Even after waking up on Christmas morning and taking a long shower, it was still obvious that I had cried myself to sleep the night before. My feelings were hurt, obviously, because of my parents and also because of Ashton. I didn't tell either of them that, because I didn't want to ruin their day. I know that I had said earlier that I didn't care about Christmas, but that was before I had to spend it completely alone.
I was curled up on the couch and staring straight ahead of me, trying to figure out something to do today, when there was a knock on the front door. I immediately jumped up and ran over to it, having this secret hope that it was Ashton coming over to spend the day with me.
I had talked to Ashton since the last time I saw him, but we hadn't gotten together and hung out. I guess I just needed a little time away from him. He didn't do anything really wrong, and I didn't want to unintentionally make things worse because of how emotional I was over this. I would be fine in a couple days, and then things could return to normal.
When I opened the front door it wasn't Ashton standing there, it was Michael. He was dressed really nicely, like he had been at a church or some nice event before coming over here. He stood facing me with his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Hi." I said, my voice hoarse from not using it in a while.
"Aw, Dani." Michael sighed, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He could tell that I was crying, everyone would probably be able to tell no matter how hard I tried to cover it up.
Michael came forward and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into him. I didn't hug back for a second because I was afraid that I would start crying and get it all over his nice shirt, but eventually Michael grabbed my hands himself and wrapped them around his own waist. He finally pulled away after a few minutes, leaving a small kiss on my forehead.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "Weren't you supposed to go with Ashton to his mom's house?"
"Well, we were all ready to go and then all of this shit happened so I left and Ashton and his dad left, without even caring where I was. It's okay." Michael explained.
"'All of this shit', what was that?" I questioned.
"Ashton and his dad, they just won't stop fighting. First they were in this argument about the car, since Ashton was comfortable with getting in it and I wasn't. And then Ashton was smoking and his dad got mad at him, that's when I walked away." Michael nodded, finishing up his story. "Everyone's just so stressed out today."
"Did you come straight here?" I asked, walking back into the living room and sitting down again. Michael followed closely behind me and sat down beside me on the couch, crossing his legs over one another .
"No, I went to Sarah's house first." Michael rolled his eyes, letting me know that he hadn't had a very good time over there.
"And..?"
"She told me to leave her alone for now. I don't know what happened, but she won't tell me. It's fine, I don't know if things with her were going to work out anyway." Michael shrugged it off even though I could tell by the way he was talking that he was hurt, just like I was.
"Have you talked to her yet? Or are you still trying this silently fucking method?" I laugh quietly, for the first time in a while.
"I, uh, I talked to her the other night. You know, when I asked you to keep Ashton out of the house." Michael said, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Really?" I said excitedly, jumping a little. "What did you say?"
"Well, I kind of moaned, I guess. It was loud, and I said her name." Michael chuckled nervously, trying not to look me right in the eyes.
