Disconnected

Chapter Eleven

Daniella

I cross my arms over my chest and try to keep myself warm.

The amount the temperature has changed in the last few minutes is crazy to me.

Michael is really scaring me with the whole I-want-to-be-in-the-water-while-a-crazy-huge-thunderstorm-is-going-on thing.

"Michael? Can we go back now? I am freezing." I ask, rubbing my hands together.

"Wait a second." He holds his finger up.

"Michael I," he turns around suddenly.

"Sh." Michael looks around, paranoid about something.

He snakes his arms around me and lifts me over his shoulder, effortlessly. Just like I'm the movies. Talk about a cliche.

He carries me back up towards the road, trying his best to run through the wet sand as it begins to pour.

I scream as the large droplets of cold water hit my bare back.

"Don't speak!" Michael sets me down on a wall between two buildings, behind a dumpster.

I try to push him away, afraid of what his plans are.

It is dark, we are in an alleyway with no witnesses. It might just be me and I may be completely over exaggerating this situation, but I am not liking where this is going.

"Shh!" He smacks his hand in her my mouth to keep me quiet as he looks around.

I smack at his arm and push him away from me.

I am getting. out of here before anything bad happens to me.

I run out of the alleyway and try to remember which way we came.

Flashing lights surround me. Men and women shout over the obnoxious storm and each other to get my attention.

I shield my head as they violently try to grab me and get me to answer their questions.

"Who are you?"

"Are you and Michael together?"

"What is your name?"

"What is Michael really like? Is this all a show?"

"Daniella!" Michael shouts, trying to push through them. His hand shoots up into the air as he tries to get my attention.

I continue walking, trying to find a way out of this massive circle of paparazzi.

A warm piece of fabric is wrapped around my shoulders as an arm is thrown around me. Michael pulls me into his body, shielding me from the rain as best he can.

"No more questions! Leave her alone before I pop all of your heads off!" Michael threatens then as he covers my head with one of his hands.

I watch as they begin to back up, taking shelter under a nearby overhang.

Michael pulls me back in the direction of home, I assume.

My entire body begins to shake as my internal temperature drops.

Michael pulls me under a large tree and runs his hands up and down my arms to warm me up. "I will call the boys to come pick us up."

He lifts me and slides down the tree, holding me in his lap like a child while he tries to warm me up.

"That wasn't supposed to go like that. I'm sorry."

I don't want to speak with him right now. He put me in a very bad position and I do not appreciate it one bit.

"I should have told you what I was doing. I'm sorry." Michael continues rubbing my arms.

"You think?!" I snap at him. "You pulled me in to a dark alleyway and put your hand over my mouth. What was I supposed to think you were doing?!" I shake my head.

"I know how it looked. I was just trying to get you out of the rain and lose the paps in the process." Michael tries to explain himself. "Usually my timing is a lot better. I'm usually really good at dodging those vultures."

He should have told me, 'be quiet so the paps don't slam us with questions. Maybe we can lose them'. That would have been a whole lot better than what he actually did.

"Yeah well." I lean my head into my knees, wanting this day to be over already.

"I know this doesn't make up for my actions or anything but you deserve to know what happened." Michael says.

"Know what?" I roll my eyes. Is he even going to tell me or is he just going to tease me like that?

"My entire family was murdered in front of me." Michael tightens his grip on me. "You make me relive that in my head. That's why I've been so mean to you."

"Michael-"

"You don't have to say anything. I know you are pissed." He sighs. "My stepfather went on a rampage and killed everyone in the house. And for some reason, that I still don't understand, I was spared. And from then on," he pauses. I look up at him, not wanting him to finish if it hurts to talk about it. But I understand why he feels like he needs to tell me. "I put this wall up to protect myself. You are here to knock that wall down. I guess I am just kind of resentful and scared of that because it has been there for so long and has protected me so far. And then you come along." I sigh softly, waiting for the insults to come rolling in. "And I can feel those little bricks in my heart falling off one by one every time I look at you. You remind me so much of my mum it hurts."

"I am not here to knock your wall down, Michael. I am here to put pillows on either side so people running in to it don't get hurt and neither do you. I'm just here to make it look pretty." I correct him, wanting to cry.

His story is so touching. He is like this because of his family. He doesn't want to end up like them. I don't blame him.

"I am sorry about your family, Michael." I watch as tears well up in his eyes. "I don't really have a family either. I know what it is like growing up without parents."

"What?" Michael asks, shifting his weight underneath me.

"They abandoned me and sent me off to model so I would get them famous. I never heard from them again. I don't even know if they are alive."

I rest my head on Michael's chest and take a deep breath as he wraps both of his arms around me.

"I guess we both have that in common." He whispers and leans his chin on top of my head.