michael.

✖ ✖ ✖

may 2015.

I was in love with performing. Each time I step onto the stage and hear the roar of screaming fans waiting to rock out and go crazy with our band was a feeling I would never be able to forget. Who would've thought that four simple teens from Sydney, Australia would go from a garage band recording videos for YouTube, to a band with millions of fans. Releasing a debut album, touring with one of the biggest boy bands, and performing in some of the most iconic stadiums was so f-cking insane to me. No one would've ever predicted that I'd be living my ultimate dreams with my three best friends.

"Holy f-ck! That was the best show yet!" I whooped happily, as I exited the stage and towards the dressing room. I was sweating balls, and I could see the purple dye dripping down the sides of my face and onto my neck.

"Man! The last time we performed in Dublin was last year during the Where We Are tour!" Ashton pointed out, excitement in each of his words as he sauntered down the hall. Our manager, stylists, and some crew guys followed us through the arena corridors, handing us towels and cold bottles of water.

"Now we're back but for our own headlining tour! This is so freaking crazy. I still can't believe it!" Luke, like the rest of us, was still bewildered with the idea that real, actual people liked our music and pay money to watch us derp around on stage.

"Let's get out of these sweaty ass clothes and go celebrate! Our UK and Ireland leg of the tour is officially over!" Calum shouted, his voice reverberating off of the walls and sending a wave of frenzy among us all.

"Hey did any of you guys else see that cute girl in the very front row?" I asked, taking a swig of my water.

"Which one?" Ashton giggled, "there were tons of them!"

"Exactly," I wiggled my eyebrows in mischief, earning a high-five from Calum.

The four of us entered our dressing room, where bottles of unopened champagne sat in buckets filled to the brim with ice. One of our stylists, also known as our tour mother, Gail Silva seized a bottle of bubbly. She grasped it by the neck, pulling the green bottle upwards, sending ice cubes flying around.

"Shall we toast?" Gail held the bottle over her head, like a trophy for a job well done.

"Hell yeah!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Our manager Jude, grabbed several glasses and set them up on a table as Gail took off the gold wrapping at the top of the bottle. She brandished it outwards, her thumbs pressing up against the cork.

"In 3, 2, 1..." Gail's words faded as the cork chaotically flew out of the bottle with a loud pop. A fountain of champagne shot up, streaming out of the bottle, down Gail's hands and onto the dressing room floor.

"You boys have done a marvelous job so far!" Jude declared, holding up a champagne-filled glass in the air. We followed suit. "I am amazed by your dedication and hard work. The Rock Out with Your Socks Out tour would be nothing without your ability to stay driven. Here's to the end of the UK and Ireland leg! Ten shows down, ninety more to go!"

The lads and I let out high-pitched shriek. You honestly would've thought it was a bunch of girls in the room instead of four incredibly sexy musicians. We gave each other a group hug, jumping in a circle, clearly too thrilled for our own good. I heard another pop and my eyes caught the sight of a second cork buzzing through the air and hitting Luke at the back of the head.

"Aw f-ck!" Luke threw his hand to the back of his head, his eyes scanning the sky in confusion.

As all us snapped our attention to the tall ass vocalist, who whimpered in pain, Ashton, Calum and I bursted into hysterical laughter. Suddenly, I felt ice cold liquid trickle down my face and into my Iron Maiden singlet. I lifted my eyes to see that the rest of the lads were being drenched in bottles of champagne, via our manager, stylist, and crew members.

I giggled. I fùcking giggled. Just like bandana boy Ashton. Not only was I completely saturated with expensive champagne from head to toe, but I was immersed in a shitload of joy. I felt so blessed to be in such an incredible position as a musician, and this champagne shower was my baptism.

"Alright, should we go out to celebrate?" Jude question, a large grin on his face. He looked to us boys with playful eyes, already predicting what our answers would be.

"Let's do it!" Calum shouted, pumping his fist into the air. Another slew of elated jeers and howls followed afterwards in response to our non-Asian best friend's statement.

