"M-Miley?"
I WAS AWOKEN BY someone yelling my name, and I sat up.
I couldn't see anything, it was so dark, and my muscles ached from sleeping on the floor.
And suddenly, everything that had happened came back to me in a wave, and I slumped my shoulders at the memories.
After I had stormed out of the kitchen I walked into the first room that I saw and locked it behind me.
It was a closet.
But I was only trying to get my breathing under control before I could have a full on panic attack.
"Miley?" Michael. Michael was calling my name. Squinting through the darkness, I could see that the door to the closet was still locked. Which was good. I wouldn't want him to find me anyway.
But then again.
Why was he looking for me?
I stayed silent as I listend to him call my name once more before cursing. I didn't know what time it was, and I patted the floor around me quietly, trying to locate my phone.
My hand brushed against the surface of it and I picked it up, cringing at the bright light that emitted from it once I pressed the home button.
"Holy f*ck" I whispered under my breath. It was 2:14.
In the morning.
I was well past midnight, and I realized that I might have passed out and then fell asleep. My lack of nutrition and food has caused that to happen to me before, but not for this long.
If I could remember correctly, the movers left the house around 4pm. Which means I've been in this closet for almost 12 hours.
"Miley?" his voice was closer to the closet now. He almost sounded panicked. But I knew that that probably wasn't the emotion in his voice. He made it clear that he didn't care about me.
"F*ck, f*ck, F*ck, where are you?" he muttered to himself. He was right infront of the closet now, his shadow looming infront of the crack under the door.
"Holy f*ck," he mumbled under his breath, "Miley?" he yelled, and I realized that he was looking for me.
But I didn't want him to find me.
"Mom?" he spoke again, and I heard a muffled voice in the background. He was on his phone.
"Yea, the movers came..... Yea, everything's here...... Yea, I'm still mad at you and dad for making this happen" I could hear his end of the line, but not what his mother was saying, though it was pretty sure what questions she was asking him.
There was a thud against the door, and I jumped slightly. The sound of something sliding against the door sounded, and I realized thaf Michael had sat down, leaning against the door. I could hear what his mom was saying now, beause he was closer to me.
"Is everything settled over there?" she asked him.
He let out a sigh, "Yes"
"Can you make sure to take care of the garden in the back?"
"Okay"
"Oh! And can you make sure that you're nice to Miley? Please?" she asked him. There was a pause on his end, and I held my breath so he couldn't hear me breathing.
"Yea alright, whatever" he sighed at last.
"Thank you. Speaking of which, how is Miley doing?"
"I don't know" his voice was lower than it was acouple of seconds ago.
"What? What do you mean, 'You don't know?'"
"I mean, I don't know!" he yelled back into the phone, frustated.
"I can't find her" he said, his voice calmer this time.
"Michael Gordon Clifford, what did you do to the poor girl?" his mothers voice was accusing, and I could only imagine Michael rolling his eyes.
"I didn't do anything!" he defended himself.
I refrained myself from bursting this closet door open and yelling at him that he did do something, when his mother beat me to it.
"What did you do?"
He sighed, "Can we just not talk about it? Please? I just can't find her. That's why I called"
"Well, considering that it's almost 2:30am, I doubt she went out anywhere. How long has she been missing?" his mother asked.
"Uh.... about 11 hours.."
"What?! 11 hours?! Michael Gordon Clifford, you better get your ass up and find her and then apologize for whatever the f*ck you did. Look in every bedroom, bathroom, closet, and room in that house and if you can't find her, then see if she's at a friend's house" she commanded, and I heard Michael stand up.
"But I did! I looked everywhere! Three times!" he defended himself.
"Well look a fourth time. I don't care. You better find that girl," she sighed just as Michael did, "She's a fragil girl, Michael. You have to be careful with her, because one of these days, she just might not be around anymore"
She was right.
And I guess Michael understood that too, because he let out another sigh, "I know" he whispered, so low that I barely even heard it.
"Can I ask you an honest question, mum?" he spoke after a couple of seconds, and she responded with a 'sure' before he continued.
"Was I a shitty boyfriend? When Miley and I were together?" he let out a tired sigh, "Do you think I treated her right?"
His mother took her time to respond, and I think Michael knew his answer from her pending silence.
"Well, honey, I could see that she was happy when she was with you. Really happy. You always tried to make her happy," she paused before continuing, "But sometimes, you acted as if she were your doormat. I mean she did everything for you to make you happy. She wasn't desperate for love, but she just wanted to make sure you wouldn't stop loving her. And that's where you fell short" she explained. And she was absolutly right.
