Cigarettes *Muke* #Wattys2016

Chapter 16

When Michael wakes up on Ashton's couch at 10am to a phone call, he's both displeased and confused. He grabs his phone off the coffee table and scans the caller ID, eyebrows furrowed when he sees Ashton's girlfriend's name flash across the screen. "Clarke, is everything okay?" Michael asks, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his free hand.

"No-- I dunno, Mike," She whispers, fear lacing her soft tone.

"What's going on? Did something happen? Did you get into a fight with Ashton?"

"No," Clarke replies and Michael could already picture her pushing her bangs from her face as she sighs on the other line. "Can you pick me up from mine please?" She murmurs. "It's important,"

"Of course," Michael replies, getting up from the couch and stumbling into Ashton's room to find an outfit. "I'll be there in ten minutes," He promises before they both say their goodbyes. Michael grabs the keys to Ashton's spare car after tugging on his jacket and grabbing both his keys and wallet, heading out the door as quickly as possible. He was worried for Clarke; she never called Michael unless something was wrong which caused a shiver of unease to shoot down Michael's spine.

Once he had gotten to Clarke's house, Michael parks the car and heads up to his friend's front door, knocking softly on the dull oak. He shifts his weight from foot to foot until Clarke answers, dressed in blue jeans and one of Ashton's shirts, hair tied up into a messy bun. Stress saturated her porcelain face which causes Michael to frown yet he doesn't mention it as he says, "Ready to go?"

Clarke nods slowly, forcing a smile as they walk back to his car. "Thanks for picking me up. Can we-- Can we go to the hospital please?" She asks softly.

Michael's eyes instantly widen at her words, locking worried gazes with her and says, "Why? Are you hurt?"

The blonde girl shakes her head, eyes welling with tears as she says, "I wanted to um, get a pregnancy test. You know, to see for sure. I took a few tests at home but have gotten a mix of answers so I just wanted to have a solid answer. I--"

"You think you might be pregnant?" Michael can't help but cut her off. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Ashton? I think he'd want to be here for this,"

Clarke shakes her head, dismissing his words and wiping her eyes to rid the tears that hadn't fallen. "No. It's probably a false alarm and I shouldn't even be freaking out. I dunno, Mikey. I just didn't want to go alone."

The small boy pulls his friend into his arms, hugging her tight and says, "Okay, C. We'll go to the hospital now, yeah? Whatever happens, everything will be okay,"

The girl beside him nods with a smile before Michael starts the car and drives to the hospital, holding Clarke's hand gently the whole ride there.

***

"Can you come with me?" Clarke asks once the doctor had called her name, calling her back and Michael nods with a soft smile.

"Of course," Michael murmurs, grabbing onto her hand. He rubs his thumb over the top of her palm, having realized that hand holding was something that calmed her and feels her tense as soon as the doctor shoos them into another room.

"So Clarke, what brings you here?" He asks and the blonde nervously looks down at her hands and says, "I think I might be pregnant and I wanted to get some tests done,"

"Oh wonderful," He grins. "You're the boyfriend or...?" He assumes, pointing his pen at Michael which only causes the small boy's eyes to widen as he shakes his head.

"Friend," He says quickly and the doctor nods, quickly apologizes for his mistake.

"Alright, Clarke, I'm going to take your blood now, okay?" He says, voice soft and Clarke nods.