Disconnected | Michael Clifford

seven - michael

There wasn't much time for Michael to prepare himself for seeing Felicity again, it had been a month without a word exchanged between the pair and now in the next three hours he would be faced with her again.

He ran through all scenarios; he could pretend to be sick and not go, he could arrive with a beautiful girl on his arm and make Felicity jealous or he could just avoid her for the entire night. The first one wasn't an option because even if he was hospitalised the other three boys would find a way to get him to the bar. The second one was never going to happen because in Michael's mind there was no girl more beautiful than Felicity. So, he settled for the third one and decided to ignore her for the night.

Easier said than done.

"I don't even know what to wear." Michael whined to Luke, thinking of anyway he could to get out of this party, to get out of seeing her.

"Just wear what you wore to the Billboard Awards." Luke suggested, rolling his eyes at Michael who was currently sitting on the bathroom floor waiting for hair dye to set into his hair so he could wash it out. "How can you say you're getting over Fe when you're dying your hair the same colour as her?"

"Am not. Her hair is green now, this is purple. I like purple, back off okay?" Michael sighed, he was trying to keep up the facade of getting over her but he definitely wasn't. I mean, he was dying his hair lilac. "And I can't wear my Billboard clothes."

"Why not? Didn't you keep it? The stylist said we could..." Luke was wearing his shirt from that night to the party, he hoped he wasn't the only one who kept the outfit from that night. He didn't really like being the odd one out.

"I just can't..." Michael trailed off while Luke raised an eyebrow at him. "Felicity has my vest."

Luke just nodded without another word, he wasn't going to force Michael to talk about her anymore. There was no point, Michael completely shut down if she was brought up. He just stood up and left the room to get ready, and to let Michael wash the dye out of his hair.

***

The drinking started before they left for the bar. Well, Michael's drinking started. If he was going to see Felicity again then he wanted to be at least a little bit intoxicated. By the time they made it to the bar he was slurring his words and clinging onto an uncomfortable Luke Hemmings.

"Happy Birthday Ashton, you beefcake." Michael giggled, sipping the liquid from his glass and smiling at Ashton. They were in sitting in the VIP area, with bottles of champagne on ice in front of them and guests surrounding them. Every now and then someone would walk up to the four boys to wish Ashton a happy birthday.

When he wasn't laughing to himself about the shape of the table (he thought that if you squinted enough then it looked like a penis), he was telling anyone within five feet of him that he loved them.

He was definitely an affectionate drunk, tonight was going to be no exception.

"Calum, hey Calum! Wanna hear a secret?" He shouted to the boy who was sitting directly across from him. Calum nodded with a laugh. "I'm jealous of your hair, it's so pretty."

"But your hair is purple." Calum laughed, and Michael shook his head.

"But your hair is pretty." Michael repeated before standing up to dance to whatever song was playing.

It was half an hour into the party and Nice One, Newton had yet to show, Michael hoped they wouldn't turn up at all. But his wishes weren't granted as he noticed the four band members walking into the VIP area and toward their table.

"I, uh, I'm going to the bathroom." Michael slurred, standing up and stumbling his way to the bathroom. He stood there, staring at himself in the mirror for a good five minutes. He knew he needed to talk to her, but he also knew he couldn't let her see how broken he was.