How we gonna fix this? - One-Michael Clifford Series
She wanted a simple life. A fairy tale romance, one where she fell in love at a young age and spent the rest of her life completely devoted to on guy, and he would be infatuated with her. But that’s not how things went, far from it.
It started on the 3rd of December when she met him. She had been rushing through the high street trying to get to get to work. She was a tattoo artist and was late for her first client of the day. She had been rounding the corner when she slid on the ice and collided with another body. He was tall, pale with black hair and the most beautiful green eyes.
“Shit! i am so so sorry” she rushed out as she looked up at the boy who had stumbled but stayed standing.
“No worries, are you okay?” he asked as he helped her to her feet again.
People walking behind her had stopped and made sure she was okay before moving round them chuckling.
“Yeah i’m fine” she mumbled as she brushed herself off and avoided their stares.
“Well sorry” he smiled before letting her past as she began walking again.
Athena hurried through the door of the shop, to be met by her fellow tattoo artist stood speaking to a customer.
“Ah here she is” he smiled while shooting you a look.
“I am so sorry, snows pretty deep up by me, my cars snowed in” she apologised to her customer.
“Don’t worry about it, gave me more time to syke myself up”
“You’ll be fine, you’ve chosen a good place for your first tattoo” Athena smiled
“I set you up” Dagan smiled before looking to the door as his customer walked in, setting the little bell chiming.
“Thanks da...” Athena stopped talking as she looked at the familiar boy from the street.
“Hey” he grinned
“Hey”
“I’m here for Dagan”
“Yeah that’s me, you two know each other?” her co-worker asked.
“We er... i bumped into him on the way here” Athena blushed
“I’m Michael by the way”
“Athena, nice to meet you”
-
And that was just the beginning. Michael was in the shop every week getting something done by Athena. They bonded, formed a friendship which soon led to flirting, which led to dating (When he actually bucked up the courage to ask her). They shared their first kiss when Michael dropped her off at home on their second date. The following few weeks consisted of texting, calling each other until they fell asleep and him coming to drop her a cup of coffee just so he got to see her. 2 months down the line and they were practically dating, they’d spent their first night together on a rainy Tuesday when Michael original plan of a romantic dinner by the beach fell through due to the weather.
-
Now here they were, 3 years down the line, living together with 2 dogs. In the middle of yet another argument. Things had been shaky the last couple of weeks. It started one night when Michael had gone out for his friend Calum’s birthday and hadn’t returned home till 6 am the next morning. He had promised her he had stayed at Luke’s on the couch alone and that nothing had happened, and she believed him. Michael had never lied to her before but what stops him from starting now?. Turns out he had been with another girl, she hadn’t figured it out fully yet but she knew he had lied about being alone that night. She had found a faint lipstick stain on the collar of his T-shirt he had worn that night. She had also seen pictures of him looking quite comfortable with a young brunette on a couch somewhere.
Athena hadn’t brought it up because she didn’t want to believe it, she didn’t want to ask because then she’d find out the truth and she didn’t thing she could handle that. But she had just about reached her breaking point.
“Athy just drop it okay” Michael angered
“I’ll drop it when you tell me the truth!”
“I have!”
“Then why did i find lipstick? why did i see photo’s of you with another girl sat on your knee? why have i had Calum’s girlfriend come to me today and tell me she saw you with your hands on another girl that night?!”
“Oh my god! i was pretending to be her boyfriend! Her ex was there and he was giving her shit and grabbing her, i stood up for her and stayed with her for the rest of the night!... i didn’t tell you because i know how jealous you get and i shouldn’t have lied i know that but... you get so protective”
Athena stayed quiet for a moment while watching him, Michael usually had little tells when he was lying. She came up blank, he was telling the truth.
“Oh...”
“Yeah, now can we please stop arguing!”
“I’m... i’m sorry for accusing you, but just... don’t do that for anyone but me okay... you may have only been helping her out but it’s still over the line!” she said before walking out.
“Really? you’re gonna make something out of that too?” he yelled after her.
-
Things between them continued to be bumpy between them. Athena sipped at her star bucks mug before looking back at her best friend.
“I don’t know Katie he’s just... he’s distant now. We’re never at home at the same time anymore and when we are we just argue” she mumbled while fiddling with her cup.
“Maybe he’s just going through some stuff” her best friend tried to reassure her.
“Then why wont he speak to me about it? i’m his girlfriend!”
“Look just speak to him, tell him you’re worried about your relationship and hash it out with him”
“I don’t know... probably just lead to another argument. Look i’m gonna go, i’ve got to finish a leg piece in a couple of hours and i still need to stencil and stuff so i’ll text you later” Athena said glumly as she grabbed her bag and walked out into the hot Australian weather.
She spent the rest of the day trying to push her boyfriend and their issues out of her head while she inked her returning customer. Did he have something going on? If so, why hadn’t he spoken to her? was it to do with work? was he having worries about them?
What ever it was, it was giving her worries about them.






