Every Bad Boy Needs A Good Girl (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 27

As Michael and I walked down the beach later that day, he looked over his shoulder.

"Um..can we walk a little faster...?" He mumbled, picking up the pace.

"Why?" I replied, beginning to turn around. He put an arm around me and cleared his throat.

"Just because we're walking kinda slow" he replied.

"Michael" I said, stopping in my tracks and turning to face him. He sighed.

"A girl I knew a while back is over there" he mumbled, nodding his head behind me. I turned around and saw a gorgeous girl with long blonde flowing hair.

"So what's the problem?" I asked.

"Michael?" The girl called. Michael's eyes widened and he grabbed my hand to drag me away, but it was too late. "Michael, I thought that was you!"

"Yeah, okay.." He replied, scratching the back of his neck. She crossed her arms.

"Don't act like you don't remember me, Mikey."

I felt myself tense up at her calling him 'Mikey.'

"Yes, I do remember you" he replied, not making eye contact with the girl.

"Who's your little friend?" The girl asked.

"Her name's Ashley and she's my girlfriend" he snapped, getting mad. I grabbed his hand to calm him down.

"Oh, so I'm guessing you told her about me?"

"No, why would I?" He asked.

"Just because..y'know, we were great together Mikey..do you remember that night? The night that w-"

"Come on Ashley, we're leaving" Michael said through gritted teeth, dragging me away from the girl.

We both walked to his cabin in silence and when we got there, I turned around and stared at him, crossing my arms.

"What?" He asked.

"Okay, what the hell was that all about?"

"I don't know what you mean" he replied.

"Yes, you do. What was she gonna say?"

"Why are you so worried about it?" He replied, crossing his arms.

"I'm not, I just..wanna know."

"No, you're worried about it. And it isn't any of your business."

"Okay, if it's so important that you can't tell me, then I'm gonna worry about it" I replied. He sighed.

"Yep, that's you. Worry, worry, worry..." He mumbled. I narrowed my eyes.

"You're the one that chose to date me, so I don't see what your problem is with that" I snapped. He pursed his lips and walked up to me, wrapping his arms around me.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled into my hair, kissing the top of my head. "I don't hate it, to be honest. It's one of those small things I love about you." I smiled into his chest. We both sat down on his bed. "Okay, um..well...I don't know how to put it, but..she's the girl I lost my virginity to."

I rose an eyebrow and stayed silent. I felt myself tense up at the thought of her touching Michael and Michael's hands running down her body. I clenched my knuckles, but quickly unclenched them.

"Um, she was also the first girl I had a serious relationship with..I think I may have loved her, I don't know though. I didn't really know the true meaning of love until you came along. But her name's Leila and we started dating when we were 13. We broke up when we were 16. It had something to do with her moving away and her parents not wanting us to be together."

I swallowed hard and nodded. Why am I getting so worked up? This was in the past.

"Why didn't you wanna tell me this?"

"I don't know, I guess I figured you would get mad at me."

"Michael, that's dumb. I wouldn't get mad over something that happened in the past" I replied. He nodded and gave me a small smile.


-


Later that day, Michael and I were laying around on his bed. It was around 8pm, so we were just hanging out. There was a knock on the cabin door.

"I'll get it" Michael said, hopping up and walking to the door. He opened it and I looked over to see Leila. "Um..." Michael trailed off.

"Can I talk to you? Outside?" She asked. Michael looked over at me and I nodded, showing him it was fine. So he stepped outside and closed the cabin door behind him.

I couldn't help but to feel queasy inside. What does she want? I tried not to think about the possibilities by turning on the TV, but nothing really worked. I sighed and decided to replace my shirt with Michael's.


-Michael's P.O.V.-


I stepped outside with Leila and we began to walk away from the cabin.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, I haven't exactly seen you in years so I just wanted to catch up with you" she said quietly.

"Okay, what did you wanna know?"

"Well, how's life?" She asked.

"It's pretty good" I replied awkwardly. "How's life for you?"

"It's...fine, I guess..." She trailed off.

"You guess?"

"I mean, ever since we broke up I haven't been in a serious relationship. I messed around with a few guys, but that's it."

"Oh" I replied, scratching the back of my neck. She began to chuckle. "What?" I asked.

"Just a memory" she replied.

"Tell me" I said.

"Okay..remember when we ditched school that one day and rode on your motorcycle? We ended up in the middle of nowhere and it started to rain, and you slipped when you were running after me..you hurt your back." I smiled and began to laugh, remembering it like it was yesterday. She laughed with me.

"Um..remember when we went on our first date and I kept trying to use those stupid pick-up lines on you?" I asked. She laughed and I laughed along.


-Ashley's P.O.V.-


I sighed. What's taking him so long? It's been a little more than 30 minutes. Maybe I should just..check to see if they're still out there? I cracked the cabin door open, but they weren't in front of the cabin. I knit my eyebrows and completely stepped out, scanning the beach.

That's when I saw it.

They were kissing.

I felt my breathing slow. The thing is, he didn't pull away. I felt the tears begin to spill, knowing history was repeating itself. He spun around and saw me standing here. That's when he began to run down the beach, ignoring Leila. I turned around and ran the other direction down the beach. I noticed that I always seem to run away from my problems, but I guess that's just what I do. I can't stand when people try to talk to me as soon as they screw up. The tears continued to fly down my cheeks as I ran.

"Dammit Ashley" Michael yelled. I could feel him catching up to me, and I eventually stopped. What's the point?

He ran up to me and I looked away from him, trying to wipe the tears away.

"Listen-"

"No, you listen" I snapped. "I'm tired of this. I'm tired of us. Nothing in this relationship works out because we either can't trust each other or we fight. Either way, it just isn't working out. Michael, we weren't meant to be together. You're the bad boy, and..I'm the good girl. You need a girl with tattoos and piercings and someone really pretty. I need a clean cut guy, that..that wouldn't do anything to hurt me. You hurt me, Michael. Not just tonight, but multiple times. You may have been there for me when I caught Calum kissing that girl, but what do you do? You go and kiss another girl. I thought we would make this work, but..it's just over. I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry." I felt hot tears run down my cheeks and I bought myself to look up at Michael.

His eyes were puffy and there were tears spilling out. He sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Don't say that it's over" he almost whispered, looking into my eyes. I felt pain rip through my chest.

"But it is over" I replied.

"I-it can't be over, Ashley, this is us..we always make things work..w-we're Ashley and Michael..Michael and Ashley..we're us." He took my hand but I pulled it away.

"Then why did you kiss her?"

"We were reminiscing, a-and we got caught in the moment..."

I almost rolled my eyes.

"You don't realize how much this has happened to me. You're just another guy added to the endless list of guys that have hurt me. We're through."

I began to walk away but he grabbed my arm again.

"Don't go" he said. I looked into his eyes and saw true pain. "I-I don't know what I would do without you..." He sank down to his knees and I felt my heart hurt. He held onto my arm and rested his head against my stomach. "I love you. I can't lose you. It'll always be you, Ashley..I love you."

I looked down at him, on his knees. He had his arms wrapped around my waist and his tears fell rapidly down his cheeks. I took his arms and pulled them off of me, backing away from him. He looked up at me, his eyes red.

"We weren't meant for each other. I'm sorry. Goodbye, Michael" I said. I began to walk back to my cabin, but halfway there I turned around and saw Michael still on the ground. He lay on his stomach, his head in his hands. He stood up and started to kick the sand, yelling curses. He turned and looked at me, just standing there.

I turned around and continued walking.