Chapter 9

Sophie

☼☼☼

A 19 hour flight, 17 sleepless hours, and three crying babies later I had finally landed in Australia. The only way the moms had been able to shut their child's yap was by singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' repeatedly. If I ever heard that song again I'd snap someone's neck in half. I'm never having children.

Jet-lag was killing me and I was going to collapse. It was 2:58 pm and a whole 16 hours ahead from Michigan. I was going to punch someone if they got on my nerves.

I don't do well on lack of sleep.

I grabbed my carry-on from underneath the seat and was slowly trying to convince myself to not be nervous meeting Michael.

I got off the plane and quickly started looking for the nearest bathroom. I walked in and went straight to the mirror. I looked terrible. The bags under my eyes were very noticeable and my hair was all over the place.

I brushed out my hair with my fingers and put on enough makeup to not look like one of the walking dead. I was so nervous.

My phone started blasting 'Alone Together' by Fall Out Boy and I knew it was Michael. We had designated ringtones for each other.

"What do you want, loser?" I asked.

"Has your plane landed yet?" Michael asked.

"No, I'm talking on my cellphone in the plane right now," I said monotonously.

"But that's illegal Sophie!" Michael exclaimed, "I don't want a plane to crash because of you!"

"You're such a dumbass," I mumbled, "I'm in one of the bathrooms. I'll be at baggage claim soon."

"Ok, but small detail; we have a bit of a crowd. About ten or so fans showed up," Michael said.

"You better have them in a line recording us meeting or I'm getting on the plane and flying back to Michigan," I said and Michael laughed.

"No, don't leave! They've got their cameras and phones ready to go," Michael said still chuckling.

"Well I better go or I'll never get to baggage claim, I'll see you in a minute or two," I said smiling.

"Oh my god; I'm going to pee myself," Michael said.

"Please don't. I don't need to have that smell in the car," I said scrunching up my nose.

"Fine, fine, I won't pee myself. I'll see you boo," he cooed.

"K, bye boo," I cooed back.

"You and your boyfriend are so cute," I heard a voice coo behind me.

I turned around to see the female janitor that was cleaning the bathroom.

"I didn't mean to pry but you guys were so cute talking on the phone and I kind of accidentally listened in while you guys were talking," she continued.

"Oh no, he's not my boyfriend," I blushed.

"Oh well, he's a lucky guy and I'm sure you both would be adorable together," she said.

"Thank you," I said smiling at her, "Have a good rest of your day!"

I grabbed my bag and left the bathroom feeling slightly better about meeting Michael. I was determined to do it.

I looked around and felt lost. I had never been out of the country; much less in an airport. I followed the signs that said "baggage claim" and hoped I was going the right way.

The hallway I was going down finally stretched out and opened to an even bigger room. I saw what looked like carousels and a few bags going around on some of them. It gave me the hint I was in baggage claim besides the fact that there was a giant sign saying "baggage claim".

I slowly started walking towards the carousel-looking objects hoping to find the one from my plane.

"Don't tell me that my best friend Sophie Rose is more excited to find her luggage than me!" I heard a voice boom from far away.

I looked up to see Michael standing about 200 feet away on the other side of baggage claim.

"MICHAEL CLIFFORD!" I yelled.

Tears started filling my eyes as I took off running towards the seven-foot, red-haired, flannel-covered dork standing too far away from me.

Michael held his arms out for me expectantly as I sprinted (jogged) towards him. To anyone I would've looked like I was speed walking but I was actually running as fast as I could. (I only run to the fridge, sorry). I was getting closer and closer to him and I could see a tear rolling down his cheek too.

I was only two feet away when I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my legs and lifted me up.

"Michael!" I squeaked, "Be careful!"

"I got you babe," Michael said.

"No... Wait... I don't," he said stumbling a bit.

"I swear to God if you drop me I'm going to shave your hair off in your sleep," I squeaked.

"Shit!" Michael yelled and in a blink of an eye, we were on the floor.

"Dumbass," I muttered.

I was lying on him from the way we fell and as I got up I was straddling him. I blushed a bit at the situation but them quickly got up.

I helped Michael up and he stumbled into me a bit.

