walls ✰ m.c.

Chapter 21

A singe touch was able to make me be drawn to him. I wasn't feeling an emotion or a mood, it was feeling him. His presence and his emotions were what I was feeling. It wasn't the full physical aspect of it, it was the mental process of it all. Whether it was him accidentally brushing his shoulder on mine or if it was his hands roaming up and down my body with his lips on mine, it didn't matter how it happened. I was like a fish stuck in a net.

I'm scared, very scared, may I add. I was scared of my own feelings towards him. They came so fast and they hit fast and it's really hard to put into words. It's weird that he was once a stranger, I never knew he could have this big of an impact on me. I never knew I would fall in love with him. Every night I tried to scrape the word from my tongue, but it was eventually pushed back in by the sound of pebbles on my window. It's not that I didn't want to love him, it's just that I didn't want things to get complicated. This was something too valuable to me to just throw away because of feelings I couldn't keep stowed away.

But for now, I just have to go with things.

-

I woke up with an arm wrapped tightly around my waist. My back was pressed into their chest and our legs were tangled under the cold sheets. I shifted around in their grip to where I was facing the person, who I knew from the second I woke up was Michael.

I watched his chest rise and fall slowly. His arm managed to stay around me, as if he knew I had turned to find him. His eyes slowly fluttered open, catching my gaze. His lips curled into a sweet smile, one that I didn't really know the meaning behind. He smiled like this a lot and at certain times. It all tied together, but I didn't know exactly what it was for yet.

"Go back to sleep." He kept his smile, but his voice was husky from his sleep.

"How'd you get in?" I whispered.

"Stop asking me that." He chuckled, tucking the fallen pieces of my hair behind my ear.

I didn't reply, not wanting to ask any more questions. I curled up closer to him, nuzzling my head into his chest. The smell of smoke was still lingering on him, definitely something he had done in the past few hours. I embraced it and let my eyes shut close once again. He traced the same patterns I've grown to love on my side. I unconsciously smiled and let his hums send me into another state of sleep.

-

I was only just being waken up again by loud voices that were muffled by the blanket over my head and pillow under my ear. As the seconds passed my eyelids became heavier as I dozed back off to sleep. It was then that I woke up full and recognized the voices. I sat up with wide eyes as I watched Michael scramble pass my mother and out of my bedroom door. I watched her as she stood in my door frame, watching Michael leave. I jumped when I heard the door slam and she sharply turned to me. I could practically see the steam radiating off of her.

"A boy?!" She yelled, raising her eye brows and leaving her mouth open. I could only stare back at her as I was at a complete loss for words. "At home all alone?! Maddie Grace, I cannot believe you would pull something like this." She shook her head at me. "How many times has this happened?"

"I-"

"How many times has this boy been over when I'm out? And to mention, in your bed!"

"It was never like that." I blurted out.

"Then what was it then?" Her hands hit her thighs, something she did when she was overly angry. "What made you think it was okay to go against my rules like this?" Her voice lowered as he rubbed the bridge of her nose in between her thumb and pointer finger. She sighed deeply, waiting for my explanation.

"I didn't think it would do any harm..." I trailed off. I tried my best to keep my head down as I didn't want to face her angry expression. I fumbled with my hands that were in my lap. "I like him and-"

"Well it's quite obvious you like him. There wasn't any possible space between you two when I came in here." She folded her arms across her chest in a displeased manner.

"Since it's the only thing that you're worried about, we didn't do anything. I have enough respect for myself to not just give myself up to him." I was mad at this point. I wasn't scared of getting in trouble, I was mad that she was making such a huge deal out of something so innocent. Yes, I know I went behind her back and I know that I broke her rules, but it didn't need to be blown out of proportion.

"I'm glad to hear that, but that's not what I'm worried about. What I'm worried about is you not listening to my rules and not following them." She raised her voice the slightest bit. "That boy is trouble and I told you that before."

"He was trouble, not anymore." I said, instantly defending him. "But I thought you liked him? I thought you got over it."