Michael didn't respond to that, most likely coming to terms with the fact that I was right.
"Listen, I have to get up for work in 5 hours, so I have to go and get some more rest. Goodnight sweetheart. And I hope you find her" his mother said, and Michael said goodnight to her as well before there was silence. He had hung up.
Michael groaned as there was another thud on the door, and I knew that he had hit it out of frustrastion.
"Wait a second..." he trailed off. I could practically hear the wheels turning in his head, and soon he had jiggled the door knob, realizing that it was locked.
"Dammit!" he cursed, and I knew that he had found me, that he had realized that I was in here the whole time.
"Miley!" he yelled, and his voice wasn't sounding panicked or relieved. His voice was angry as he began to pound on the door. But I was scared. I didn't want to open it. I knew he was mad. I had never been scared of him before, but I was now.
I shrunk back into the closet, pressing my back against the far wall. I didn't want to go out there.
"I know you're in there!" he yelled, pounding harder. My heart was beating fast in my chest, and I screwed my eyes shut.
And then all of a sudden, the pounding stopped.
And I heard in walk away.
What was he doing?
A couple minutes later and I heard his footsteps approaching once again, the jingle of key prominent.
Mentally cursing myself for being so stupid as to realize that there was a key, I heard him slot the key into the door and twist it.
In the span of 5 seconds, an idea came to mind, and I quickly lay down, curled up in a ball and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Just as my eyes shut, the door opened, and I heard Michael rummaging through the coats hanging above me before he realized that I was on the floor, 'sleeping'.
"What the...." his voice trailed, and I knew that he had noticed me. My heart was beating fast, and I silently prayed that he wouldn't be able to hear it somehow.
I heard him sigh before I felt him nudge me with his foot a couple times, but I kept up the act, not responding to him.
"Are you dead?" his voice was soft and I heard him kneel down beside me.
He poked my side a couple times before feeling my pulse.
And then all of a sudden, I felt his hands underneath me, and it took all of my will power not to squirm in discomfort.
He had lifted me up from the floor, craddling me bridal style before lifted me up and down in his arms, as if testing to see how much I wieghed.
"Lighter than I remember" he muttered to himself as he began to walk.
That's the nicest thing he's ever said about me since this happened.
I was pressed against his bare chest. He wasn't wearing a shirt and I willed myself not to do anything stupid that would blow my cover.
And, oddly enough, I kept up the act pretty well. I found myself cuddling into his chest, my head nuzzling into the crook of his neck.
But that was probably a mistake.
Because the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, my cover of pretending to sleep flying out the window as my back hit the floor, pain shooting up and down my spine.
He dropped me.
My eyes shot open and then screwed shut tightly as I groaned in immediate pain.
"Ow" I wimpered out, my back aching.
"Shit" I heard Michael curse.
"What the f*ck did you do that for?" my voice was hoarse from the hours that I had spent completly passed out in the closet.
"I—You cuddled with me. It took me by surprise" he mumbled, and I noticed his cheeks turn a light shade of pink.
Taking a deep breath, I sat up slowly, wincing out loud at the shots of pain shooting from my back.
"Sorry" he mummbled, and I shook my head as I slowly got to my feet.
"It's alright. You didn't mean to drop m-"
"I meant sorry for what I said to you," he cut me off, "I shouldn't have said that to you. It was rude and it hurt your feelings. And I was... I was wrong. I'm sorry" he said curtly, fidgeting alittle.
I stayed silent for a couple moments before speaking.
"It's alright. You were only telling the truth. I overreacted too much" I looked at him.
"I shouldn't of said those things to you" was his response, but I shook my head no as I got to my feet.
"The truth always hurts. I was never anything special—you're right. It's fine" He looked as if he wanted to say something, to tell me something, but whatever it was, he stopped himself from doing so.
Nodding my head to myself, I turned around and started to make my way through the halls and to my room.
Once I got there, I quickly changed into my usual pajamas, short shorts and one of Michael's old shirts that I still had, and I brushed out my hair. My stomach growled, and I knew that I should probably eat something so that I don't pass out like that again.
I got to the kitchen, seeing Michael in there as well. He was always in here, it seemed. Even though it was 2:30am at the moment.
I felt his gaze hit my back as I got out a couple slices of bread and a plate. I ignored his stare as I put some jam onto the slices and then placed them both in the toaster.
I suddenly froze, feeling a tug at the hem of my shirt, and a presence behind me.
"What are you doing?" my voice came out soft. Just above a whisper.
