Soooo I just finished writing the chapter after this one, and I'm not gonna lie, I love it! You'll have to wait till at least friday, probably not till sunday, till I upload again though, sorry :S I will attempt to tomorrow, but it's highly unlikely.
Anyways, I hope you like this one :) the song on the side is Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap and is beautiful.
Happy reading :D
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‘Hey, where’s Beth?’ Michael asked, as Debby opened the door to the Jones’ house. Beth had been behind them when they’d left the beach, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen now. He’d been so absorbed in their conversation that he hadn’t even noticed that she was gone.
‘Dunno,’ Debby said, shrugging. ‘Must have stopped to do something.’ She didn’t sound convinced that this was true. They both knew that really it was part of Beth’s master plan to get them alone together, but Michael was panicking.
You can’t do this, he told himself. She’s fourteen. ‘That’s really weird,’ he muttered, trying to sound believable. ‘I think I’ll go look for her.’
‘God, I can’t be that bad!’ Debby burst out before he’d even turned around.
‘What?’ he asked, moving into the sitting room. He watched as she flung herself down on the sofa and pushed her hair backwards, frustrated.
‘You can’t even stand to be alone with me for a second, that’s how much you hate me!’ she exclaimed, big wet sobs escaping from her eyes with record speed.
Michael wasn’t fazed by the crying, he just went to sit next to her. ‘Debby, please don’t be angry,’ he said, putting his hand on her bare shoulder. He knew she was angry, not upset- she’d told him already what tears meant to her.
This was the first time he had touched her in an affectionate way, and the contact- skin on skin- felt so good. A small smile crept across her face. ‘You remembered the thing about me crying,’ she remarked.
‘Of course I did,’ he told her.
She stopped crying just as quickly as she’d started- it was like a tap being turned off. She wiped her face dry with an edge of her loose t-shirt, then turned to look at him. ‘Michael, be straight with me. What’s going on? Why are you avoiding me? Do you hate me or love me?’ she asked, completely serious.
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. ‘Fine, I will be.’ But he didn’t want to admit how he felt, he couldn’t because of her age, it felt wrong. ‘Are you attracted to me?’ he asked instead.
‘Are you attracted to me?’ she retorted.
‘I asked first,’ he teased, playfully, trying to lighten the mood.
She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as possible and kept them shut as she spat out her answer. ‘Yes.’ Michael’s heart leapt, but he didn’t let it show and after a couple of seconds her eyes fluttered open again. ‘Are you attracted to me?’ she repeated.
‘What do you think?’ he said, hoping it was obvious.
‘I don’t know!’ she cried. ‘That’s why I’m asking!’
He smiled at her, loving her innocence. ‘I’ve never felt stronger about anyone in my life,’ he admitted. Neither of them did anything, staring at each other. ‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ he asked.
They moved together, kneeling up on the couch and wrapping their arms around each other. Their lips locked perfectly- as if they were made for each other. Michael forgot about the worries he’d experienced with other girls- nothing mattered anymore. He didn’t care that she was fourteen, it was just a number and nothing was more important than the way he felt in that moment as their tongues touched.
She broke away from him, and he shifted to her neck, moving down the contours with little affectionate kisses. ‘Michael,’ she moaned, pushing him away. ‘Michael, stop!’
He stopped, terrified. He looked at her, trying to read her face. ‘Shit,’ he cursed. ‘You’ve changed your mind.’
She smiled at him. ‘God no,’ she assured him. ‘It’s just, Dee or Beth could come home at any moment, you think we could continue this in your room?’
A wave of relief enveloped him and he shook his head in amazement. ‘Debby Martin, you are the awesomest girl in the whole world.’ He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up the stairs.
‘Why are you so nervous?’ Blake asked. ‘I mean it’s not like you haven’t done this before.’
Michael didn’t even want to say anything, he was worried he couldn’t- that was how nervous he was. ‘I- It’s just-‘ he tried to force the words out, but they just wouldn’t come.
‘Aw, come on Blake, don’t be mean,’ Beth told her off, shuffling closer to him on the sofa and putting her arm around him. ‘He’s allowed to be nervous. This means a lot to him.’ Michael didn’t reply to this, just put his elbows on his knees and cradled his head in his hands. He tried to take deep breaths, telling himself to be calm. ‘Right,’ Beth said, standing up. ‘I told Debby to be here in five minutes, and knowing her she’ll be on time. Mum! Come on.’
Dee appeared through the kitchen, coming from her bedroom. ‘Sorry, I’m ready,’ she told them. She moved over to Michael, who stood up, and gave him a kiss on each cheek. ‘Good luck,’ she told him. ‘You’ll be fine. Look at that face! How could she turn down someone so handsome?’
Michael managed a weak smile, but still didn’t say anything. Dee, Blake and Beth filed out of the house, leaving Michael in the spectacular surroundings. Beth had maybe gone a bit overboard with their plan for him getting Debby.
She’d invited Debby over, without telling her that the only person who would be there would be Michael. Then she’d enlisted Blake to help turn the living room into something that looked like it had come straight out of a movie.
There were candles covering every surface elevated from the ground, and the twilight made the room dark enough for the glow to be impressive. There were rose petals scattered all over the floor, in a red sea. It was all ridiculous, and Michael didn’t think it gave him any more chance in winning Debby over, but once Beth had come up with the idea she hadn’t been able to drop it.
He hadn’t seen Debby since the evening before when he’d listened to her and Beth’s conversation on the cliff, and he knew, this was his big moment. But what made him so nervous was that he wasn’t even sure if this was what he wanted anymore. He’d spent three years thinking about her and wanting to be with her, and then he’d come to see her and she had been as beautiful as before.
However, he couldn’t help worrying that it wouldn’t be the same. Maybe he only wanted her because he couldn’t be with her, people were always wanting what they couldn’t have after all. Or he just wanted to be with the fourteen-year-old version of Debby. He couldn’t deny that she’d changed. She acted different, less down to earth, stupider if only because she went out with Alfie. He was scared it wouldn’t be the same.
He told himself to believe, that underneath all that, she was exactly the same person, just scared to show her face. Once she was back with him nothing could ever go wrong and she would become how she was before.
In the short wait for her to arrive he went over all the possibilities multiple times. Maybe it’s too soon, he thought. Maybe I should have waited at least a week.
But she was on her way over and there was no way he could hide his intentions when she arrived thanks to Beth’s rose-petal-and-candle crap. He got more and more panicky and even considered trying to at least gather all the rose petals up and bin them before she arrived, but he knew that even worse than her appearing and seeing them would be her appearing while he was in the middle of trying to get rid of them.
So, instead he flicked on the light and ran around the room, blowing out all the candles, and throwing them into corners where it might look like they just belonged normally. He heard the door opening just as he was finishing up, and searched desperately for a casual stance to adopt.
All his fears flew away as he saw her face. Her light brown hair was so long these days, almost reaching her waist, flowing down in waves. She was wearing a deep red sleeveless blouse, almost matching the colour of the petals; with denim shorts, tattered at the hems, that must have once been jeans; on her feet were gladiator sandals, covered in studs.
She widened her eyes as she took in the scene in front of her.
And then she burst out laughing.