THE PROMISES YOU MAKE on one of your chosen brothers' deathbed are solid.
they are titanium, like cement, nothing could ever break it.
the promises i made louis howard when he was dying in the hospital room was something i will never let down.
i'll never forget the look he gave me, barely even functioning and the tears filling those already lifeless eyes.
my hand sweating at the way he was clamping it, but i didn't care, he felt gone already.
as well as his, my eyes were also made of glass, the tears there and springing down my face as I looked at him.
six words he told me after i cried my heart out to him and knew i was never gonna see him again.
"take care of mikey for me."
louis howard's beautiful voice spoke to me, for the last time in his life.
take care of mikey for me.
and that's what i did, that's what i'll do forever.
mikey howard is probably the only person on this planet who knows me like the back of her hand.
she can tell when i'm upset by just the way i breath.
i don't think i'll ever be able to love anyone as much as her, she's my best friend.
best friend.
best friend..
best friend?
i don't even think so anymore.
i mean we're still closer than ever, but if it was strictly up to me.
i would be more than that.
the moment i met mikey i think my whole world stopped.
mostly because i thought i ran her completely over and killed the girl.
but also because i couldn't quite understand that i 'killed' such a beautiful person.
i thought i ran over an angel and this was my entry to hell.
admitting it now i will say i had a crush on her at the beginning.
actually not a crush.
more than that.
she was the first girl i ever loved, i do believe i was in love with her.
was.
cause through the years it faded away, kind of blurred out. burying them in hidden worlds.
i never thought about those feelings again.
i don't know where they went, or what other pair of best friends they latched onto as well.
but it's fair and correct to say that after that i had never thought of mikey howard other than as a best friend.
until i saw her that night with liam jude.
something in me came back to life.
like i was asleep those eleven years and suddenly woke up from this decade-long nap.
my heart didn't see a single second of peace that day and honestly, i don't think it's been seeing any at this rate.
i found things out no one can unfind.
my heart pounded like i was seventeen again seeing her in that prom dress.
and watching while she went to the prom with some lame short teenage boy.
i felt like i was sixteen again and i just heard her laugh for the first time.
like every sound in the world was gone and all was heard were those ripples of giggles.
it hit me in the face.
i realized that those feelings never faded, never blurred, never buried, and never moved on to others.
i thought my feelings for mikey were gone, stowed away forever.
but just because you bury something that doesn't mean it stops existing.
Those feelings, they've been there all along, all that time.
i just have to face it.
she is apart of my DNA, i have brown hair and i have brown eyes,
and i would always have mikey in my heart.
a small little house built just for her in it.
i find myself clawing at my heart when i think of her and it ruins me.
the summer house was when i first 'got over' my crush for mikey.
we came here when we were 17 and she threw this massive party.
i don't remember how it happened but i remember walking into a random room and the music drowning everything out.
and seeing mikey leaning into a kiss with some guy.
gabriel alexander
i mean come on did i really think i was gonna compete with a french dude?
when i stumbled in it was quick, she shot away and looked at me. guilt in her eyes.
to this day i never found out why she looked so guilty, i never even told her anything about my little crush on her.
i found myself hurriedly walking out the room my eyes trying not to tear up and mikey's voice screaming after me.
"sharky!" she yells out grabbing my arm.
i couldn't help myself i snatched my hand back and turned to her with a glare.
"what?"
i could tell she was taken aback, who wouldn't be?
"why're you upset?" her question made me want to drown.
it physically hurt, my heart was aching nonstop and it killed me.
"i'm not upset," i said with a strict tone.
i saw her pull her hand back with a small nod.
"oh okay." she smiled a deep smile but i saw her confused eyes.
i nod my head a small barely noticeable smile.
there i left her in the hall of outside of our conjoined bedroom.
i still remember how she looked to this day.
and i still remember how she looked like to this day.
gabriel alexander, is the one person i felt jealous of.
my hat plopped on my head as i walked down the stairs of the big house.
smiling softly at the beach house and the sound of aj playing music through the speaker.
everyone was jet lagged from yesterday's flight so we all woke up super late.
it was like 5 now and everyone was just getting out of bed.
