The Girl is Mine • MJ Fanfic • COMPLETED

Forty-Six: Stand The Test of Time

"Lauren"

"Lauren"

"Lauren, wake up"

I heard a voice frantically calling my name in a whisper tone as they repeatedly shook me. I gasped as I jumped up, immediately looking around the room until my eyes fell upon Ashlyn. She was asleep next to me, and I couldn't help but to scrunch my face up in confusion.

"Hey, Lauren. You alright?"

Immediately snapping my head in the direction of the voice, I noticed Michael crouched down with his eyes fixated on me. He had a look of worry on his face as he took in my appearance.

"Have you been crying?" He asked me softly.

Not being able to respond, I immediately began full on crying as I looked at him. He gently cupped my chin as he moved closer to me.

"Lauren, you gotta tell me what's wrong, love." He spoke as he caressed my cheek.

"You came back," I finally spoke as I cried harder, not being able to contain myself. He furrowed his eyebrows together as he looked at me, appearing unaware of what I was talking about.

"I came back? You left me, Lauren. Remember?" He replied, and I could hear the shift in his tone with him sounding a bit offended.

"No, you were just here. You said some really fucked up shit to me, Michael." I said while sniffling. "Then you just left me standing right there like the biggest fucking idiot. And after that, I must've passed out, because that's the last thing I remember."

"Lauren you had to have been dreaming, love." He suggested, and I looked from him and over at Ashlyn who was peacefully sleeping. I still didn't understand how the hell she could be such a heavy sleeper.

"Well that explains why she's still beside me," I said motioning to Ashlyn. "She wasn't there in the dream," I said to myself, but still loud enough to be heard.

"Besides, I just got here from the hotel," he said and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Hotel? How long have you been here?" I asked him.

"For some hours," he replied.

"And you're just now coming here?" I asked as I scoffed.

"I didn't know what I wanted to say to you yet. I tried to figure that out on the jet, but that wasn't long enough," he tried to reason.

"Five hours and thirty minutes wasn't enough time?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Nope. Besides, I wouldn't have had to come all this way if you didn't make it a habit to run away," he retorted, and my smirk began to falter as it soon faded away.

I sighed as I briefly averted my eyes to the ground, before back up locking them with his. "You're right." I admitted. Things soon became quiet between us until I broke the silence. "Do you at least know what you wanna say to me, now?" I asked and he hesitated slightly, before nodding his head. "Good." I replied.

"Do you know what you wanna say?" He asked.

"I think so, yeah," I nodded.

"I guess it's time to rip the bandage off. It's been avoided long enough." He said and I agreed with him.

"Hopefully what you have to say is nicer than what you said in my dream," I chuckled lightly, and he gave me a small smile. I slowly stood to my feet, and he kept his eyes on me the entire time, lifting his head in the process. "Come on," I said as I extended my hand for him to take.