Perilous Flames [clifford a.u]

chapter thirteen - reunited

        CHAPTER THIRTEEN - REUNITED

        Michael and I had finally arrived in West Virginia. 

        In the span of three days of continuous driving and short breaks for coffee with tons of espresso, we had managed to get to the state in less time than I had anticipated. Of course we both were tired as hell, but it was all worth it when a huge smile was brought on Michael's face when we had passed the Welcome to West Virginia sign two and a half hours ago.  

        Since then, Michael had been talking about Calum nonstop. He was talking about how much he missed playing certain games with him and he missed how they both would order tons of pizzas late at night and how they would practice playing their instruments and writing songs. It was obvious that the bromance between them was still strong as ever despite how long they had both last seen each other. 

        "I don't know, it's been a while since I last played Fifa, but I'm pretty sure I could still kick his ass at it," Michael said, leaning back against the leather seat of the Hummer. He had one hand extended on the steering wheel of the car and his other arms rested against the edge of the driver's window. He still wore a smile and he was tapping his fingers to the music that was coming from the radio. 

        Me, on the other hand, was slumped against the large car seat with my knees pressed against my chest. My hair was tied into an extremely messy ponytail and my eyes were closing shut every time Michael didn't scare me awake by suddenly saying something. 

        "So," I yawned and pulled the ends of the oversized sweater I wore over my knuckles. "Where exactly are we going?" 

        "West Virginia University," he replied, glancing at me. 

        My head was already slowly sliding towards the armrest between us, my eyes closing. "Aiden," Michael sighed. 

        "Yes?" I cracked an eye open at him. 

        "If you were tired, we could have stopped at a motel so you could rest--" 

        "And then we would've gotten here tomorrow," I interrupted and placed my arm on the entire thing so I could rest my head on it. I felt my arm touch his side and I saw him immediately tense up and scoot a little bit over. I mentally felt a little sting in my chest, but I ignored it and moved away from the armrest and instead leaned against the window of the passenger side. 

        Michael and I had both eased up to each other, but we weren't exactly on the same page. Where as I was wanting everything to go completely back to normal between us, Michael still wanted to talk to me but he still didn't like the idea of any physical contact between us that would last more than ten seconds. 

        The only time we actually physically held each other longer than expected was the night of the bar. I remembered us holding each other close the entire night. Most of it was blurry, but I remembered all I had wanted was to be wrapped in his warmth. And then I remembered Michael agreeing that it was okay to be together and he wouldn't leave me and then I knocked out.

        The next morning though, I woke up alone on the queen sized bed, wrapping in layers of blanket and Michael sleeping on the other bed that I was suppose to be sleeping in. It was confusing because I thought everything was a dream and all that happened--being cold and being wrapped in his arms--had been just a really weird dream and so I hadn't mentioned it to him. Then later in the day, Michael had asked me if I was feeling better and if I was still cold and then my face grew hot and red. 

        He had asked me if I wanted to see a doctor but immediately I refused, saying that all I got was some sort of fever or something. When I had told him that, I thought that he wasn't going to let it go and continue to press the topic of it on me, but he easily did let it go. Since then, I had only small episodes of shivering and small shudders from feeling cold, but not as bad as that night. And since then, Michael and I had never spoken about how we slept together that night; as if it never happened.