Unpredictable

Chapter 21

I wake up in the morning and groan loudly. It's about 9:30. I sit up and stretch. Allie stayed the night last night, but when we heard my parents actually go to bed, she went back into Luke's room. I get up and open his door, peeking in on them. Their legs are tangled together and his arms around her, his face buried in the back of her neck.

I clear my throat loudly. "Hey, hey!" I whisper sharply.

Allie opens her eyes and glares at me. "What?"

"Mum's on her way." I say, then walk out. I pass mum on my way to the bathroom and smile, then close the bathroom door tightly. I take a long shower, washing my hair, body and shaving. I get out and dry my hair while brushing it. It takes about 10 minutes until it's completely straight and dry. When I finish that, I draw on a thin line of black eyeliner, then put in my big hoops.

I rush back to my room, a towel wrapped around my body. I change into the outfit I picked out last night, then go into Luke's room. "Looking hot, Shay." Allie laughs.

"Thanks." I turn to Luke. "I need you to be completely serious. I'm meeting Michael's parents today. Do I look okay?"

Luke looks me up and down. "Yeah, you do."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I know this is important to you, so why would I lie?"

"Thanks, Luke." I check my phone, it's quarter past 11. "Michael's gonna be here soon."

"He's picking you up?"

"Yeah. He said he'd be here at 11:30."

"Have fun, sissy."

"I will." I grin.

"Ew." Luke cringes.

"Sh. I told him no."

"Why?" Allie asks, sitting forward.

I can feel my face heat up. "I want his parents to like me. I told him to be on his best behavior and that nothing was gonna happen."

"Prude." Luke says.

Allie elbows him in the side. "I get it. That makes sense."

I laugh a little, nervously, but then my mom yells up. "Shay! Michael is here for you!"

I bite my lip. "See you later." I make my way downstairs, putting my wallet and phone in my pockets. Michael is standing at the door, wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black tie tied loosely around his neck and some khaki shorts. "Hi. You look great." I say, grabbing him in a hug.

"You do too, babe." He squeezes me a little. "I'll have her home after lunch." Michael says to my mom.

"Don't worry about it too much, have fun. Love you, honey." Mom says.

"Bye mom." I give her a hug. "I love you."

Michael intertwines his fingers with mine and leads me out to his car. He holds the door open for me, then closes it. He crosses to the drivers side and climbs in. "I got you a present." Michael says.

"Awe, babe. You didn't have to."

"I know. But I wanted to."

He hands me a small box. "Part two is at my house."

"Babe."

"What?"

I just roll my eyes and open the box. It's a silver chain with an 'M' pendant. The M is silver and has diamonds down one of the sides. I look over at Michael and his cheeks are flushed pink. "I-do you like it?"

"Of course, baby. It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful. You deserve the best."

I lean over and kiss him sweetly. "Thank you. Can you help me?" I hand it to him and pull my hair away from my neck. He hooks the necklace and I let my hair down. I touch the pendant gingerly. "I love it."

"Good, I'm glad." Michael bites his lip and starts driving. "Now, I need to talk to you on a serious note. A couple things."

"Oh, god."

"Well, this one's more of a question."

"Yeah?"

"Shay Hemmings, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course, you big dork."

"The necklace was kinda my way to make it official." He grins a little.

"It's perfect. You're perfect."

"Shush, you're the perfect one."

"Sh. What else do you want to talk about."

Michael opens his mouth to talk, then shuts it again. "You know what? I'll save that for after. But there is one other thing I want to talk about.."

"What is it?"

Michael chews his lip a little. "Our album is being released next week."

"That's great! Do you guys have a lot of pre-orders?"

"Yeah, we have quite a few."

"Congratulations, babe. I'll check it out later. I don't think I have any money on iTunes, though."

"That's alright. We'll figure it out."

"Okay."

Michael pulls up to the restaurant, parks the car, then lets out a deep breath. "You ready, baby girl?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I say, stepping out of the car. Michael and I walk inside, hand-in-hand, while worry fills my stomach. What's the worst that could happen?