seven
++
Her eyes skimmed across the well-lit apartment, from the large faux leather burgundy sofa located to the left of her, along with the small kitchen pushed to the corner of the room; his apartment appeared to be a little smaller than hers. Even so he had used the space well since nothing seemed to look crammed or cluttered which she found to be oddly surprising. Not that she thought Michael would intentionally be an untidy person, she just assumed it was a characteristic most men had.
“Sorry if it’s a little messy, I had my nephew over not long ago,” He spoke, an apologetic expression playing over his features but she waved her hand dismissively, offering him a small smile.
“Oh no, don’t be sorry, I was actually going to tell you how surprised I am that it’s this clean,” She replied, a playful tone evident making him laugh.
She couldn’t wait all day to see Michael, despite the fact that her day didn’t run as smoothly as she hoped - beginning with her boss having a go at her for being 2 hours late and then accidentally dropping a customer’s saucer and cup of coffee as well as a berry cheesecake - she was far too excited to let anything negative get to her. They were standing quite close, he even felt desirous to give her a quick hug but he thought maybe it would come off as a little creepy, so he shook the idea away.
Violet took a few steps forward, toward the living space where a few left over Lego pieces lay scattered on the coffee table. She smiled to herself, she had always loved children. “How old is your nephew?”
“5,” He answered immediately, eyeing the pile of Legos before picking them up one by one and placing them back in the cardboard box. “I don’t take care of him often, only about once or twice a week when his mum works extra shifts,” He explained further once he had cleared all of the different coloured blocks, finally looking up to meet her eyes again. She nodded in understanding, she thought it was kind of cute that Michael took care of the boy; she imagined he would be brilliant with children.
“So what’s for dinner, Mr Clifford?” She asked cheekily, poking her tongue out.
“Um, well pizza, I hope that’s alright I just thought we could kind of watch a movie or something,” He stated nervously, afraid that maybe his idea of keeping everything casual, in an attempt to not scare her away, mightn’t be enough. She giggled softly at him, the way he stumbled over his words was awfully adorable and it was making her want to just plant her lips on his right then at that moment.
“Don’t be silly, it sounds perfect.” Just as she had replied and given him a smile that he immediately returned, the sound of the doorbell startled the pair. He gave her a quick look, as if to say, ‘I’ll get it’ and headed to the door.
She sat herself down at the dining table after collecting two glasses but when Michael returned with the pizza he gave her an odd look.
“Why aren’t you sitting on the couch? I can’t cuddle you when you’re all the way over there,” He whined the last part, almost complaining but it still made her cheeks flush a deep shade of red, a shade that they happened to be only when this boy was around.
They ate their last slices of pizza in silence as the movie began to play. Michael had decided to slip on ‘Frozen’ insisting it was a ‘classic’ since Violet had said she hadn’t seen it which made him almost choke on his slice of peperoni pizza.
✤
✤
✤
✤
Violet erupted in laughter, clutching the sides of her abdomen as Michael sang ‘Let it go’ along with Elsa in his own version of a ‘girly’ voice. She hadn’t laughed this much in a while and it felt beautiful. She wiped a tear from the corners of her eyes and patted her face, which was red hot from all the laughing she had just done.
“Do you think I could be a singer Vi, I think I’m pretty good?” He asked, still laughing.
“I don’t think so, you sound horrible,” She replied teasingly, running a hand through her hair quickly and poking out her tongue which made the his mouth drop but quickly close as he placed his hands at either side of her and began attacking her ribs. She howled with laughter, squealing and trying to push the boy off her, but he was far stronger than her.
“St-, Sto-, Stop!” She breathed out in between laughter to which he finally listened and stopped, but didn’t move his hands from their current position.
“Your eyes are such a beautiful shade of brown, have I ever told you that?” He asked as he gazed into her eyes, his arms fastening around her waist. She shook her head a little but the way her breath had gotten hitched in her throat made it hard for her to concentrate. The way he was looking at her was a way that no other human being had ever looked at her before, it made the butterflies in the pit of her stomach multiply.
“I should’ve,” He whispered softly, his breath getting caught in his chest as he looked at her in complete and utter awe. "They’re just so alluring..." he trailed, his eyes darting from her lips and quickly back to her warm, chocolate brown eyes. The feeling in his chest wouldn't surpass. As cliché as it sounded, Michael knew that what he felt for the girl weren’t just ‘little feelings’ or even a crush; it was love. He unquestionably adored her. The desire to graze his lips over hers continually began to grow, the seconds felt more like hours as he continued to look at her; so he began to lean in, at first slowly, but once her lips were close enough to his, he pushed them together without a second thought.
+ A/N +
ASDJGKRUHEKNJFHR THEY KISSED CAN WE JUST
THIS CHAPTER IS SO MUCH LONGER I'M PROUD OF MYSELF??????
I'M SUPPOSED TO BE DOING HOMEWORK SO BE HAPPY BYE
YOU ARE READING
2:00 am ➸ clifford au
Fanfiction: where two neighbours find themselves restless at the same time, 2:00 am.
