colours [book #2] [c.hood]

03.

indie managed to stay in the house for a whole week, her excuse being jet lag so she could skip the lunch with the hood's, a bowling party with the irwins and a dinner with the cliffords'. she just wasn't ready to face any of them yet.

she thought she was smart but georgia was smarter, she knew it was because her daughter didn't want to face her ex - boyfriend but she knew it was time for her to get up and out of the house and grow the hell up, especially since it was the rehearsal day of karen clifford's baby shower.

"are you ready to go, dee?" andrew asked, glancing at his watch as indie looked at herself in the mirror, combing her hair painfully slow. "we really need to go, we're already delaying on our arrival. where's luke?"

indie turned around, "he's in-" before indie could speak anything more, luke shoved past her, his shoulders colliding with hers that she almost bashed against the wall. andrew sighed at the scene but didn't bother to scold him about it, there was no use.

the car ride was silent, indie blanking out to whatever georgia and andrew were talking about. baby joey was sat in his baby seat in between luke and indie, the girl feeling ever so grateful there was a border between her and the angry blonde boy. luke was busy texting god knows who or was too busy playing candy crush to acknowledge her presence.

when they did arrive to the cliffords' house, it was grand. it looked as if the actual ceremony was happening instead of a small rehearsal. the decorations consisted of blue and white with pink balloons attached next to the bushes.

indie immediately picked at her nails as soon as they rounded the corner to the backyard, she wasn't ready to face anyone again but she knew she had to. disappointing her family and friends was the last thing she wanted to do so she plastered on a fake smile and continued walking through the crowd of adults. 

she stopped in her tracks when a flash of black hair ran across the yard, it didn't take her long to identify the hair as michael's. he looked awfully anxious, she could see it from a far, his face was drenched with sweat, the top of his head coated with sweat and the colour of black fooling around the roots of his head, it was freshly dyed.

maybe it was the best friend instinct or she grew some imaginary balls but she slowly walked his way, rubbing her palms together and feeling the stickiness from sweat, she wiped them on the bottom slit of her dress and tapped on his shoulder. 

"excuse me but did you just run a marathon?" michael jumped and turned around, his jaw falling at the person in front of her. "i mean let's face it michael, you'd never run a marathon."

both his palms were placed on her cheek, squishing her face in between his pale hands, if it wasn't for the tears pooling at his eyes she would've made a joke or insulted him but she never realised how much she missed the pale vampire until then, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, her cheek against his chest. "oh my god, indie, it's actually you. indigo, you're here!"

indie chuckled, pulling away but keeping her hands wrapped around his waist still. "tis' i indeed, clifford."

then it was michael's turn to hug the living shit out of her, he didn't hesitate one bit. "i actually fucking missed you," he whined, burying his face into her shoulder. if she could cry, she would but she knew her make up took a while to do so she had to hold it in. "you look so hot now what the hell--wow, my gaydar is over the roof right now--i missed you so much, dude."

"i missed you too, mikey," indie reached up to ruffle his hair, "i'm sorry for not visiting all these years, i know you hate me but i can explain everything and--"

"clifford!" a deep voiced yelled from their left, a voice that made indie's heart fall out of her ass. there he stood, calum hood in a navy blue dress shirt that was rolled up to his elbows with the signature black jeans and converses. her heart was thumping, her palms getting sweaty again. she didn't like this.