nothing without you || m.c

Part 5- Fifty Points To Gryfindor.

Part 5- Fifty Points To Gryfindor.
Song for this chapter: Wonderwall- Cover by Ed Sheeran.
Elsie's POV:
I trudged down the stairs, my hair a tangled mess, in a pair of old shorts and Michael's sweatshirt -what, it was comfortable and smelled like guy, okay?- and walked into the kitchen. Lily and Dez were sitting at the table, drinking tea and eating donuts.
"Tea." I mumbled, drawing out the a, and reaching for Dez's cup.
"Hey!" She said, taking it from me before I could take a sip.
"Make me some, please?" I asked, putting on my best puppy dog face.
"Fine." She grumbled.
She poured me a mug and I shot her a toothy grin as I sat on the chair and took it.
"So, you and galaxy hair?" She said, looking at me.
"Pardon me?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Galaxy hair?"
"Well Lily and I were talking about you two and we came to the conclusion that he has galaxy hair." She explained.
"Wow. And no, we're just friends." I huffed, sipping the hot tea.
"Famous last words." Lily said. Dez snorted and I laughed loudly at her.
"Okay, I'm going to go shower. You two can sit down here and gossip about people." I laughed, standing up and grabbing my tea.
"What stores are there downtown to work at. I need a job for the summer." I asked Dez.
"Well there's a really cute bookstore. It's called Books&Stuff. I can see you working there." She said, running a hand through her hair.
"The book store it is!" I yelled and grabbed a donut and took a huge bite.
"I know you were up late texting him!" Lily yelled as I climbed the stairs.
"Whatever floats your boat." I called back, and went into my room. I decided I'd unpack a little before my shower. I went to my bag that held all my books and CD's and filled up one of the shelves in my room. I put my iPod on the dock and danced around as I unpacked.
I heard the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire rap and went checked my phone to see who was calling me. The screen lit up and Michael's name came up. A smile appeared on my face as I answered it.
"Hey."
"Good morning." He said.
"Morning. What's up?" I asked him.
"What are you- hey, is that Maroon 5?" He asked interrupting his own question. I was confused for a second but then realized he was talking about the music coming from my iPod dock.
"Yeah. Fifty points to Gryfindor if you can guess the song." I challenged.
"Is it," he paused as he thought, "This Love?"
"Correct!"
"So what we're you planning on doing today?" He asked.
"Umm, well I was thinking of applying for a job at the bookstore." I said, holding my phone between my shoulder and ear so I could look through my closet.
"Perfect. Meet me there at 12." And with that he hung up. I looked confused at my phone before I threw it onto my bed and kept looking for clothes.
I chose a white flowy tank top and shorts. I braided my hair to the side and threw on some sandals. I didn't bother putting on make up because it was already 11:55. I ran downstairs, throwing my phone and wallet into my purse. There was a bag of almonds on the counter so I put some in a small baggy and stuffed them in my purse. I ran towards the door and almost ran into Dez.
"Lover boy's outside." She said, winking at me. I groaned, ignoring her comment.
I saw a pair of Lily's sunglasses so I put them in my bag and grabbed my keys.
"Bye, ladies! I'll be back in two hours, but no promises." I shouted and opened the door. Michael was standing there with his hands in his pockets. He had on a tank top with the American flag on it and a pair of black skinny jeans with black converse like the ones I had.
"Hey." He said, smiling at me.
"Hi."
"Can I drive you?" He asked, gesturing towards his car. I smiled and nodded, following him to it. We hopped in and he started it, pulling out of the driveway. I grabbed my almonds and started eating them.
"Oh, almonds. Yum." Michael said, and reached over for some.
"Hey! These are mine!" I laughed as he threw them into his mouth.
"Well now you're sharing." He said, looking at me and smiling. His smile was so genuine and beautiful that it almost was hard to think it was real.
"So, what made you want to come with me?" I asked him.
"I like books." He said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Really?" I asked, not believing him.
"Picture books." He added, and I burst into laughter.
"You're cute, Mikey." I said, ruffling his hair.
"You do that a lot, you know." He said, smiling at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Touch people's hair. I see you playing with Lily's all the time." He said, and I thought it was kind of sweet he noticed something little about me like that.
"Yeah. My mom had really long brown hair, and I would play with it a lot. If I was scared, or happy, or sad. So I guess it just brings me comfort." I said, shrugging my shoulders.
You look different today." He said after a few minutes.
"It's because I'm not wearing make up. I know, I probably don't look too good." I laughed, playing with the hem of my shirt.
"No, it's a good different." He looked at me and he gave me that smile again that made my heart flutter.
"Okay. I'll wait for you while you do your application stuff." He said as we pulled up to the bookstore. We walked in and a little chime went off. A middle-aged looking woman came to the front desk and smiled.
"Hi, dear. How may I help you?"
"Well, I was wondering if you were looking to hire somebody." I said, putting on a nice smile.
"Well, I hadn't thought about it but I guess I could use some help around here." She smiled, and looked at Michael.
"Are you looking for a job, too?" She asked.
"No, I'm just with her." He answered, placing his hand at the small of my back. A shiver went up my spine and I couldn't help the small smile that came to my lips.
The women smiled at us as it seemed as if she knew something we didn't. I brushed it off and tried to get the butterflies in my stomach to calm down.
"So do you need me to fill out an application?" I asked her.
"No, there's no need, hun. I'm just going to hire you on the spot! Spontaneity is the spice of life, yeah?" She laughed an I grinned at her.
