Beneath Your Beautiful // Michael Clifford

03.

Ali

"Fucking hell." I groan falling back, laying on Ashton's lap.

"What's your deal?" Ashton chuckles.

"Lauren is at soccer camp for like half the summer and Emily will be at summer school during the week. I'll have no one to hang out with." I complain.

"Well my friends are coming over, you could hang with us." Ashton suggests.

"I guess. Are they decent? Like I know Luke isn't but are the others?" I asks as I joke about Luke since he is almost like a brother.

"If you want to hang out with us, then please don't go out with any of them." Ashton tells me looking me dead in the eyes.

"Wow. Strict." Is all I say.

"I'm serious. Like if you broke up then it'd be really awkward and these guys are like brothers to me. We've already had issues with relationships with a close friend" Ashton explains.

"Fine." I mumble knowing that this actually meant a lot to Ashton. "When do they get here?" I question referring to his so called "friends".

The door bell rings quite rapidly, answering my question.

"Right about now." Ashton laughs his famous laughs before I get off of him and grab my phone as he gets the door. "Luke, you know where the fucking key is." Ashton yells. Luke does in fact know where the key is since he has been here once before.

"Yeah, but we decided to annoy you." An oddly familiar voice sounds.

"Fuck you guys." Ashton mutters.

"That's not a nice way to treat your guests." I yell from the living room.

"It's not nice to ease drop, Ali! So fuck off!" Ashton jokingly yells as he enters the room.

"Hola blondie." Luke says ruffling my hair.

"Hola quiff boy." I shut off my phone to look at everyone.

A tan boy, Luke, and Ashton all sit on the couch. I look over to see a blonde boy standing off to the side with his eyes on me. Michael. I instantly remembered him as soon as I saw him. I give him a warm smile before he sits on the couch next to me.

"Ali, this is Calum and Michael." Ashton points to the two boys. "Cal, Mikey, this is my soon to be sister, Ali." He introduces.

"Hello." I wave awkwardly.

"Hey." The boys say in unison.

"I didn't think I would see you again." Michael whispers to me in shock.

"Yeah, me too. Thanks again."

"I said don't mention it." He lightly chuckles.

The others were engulfed in a conversation so Michael and I continued to talk. "Sorry I left so abruptly, my brother here was wasted."

"Ah, makes sense." Michael smiles looking over Ashton. "Warning, if he says he won't get drunk- know that he always will."

"Noted." I nod a small smile present on my lips.

"Hey, Ali? On a scale 1-10 how wasted was Ashton?" Calum asks making snap out of the conversation I was having with Michael.

"Eleven. Dude, I'm surprised he wasn't on a table top making a fool of himself. You should've seen him in the morning." I laugh recalling the events from a few days ago.

"Didn't help that Michael texted me early in the morning about his girl problems." Ashton groans obviously annoyed.

"It was ten in the morning, it really wasn't that early." Michael shrugs and we all nod in agreement.

"But it's still morning. Hence, ten in the morning." Ashton says emphasizing the word 'morning'.

"You are so annoying. Why are you out of all people, going to be my brother?" I complain throwing my hands in the air.

"Asshole." Ashton pretends to look offended.

"I try." I shrug and Ashton just groans.

"You guys are annoying." Michael comments.

"Thanks." Him and I say in unison.

"So how old are you, Ali?" Michael questions as the others go back to there conversation.

"Seventeen, I'm like three months older than him." I explain as I begin to walk into the kitchen, him following close behind. "So I'm in your grade."

"Are you going to our school then?" Michael questions.

"Yeah, I went to a different school all my three years but my dad said it'd be nice to change up the scenery for my last year. I think it's his way of saying that it'll be easier to pay taxes if Ashton and I go to same school." I ramble completely annoyed by the concept of being the new kid.

"Ah, so not excited I assume." Michael laughs a little after my little rant.

"I just hate this marriage thing. Like I glad my dad is getting married to Anne, but there is so much change involved." I complain. "Sorry, I'm rambling too much and probably being annoying."

He shakes his head. "No, it's fine to vent. Tomorrow, you're going to come over to my house. We'll play video games, eat pizza, play basketball or football, then eat pizza. You just need to get your mind off everything." Michael tells me as he rips the corner of some piece of paper, writing some numbers down before handing it to me. "I'll pick you up around three."

"What if I say no?" I smirk looking over at him.

"It wasn't really a question, shortie. See you tomorrow." He smiles before walking to the front door and leaving my house.

"Where'd Michael go?" Luke asks me as I join everyone on the couch.

"I was getting him water, then his mum texted that he had to get home because he didn't finish his chores or something like that." I explain to them trying to make it sound believable.

"Figures." Calum mutters under his breath obviously annoyed by Michael.