Swimming Lessons | AI

Chapter 22- Unexpected Shopping with Michael Clifford

(Song at the top) Soarin- Bazzi

Raegan's POV

I was sandwiched between Ashton and Luke in the van as we cruised around, making stops and gathering items for their New Year's party tonight. Time was ticking as we made the final few stops, one of which was a mall so I could get a change of clothes. They dropped me off to give me time to look around as they run to make the final stop. I roamed around trying to decide what I should buy but in the end, I bought just a few basic shirt and jeans before I ventured of to Victoria Secrets next looking for undergarments.

As I browsed the store looking for something to just get me by the next few days I felt a presence pop up beside me, startling me.

"For your information, Ashton likes simple things." Michael said with a smile. "What you just put down would be perfect. The cheeky underwear is hot with a matching bra."

"Michael what are you doing here?" I asked slightly alarmed with his presence. I looked around seeing if anyone was recognizing him, hoping we weren't going to get bombarded with fans. Now would really not be a good time.

"Offering my assistance apparently," He smirked. "I know Ashton really well and I think he would like those."

"Ashton and I are just friends. I'm shopping for myself because I literally only have this dress I'm wearing and I don't want to be stuck in this for the next few days," I tell him as I turned my attention back to the pile of what he called cheeky underwear. "I need options."

"What girl shops in this store if they're not trying to impress a guy? It filled with see-through and lacy items us men drool over on woman." Michael grabbed a of underwear and tossed at me. "You like him and deep down you have him in mind while shopping for these things."

I rolled my eyes. "It is possible for a woman to have this stuff to make them feel good about themselves. It doesn't always have to revolve around a guy. Maybe I'm not really feeling myself and I need a confidence boost?"

"You two need a boost to admit that you guys like each other. All he does is talk about you and when you fell of the face of the earth he didn't know what to do. He wasn't interested in anyone else. I tried setting him up and it would never work." I watched as he shifted through the bins in front of me. "What's your size?"

"I'm not telling you my size," I raised my brow. "This is too weird."

"I'll buy them and you can thank me later when you two finally see what we all see." Michael waited patiently for me to divulge my sizes but I wasn't giving in.

"Ashton and I barely know each other. We've hung out only a few times, Michael. I don't know what everyone sees, considering I'm barely around you all as is, Ashton and I are just friends." I said grabbing a few pairs of silk underwear from the bin in my size and moving around to the other side of the display.

"Do you like him?" Michael continued pressing the issue as he followed me around. "Because he likes you and you guys already have this bond and I'm pretty sure you like him too. Why else would you have called him and be here with all of us right now."

He just couldn't stop could he? But he was right and I just stopped searching through the bins and I turned to him. "Yes, I like him, but no, I'm not jumping the guns and going to seduce him any time soon. Can I just enjoy the evening with him? With all of you? You guys don't even know me and here you are pushing that I get your friend into bed."

"We know more about you than you think we do." Michael grinned as he started proving his point. "You have a full ride scholarship to Stanford for academics and you recently got accepted into Medical School. You're super smart and very logical. You're also indecisive and afraid of making the wrong decision. I'd suggest overcoming that because you'll have to be making quick and confident decisions when saving lives."

I stood there and crossed my arms as he read into me accurately. It was definitely a tad bit creepy, but he seemed like an observant person to begin with so I couldn't hold the level of creepiness against him.

"You're also very by the book and it's hard for you to let loose and be spontaneous. You're afraid of failure and don't want to be seen as vulnerable."

"Ok I get it, you've done your research on me. Thank you for the mini psychoanalysis," I chuckled. "Maybe someone should go study psychology."

"Not a chance." Michael continued watching me and I did my best to ignore him so I could focus on finding things I wanted to buy, but he made it nearly impossible as he started handing me things and putting them in my way of digging for myself that I just gave in. "Fine, I'll buy these." Now annoyed, I quickly gathered his picked items and took them to the front and checked out. His persistence paid off and he was clearly pleased with himself. His smug look continued all the way back out to the van.

We climbed in and the van took off back to the hotel so we could prepare for the party which was starting the matter of minutes. Cutting it close was an understatement because as soon as we got back up to the penthouse, everyone was rushing around. I spent most of the time in the small kitchen preparing finger snacks as the boys cleaned up and changed clothes.

People started arriving and the music was turned on and drink were being poured. I continued working around the kitchen but stopped when Ashton brought a bottle and two shot glasses laying them in front of me. I watched him pour both glass before setting the bottle down.

"You ready?" He asked with a smile.

"Been ready." I replied taking one of the shot glasses and took the contents without a second thought. The liquid burned all the way down my throat as I puckered my lips against the not so great taste. "Hit me again."

"Maybe you should give it a minute." Ashton laughed. "Don't overdo it."

"I can handle it." I said confidently.

"If you say so."

Ashton was hesitant about giving me another one so soon but poured us both another shot anyways. I downed it again. This one went down easier than the first as I felt my throat becoming numb to the liquor.

"Again."

"Raegan, slow down. We have all night." Ashton pushed the bottle out of reach and took my hand. "Come dance with me."

A/N: Please vote if you like this chapter. If this story gets a total of 5 votes I'll post a bonus chapter this weekend instead of early next week. I have another long A/N but it's just a fun fact about this story.

STORY TIME!! So along time ago I wrote a similar but different version of this story. The concept was overall the same but different fandom and a few different events happened. This was all back like 5 to 6 years ago under one of my old wattpad account that no longer exist. This story (back then) was placed in the top 100 in fan fiction, eventually making it to 60 something with 100k + reads. Obviously I'm no where near that again because I started over and been in and out of wattpad since then but it's pretty crazy to think that once upon a time something like that happened.