colors ; michael clifford [book 1]

t w e l v e

"Do you love her?" Luke asked suddenly, looking up from his sheet of music and over at Michael. He had been wondering this since his band mate told him about he and Layla, and that was two days ago. Michael sure acted like it, so it wasn't unusual that Luke should ask.

Michael looked across the room at Luke, stopping tuning his guitar. Then he looked back down and began to fiddle with it again. "I don't know," he lied. Of course he knew.

Luke rolled his eyes and stood up. "Yes you do, Michael. Do you love her?" he asked, his tone more authoritative this time. He knew that Michael knew, his friend just didn't want to admit it.

Calum and Ashton watched the scene unfold silently, both of them taking occasional draws from the joint they had. They had both been thinking about this for the past two days too, and they were surprised that Luke had been the first to ask. Usually the blond haired boy was very quiet and didn't like to involve himself in things that weren't really his business.

Michael sighed and stopped fiddling with the tuning, but didn't bother to make eye contact with Luke. "Yeah," he admitted. "Yeah. I think I do."

Luke tried desperately to hide his smirk and failed, as did Calum and Ashton. The three boys were very happy for Michael, considering he'd never really bothered with girls before. To be honest, they'd all been thinking he was secretly gay, really.

"Well. . . okay," Luke said, unsure what to say as Calum sniggered away in the background. Michael's head shot up at the sound.

"Shut it, Calpal," he spat, embarrassed. He began to wish he'd never told them, but they would've either eventually figured out or found out anyway. They always seemed to find a way.

Calum held his hands up in mock surrender as he swallowed his laugher. "Woah, calm down. I'm happy for you, buddy. Really, I am."

Michael's face twitched into a smile and he nodded at his friends, suddenly feeling happier than ever before. "Thanks, guys."

And he really meant it.