Sophie

☼☼☼

Things had felt awkward between Michael and I. After he picked me up from Calum's house it was as if the whole scenario had never happened. We were acting like best friends again, nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't like that Michael had just tried to forget all of it but I wasn't about to complain because I had my best friend back.

It was the day of Michael's planned "Thanksgiving" and he was really excited but also nervous that I'd hate it. He was so cute.

We were currently on our way to Luke's house, where everyone would be meeting. Michael was humming a random Aerosmith song and I was casually playing with his fingers that were resting on my lap. It felt normal again, except that we wouldn't talk to each other.

Michael eventually took a turn into a driveway and I was assuming it was the house where the party was being held. It was nice to see a new place that wasn't Michael or Calum's house. Of course we had been to a few places since then but after being mobbed my first day here Michael had been nervous about taking me to anywhere else.

Michael ran and opened my door for me and it led going to the front door. I took in a deep breath and my grip on Michael's hand tightened.

"Soph, you're okay. I'll make sure you're safe," Michael whispered into my ear and squeezed my hand reassuringly.

I took in another shaky breath and I felt most of the nerve leave my body. I felt at safe with him.

***

I had managed to survive through all of the awkward first family encounters and currently all of the "kids" were in the pool. Really, the only kids were Harry and Lauren and Luke's younger cousin.

"So, wait, are you and Michael still not talking?" Calum asked.

We were sitting in one of the corner edges of the pool while Michael was sitting on a lounge chair on the complete other side of the pool.

"I don't think we are. Things are still kind of awkward and I think he's annoyed with me. Or something like that," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"You two are best friends, you shouldn't be arguing," Calum whispered, we looked over and Michael was staring at us. Well, glaring at Calum.

"I try to talk to him but when I do, it ends up being incredibly awkward and he doesn't even try to respond most of the time," I said rolling my eyes.

We watched as Michael looked away and that he went back to playing some game that was on his DS. My only assumption was that it was the new Pokemon game he had gotten for his birthday the week before.

"I promise he likes you, he just doesn't know how to vocalize it," Calum said shrugging his shoulders.

"And ignoring me is so much better," I said sarcastically and Calum held back a laugh.

"I didn't say all of his methods were great," he said through his laugh and I laughed as well.

"C'mon love birds, go get a room," we heard Ashton call out from where he was playing with Harry and Lauren and Luke. They were trying to play a game of Marco Polo but it seemed to fail as Luke was constantly cheating by opening his eyes underwater.

Calum and I joined the game after talking for a bit more until Liz called us in for dinner. I had to say that I was in love with Liz. She was the coolest person ever and I understood why all of the boys loved her.

Once the meal was over and the whole "saying thanks" aspect had faded, the families slowly started leaving, leaving me with the guys around a bonfire.

Liz had left us with marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers and alcohol and specific instructions to not get too drunk. We were all staying in the guest rooms but she didn't want to hear us going in or out of the house.

"I'm gonna go pee quickly," Ashton said, he quickly shoved the rest of a s'more into his mouth before he left.

"Calum, can you help me with something?" Luke asked, pulling Calum up and leaving me with Michael alone.

"I think I'm going to go get a sweatshirt from inside," I said softly. He only nodded before I got up and left. I was not going to be left alone with the boy that couldn't even look at me in the eyes.

I hadn't lied about the sweatshirt, it was kind of cold outside but it wasn't cold enough for me to need a sweatshirt.

"What the hell are you doing?" Calum asked as soon as I entered through the screen door.

"You were supposed to be making amends with Michael," Luke pouted.

"I hate you both. Is that what you assholes were doing leaving me with Michael?" I asked, I was angry.

"We want you guys to be friends again, even if it means being forced into the same room. We haven't seen you both talk since you got here and you guys keep avoiding each other purposefully," Calum said and I rolled my eyes.

"I try to talk to him but he won't talk to me," I explained.

"I'm getting tired of this," Luke said and Calum nodded his head in agreement.

"Then talk to your redheaded friend about it. He's the one ignoring me," I huffed.

Calum walked around the counter and he hugged me. I felt myself melt into my touch and I wanted nothing more than to continue crying to him about what was wrong. I was pathetic really.

"Hey Soph, can you get extra graham crackers from the pantry?" Luke asked.

I pulled away from the hug I was in with Calum and walked towards the pantry he was pointing at. Walking in, I started looking around for the graham crackers everywhere but they weren't found.

"Luke, are you sure they're in here?" I called out.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Look farther into the far left," he said and my feet took me to the place he wanted me to be.

"Are you sure?" I called out again.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

I spot the crackers and grab them. I hear his voice really close by and when I turn around I see Luke shutting the door, leaving me in the dark.

"Luke, I'm scared of the dark," I complained, hitting on the door. I didn't like this. Being scared of the dark was not a good thing in times like these.

I had eventually given up on calling out or hitting the door. They weren't going to let me out. Time seemed to move slowly as I stayed in the pantry, I didn't know how long it had been. It could've been five minutes, it could've been fifty. Luke knew I was scared of the dark and look what the motherfucker had done now.

"Michael, can you grab some extra marshmallows for me? I would get them but I can't find them," I heard a voice say outside the door.

'My life was just lovely,' I thought sarcastically but really I was just ready to run out and tackle Luke to the ground, threatening to shave off his quiff.

I stood up, I was ready to run out as soon as the door opened.

"Yeah whatever," Michael said, "Why is there a broom in the handle?"

"No reason, just remove it," I could hear Luke's smug tone and I knew that if I saw him he'd have a smirk in his face.

The door slowly opened and before I could even consider running Michael was shoved in and Luke had closed the door again with the helps of Calum. I hated those idiots.

"We're not letting either of you out until you are making up or you are making out," we heard Calum's voice shout through the door.

Maybe I did secretly hate Calum all of this time.

"Wait, fuck, Sophie, are you in here?" Michael asked.

He moved closer, reaching out, until he grasped my shoulder. He started patting around my face and hair to make sure it was me and when he realized it was, he let out a sigh of relief.

"How long have you been in here?" Michael asked.

"I have no idea," I huffed.

"Well, fuck," he said and I could tell from the way that his arm left my shoulder that he was now running his hands through his hair in frustration.

☼☼☼

Hey lovelies. :-) I updated woo! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 30K I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Anyways, I should be posting a character ask in three days and I'm really excited for it :-) ALSO I STARTED A NEW BOOK, it's called Hopeless and it's another Michael one. You guys should check it out :-) and I also have a Calum one out called Come With Me based on like my Echosmith concert and basically there's a lot of Echosmith references so yeah you should check that out as well. I love you guys. Xx

~_HeartbreakHemmings