The boys have just thought of a new "plan" to make me feel normal again. It's been about 5 years since the incident, so I don't know why they're just now thinking of this.
"Alright, Michael. How about this place?" Calum asks with hope in his eyes.
I look up slowly from my phone, to read the sign.
"Francesca's Café?" I say with uncertainty.
"Yeah man, it's pretty dope." Luke answers with a beach boy accent.
I roll my eyes slightly and look down at my phone, just trying to block out the world. It's only a quaint café with a vintage theme to it. Nothing I'm interested in. Then again, I don't seem to be interested in anything anymore.
"Dude can you put your phone down for at least 5 seconds so you can actually communicate with us? We know how you feel, and we're trying to help. You weren't the only one affected by-"
"You don't know how I feel." I snap at Calum.
"Are you sure? Because you're acting like you're the only one who is hurting? We're hurting too, but we're staying strong for the fans. You should too."
"Guys, please stop." Luke pouts.
I huff and sit on a wooden bench. I cross my leg and pull my phone out again. I just scroll through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, anything to get my mind off of-
"Hey guys sorry I'm late, had to help mum with the groceries." Ashton says happily as he jogs slightly up to where we were sitting.
"I'll go order for you all. What would you like?" Ashton asks as he pulls out his phone to write our orders down in his notes I assume.
"I'll have a blueberry scone with hot chocolate." Calum says, thinking throughly.
"Wait!" Luke stares at Calum with his mouth open in shock. "They have hot chocolate?? I WANT SOME." Luke shouts like a little child.
Ashton giggles and types their orders.
"Alright Michael what would you like?" Ashton asks, his eyes smiling.
I shrug my shoulders and keep my head down, my eyes locked with my phone.
"Um..." I can see in my peripheral vision that he looks at Luke and Calum with the most saddest face I've seen him put on. Poor kid. He's always so happy, and when he sees me, he gets torn down. He's tried to help me get better, but I'm afraid this is an illness too difficult to just wish away.
"Alright I'll just give you a surprise." He says with a false smile.
Ashton walks in the café, while Luke, Calum and I continue sitting on the bench. It was an awkward silence that I don't pay much attention to. I was used to be it being so quiet since I always just sat in my room, stuck in the past.
Luke leans forward and puts his arms on his knees. He rubs his hands together and looks around, probably thinking of some stupid conversation starter. Calum leans back with an irritated frown on his face.
Then suddenly I hear a loud scream. Our heads shoot up towards the screech. Calum and Luke's face light up brightly when they realize that there are some fans who found us. They shoot up from the bench and walk over to the group of girls.
It's honestly been so long since I've seen any of our fans. Deep down, I do feel bad for not going out enough to visit them. But I'm having personal problems, and from all the comments I've seen on social media, they support me. I'm so thankful to have fans like them. I feel like I could tell them anything, and I know they'd understand.
"Hey, Michael..." I hear a faint voice.
I look up and smile slightly, adjusting my grey beanie.
"Hello." I say to the girl in front of me.
"How are you?" She asks hesitantly.
"I'm... Alright..." I hesitate.
"You don't seem alright... Usually you're very loud and funny and nice... Now you're... Quiet, alone.... Isolated you could say." The young girl says as she walks timidly closer to me. "May I sit?" She asks, gesturing to the empty spot next to me.
I frown slightly and scoot over for her to sit.
"I'm that easy to read, huh?" I ask, looking down at my lap again.
"Michael." She says sternly. "We all know something is wrong. You're the total opposite of who you were a few years ago. We don't expect you to explain what happened. We just want you to feel better and be back to normal."
"Me too." I say blankly.
The girl sighs, giving up on her speech to make me snap out of my trance of depression.
"We just miss you..." She whispers.
I hear her sniffle, indicating she was about to cry.
I turn my head towards her and examine her posture. She really did look genuinely upset. It's really hard to tell if the fans actually care about you. Like are they saying that just because I'm famous? Or do they really want me to be happy again? But this girl has showed me that not everyone likes me just because I'm famous. She's showing me that I actually have a place in their big hearts. It also makes me realize I've been a huge asshole for not being more open with these girls. I need to change that.
"I didn't catch your name..." I mumble.
"Claire" she sniffles. She turns her gaze to me and I see her puffy eyes.
I stand up and hold my arms out towards her. She looks up at me and smiles slightly. I give her a soft, yet firm hug.
"Thank you." I say as I lightly rest my chin on her head.
"For what?" She asks, pulling away from my arms.
"For showing me that you guys actually care about me." I answer sweetly.
"Of course we do, Michael. We always will." She smiles. "May I ask what happened to make you like... This." She gestures to my whole body.
"It's a really long story..." I say as I rub the back of my neck.
"I have time." She smiles and sits on the bench, waiting for me to join her.
I look over at her, and then the boys with the other girls. I walk over to Claire and take my spot in sitting next to her again.
"I mean you don't have to tell me if you don't want too... I understand it's probably very personal if you haven't shared it with us." Claire rambles.
"No-" I start. "I think it's probably good that I share this with someone. I haven't really talked to anyone about how I'm feeling..."
Claire looks at me with big blue eyes, her blonde hair falling into her face. She brushes the fallen strand behind her ear, and continues looking at me.
"But for you to understand everything, I'll need to start from the beginning." I warn.
"I want to help you, Michael." Claire says with a serious, yet friendly gaze.
I smile slightly and start to tell my tale.
Hello fellow readers! I'm so excited to be writing this story for you! Feel free to leave comments about ANYTHING. If there's a mistake, grammatical error that I missed, something you don't understand, anything, just tell me! I cherish your feedback haha. Make sure you vote as well if you enjoyed this first chapter. Also, considering it's chapter one, it'll be a little boring at first. It's okay, it'll get interesting as we move along.
I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE HEY EVERYBODY MUSIC VIDEO TO COME OUT LIKE BYE I NEED TO GET PREPARED PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY.
(P.S. Look in my profile description thing for update times, they may change because I'm a busy person!)