BMC Michael One Shots (Female Reader)

Swollen

TW: abusive pops, depression

"Michael," I said, answering my cell phone, which had been ringing for a decent twenty seconds.

"Hey, um...di you forget date night?" he asked softly, abd my heart dropped.

"Oh, shit, Michael, I'm so sorry!" I apolagized. "It's just...my dad got home from work early and needed some help around the house. I'm sorry, I even meant to call you, and I totally forgot."

"Don't stress," Michael responded, his tone rather forgiving. "I'll just drink your slushee and save the other snacks for next time."

"Yeah, you do that," I responded with a laugh. "I gotta go, now. More work to do."

"Alright...I love you."

"You, too."

With that, I hung up the phone, turning to face my father.

"Was that your boyfriend?" he asked, voice demanding and eyes filled with anger.

"Yes," I responded, looking down. "I-"

I couldn't say anything else, because my dad landed a slap across my cheek, causing my face to turn and my cheek to feel hot.

"I told you to clean up in here," he told me, gripping my shoulder. I could smell the alcohol even with the distance between us. "God, you're not worth a damned thing, are ya'?"

My lip quivered, and my dad smacked me once more.

"You'll answer me when I speak to you, dammit."

"Sorry, sir. I...I'm completely worthless."

"Damn straight," he sighed, finally letting me go. "You finish cleaning in here, then you cook dinner. I'll be upstairs."

At last, he left the room, and I let tears fall once he was gone, but continued to work. My dad was such an asshole.

My phone started to go off again, and I knew it was going to be Michael. Despite my father's presence in the house, I dropped the broom and answered the phone."

"Hello?" I whispered into the phone, mot keen on letting my dad hear. To be on the safe side, I picked the broom back up and began to pretend to clean.

"Why're we whispering?" Michael whispered back at me.

"O-Oh, my dad's...asleep," I replied, shaking my head. "Don't worry about it. What did you need?"

"Well, I figured you could use an extra hand at your place," he answered. "I have nothing to do, my date cancelled."

I rolled my eyes, hen my heart sank. "Ah, you can't come over," I told him, still quiet. "Dad is not in the modd for visitors."

"Yeah, but he's asleep, right?" Michael asked, suspicion growing in his voice.

My lip trembled, and I answered before I could think about it. "Just stay away from my house, please."

I left no room for argument, hanging my phone up immediately after those words and taking a trash bag into the front yard. When I came back in, I was glad to find my dad was still upstairs, meaning I was in the clear for that call.

With that out of the way, I began on dinner; Beer cake, my dad's favorite food. Well, bot technically. He liked the beer part more than the cake part, but he just liked alcohol in general.

The night went by without anymore incidents. When I walked off to my bedroom, I thought to stop by the bathroom and see if my cheeks were swollen.

Of - fucking - course they were swollen. Damn it.

~~~

All I could do was ice my face, trying to live with the cold all night, to try and reduce the swelling. By morning, it had gone down a lot, but it was still really noticeable. Still, just enough make-up covered it perfectly.

"My life is fine," I whispered to myself as I walked toward the school, heart racing.

"What was that?" came Michael's tones, as he came up beside me and draped an arm over my shoulders.

"Oh, nothing," I said, smiling at him. "Are you...listening to Bob Marley again?"

The way he moved when he walked was proof enought that he was. "You know me well," he said, smiling down at me. "Whoa, you're wearing make-up? Thought you hated that stuff."

I shrugged. "I just thought I might try it today," I lied, trying to keep up the smile.

My lie didn't quite convince him.

"Babe, I hate to say it, but you've been acting really weird recently," he said, stopping me beside him. "You never forget dates, you're acting weird about your dad, then forbade me fr-"

He stopped talking, and I took that as him figuring it all out. Before he could say anything, I began to walk off toward my class. I heard him yell after me, but I continued on my way.

~~~

At lunch, I continued to avoid the topic, taking to avoiding Michael completely. I sat with Christine and the others, talking about stuff that absolutely made no sense to me.

It was a similar story after school, except Michael had managed to catch me in the act.

"Stop avoiding me," he said, grabbing my arm.

"Don't man-handle me," I retorted, tearing my arm from his grip.

"I want to talk to you," he said, trying to quiet down as people were starting to look.

"Talk about what?"

"You know what!"

"No, I don't," I growled out, trying to lose him. "God, just drop it. If something's wrong, which it isn't, it would be my problem, not yours. Just...leave me the Hell alone, alright?"

He grabbed my hand. "Like Hell I'll let you go back to that house."

Before I could say anything, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, looking down to me with a worried expression.

"If what I think is going on is going on," he began, "then your house is the last place you need to be."

"Even so, I can't just not go home," I told him. "I'll have to go back for bed and dinner and shit."

"Unless...you stayes the night at my place, and we had our date night," he offered, smiling.

"Nice try, but I'll be dead tomorrow if I don't ask him, and he'll put me in the ground for even asking that kind of question."

Michael pursed his lips. "I'm running low on ideas," he sighed, looking at me. "I just don't want you to go home and get hurt. If you did, I'd never forgive myself."

"It wouldn't be your fault," I told him, but he shook his head.

"It would be. If I let you walk into that house and something happens, that's on me for letting you go in there."

"You give yourself too much credit," I smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working. "I'll be fine. Just...don't worry about me. I'll call when I get the chance."

"Hey," he said, before he split ways toward his house. "I love you, babe."

I smiled at him. "I love you, too."