hey jealousy // michael clifford

six

THREE YEARS EARLIER

Michael was not nervous. Not even a little bit. Michael was also a very bad liar.

He'd replayed the events of last night over and over in his head ever since he'd left Avery's house after he dropped her off the night before and he was beginning to think that he'd imagined the whole thing. He was starting to doubt himself because he couldn't possibly fathom why a girl as incredible as Avery wanted to spend time with him, let alone go on a date with him.

The fact that Michael was so nervous was probably why he'd been sitting in his car outside her house for the past ten minutes. He was really hoping that her room faced the back of the house and that he parents weren't home to see him creepily sitting in his car staring at the front door.

In case Michael needed any more proof that god didn't exist Avery opened the door to her house and stuck her head out.

"Are you going to come to the door and get me or was I just supposed to intercept your telepathic message and meet you at the car?" She yelled to him before a giggle passed through her lips.

Michael let his head drop down onto the steering wheel, completely mortified, before he sucked it up and got out of the car. When he was halfway up the driveway Avery went back inside and shut the door behind her, Michael let out a small laugh because she was such a strange person but despite that he was still inexplicably drawn to her.

He knocked on the door and she didn't even bother to pretend that she hadn't been just standing on the other side waiting for him. She opened the door again with a large smile that only seemed to grow when she saw Michael's slightly flushed cheeks.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." She joked, stepping outside and pulling the door shut behind her.

"No not at all." Michael replied with a sarcastic tone despite the fact that he wasn't actually being sarcastic.

He held out his arm and Avery wasted no time in looping her arm through his. For the first time he got a look at her in proper lighting and even though it was hard to believe she was even prettier than he'd remembered from the night before.

Michael loved the fact that, despite the fact that she herself had said this was a date, she looked like she hadn't put much effort into her appearance even though she still managed to look amazing. He hadn't been on a lot of real dates but on the few that he had the girl always seemed to overdo it, dressing too fancy or wearing more make up than they normally ever would, but Michael liked that Avery had kept it simple.

He liked that her sweater had holes in it and the fact that her boots were all scuffed up and worn in. He liked that her hair was thrown up messily in a ponytail and that the ends of it brushed his arm while they walked. He liked that, unlike most girls, she seemed confident because it made him feel slightly more at ease.

When they got to his car he opened the passenger side door for her, and he ignore the way she laughed at him as he tripped over his own feet on the way back over to the driver's side. The short drive to their first destination was filled with small talk and getting to know each other a bit better (because even though they'd spent most of the previous night talking Michael still hadn't know that she was a year younger than him and that she was still in school, among other things).

"This is perfect." Avery laughed when they pulled up in the car park of McDonalds.

"Wait, really?" Michael asked because while this was only a minor part of his plan for the night he kind of expected her to be a little disappointed that he'd taken her to a fast food resturaunt to eat. "This doesn't bother you?"