He cupped my face with both hands and wiped the tears that were still streaming down my face.

"You're real," he whispered.

"You're real too," I whispered back.

I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me back. I don't know how long we stood there with my face buried in his chest and his face buried in the crook of my neck but I wouldn't replace it for the world.

"Fuck her right in the pussy!" We heard someone yell.

Michael started chuckling and I laughed along with him. We were still in our tight embrace and Michael's chuckle vibrated throughout my whole body.

I pulled away laughing harder and so did Michael.

"To whoever said that; I love you," Michael said wiping at his eyes.

"Love you too, babycakes!" A girl called from three feet away.

Michael still had an arm wrapped around my waist and I was looking up at him to watch him talk.

"Did you guys get all of that on video?" Michael asked, "I want to have this played at my funeral."

"Why your funeral? Why not your wedding to when you finally grow a pair and marry Sophie?" Another girl asked.

Michael and I both blushed and looked away from each other.

"We're just friends," I giggled.

Michael's grip tightened on my waist and I smiled.

"How about you go get your bag and we can leave? You seem tired," Michael said.

"I'm exhausted. I was about to strangle a baby on our way over," I sighed.

"You wouldn't!" Michael said.

"Oh I would," I said and there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"As long as you use that tactic in bed, I'm okay," Michael whispered in my ear.

"Oh my God, Michael! You have a BDSM kink?" I asked loudly so all the other girls would hear. They giggled and Michael glared at me.

"No, you're an idiot," he said thumping me on the back of my head. I pouted.

He started saying something to the girls and I left to get my bag that I had left in the middle of an airport.

"Well girls, it was nice meeting you all and I'll make sure to follow you each on Twitter. Please tweet me the videos and pictures of Sophie and I meeting. I'll see you all again, hopefully. But as of now I have to leave because my boo is tired," Michael was saying as I came up to where he was again.

"Oi, thanks mate," I said.

"Oh God, the Australian has started to rub off on her," he said face palming.

"Don't you mean the Australian was wishing that he was rubbing off on her," another girl said pointing at Michael.

"Hey! That wasn't funny," Michael pouted but on the other hand, I was dying of laughter.

"Yeah, but he won't admit it," I said.

"True," Michael agreed.

***

We pulled up to a small suburban house about half an hour later and Michael quickly ran out of the car to open my door and grab my bags.

"I told the boys to get here later so you could rest for awhile. I can only imagine how bad your jet-lag is. Ill show you to your room and you can rest," Michael said. He was rambling a bit and it was cute seeing him so flustered.

"Okay," I said, "Lead me to my room."

I followed him up a pair of winding stairs and down a long hallway until we got to the final door. There were a bunch of band stickers pasted all over it in random order.

"I thought it'd be okay if we shared a room?" Michael said sheepishly.

"It'd be lovely," I said smiling.

He opened the door and I followed him in. His room was painted a light green and there were posters from many bands around his room. He had a desk in one of the corners and I walked over to it to see our selfie from the Detroit concert was framed on too of it.

His room was surprisingly neat. His bed was made. There was no clothes or trash anywhere.

He set my bags in the empty corner and came over and hugged me again.

"You can sleep on whichever side of the bed you want but only on one condition," Michael said motioning towards it.

"What?" I asked.

"We get to cuddle," he said.

"Of course we're going to cuddle, dumbass," I said giggling.

I walked over to the bed and collapsed on a random area.

"I'll just leave you to rest," Michael said.

"Wait, I thought you said we'd cuddle!" I protested, my voice sounding muffled from the pillow I had buried my face in. The pillow smelled strongly like Michael.

"Ugh," Michael groaned but I could tell he was joking.

He pulled me back to him as I cuddled into his chest. The last thing I remember was Michael singing softly while running his fingers through my hair.

☼☼☼

THEY FINALLY MET WOOP WOOP AND I CAN FINALLY UPDATE AGAIN. I WROTE THIS FOUR TIMES BUT MY COMPUTER DELETED IT AND UGH HML AND THEN I HAD RELATIVES IN ALL LAST WEEK SO I COULDNT UPDATE. I LOVE YOU ALL AND GUESS WHOS BACK TO UPDATING. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

~_HeartbreakHemmings