"hi children." i grin walking over to the island table as everyone sits eating breakfast.
i felt mikey's eyes on me.
and it was like they were burning two holes in me.
"hey sharks." chunkz stated.
i know for a fact chunkz knew.
he suddenly just started giving me these looks every time i talk to mikey.
i don't know how he found out, but it's a little comforting, for some reason.
i widen my eyes seeing the large quantity of pastries on the table.
mikey never fails to spoil us on the first day and it's actually the cutest thing ever.
"okay lads so tomorrow we're gonna be doing lots of stuff," she says through a mouthful of food.
all of the boys groan loudly but i almost forgot to groan along because she had this glint in her eyes that made me know she was more than excited.
"mikes can't we just do what we want?" niko insisted.
"we will but just tomorrow please!" she begs out.
i knew mikey and i know she likes to play this role, the role of putting everything and everyone together.
all the boys nodded pretending to be bothered but everyone knew that they enjoyed it.
she claps her hands giddily.
"so at like one, we're gonna have lunch at this cute restaurant, and after-"
the poor girl was cut off again.
but this time it was the doorbell ringing.
"i'll get it." the blonde grins running out of our sight.
i smile watching her run and chunkz's eyes look at me with a raise of his brows.
i roll my eyes taking a sip of my orange juice.
hearing the door open quickly.
and then hearing mikey let out a screech, everyone gets up suddenly at the sound.
"gabbie!"
the orange juice now felt solid and it stuck in my throat.
my coughs came out like waves and my eyes watered.
the rest of the guys were by the door and i sat there grabbing at my chest and stumbling to follow them.
calming down as i walked there.
my face flushes and my head goes light when i see them.
mikey removed her arms from around his neck getting out of the hug with a huge smile on her face.
he didn't change.
still the same height, the same hairstyle, and that same smug look in his eyes that made me think he was taunting me.
"guys this gabriel!" mikey introduced him to the group.
i couldn't help but watch as them, and how their chemistry was still evident after all these years. every glance, every touch, sent a pang of envy through me.
the guys all smiles and introduced themselves.
"sharky!" i feel my body get wrapped.
"long time no see," Gabriel said, through the hug.
I mustered a smile and hugged him back.
"good to see you gabriel."
the boy smirked before touching my upper arm.
"is that muscle?" he laughed out loud.
"last time i saw you, you were scrawny sharky." gabriel calls me the nickname he would call me.
i fucking hate him.
"funny gabriel." i laughed loudly.
Gabriel, a name that had faded into the past, suddenly reappeared. it had been years since he'd been part of our lives, and yet, his presence still had the power to shake my world in the worst way possible.
"gabriel was my best friend before i moved to the uk." she explains and i was about to faint.
once we all got to the living room and sat down it all came back to me.
the memory of me sitting here when mikey and him were up in that room.
the loud music running the air and my heart beating.
gabriel's laughter joined and mikey's eyes lit up as she heard gabriel's charming jokes.
"so then we jumped into a pool with all our clothes on." mikey explains with giggles telling the boys her and gabriel's memories.
her voice laced with a mixture of nostalgia and something else I couldn't quite decipher.
it was 8:30 now and we all sat outside in the garden sitting around a bonfire.
gabriel left but he was joining us tomorrow.
i hope he crash's on the way to our house.
shit. i sound so horrible.
i am so horrible.
the depressing state of me couldn't help but smile at all of the scenery.
mikey sat next to me, her head on my shoulder and her hands in her pocket.
it wasn't too cold but it was cold enough for a blanket.
my eyes wander to her face when talking and hearing everyone talk at times.
she is so pretty.
just everyone about her is unreal.
the way she laughs, the way she talks, the way her eyes sparkle when talking about something she likes, and the way her hair flows in the wind.
in a second her head lifts from my shoulder and she looks at me.
the only sound that could be heard was of aj exposing some crazy story and the rest laughing along.
