"Heeey," Michael smiles down at me, catching his lower lip just between his front teeth. "You're wearing my shirt again.. you know that was my favorite." He stuffs both hands into his front pockets; the anchor tattoo on his left thumb is strinkingly darker against the black skinny jeans he wears. Tuffs of dark hair stick out from the beanie on his head. I take a step foward, placing myself directly beside him and loop my arms through one of his, watching as his eyes suddenly go wide and his cheeks turn red when I hug myself tightly against his side.
"What are you gonna do about it Mikey?" I question, laughing when his head droops and he begins to follow after the boys towards the SUV waiting outside. "Make me give it back?"
"N-no, I wasn't gonna take it from you, dammit I already said it--I was just picking--" he sputters.
"Good, because you'd have to fight me for it," I say, stopping abruptly to shove him into the open car doors. "And I would most definitely win."
"Hadley, what the fuck?!" he yells while pulling himself upright. His firm grip pulls on my wrist, forcing me forwards into the cool interior of the car and directly into his lap. My hands press hard against his chest in an attempt to pull away, but he's stronger than myself. "You'd never, ever win."
"Like hell I wouldn't." A laugh spills through his pressed lips as I glare at him; it's undeniably contagious, pulling laughter from my chest to ring through the car, mingling with his. Crinkles form next to his eyes, his nose scrunching as his head is thrown back against the head rest. Hands reach up, cupping his cheeks as my thumbs smooth the crinkles next to his eyes. Momentarily he stops laughing, and I lean forward to kiss the tip of his nose.
"Okay, maybe I'd let you win," he mumbles, his hands finding my waist to remove me from his lap and into the seat to his right.
"Are you guys done now?" Luke questions; he still stands leaning against the open door frame of the SUV, his arms crossed over his chest. "I mean, not like we're on a schedule or anything guys."
"Oh come on," I laugh. "Get in the car, it's not like we're hurting anything." He smiles jokingly, pulling himself into the car beside me and pulling the door closed. We begin to move, picking up speed and like times long before this I'm jammed between the two of them. I tuck myself back against Michael's side, burying my face against his sleeve. The scent of chlorine from earlier had gone, now replaced with a richer scent that reminded me of the holidays I had spent with his family not long after we had become friends. From the beginning of our friendship, my parents had trusted his surprisingly easy, and when taking their ridiculously crazy business trips all over the world, they would often leave me with Michael's family until I grew old enough to stay at the house on my own. Even then, I had chose to leave and spend time with his parents and himself. Leaving me at home with them was a selfish decision; it was for my parents' own benefit. The one and only reason was to keep me from having to be home schooled or taught through online schooling. Their incredible amount of trust in this big idiot was the only explanation towards allowing him to bring me halfway across the globe with the band. However, truthfully, they had just simply stopped caring what trouble I got myself into the older I got when they used to be the strictest parents of all my friends.
Circumstances in my life had always been weird; growing up with parents that were gone at random points in the year with no designated return date hadn't been easy for me to deal with. Once old enough, my parents begun to leave me home alone rather then dropping me off on Michael's parents, but I would always find my way back to their house. Earlier when AJ had questioned Michael and myself like this being weird, I had ignored her intentionally; there were enough aspects of my life classified as being weird, and I hadn't wanted this to become another one of them. Truthfully, it was a little strange and different but it somehow felt more normal than most other things. Sure, kissing him had felt extremely odd the first couple times, yet there had been this warm, intoxicating sweet sensation about it that I hadn't really ever felt with anyone else before. I couldn't have explained myself to AJ earlier even if I had tried to properly form the words to speak; I just knew that I hadn't wanted this to be weird, and her question threw me off--
"What are you thinking about?" Michael mumbles; my eyes shift upwards to meet his green ones staring down at me beneath his lashes. "You've been off in a daze since we left the house and we're almost to the studio, by the way."
"Nothing," I say.
"Oh, now that's a lie," he scoffs.
"Just different things, really. I could tell you later," I assure him; his eyebrows raise. "I promise it's nothing bad, it was just random thoughts, things about us, the usual."
"You'll tell me later?"
"Yes, I'll tell you later," I laugh. The car jolts to a stop, and immediately I gaze out the window to the right of Luke. Just outside the recording studio, I can make out two lines of fans, one on ether side of the entrance. "Oh.."
"What's wrong?" Michael asks.
"There's fans all over the place, that's what's wrong," Luke answers for me. I stare at him in shock; I had known they all paid attention but never guessed they would retain any information concerning what exactly made me nervous or agitated at times.
"Hadley?" I jump at the sound of Michael's voice directly in my ear; his hot breath tickles my neck. "You'll be okay, we got you. We're gonna stop for fans later on the way out, but right now we gotta get into the studio. We're already late." I nod as he tells me everything in a hushed, assuring tone. The boys all begin to shuffle from the car, distant screams filling the air as Luke steps from the car and into the bright LA sunshine. I step from the car just behind him, stopping short when Michael's arm drapes over my shoulders to tug me close to him again, making sure I don't get lost in the crowd. Through the rows and rows of people, I can hear them calling out the boys' names, cheering for them, screaming out their love for my four best friends; I can hear even my own name being called and would have stopped to see the direction in which it came had it not been for Michael continuously tugging me forwards and into the cool hallway of the recording studios.
"Are you okay?" Michael questions immediately, his arms engulfing me in a hug.
"Mikey, I'm fine," I giggle, hugging him back briefly before his embrace loosens; one arm remains over my shoulder and I wrap myself around his waist as we follow the boys down the hall. Along the walls were portraits of other artists that had made it big, some were signed pictures, and others were framed gold, silver, and platinum albums. I could only hope to see these four boys on that wall one day, a picture of them with their typical poses next to a shiny framed album. We all hang a left, walking into quite a large studio with a recording booth behind plated glass. A couple men sit behind the sound board, and the door to the booth is open. The rest of the boys immediately go through the door at the far end of the room, emerging behind the glass; Michael seems reluctant to let me go, but places a kiss on the top of my head before following suit.
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this was originally gonna be one long chapter, but it's way too long in my head to do so, it'd probably end up being like 6 pages, so here's another update for you guys, sorry if this is boring bc it's just a filler chapter. but the next should be a little more interesting ;)
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.."