"Thank you so much, mam'."
"You can start Thursday. That's when we get out new books in. Be here at 8:00 and I'll show you the ropes." She said.
"Okay. I look forward to it. My names Elsie, by the way. Elsie Parker." I said, sticking out my hand.
"Rose, rose Goodman."
"Have a nice day, Mrs. Goodman." Michael and I walked back towards the door, but he stopped and walked towards a rack of books.
"Look, picture books." He smiled at me, and picked one up. I walked over to him and picked one up.
Michael sat down and leaned against the wall, and flipped through it.
"Come on, sit down. We don't have anywhere to go." He said.
"We'll I'm going to get a real book." I laughed, and went towards the novels. I noticed Rose had left the counter, so I didn't think she knew we were there. I found a book called '
Michael and I sat for what felt like forever. Both of us with our backs against the wall, our knees pulled up, and books in our hands. I felt a weight on my shoulder, and looked down to see Michael had fallen asleep on my shoulder. The book still sitting in his lap. I smiled and looked back at my book. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Rose peeking around the bookshelf.
"I didn't know you and you're boyfriend we're still here." She smiled, talking softly so she didn't wake Michael.
"Oh no, he's not my boyfriend. Just friends." I smiled, my cheeks blushing.
"We'll anyone would guess it. With the way he looks at you." She smiled warmly at me.
"We'll only be a few more minutes." I told her, feeling bad that we'd been here so long.
"Oh, you're fine. Take as long as you need." She smiled and walked back towards where she was.
"Mikey, wake up." i said, nudging him. He opened his eyes and rubbed them, looking like a child.
"Let's go." I said, putting our books back on the shelf. I was disappointed I didn't get to finish mine. It was about best friends who were madly in love with each other but they both didn't know it. Kind of cliché but it was a good book. When we got to the car I realized I left my phone in the car and it was ringing. I checked the caller I.D. It was Dez.
"He-" I was cut off my loud shouting.
"ELSIE LYNN PARKER WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!? LILY AND I HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! YOU SAID YOU'D BE GONE FOR TWO HOURS! IT'S ALREADY 5 O' CLOCK!" I had to hold the phone away from my ear so I didn't blow my eardrum out.
"Dez-"
"NO YOU LISTEN! I AM SUPPOSED TO WATCH YOU AND I HAD NO IDEA WHERE YOU WENT AND I JUST KEPT THINKING ABOUT JASON! Oh my God, are you okay?" Her voice calmed down after she mentioned Jason, but at the mention of his name my heart clenched. My hand instantly went to the fabric around my wrist and rubbed it, and I had troubles breathing.
"Els? Are you okay? Elsie?" She asked, but I couldn't speak. My throat was closing up and the words just wouldn't come out. Tears welled up in my eyes and Michael look at me, concern instantly covering his face.
"Elsie, what wrong?" He asked, but it was like I wasn't in my body anymore. I was looking at myself as the images flashed through my mind. Jason and I in our sandbox. Riding bikes. Swimming. And then me sitting on the sidewalk clutching the red bandana.
"Give me the phone." I heard a muffled voice say into the speaker. All of a sudden Lily's voice filled my ears.
"Elsie. Elsie, honey, listen to my voice. Listen to me. It's okay. It's going to be okay. Just focus on me." But it was like I didn't have control of my body. I saw Michael reach for the phone and heard hi ask Lily what to do.
"You need to make her look at you and make her see that you're there." I heard her voice through the speaker.
"Tell her everything's going to be okay. Tell her to look at you. She should come back." She instructed.
I looked at myself and saw a broken, sad girl. Someone who wasn't there anymore. Her eyes were glazed over and tears stained her cheeks and she had curled into a ball on the seat.
"Elsie. Look at me. Elsie, everything's going to be okay. You're okay. Look at me. Look at me. You're going to be okay." His calming voice pulled me out of my daze and suddenly I was back in my body. I tried to control my breathing but it was still hard.
"Elsie. Look at me." He put one hand on my chin and tilted my head up and the other took mine in his larger one. My eyes met his and slowly the blur went away and his face filled my vision.
"You're going to be okay." He said, rubbing my cheek. I finally returned my breathing to normal and had control over my body. I sat up and looked at him, tears still running down my face.
"Oh my God. You're okay." He whispered. Impulsively I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. He squeezed my waist and buried his head in my neck.
"I didn't know what was going on." He mumbled, and I looked at him to see he was crying.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm okay now." I said, brushing his tears away with my thumb.
"What happened?" He asked me, his eyebrows coming together in confusion.
"I- I can't say. Not yet, at least. I will, though. I promise. Just, give me time." I said, not wanting to to into my past right now.
He looked at me for a minute, silence filling the car, but them he nodded his head.
"Okay. I will." He turned and started the car and I pulled my legs up to my chest.
I picked up my phone that had fallen to the ground and saw I was still calling Dez.
"I'm okay, Lily." I said, reassuring her.
"Oh my God. Michael, did he- did he bring you back?" She whispered, unable to believe it.
"Yeah. He did." I said, and looked at him out of the corner of my eye.
"Oh my God. No one except for me and your family has. How did he do it?" She asked, still not believing me.
"We'll talk about it when we get home. Bye, Lil." I hung up and looked a Michael.
"Thank you." I said, and I laced my hand with his. He looked at me as them down at our hands, and back again.
"You're a pretty extraordinary girl, Elsie." He said, and squeezed my hand.
I laughed lightly and looked out the window.
"I wouldn't say that."