I was turned around swiftly. Michael's eyes wern't looking at me, but at the shirt I was wearing as his hands lay on my hips. Did he have no sense of boundries?
"Is this mine?" he asked me, and I bit my lip, about to answer when he asked another question.
"Did you take this from my room?" he accused, finally looking at me.
"It was one of the shirts that you left at my house. I just kept it, I didn't think you would mind" I answered, trying to come off nonchalantly.
He glanced down at the shirt before looking back at me, "Do you always sleep in my shirts?" he asked me. A blush crept to my cheeks, and I looked anywhere but at him.
"Do you?" I could hear the amusement in his voice. And it surprised me. He's never been amused or even happy around me for the longest time.
"Not always" I mumbled, embaressed way beyond belief.
Gracing him with a quick glance, I saw that he was on the verge of smirking, the corners of his lips twitching upwards.
His hands lingered for longer than necessary on my hips as he nudged his own hips against mine slightly.
He made somewhat of a satisfied sound before he turned around and left the kitchen completly, and it was only when he was finally gone that I started to breathe properly again.
*
*
*
A note flitted down from my locker as I opened it up. Placing one of my books inside, I opened up the piece of paper after picking it up and I read the note.
Nobody likes a skank
~ ;)
What? Skank?
"Hey Miles, what's up?" Julia came over and opened her locker as she greeted me, and I quickly put the note into my pocket before turning to her.
"Hey Jules. How was class?" I asked her.
"Boring, as usual. Nothing exciting really happened" she shrugged. Soon, we were both closing our lockers, walking to the library for our free period.
"I have something to tell you, Julia" I said, stopping her right before we entered the library doors. She looked at me and nodded her head, a concerned look crossing her features.
I pulled us into the library and all the way to the back, to a secluded corner where no one went.
We sat down on the ground, leaning out backs against the wall before she turned her head to look directly at me.
"Okay, spill"
So for half an hour, I spilled everything that I had refused to tell her the first time around. About my new ties to Michael, our arranged marriage, us living under the same roof. All of it.
She was speechless the entire time, her mouth opening and closing to try and say something, but nothing came out.
"Damn" was all she managed to say.
I nodded my head before bringing my knees to my chest and burrying my head in them.
"I know" my voice was muffled by my knees.
"Speaking of which," she continues, and I bring my knees up from my chest to look at her, "My parents had been talking about Michael about to start adapting to the business"
Julia's parents both worked for Michael's, so she knew alot of stuff that was happening within the business.
"Really? What else have you heard?" I asked.
"Well, you know how my parents are. Well, word got out around the office that Michael was going to take over soon. My parents reminded the Cliffords that he had to be married in order to do so, though, in order to suggest me as a wife to him. So they tried to get another meeting with Mrs.Clifford to discuss who he was going to marry and they wanted me to marry Michael. That way, they would have a first input on everything, like they were the new runners of the empire. But Mrs.Clifford declined that offer because she already had someone else in mind. My mom kept ranting about it last week. And I didn't who it was. But now I know that it's you" she told me. She twiddled her fingers as I looked at her.
"Can I ask you something?" I spoke up after a while of silence. She nodded her head.
"What would you have done if you were the one who was supposed to marry him and not me?" I asked her.
"Miley, you know I would never do that to you. I mean, I know he's your ex and all, and don't get me wrong, he's really hot. But his short temper and attitude is something that I cannot stand. I would oppose the idea right away" she reassured me, and I nodded my head.
"Thanks. And yea, you're my best friend. I know you wouldn't do that to me. I just can't believe I actually have to marry and live with him. Especially considering our history"
"I agree with you" she nodded firmly. Acouple minutes later, the bell rung, and we both stood up and collected our things to head back to our lockers.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Julia asked me as I walked, and I nodded my head.
"Did Michael ever tell you who the girl was? Who he slept with? Like, give you a name or describe her in any sort of way?" I paused in the midst of putting away my things and looked at her breifly.
"No. That never really came up. All he said was that he slept with someone. And that's when everything went downhill, why?"
"It's nothing. I just wanted to know if you know the girl he slept with. If Michael cheated on me, I would want to know the whore who slept with him. Nobody likes a skank. I'd punch her face in" she told me, chuckling slightly and shrugging her shoulders.
I nodded my head.
"I would ask him, but that's a really touchy subject. For the both of us. And we don't talk to eachother much either" I admitted solomly.
"Just hope for the best" she told me before closing her locker and heading off down the hall.
Trust me, that's all I've been doing.