"Wait!"

Our shrieks ceased, and our attention shifted towards the open dressing room door where our second and very pregnant stylist, Queenie Hale stood. Her baby bump wasn't a bump anymore. It was a f-cking extra large watermelon alien-thing growing inside of her.

"Jesus Queenie, your baby is going to pop out unexpectedly if you don't sit down," Ashton scolded and instantly he ran towards Queenie. Calum did the same, and with their help, Queenie was able to grab a seat on one of the couches.

"As much as I enjoy you being on tour with us, should you like, be confined to a hospital bed right now?" Luke questioned, taking a seat on the couch armrest. "Can you even travel with all of that going on?" Luke gestured for Queenie's stomach with wide eyes.

"Yes Luke," Queenie laughed, "I have about two more weeks before I have to completely stop traveling. Which is what I have to talk to you boys about."

"What is it? Is everything okay?" I asked her.

Queenie looked up at me and smiled, "yes sweetie, everything is fine. I just wanted to tell you boys how proud I am of you. I might be pregnant with my own child, but I seemed to have adopted you four during the last few months. I love you boys and I wished I could continue touring with you. Please give me updates. And don't forget to text me every once in a while, okay?"

"Of course Queenie," Ashton replied, "both you and Gail," he paused, looking over to Gail who stood with a smile, "have become our road mamas, since our own mothers can't be with us everyday."

"I'm sure my mum and sister are glad to have you two watching out for us," Calum professed. "Whoever comes in to take your place Queenie, definitely won't compare!"

"Yea, she has very large, swollen feet to follow," I agreed, teasing Queenie at the same time. She shot me a death glare, as I chuckled at her expense.

"Hold on! What are you naming your baby?" Luke questioned, changing the subject.

"You should name her Michael, that's a great name," I mused, quite pleased with my suggestion.

"You're a dimwit, the baby is a girl," Ashton declared matter-of-factly.

I shrugged, "Michela?"

Calum faced palmed himself, before turning back to Queenie, "seriously, what are you naming your little girl?"

"While I am not naming her Michael, or Calum, or Ashton, or Luke as much as I'd like to," she began, a smirk on her face, "my baby is in fact a girl, but I'd still like to name her after you boys. So my husband and I have decided to name her... Summer."

My jaw dropped, "holy shit. That's awesome! I love it!"

"Me too! Clever!" Luke agreed. He leaned down and pulled Queenie into his arms, "Queenie group hug!"

In an instant, everyone in the room approached the pregnant stylist and huddled in together, holding her in a tight embrace. This was my home away from home; my second family, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better.

"Now, you boys behave tonight. Have fun! Remember that you have a flight back home to Sydney at 10AM tomorrow morning. I will see you at the airport. I'm going back to the hotel room to sleep," Queenie announced, placing her hands on both armrests. She pushed herself upwards, which was quite an amusing sight to see since her belly was so big.

"Bye Queenie," I waved, as she was accompanied out the door by Gail and two crew members.

After changing into something less sweaty and less champagne-soaked, our manager, the lads and a few members of our crew hopped into a few black cars that took us to one of the best pubs in Dublin. We were able to enter from the front, since there were no sign of any mobbing fans outside.

The inside of the pub was without a doubt lively as hell. Not in the sense that it was packed with overly drunk people, but the vibe was full on intriguing-- which only made my thirst for an ice cold pint on tap only stronger. I followed Jude to the bar where several people were waiting in line for a drink.

"Whoa man, what do you think you're doing?" I felt a arm barricade me from moving any further and when I looked to my left, a raised brow and an irritated scowl welcomed me.

"Um, I'm with them," I said, pointing to Jude and the other lads who were already at the edge of the bar.

"We've been waiting in this line. There's a difference between letting one person cut and letting a pale boy with a bad dye job and his posse jump to the front of the line," the girl sneered. She had an accent that was not of Irish descent like how I had expected. She was definitely somewhere from Great Britian.