"I don't like him when he's in my home sleeping in my daughter's bed." I groaned and fell back onto my pillow. "Maddie, I'm not mad." I scoffed at her words, the previous fight obviously said different. "Okay, I am mad, but more worried than anything."

"Why are you worried?" I fired back. I sat up, finally meeting her focus. "If we're both out of trouble and it's not harming anyone then what is the problem?" My voice became louder and I instantly regretted my tone.

"Look, you can't just go off all the time with him. Parties, dates, and only God knows where else he takes you."

"He's a normal teenage boy! He's not in a gang, mom. He hasn't been in any trouble since he's been around me, I can promise you that!"

"Well he's about to be. I'm going to have to call Mrs. Louise about this."

"Really?! Do we really have to make this a bigger deal then it's already made out to be?!"

"You can't just do these things and not be punished for it. It's life, honey." Her voice was now calm and collected, contrasting her anger before. I puffed out in stress, I hated when more people got involved than needed. "And as for punishment, no leaving for two weeks."

"But-" I began to argue.

"Also, I'm shutting off your phone after 10pm and it'll turn back on at 9am. You won't need it that much anyways since you aren't able to go anywhere. And when I'm gone I'll make sure to call you ever so often to make sure you're at home and that no one is here." She then shut my door before I could object.

Great.

-

The rest of the day passed slowly. I sat in my room, pacing back and forth as I called my friends and letting them know the situation. I hadn't called Michael yet for the soul purpose of not wanting him to take the blame. I mean, who knew my mom would come home for lunch for once? And I also did let him stay without hesitation. I had plans to go and pick up Julia from the airport tomorrow, which is when she was actually coming home, but I handed it off to Lue.

It was 10:30 at night and I had no more interaction besides my mom and my laptop, which I'm sure was going to be taken away soon. I sighed and sat at the edge of my bed and scrolled through twitter, as I didn't want to talk to my mom about the previous events from this morning.

I felt so bad, guilty, I guess. I knew Michael would get in trouble for this. Obviously not enough to get him kicked out, but I still felt like this was my fault. Our endless nights and crazy adventures were being taken away. I know my mom wouldn't let me spend time with him, well not by ourselves at least, anymore. It was ridiculous how something so innocent turned into, well, this. I hated the way my mother overreacted about things, but it would all just go back to normal after these two weeks, right?

I was broken from my thoughts by the sound of my mom's shoes against the hardwood stairs. I shoved my laptop under my blankets, not wanting her to see that I was on it and have it taken from me. She lightly knocked on my door and stepped inside. I looked up from the book I had been "reading" and met her blank stare.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

"You're reading again." She faintly said, nodding towards the book in my hand.

"Um," I put the book down on my bed. "Yeah. Haven't in a while."

"I know." She looked down, as if something was bothering her.

"You okay?" I took notice in her actions, starting to feel a bit bothered myself. She looked back up at me and weakly smiled as she joined me on the edge of my bed.

"So, I have some news for you." She turned to me and her smile became bigger. I knew she was going to tell me about her promotion which I began smiling about as well. I nodded my head slowly and raised my eyebrows, signaling for her to continue. "I got the promotion." She finally said. Her tone sounded excited, but her expression didn't. I figured it was from the heavy amount of work she's been doing.

"That's so exciting!" I wrapped her in for a hug, pretending that it was the first time I've heard this. She pulled back and looked away, still smiling.

"There's a catch." She put a hand on my knee and sighed, staring right back to me. "We'll have to move. And we have about a month to do so." I was used to moving, as my dad's job when I was younger made us go around all the time. I haven't moved in a few years, but it's always been in the same 30 mile radius.

"It'll only be like, what, 15 minutes away? That's how it usually is. Well that's how it was with-"

"Maddie." She said softly, now gripping onto one of my hands. "It'll be more like 15 hours away."

And just like that, my whole world came crashing down.

-

A/N:

i apologize for not updating for a few days i was a bit caught up with things! so this is short and kind of sucks, but here you go :~~~)