Jemma’s P.O.V.
I woke up dazed and confused to say the least. But from what I remember from last night, I was in a dimly litted elevator with a bright red headed boy named Michael. Was that a dream? I know I was a tiny bit intoxicated, but not that much. If I was then Joe would’ve definitely led me up to my room to make sure I was alright, but I have no recollection of him except for our casual exchange of small minty snacks.
The clock read 12 pm and I was thanking God because I knew I didn’t have anything that important planned out for today so sleeping in was completely fine. But of course my stomach would start grumbling at such a comfy moment like this.
I forced myself to get up to go to my fridge and make some food even if it was just something as simple as a cereal, but unfortunately I was all out. I basically had condiments and base foods like bread that you couldn’t eat alone.
This meant one thing.
I had to put pants on.
No but seriously, I had to put pants on to go to the store to pick up food and that just seems so displeasing to me. The hard part about moving out from my parents’ house was the fact that I had to be the one to buy food and it wouldn’t just appear in the fridge like it usually would after my mum’s trip to the groceries, I had to make trips of my own now.
I trudged back into my room and slipped out of the tight dress that I fell asleep in from last night and threw on any random shirt I found and pulled some pants on to go out in public. When I stepped into the bathroom to actually see the aftermath from the night before, I had to keep myself from making the most inhuman sound. My make up dried on my face from sleeping in it making it ten times harder to get off and even when I did, there were still stains from where it began to smudge and my hair, god my hair, it was like a rat’s nest mixed with curls. I brushed it out and it became a big frizzy mess that I had to force into a bun just to look presentable before lacing up the first pair of shoes I could find and headed out to get food in me.
Michael’s P.O.V.
"Dude just go over there since you’re so keen on meeting her again," Luke groaned starting to get annoyed at me
I wouldn’t blame him. I’ve been on and on about this topic since I woke up at 9 am today. The only reason why I woke up this early as because I couldn’t stop thinking about this girl, Jemma. She literally lives a few feet away from us for fucks sake, I carried her to her bed in her own flat and I don’t even have the guts to see her again.
"She’s going to think I’m mad," I said leaning back against the couch in defeat
"Mike if you don’t knock on her door right now, I’ll do it for you," Calum threatened
"Fuck you Cal," I closed my eyes trying to think of what I was going to do
"Fine," He stated before I opened my eyes to find him walking out the door
"Wait you dick, don’t do it!" I called out running after him
"Then you do it!" He said stopping his feet right in front of her door
"No," I whispered in case she could hear us on the other side
"Yes!" He yelled
"Shut up," I said
"Are you going to do it or not Clifford?"
I was contemplating on it, but it happened. We started hearing her doorknob jiggle and before I could think, Cal had already sped into our flat and shut the door behind him, deliberately locking me out. I struggled to get my keys out and open the door, but it was all for nothing because she was already out by the time I got it in the hole.
"Michael?" I heard her ask as I turned around slowly wishing that this wasn’t really happening
"H-hey," I smiled awkwardly as we made eye contact
Once I saw her, I couldn’t help but stare. I couldn’t really see her last night because of how dark it was, but god was she beautiful.
"You’re real?" I heard her question
"What?"
Jemma’s P.O.V.
Shit did I really just blurt that out loud?
"I-uh sorry I’m still a little foggy from last night, I couldn’t really tell if meeting you was a dream or not," I explained which made it even worse
You’re just digging an even bigger hole for yourself Jem, stop while you’re ahead, please. God please.
"Oh really?" he cocked his eyebrow up trying to hide his smirk
"That’s not what I meant, don’t get any ideas red riding hood," I said making him laugh
"Red riding hood? That’s a new one,"
I’d like to thank my father for giving me this wittiness, it got me into trouble most of the time, but it worked. I don’t even know how I managed to come up with that nickname without even thinking or how I gained enough confidence to actually call him that without knowing him for more than 24 hours, but shout out to him for having a sense of humor.
"Well thanks red," I smiled
But the corners of my mouth soon turned into a frown once I felt my stomach grumbling once again.
"I was just on my way to the market to pick up some food because I’m starving, so I’ll see you when I see you," I waved to him hoping to get food in me as soon as possible
"I- uh wait," He called out making me face him
"I was actually going to pick up some food too, the boys and I need to stock up," He said
"Oh, then we can go together I guess?" I suggested trying not to make things awkward
"That’d be cool,"
Michael’s P.O.V.
I was about to trail behind her when I heard my door open and Ashton poking his head through the crack
"What the hell Ash,"
"Shhhh take the car," He said holding his hand out to give me the keys and trying to act so sneaky about it
"What? Why?"
