"Well, someone's insanely happy this mooorning," Ashton sings as he enters the kitchen; Emma follows shortly after him. I hated to admit that I had already been awake for hours; sleep had been tough, and seemingly impossible. I wanted to prove to myself that this was in fact a reality, that I hadn't imagined the previous night and Michael really did care for me as more than a friend. By the time he and I had come back inside the house, it had been four in the morning and the only sounds resonating through the house was that of snoring boys mixed in with the hum of appliances. Truth be told, I could have stayed perfectly content by the pool for days just listening to him talk, but the very instant I had begun to drift off to sleep against his shoulder, he had physically carried me to my room.
"Shut up, Ashton, you're one to talk," I say, smacking his arm as he walks directly behind me to open the refrigerator door, almost knocking me over. "Hey, watch it."
Upon closing the door, he stoops down to my height, whispering in my ear, "That slap actually hurt--"
"I didn't sla--"
"But I wasn't trying to tease you.." he nods back towards the hall where Michael now stands in the doorway with the biggest lopsided grin slapped across his face. His eyes droop heavily, evidence that he had hardly slept as well; his dark, matted hair sticks out in every direction possible and I almost start to laugh, only to remember that I must be a sight myself.
"Morning," he speaks in a gravelly, sleep filled tone as he begins walking in my direction. He meets me halfway, his long arms wrapping carelessly around my waist to pull me tight against his chest. I bury my face against the white tshirt covering his torso; the scent of chlorine still lingers faintly on his skin mid the smell of the cologne he wore daily.
"Morning, Mikey," I mumble. Lips press against the top of my head as he hugs me tighter, almost refusing to let go. I pull away first, placing a hand on his chest as I stand on my toes to kiss his lips once; I can feel the smile against my mouth, and let out a giggle.
"You two are so cute it's disgusting," AJ complains as she emerges from her room, entirely dressed from head to toe with every ounce of makeup already in place. "Plus it's way too early for that."
"Shut the hell up," Michael scoffs.
"You two be nice," I scold.
"Remind me again why we're up this early to begin with?" Calum questions.
"We're recording some songs today," Luke answers.
"Oh, yeah, uh," Michael stutters, suddenly nervous. The bracelets are gone from his wrists, and he looks lost as to what to do with himself.
"Mikey?" I take a step back, ducking down to look him eye to eye. "What's up?"
"I was just gonna ask if--" he eyes the boys, all standing behind the island in the kitchen. "Well, I mean, do you wanna come with us to the studio today?"
"To the studio?" I question and he nods. I hear Calum scowl under his breath from behind me. "But you guys never let anyone come to the studio with you unless they're recording a song with you. You hardly ever even let me in the room when you used to do those old YouTube covers. Are you sure you want me to?"
"Are you saying that you don't want to?" he smirks. "Do you wanna stay here all day alone?"
"I wouldn't be entirely alone, there's AJ, Emma, and I can always hang out with Liz once she's awake," I grin.
"Fuck you, you're such a smart ass," he laughs, pushing on my shoulder; I nearly fall over, but his hand grabs my wrist. "Do you wanna come or not, Hadley?"
"Of course I do, you big idiot," I laugh; he tugs me back into his arms.
He lowers his head, only speaking loud enough for me to hear, "You're fucking gorgeous in the mornings, by the way." He kisses my cheek quickly, detaching himself from the embrace to head down the hall, yelling after himself, "And don't even try to argue with me!" I'm left standing with my arms crossed over my chest, debating on whether or not I should follow after him to argue despite what he said; there was no way in hell that I didn't look like a wreck and he had to be lying. A hand rests on my arm, and I glance to the right to see AJ standing next to me, her black hair pin straight and flowing over her shoulders. She's smiling so hard it looks as if she may burst at the seams and I immediately know what's coming when she begins tugging on my arm enough to rock my entire body back and forth where I'm standing.
"Can we go talk?" she asks, already pulling me back towards the bedroom I had only been in hours before.
"Do I really have a choice?" I remark, and her head shakes furiously. I had known before I asked. I reach out, turning the knob on the door, and allowing the both of us to enter before making sure to shut the boys just meters away out. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"As if you don't know!" she shrieks, jumping onto the bed beside me. "You and Michael of course; I mean as if you're not disgustingly cute enough already.. I just wanna know like, what you two are doing, I suppose? I mean you've been best friends for so long, this has to be weird. Is it weird?"
"AJ, what? We're not really doing anything," I laugh. "I mean, it's been 10 hours since we even confessed liking each other, all we've done is make out a few times." I notice her eyes widen considerably. "No, I"m not gonna tell you about his kissing."
"Dammit, you take away all the fun," she pouts. "I just wanted to know like what you two are gonna be, or if you're gonna be anything..." She smiles, nudging my shoulder with hers repeatedly.
"Okay, I know you probably figured out we were up really, really ridiculously late talking, but we didn't discuss it.." I say, leaning backwards to lie down. "It's not even been a day; we have plenty of time to do whatever it is we're gonna do. But right now? I'm just happy. I'm happy because it's real, and it's not a dream. Mikey actually feels the same about me as I do about him... y'know that's actually really never happened to me with all the crushes I've had off and on between liking him? Never. Never has someone liked me back. And when it's the one person I really want it to happen with, it did. For once, I have no worries about losing him as a friend either; all this time I worried I would lose him as a friend for liking him and now I don't have to because I know Mikey, and I know he would never hurt me intentionally. I should have realized that last night and not overreacted the way I did. He can't stand you anyways."
"Oh, I know," she snorts, covering her mouth the moment she does so.
"You know?" I gasp. "He can be really shitty sometimes, AJ, oh my god I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's okay," she insists. "He's your closest friend, not me, and I get that.... But Hadley... you totally want him to be your boyfriend, don't you?" Warmth spreads through my cheeks; my instinct is to turn over and bury my face into the pillows. "YOU'RE SO ADORABLE WHEN YOU LIKE SOMEONE!"
"Would you shut your damn mouth?" I yell, sitting up and placing my hand over her mouth. "You're so loud, I don't need everyone in Los Angeles to hear you."
"You're literally the girl version of Michael Clifford," she mumbles against my fingers before biting them, forcing me to immediately drop my hand. "What are you gonna wear with them to the studio?"
"Just something casual? It's just hanging out with my friends why would I need to dress up?" I say questionably; she shakes her head.
"Ah, shit," I mumble under my breath as she laughs loudly, walking to the closet.
----
so it's been ridiculously long since i updated? i'm really sorry, and i have more ideas after this so let's see what i can get done over christmas break guys!
YOU ARE READING
Descending || m.c.
Fanfiction"And I don't know, Mikey. Maybe I am crazy like all those people say I am, but it's like we're in a descent that only goes deeper and deeper, making it harder for me but also easier because you're all I've ever wanted.."
