twisted // michael clifford au

epilogue

February 2016

"We're sorry to call at this hour Ms. Cameron, but you're the only emergency contact on file that was available." "It's okay. I'm on my way, don't do anything until I get there," I instructed groggily, and quickly grabbed my keys and ran out the door. At one in the morning the hospital called to inform me that Michael Clifford had been in a motorcycle accident and I was the only contact that would answer. I hadn't spoken to Michael since July, when he told me he was no good for me and I needed to stay away from him. I did this completely, I hadn't heard from him or anything about him until this point. He stopped visiting Luke and Bea because he'd made a crowd of friends to fit his new lifestyle. I wasn't shocked when the nurse informed me I was the only one who answered. Luke said his parents cut him off and his other friends were just as unreliable as Michael. I rushed to the hospital because I could feel in the pit of the stomach that something was wrong. When your ex girlfriend is called for help something is always wrong. I didn't know how to feel, since I had spent months away from him and moving on and now he's thrown himself back into my life. I decided I would wait until I got to the hospital to call Luke. Bea and Levi are still together, and so when Levi moved in with Bea and Luke, Luke moved in with me. I thought of how I would explain leaving in the middle of the night to Luke when he woke up as I drove frantically, completely unsure of everything that was going on in my head.

I arrived at the hospital with panic floating in the bottom of my stomach. "I'm looking for Michael Clifford," I told the woman at the front desk of the emergency room. "Uh, yes. Go to the first room on the left and someone will come get you." I went to the small waiting room and sat down, preparing for the worst. "I'm in a waiting room, he's got to be fucking dead." I thought to myself. I tried to stay calm, and the only thing I could do was something I couldn't remember doing since I was a kid. I prayed. "God, I know we haven't talked or you haven't received my messages or whatever, but Michael needs you. Don't let him die," I quietly said aloud to myself, "he's been a total asshole to everyone on the universe but you can't kill him. Make him so fucking sorry for whatever he's done but don't let him die. Thanks, I guess," I put my head in my hands and took slow breaths. Michael could actually be dead . Just as my thoughts got worse, a nurse came in to take me to Michael's room. "Amen," I whispered.

I entered the tiny room to find Michael, broken and bandaged, but alive. "He has several broken ribs, a fractured tibia and a broken wrist." "Also," "Do not say his has fucking amnesia or something. I will walk out of here." "Although he was wearing a helmet, he hit a car at an excessive speed," "the doctor is checking over some scans right now." "The doctor will be in soon to talk with you." she said. "Why didn't his dad come in? He's an ER doctor." "Dr. Clifford was transferred to a hospital in Florida." "Oh," "I'll go see where the doctor is." she said before exiting the room.

There was a comfortable silence in the air until I spoke. "Have they asked you the amnesia questions? What do you remember? What day is it?" "Vi, I'm fine. Pretty fucking high because I'm on meds, but I'm good I think. This shit hurts like hell." "If you're fine, why the hell am I here?" "I didn't want to be alone. You know everyone in the world hates me now, and I can't fucking drive. " "Did you think I would automatically just show up? All because you can't drive? I drove all this fucking way for you. I shouldn't have." "I was hoping you would, maybe if you thought I was dead you'd come. I didn't think you'd actually show." "Vi, I fucked up. I know I should've stopped being a dick and just moved in with you and said goodbye but I couldn't. I don't fit into a perfect kind of life. I ruin you. You're doing so well now. You have all your shit together and you know why? It's because you're not with me." he added. I put my head in my hands. For months I wished to fight everything out one more time instead of going our separate ways quietly, and now it was happening. "All of that is bullshit. Everyone has fucking moved on without you because you waited too long to figure out what you were doing. I couldn't wait on you and neither could anyone else." Just as he began to refute, my phone rang. "Hey," I answered, surprised that Luke was even up at this hour. "Where are you? I'm so hungry," It's already past 5am. Luke leaves for his work study program at six on Mondays. "You're never going to fucking believe this," I stood up and walked out of the room. I explained everything, and Luke, as expected, was pissed. "You drove that fucking far? You should let that dick sit over there and think about all the damage he's done," "I know. I thought he was dead," "Fuck it. As soon as the doctor says what the problem is, give him money for a cab and get out of there. I'll call his parents tomorrow, maybe they'll feel sorry for him. I sure as hell don't."