She was also really small in comparison to me even though she was standing in heels. She had long dark chestnut-colored hair, light brown eyes, and a tattoo beneath her clavicle similar to the one Calum had. If she weren't such a buzz kill, I'd admit that she was hot.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her. Who the hell does this girl think she is? I looked to both her, and her other very small friend, "hey, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were queueing--"

"Didn't realize? What the fück did you think this was, a meeting for the line dancing brigade?" the girl sneered. "You can wait in the back of the line."

"Oh come on! My group is right there!" I pointed back to the bar, where Jude was beginning to pass out glasses of beer.

"Just because you think you're some kind of hot shot rockstar doesn't mean you get special treatment. You ain't Beyonce," she ranted, crossing her arms.

"I never said I was a hot shot," I defended. What the hell was her problem? And why wasn't her friend stopping her?

"Dude! Where'd you go?" Luke approached me, shoving an ice cold beer into my hands.

"No where," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Come on, let's celebrate. We've only got a few hours before we have to head back," Luke said, taking a sip of his beer. He pushed me through the crowd and away from that crazy female.

Thank God.

//

Waking up the following morning to clamorous pounding on my hotel room door wasn't exactly how I wanted to start my morning. I was definitely touched by an angel, because there was no sign of a hangover. Despite the cotton mouth, my body being a little sore, I seemed fine.

I stumbled out of my bed and groggily walked to the door, pulling it open. I was expecting to see one of the lads because only they would be stupid enough to wake me from a nice slumber. But it wasn't any of them. It was Jude, who looked to me with concern.

"Michael, I'm sorry for waking you up so early, but you've got an important call for you," Jude announced, letting himself into the hotel room.

"Is everything alright? Is it my family? My mum?" I jabbered, a wave of worry rushing over me and wiping away any ounce of fatigue I had.

"Not your family," Jude disclosed, and I felt relieved.

"Then what is it?" I questioned.

"Take a seat," Jude advised, gesturing to the bed. I followed his orders, waiting for him to continue. I grew nervous as the miliseconds passed. "Your ex-girlfriend Carrington Cruz was found dead last night."

My heart dropped.

"What?" was all I managed to say. There was no f-cking way this could be at all real. Jude was messing with me. "If you're f-cking with me Jude, I swear!"

"Michael, I'm not playing around. It was an apparent suicide," he informed. My stomach started to hurt, my mind spun around in endless circles. The room around me grew smaller and smaller, as the oxygen seemed to be sucked out of my system.

Carrington and I ended our relationship three years ago, but never once did I forget her. Eventually our texts became less and less over the years as 5 Seconds of Summer became more legit, but I was always curious as to how my first love was doing in life. And now she was gone. Sudden. Jolting. No goodbyes.

"Look, I'm on the phone with a lawyer at the moment, and she has some very important news to tell you," Jude held out his cellphone, and with shaky hands I took it.

"Hello?" my voice cracked, as I held the device up to my ear.

"Hello is this Michael Clifford?" an Australian voice asked from the other end.

"Y-y-yes," I stammered.

"I'm sorry for your loss Michael. I know this is hard for you to hear, and what I'm about to tell you won't be any easier," she paused, and I could hear her exhale, "it has come to my attention that you were not previously informed with the following information. Your ex-girlfriend Carrington Cruz has a three-year-old daughter that she has left in your custody."

"What did you say?" I whispered.

The lawyer's words were like electricity, shocking me with painful jolts. I couldn't believe that Carrington would leave this news out. Not once did she send me a text, a Facebook message, an Instagram direct to tell me about her daughter. And now she wants me to take care of it? But something didn't add up. If her daughter is three now, that meant Carrington had to be pregnant when we were still together. Either she cheated on me, or...

"Michael, that three-year-old is your biological child,"

//

Hello all! That was chapter one and I hope you all liked it! Something about Michael and little children makes my feels explode-- actually, any of the boys with kids make my heart flutter. If you enjoyed this chapter, PLEASE do VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE it with all your friends! Please let me know what you think about this idea.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this story! <33