[A/N: A police officer told me my hair was pretty happenin' today.]
"Goddamn it Gary!" My mum shouted from somewhere downstairs.
It was the first thing I heard upon waking up this morning. I groaned, attempting to shield the late morning sun with an arm.
It wasn't like my mum was known to get extremely agitated by the mail man, although he ultimately sucked at his job, but I'd been home for two weeks and haven't left the house once.
She wasn't very pleased when I paid some kid to grab the paper for me so I wouldn't have to step outside either.
I'd quickly become a hermit on my arrive back to Sydney and a quick social media check notified me that:
1. Only Ace and a few others were wondering about my dropping off the face of the earth
And 2. Michael had been spotted boarding a flight to God knows where (it was rumoured to be Singapore although no sources were reliable).
Basically, I'd been waking up past noon and spending the remaining hours grouching around and eating all the food. My mum was fed up and she decidedly took it out on Gary the Mail Man.
"Where are the t-shirts I ordered from Target, huh? You don't know? Don't tell me you don't know. I've been waiting six days! Y'know what? I don't even care. Go." I could almost imagine the quick flick of her wrist as she waves him off dismissively.
"Breakfast is ready and clean up already, you look like an exorcised child." Mum says, poking her head in suddenly.
"Mum!" I yell after her, slightly offended, could my appearance really be that bad? Given, I haven't looked in the mirror in like, four days. I shower regularly enough, I shouldn't look as bad as she says I do.
"We're going out today, and I swear if you end up leaving in your pyjamas, I'm making you go to school again." She yelled from somewhere in the house.
I nearly got whiplash from how fast my head snapped up at my mother's final threat. I cursed my luck as I got in the shower.
It was quick, I basically just stood underneath the shower head for a few minutes and counted the amount of tiles present on the floor around the drain.
64.
I shake my head, this is what my life had come to? Counting shower tiles? Imagine what Michael would say.
At that thought, I saddened. Michael wouldn't say anything. Michael is probably doing bigger, brighter things right now. God, he was flying to Singapore or some shit, he probably wasn't even thinking of me. He probably forgot about me already.
We only spent a week actually filming scenes for the movie and we goofed off for an added two days, one being the Leo Awards.
Michael and I had spent nine days together. Sometimes we didn't even talk unless we were in character but it was still nine days. And I missed him so much.
I huffed, washing my hair in the most miserable manner I could muster.
I'm having some kind of crisis at seventeen and I'm acting completely miserable because of one guy.
But then again, he wasn't just some guy, he was Michael, and Michael was something else completely. He was beyond human comparison.
It was like picturing the perfect boyfriend and multiplying that by ten.
And I've only known him for nine days. I was acting like a lovesick fool.
I sighed, maybe I was being ridiculous, it was just my lack of human communication getting to my head.
But Cinderella fell in love in one night, as did the prince.
I was simply torturing myself with the idea of seeing Michael again. Even though I'd see him at the movie premiere, I'm pretty sure he was dragging his beard along for the show.
I shut off the water and stepped out. I wasn't in the mood to style my hair for whatever my mother was planning on making me do so I just dropped a SnapBack onto my head and threw on some of the few remaining clean clothes I had. It was strange switching from my uniform boxers and sweatpants that became a common wardrobe to boxer briefs and skinny jeans.
Maybe it was the feeling of freedom leaving my lower region. It simply just wasn't as spacious as sweatpants.
"Hurry up!" Mum yelled, taking a moment to bang her fist against the door. "We're on a schedule!"
That peaked my interest a little, I glanced at the clock, the grocery store didn't close for another three hours. Nothing was closing anytime soon.
I didn't know what to say as I slipped my feet speedily into some black Vans, opting out on putting converse on to save time.
"'Kay Mum, let's go." I mumble absentmindedly as I check my phone. I take my time walking to the van so I don't bump into anything.
× × × ×
"Hun, we're here. Get up," my mum whispered sweetly as she shook my shoulder.
I couldn't remember falling asleep at all during the ride but I guess I passed out at some point because I could recall the time or how we got here.
"Where are we?" I ask groggily, sitting up straight and removing my seatbelt with minor difficulty. Everything seemed foreign in my sleepy state.
"The airport." She answered without a hint of emotion in her voice.
"Why are we here?" I ask, unsatisfied by her short answer.
"I'm deporting you."
"Mum, serious? I was born here." I whine at her lame attempt to make a joke.
"You'll see why we're here soon enough, now let's go." She said hurriedly, feebly trying to push me out of the van.
We walked into the packed Sydney Airport all casual like, with me tailing my mum and having a one-sided conversation with the back of her head because she refused to answer any of my questions.
"Hey mum, why don't cannibals eat comedians?" I ask after a long silence.
Still no answer.
"Because they taste funny!" I finish, enthusiastically mimicking a drum to finish off my sucky joke.
One of the people walking right next to me snorted, another to my left shook his head in what I'm assuming is silent admiration, and another person a little bit behind my mum looked over his shoulder with a glare.
"That sucked." He snapped, adjusting his tie before walking as far away as he can get from me.
I looked back toward where my mum was as soon as the man was out of sight, she was gone.
I looked all over for her, there was not a single person that looked like her.
Was this her brilliant plan?
Lose me at the airport and hope I board a plane by accident and then hope I never find my way home?
I shook my head, immediately heading for the doors to wait by the van until she finishes whatever she's trying to do.
× × × ×
I didn't want to admit it, but I was lost. Sure, I'd been to the airport a few times but I didn't realize that you could end up two floors up, overlooking the main floor through large glass windows without remembering walking up some stairs.
I groaned, resting my forehead against the glass with a soft thump. My eyes flicker across the turning crowd. Hoping to spot my mother in the huge ocean of people scuttling around below.
It wasn't until I spotted something odd that I got more confused. There were two people leaning up against the wall. I don't know how my eyes ended up on them but they looked familiar. They were abnormally tall compared to the mass human population racing around them.
If I wasn't mistaken, one had floppy blonde hair and the other had a bright red bandana wrapped around his skull. They all but disappeared when I blinked and I couldn't find them again.
I turned around quickly, in hopes of tracking them down but I crashed into somebody.
I yelped, nearly falling back against the glass but an arm stopped me.
"I am so sorry." I begin to apologize, avoiding the person's gaze that seemed to be rupturing holes in my skull.
"Calm down Cal." The person I crashed into giggled, and I nearly melted right there.
"Hello Michael." I greet, finally meeting his gaze with crimson cheeks.