I reentered the room to find Michael attempting to stay awake. When I looked at him I couldn't remember us laughing or having fun. All I could remember was the things that ruined us. "Who was that?" "Luke." "You still talk to him?" "Yeah? We go to the same school and we're roommates." "Roommates?" his eyes shot open. "Yes, roommates. Bea and her boyfriend live together, so Lukey moved in with me. " "Lukey? Since when do you call him that? Are you guys fucking or something?" "If you don't fucking watch your shit I will leave your ass here and you'll have to figure out how to get home with a broken leg on your own." "I was just wondering, okay? A lot has changed. " "For the better," I sighed, and everything was silent after that. The silence continued even after the doctor and nurses put on temporary casts and booked appointments and explained about the care he needed. It was even silent as I drove him to get breakfast because he wouldn't be able to make his own. The silence only stopped when I finally spoke to him. "Where am I supposed to take you?" "My house. When my parents were finally done with my shit and decided to move they let me keep the house. They send money every once in awhile. I work at the music store downtown, and I give guitar lessons." "Oh. Okay. You'll probably need to stay upstairs because of the crutches, and your casts are waterproof so you won't have a problem showering, you'll probably need to set a chair in there so you won't have to stand," "Thank you for doing this." "Are you sure there is no one in the world to help you?" "I'll call one of my co-workers. They're the only sober people I know." "Okay." I continued driving, my eyes focusing on the road highlighted by the morning sun.

"Can we please talk about you and Luke? We probably won't have a lot of conversations after today and it will eat me alive unless I know." "I don't think it's a good idea," I bit the inside of my lip. "Violet, if there's something going on I need to know, the way you're acting is making think there is. I don't care if you're with him or whatever, well I kinda do, but I just want to know." I pulled into his driveway, one that I hadn't seen in months, and helped him into the house. "You can't avoid this conversation. It must really be a big deal if you don't want to talk about it." he continued. "It's not that big of a deal, but I know that you're going to fight about whatever I tell you. If I say we're just friends living together you're going to say that I'm lying and something must be going on, and if I say something is going on you're going to swear up and down that it has been for awhile and I had a thing for him while we were together or some shit. So, no, I don't want to talk about it, because I can't win with you." "Even after all this time you know me so well," he smirked. "I'm just curious. Tell me and then you can leave me here to rot in regret. But don't leave me miserably curious." he added. I sighed for the hundredth time today, "I'll tell you. Then I'm leaving, and today never happened and our lives continue." "I could argue with that, but fine." I thought about what to actually say to him. I thought about the impact of the truth. I thought of how life would've been if Michael would've lied to me and made me stay with him.

"Luke and I are just friends. He's only living with me because Bea and Levi didn't really give him a choice. No feelings whatsoever. That's all it'll ever be." "Oh. Okay." "Goodbye, Michael." I didn't give him the chance to beg me to stay with him like I knew he wanted to; instead I left him with a bittersweet lie, one he would never know to be untrue because our worlds never crossed. I chose to not make him suffer, like he did to me, because if he knew the truth he would drown in misery knowing his ex girlfriend and ex best friend were together and he'd beg to know how it all came about and then throw a tantrum and try to blame Luke. If Michael knew what I'd told him was fictitious, we'd be left in a world of destruction. I couldn't bare make my current life any more twisted.

-

:OOOOOOO

liolet ? vuke ? >:]

wat ????

ok thats it ty for reading :-)

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