"You know, I actually prefer the whole bright colour thing." I looked at Michael like he was crazy. We were standing in boots in the hair dye aisle. Previously, we had been looking at the normal Nice & Easy brunette hair dyes but he had wondered along to the bright reds, pinks, blues and multiple other colours I wondered why people even put in their hair.
He reached for Schwarzkopf LIVE colour XXL and took a blue off of the shelf. I continued to stare at him, my mouth open as he inspected the back.
"You have to be kidding?" He put the blue back down and instead picked up a blond dye.
"Nope, maybe I should just bleach it blond?" I continued to stare at him, trying to work out if he was joking or not. He looked up at me and shot me a grin. Quickly, I shook my head.
"Just go back to dark for now Clifford, be adventurous another time." He pouted but put the ridiculous hair dye back and returned to the normal colours.
"Black it is." We walked to the counter together. I was excited to dye Michael's hair, even though I haven't ever dyed anyone's hair myself before.
-&-
"Sit still you idiot!" Michael was sitting in between my legs in the boys' apartment whereas I was sitting on the edge of the bath. In his hand was a plastic container filled with hair dye mixture from the pack we had chosen.
"I'm not comfy!" I could hear the pout in his whine as I pulled the front of his hair back with my gloved hands.
"Quit it, loser." I slung a little more hair dye on his hair, brushing it from the roots to the end.
"Are you done yet?"
"Fucking hell, yes! You need to wait 15 minutes." Michael happily jumped up and stretched out his legs and I pulled off the gloves careful to not let the dark dye drop anywhere.
It wasn't until Michael was towel drying his hair that I realised he should have probably asked someone with experience to help him. My hand was slapped across my mouth, eyes wide as he messed up the front of his hair with his hand.
He was smiling until he looked at me.
"What have you done?"
"I swear it wasn't on purpose, I didn't know, I've never done this before!" He shot me a glare before moving over to his mirror hanging on his wardrobe door.
His fingers rose to run through the green streak that had been left in his hair. He was moving agonisingly slow.
"Looks like the title of 'shrek' didn't want to leave you." I half expected him to turn around and jump on me again, attacking me. He shrugged and faced me, grinning.
"I look punk rock!" He looked ecstatic; you wouldn't think I had just dyed his hair wrong.
"It's impossible for you to look punk rock, Clifford." I snorted as he pulled off his t-shirt and entered his wardrobe to look for a new one.
"Whatever. I need to get ready, see you soon?" Taking his hint, I nodded and left him alone.
Being on my own allowed my mind to flash back to the memories of River. This time, however, I didn't cry. I was surprised at myself for not crying honestly because I missed the calm I felt with him greatly. Things were different with Michael.
"If you're here to play another prank, you can leave." Shocked by his harsh words, I turned to face an angry looking Ashton. He was standing against the door frame, arms crossed, looking me down.
"I wasn't -"
"Don't bother. I've had enough of your bullshit now. Trouble followed you into our lives and we don't want that. All we want to do is play music and have fun but now look, even our friends are dying."
"What the fuck Ashton, that wasn't anything to do with me!"
"Think what you want." Ashton snorted and walked out of the room.
How dare he try to blame me for what happened to River! I didn't even know he did anything other than weed so it was hardly my fault. River was the one that introduced me to drugs not the other way round.
'Trouble following me'? What a load of bullshit! I haven't done anything to any of the boys, maybe a few pranks on Michael but they were innocent. It's not like plastic wrapping his room was going to leave a lasting effect on the boy.
I'm also pretty sure it was just Ashton with his knickers in a twist over me being here. Luke and Calum had greeted me happily and considering Michael had invited me over and continues wanting to surprisingly spend time with me... Well, they can't all want me gone.
Can they?
"What's troubling you?" Calum was sprawled on the floor, phone in hand.
"Nothing." I was quick to reply and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Shall I pretend to believe you or...?" He was smirking.
"Have I troubled any of you?" His smirk vanished and he cocked his head in curiosity. Crossing his legs, he pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair.
His actions were dragging out his reply and making me nervous. If I had done something to bother them then I should just leave. It isn't fair to do that to someone.
"No. Things aren't as simple as before but it isn't trouble," My back tensed, ready to apologise and leave.
"It's more entertaining around here, you're a laugh Natalie," Luke had entered the room and joined me on the sofa. They were both grinning at me like idiots.
"Yeah! The pranks were hilarious and we like not getting desperate girls turning up constantly for Michael."
"Well a few didn't bother me," Calum laughed as Luke winked, hinting at his past with girls.
I looked between the two, calculating what they were saying.
"Plus Michael's better than he was before, not as moody." Luke nodded along with Calum, agreeing instantly.
They were starting to remind me of Dumb and Dumber or maybe Thing 1 or Thing 2 the way they were agreeing with each other like little kids pretending they weren't up to mischief.
"Thanks guys. It's just that Ashton said I was trouble and -"
Luke cut me off and Thing 1 and Thing 2 delved into a story about how Ashton just cared a lot for the band. Music meant a lot to all of them but the band succeeding was Ashton's biggest dream and he didn't want any of them distracted. It took them a while to reassure me I wasn't a distraction as they mentioned this.
They also mutally (of course) decided that it was probably Ashton's nerves for the performance at Koko that night. This got them both letting out excited squarks of conversation as they thought about how their biggest performance was that night.
At some point during their excitement, Michael had finished getting ready and sat himself between me and Luke. He flung his legs on Luke's lap, much to Luke's annoyance, and his head on mine. He didn't look nervous for the show in a few hours but, as his hand was behind his head, I felt his fingers tapping my leg in a continuous beat.
I smiled down at him and interwined our hands, trying to calm him down. I was starting to get nervous for them but I couldn't wait to finally see Michael up on stage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
thank you for enjoying it guys!
next update on Wednesday xo
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that damned cigarette ↪ m.c
Fanfiction"This isn't a stupid chick flick movie, Clifford!" "Who said I wanted that?" Once upon a time, there was a boy and girl. She was beautiful and he was handsome. He saved her and she made him realise his wrongs. But what if there wasn't a happy e...