"what's got you so concentrated." mikey mumbles to me and to me only.
a smile plastered to her face and the hood of her hoodie over her head a few strands of blonde hair fleeing.
i smiled so bright my cheeks started to hurt.
i didn't know how to answer.
"i really want some fruit." i hear myself say without even thinking.
she giggles into my shoulder and her cheeks go red.
i find myself almost letting my jaw drop at how gorgeous she is.
how the hell is she so gorgeous?
"you know what?" she smiles toothy at me.
"what?"
"i'm glad you said that, because i bought lots of fruit from the market this morning."
it's like she reads my mind.
i could grab her into a hug right now and smell her perfume for years.
"oh really?" i smirk at her and leaning my forehead onto hers.
"really." she does back with a chuckle.
pulling away i sigh.
"what'd you get?"
she turns again to me.
"well i got pineapple, watermelon, berries and oh my gosh!" she gasps to me.
i couldn't help but wonder how the guys didn't listen in our convo they were still talking away.
"i got the best cherries!" she gleams at me.
ever seen someone so happy over fruit?
mikey was like that, ever since we met she was obsessed with fruit, i thought it was a weird obsession but i realized nothing is weird when it comes to her.
"did you?" my question rang.
"yes oh my god! i could eat them days on end sharky no joke." she grabs onto my shoulder fully facing me now.
i chuckle loudly, "aren't peaches your thing?"
she widens her eyes.
"i thought so too, but then i tried those cherries and i think they're my favorite.." she whispers the last part as if offending peaches.
i could kiss her right now.
"no way, i never thought this day would come, you're moving on from the first ever fruit you've tried?"
i still remember how she told me that when she was one, she crawled into the garden and picked a peach.
are it and then got a rash on her face.
i have it as my phone wallpaper and it's the most adorable.
"well i'm a changed woman now." she crossed her arms confidently.
one side of my lips lifts up and i laugh silently.
"i see that."
she turns to me with a cheeky look.
"will you try one?" mikey asks.
i nodded without a second passing.
and just like that she was running back inside the house.
i sigh sadly, i wouldn't have said yes if it meant she'd leave.
in barely a minute the girl was sprinting back her hand in a fist and her out of breath.
plopping back down her perfume gushed into my nose.
"here." the blonde opens her palm revealing the crimson cherry.
my hand grabs it and put it in my mouth.
she wasn't wrong.
it really was the best cherry i've ever had.
mikey must've seen my expression because she smiled and said.
"see i told you." she grabbed my face.
i took the seed out of my mouth and threw it in the fire with a roll of my eyes.
"fine it's good," i admit.
my hands flopping to my sides and sealing the rest of the fruit.
"i'm always right, i think it's a problem." mikey nods her head seriously.
"you're not always right." i shrug carefully.
her head snaps to me and she tilts it slightly.
"oh be so for real." the blonde girl lets out a huff of air.
i lick my top teeth and then tick my tongue roughly before nodding my head slowly.
"fine yeah."
i go on.
"you're always right, cherry."
the name slipping out my mouth like ice.
i started panicking internally at the look on her face.
she looked shocked and still trying to find it, her face turning ultra red and a gulp going down her throat.
"cherry?" she questions almost shakily.
i nodded hesitantly.
"yeah.. figured that name suited you." my voice again speaks for me.
i see her ease softly and the blush fading yet a little bit of pink still shading her face.
"i.. i like it." mikey informed softly.
before i knew it she was again lying on my shoulder, not continuing the conversation.
i let out a small huff of air i didn't know i was holding.
AUTHORS NOTE!
i need someone to talk to me like how sharky talks abt mikey omds
my boy finally got his pov and it did not let down!!!
AND CAN WE TALK ABT CHERRY??? OMG ID FOLD AO FAST
N E WAYS i rlly hope u guys enjoyed i worked extra hard on this one
love u alllll!!!!!!