"You can’t be out in the open like that, paps will find you sooner or later," Ashton said as I groaned
For a second I actually forgot about that life, with her I forgot about that life. It was probably because she had no idea who I really was, which I find very confusing if I had to be honest. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but the lads and I have done some pretty big things this past year, it’s kind of hard to miss us.
"Uh who’s your friend there?" Jemma’s voice interjected in our conversation as my eyes shot up to look at her
She was at the end of the hall waiting for me as I looked down at Ashton for him to come up with what to say.
"Good luck mate," He said before closing the door
That fucktard.
"Just my roommate," I said nonchalantly as I caught up with her
"Let’s take my car," I offered once we stepped into the elevator
"How come? The store is only a few blocks away and LA traffic from that distance will take even longer than walking,"
"It’s hot out, I don’t wanna sweat," I came up with another excuse
"It’s 70 degrees," She furrowed her brows starting to get suspicious
"I’ll explain in the car,"
"Are you a serial killer? Is this apart of your plot to murder me?" She asked as we got closer to the ground floor
"You always expect the worst in these kind of situations, you know that?" I asked
"Well I can’t argue with you there," She let out a small laugh
"I like the long way, it keeps the outside world out," I explained which was partially true on my part. It kept the paps out and they were most definitely apart of the outside world.
"I like your reasoning, but you’re still a weird one Mike," She said as we stepped out
Jemma’s P.O.V.
I was slightly hesitant and slightly not hesitant about climbing into a vehicle with a guy I just met last night, but there was just something about him that made me trust him. When we were walking down the lobby, I greeted Joanne, the front desk girl who worked in the mornings and Steven, the other doorman. One of the best parts about living in this apartment building was the massive job openings for everyone, even people my age. Most of the lobby workers here were my age and we’ve all became friends during my stay here. It was natural just seeing them every day, but what was unnatural was the way Joanne was staring in my direction as Mike and I walked passed her. It took my a moment to realize what she was actually looking at, but once I figured it out I couldn’t help but call her out on it.
"He lives here now, you can check security cameras with Jason for pictures of him," I said making her snap out of her trance
"Jem, you never change do you?" She said trying to fake being polite when I knew she wanted to punch me right now
"Never my dear," I smiled as I looked back at Michael
"And you say I’m the weird one," He rolled his eyes
"What do you mean? She was drooling over you, I was trying to keep from bugs flying into her mouth," I joked as he bursted out laughing
"Jemma, is that you actually up before 1 pm?" Steven, the doorman, asked me
"Shut up Stevie," I said giving him our usual handshake as he held the door open for Michael and I
"You’re just friends with the entire staff aren’t you?" Michael asked as he led me to his car
"Basically yes," I said
“You will be too in a few weeks, Most of them are all around our age and they’re really cool,” I said but as I glanced over at him, I saw the alert look he had on his face when he was looking around.
“Are you trying to hide from someone?” I asked
“What? Uh no,” he said opening the car door for me
Once he started the car, his music started blasting, as he quickly tried to lower the volume. Any other person would’ve probably immediately flinched at the volume, but that’s exactly how loud my music would play in the car too.
"Shit sorry," he said turning the volume down and switching it to the generic pop radio stations like he was trying to hide something.
I don’t know why though, I knew within hearing three seconds of the song that it was Zepplin and I was more than willing to listen to it, but I decided not to ask him about it.
"Up next is 5 Seconds of Summer’s Amnesia!" The radio host announced making Michael groan and change the station
"Hey, I actually like that song," I said changing it back
"You do?"
"Yeah, and I liked that Zepplin song you were playing before you changed it,"
"Yo-you like Zepplin?" He asked like it was a complete shock to him
"Who doesn’t?"
"And you like 5 Seconds of Summer too?"
"I’ve heard a few of their songs, they’re not bad," I shrugged
"Have you… seen who’s in the band?" He asked
"Uh I’ve skimmed through pictures but I don’t remember what they look like. Ever since I moved in I’ve been procrastinating on getting my wifi set up so I’ve been out of it with the whole social networking stuff for a few months now," I explained
Even though I moved out, responsibility never really stuck to my mind. I’ve been planning to get everything set up, but I’ve just been too lazy to call in for the services so to get my YouTube videos up I’d just go over to Starbucks or my friend’s house to steal their wifi.
I was never really into Twitter or Instagram before anyways, I’d do the occasional post once in a while just cause my followers would think I died if I didn’t tweet at least once a week, but it wasn’t an important aspect in my life.
I’ve heard of 5 Seconds of Summer before, hell, some of my friends are completely obsessed with them, so I knew how big they were, I just didn’t know what they looked like, nor did I care. If I liked the music, I’d listen to it, I didn’t really care about physical appearances.
"So you have no idea who they are?" He asked again like he needed reassurance for some reason
"No Michael I do not know who they are, why? Are you into them?" I asked
"You could say that,"