowd was as hyped as it possibly could be. Everyone was happy and excited and just as the boys were finishing the crowd started singing happy birthday to Michael and the other three boys joined in. Ashton brought up a cake and Michael was just smilingly and gratefully looking at them. At one point, he almost teared up. Ava was backstage looking at the cute scenes displayed in front of her when suddenly Luke walked over to her brought her on stage. Michael hugged her instantly and the crowd went wild. Most of the fans took that as a confirmation of the dating rumors but all Ava saw was Luke's smiling face. She hadn't seen him smile in so long, especially not at her or Mike. It truly felt like he gave Michael the only gift he wanted: his best friend back. Michael's green eyes were shining from all the reflector lights and all the happiness flowing out of them. The fans kept screaming and wishing Mike happy birthday as the four boy and Ava bowed and left the stage and as the party ended for the fans, it started for the famous boys.

"You remember I hate parties right?"

"You'll love this one. I promise."

Michael kissed Ava and pulled her closer to him in the car while they were driving to the club.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I can keep this one."

He looked so happy that the blonde girl couldn't break it all so she just smiled and buried her face into his chest. As they arrived to the club, it was fully packed with people. Some were part of the party Michael put together and some were just regular customers at the club that got invited to the party unintentionally by showing up.

"The birthday boy arrived."

As much as Ava could absorb upon the first look around, her eyes did not catch a single sober person. The most wasted was probably the one that started screaming about Michael arriving and anticipating everyone into a group happy birthday song that sounded incredibly out of tune even for Ava's not musical ears. Then Michael kind of got lost among all the drunken bodies that wanted to congratulate him on being 19 and Ava was left standing next to to people she didn't know when someone pulled her hand. She looked up and met a familiar set of blue eyes looking directly at her. By the look on his face Ava came to the conclusion that there was some alcohol in his veins already, which to be fair was an achievement all on it's own since they were in the club literally 5 minutes.

"I'm sorry for acting like a dick the past months."

It sounded genuine to Ava so she nodded but her expression was still stone cold. Hurt or not he didn't talk to her for months so she wasn't about to let him off that easily. Luke didn't stop talking regardless.

"I was just, you know, hurt or whatever and I guess I didn't really believe Mikey liked someone else especially not more then me and you know I acted out or something..."

"You don't have to explain yourself. I get it."

Luke raised his eyebrows in disbelief and Ava elaborated.

"I understand why you did it. I personally wouldn't do it but I understand you were or are still in love with Michael and being away from him as well as from me supposedly should help you get over him."

Now the blonde boy was the one nodding as someone put his arm around him. The guy that did that was taller then Luke and had blue hair and a drunk grimace.

"Who's that Lukey?"

The voice he used implied on Ava being something love related to Luke which made both of the blonde teenagers cringe.

"Step sister Alex. Step sister and Mikey's girlfriend."

The dude that was apparently named Alex raised his eyebrow and checked Ava from head to toe before making an approving face. Ava just rolled her eyes and walked away from the two boys. She did not like being treated as an object you could admire. She couldn't find Michael so she sat on a barstool and hoped people would leave her alone. But they didn't. The first person to sit down next to her was Ashton which she didn't mind all that much. They talked for a while before the drummer got pulled away by a group of his friends and Ava was left alone again. Somewhere in the meantime, a random stranger bought her a drink and that cocktail was just sitting in front of the blonde girl. She wasn't all that keen on drinking. Sure, if she'd feel like it, she could get completely wasted but she didn't really feel the urge to do that then and there. Time went by fast and it was a long time before the blonde girl saw Michael again. At the time she did, he was anything but sober.

"Hey baby."

He went in for the kiss and Ava smelt the alcohol soaked breath.

"You having fun?"

"More importantly...are you having fun?"

Ava bit her lower lip and shook her head.

"I told you I hate parties. But you should go and enjoy it."

He grabbed her hand and lifted her up close to him.

"I promised you'd have fun and I intend to keep my promise. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know Mike."

"Okay then let's go for a walk. I know you love walks."

"What about your party?"

He leaned in and kissed the girl again. Then, as he moved away, his eyes lingered on the girl he was completely in love with.

"A party doesn't matter as much as you do so..."

The orange haired boy pulled Ava through the crowd and out to the cold New York air.

"Let's walk."

And so they walked the streets of the big city for hours before finding themselves in a small diner eating fries and talking about everything that came up. In Ava's mind, there were still thoughts of insecurity but in Michael's mind there wasn't anything he'd rather do or anyone he'd rather spend his birthday with then his not yet official girlfriend.