Don't Stop | Michael Clifford

Chapter 46

The week at Michael's parents' house was really funny and all, but after the talk about my family, I could feel a wall between Michael and me. We ignored it though, acting like we usually did, but I could feel he wanted to talk about it. But I did not, the only ones in my life right now who knew why I didn't see my family anymore was Maddie and Mia, and that was simply because they were there when it happened. I hope that we would let this pass us quickly, but I didn't know.

"Maddie! Mia!" I squeal as I make my way over to them. We had agreed on meeting up at Starbucks. Maddie's sister had spent Christmas at her place, and Mia had went to spend it with her parents while I was in Australia.

"Eleanor!" Mia says, Maddie being the first one to pull me in for a hug, Mia joining us. We all sit down, talking about what had happened during the holiday. "Oh my gosh, Eleanor! I love your necklace!" Mia says, feeling it with her fingers.

"Yeah, Michael gave it to me. Apparently, it's garnet stones, which is my birth stone," I tell them, smiling as I look down at it.

"That's so cute! How did it go?" Maddie asks, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"I really like his parents, I really had a lot of fun. I was really nervous about meeting them, but it went great," I say, looking down at my coffee.

"Yeah, Luke wanted me to come meet his parents as well, but I had already agreed on having Maya here for the holiday... it's weird not being around Luke in this kind of time," Maddie says, taking a hand through her hair. "We're going to have our own little Christmas one of these days."

"And Karen showed me the cutest baby pictures of him, it was sooooo cute!" I say, wishing I could show them both all of those small pictures (including the nude baby photos of him).

"Then what is bothering you?" Mia then says, making me sigh as I look at my hands. "I knew something was wrong, what is it?"

"Uhmmm, Michael's mom asked about my family, and Michael and I kind of got into an argument about it. I just don't want him to know, and please don't try and change my mind."

"Okay, we won't. But, you didn't break up, did you?" Maddie says, the nervousness clear in her features. I shake my head, leaning back, giving her an assuring smile.

"No we didn't, but I do feel like it's made a wall between us. I just don't want him to know, and if we can't just ignore that, then... yeah."

"I'm sure Michael loves you enough to lay it behind you guys. He's really crazy about you, no doubt." I laugh a bit, nodding. "It'll be okay, I'm sure." I nod, Mia's right. I shouldn't worry too much about it, even if Michael and I were apart for a few days or so, we would miss each other so much that it wouldn't matter and it would be forgotten. At least it's like that for me.

"So, what's the plans for New Year's? I mean, Times Square, obviously, it's the tradition and the guys are playing there," Maddie says, having her mouth half-filled with cookies. I shrug a bit, taking a hand through my hair.

"I don't know, we could take it as it comes?" Mia says.

"We seriously need to find you a guy," I say, ruffling a bit at Mia's hair. She whines, taking her head away to slap my hand away.

"I'm fine on my own," she laughs, fixing her hair. "I don't mind being single."

"I know, but we both have boyfriends, we just don't want you to feel left alone," I tell her and she just shrugs. "The only reason why I wasn't eaten up with guilt when Maddie was with me and Michael is that Luke was usually there."

"And now Ashton and Calum are there as well. I'll be fine! I swear!" she laughs. I can't help but sigh a bit, we've never had a boyfriend all of us at the same time, and it bugged me.