Frames That Used to Greet Me

I was being an impatient twat. I knew I was, and I knew the lads were about ready to toss me out the airplane window, but I couldn’t help it.

“Stop bouncing your bloody leg,” Louis hissed from his seat across from me.

I glared at him. “Piss off.”

Niall was beside me, and he laughed. “Somebody’s a bit uptight, yeah?”

I glared at him as well. “It’s just--”

“Been two weeks since you’ve seen Michaela, yes Haz. We know. We all know. The entire world knows. Go up to any person on this plane and guess what? They know.”

I glared at him still, and he rolled his eyes dramatically. “Drama King,” I muttered, turning my head to look out the window. “It’s not like I’m the only one on this plane missing someone.” I gave Lou a pointed look, but he waved me off.

“Yes, I miss Liv, but I also haven’t been a twat about it. Because it’s been a week. You, on the otherhand...” he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

I reached across and punched his arm. “She’s been gone! She went to the States for a week, and then she was all over bloody England for a week, but by the time she got back we were leaving. So it’s been three weeks actually.”

Lou rolled his eyes dramatically again. “You sound like a clingy girlfriend, mate,” Niall said, a smile on his face.

“Piss off! The lot of you, bloody hell!”

Liam’s head popped up over the seat behind Louis. “What’s going on?”

“Hazza’s being a clingy girlfriend, that’s all,” Niall informed him.

Liam smiled. “Missing Mickey?”

I groaned. “I hate all of you.”

The truth was, yes I missed Mickey, but I would have been fine if she hadn’t texted me right before we got on the plane. I felt my blood pressure rising just thinking about the picture she had sent that left very, very little to the imagination with a simple wink. I couldn’t even find the words to send her a message back, which I’m sure was exactly what she wanted. The tease.

“I’m just glad Liv and I have our own place now,” Louis said finally, a smirk on his face. “The walls of our flat were too thin, Hazza.”

I barked out a laugh but couldn’t disagree. Mickey and I now had our own place. It was mine for the most part, a house in Primrose Hill, but Mickey practically lived there as well. She had plans to move in once the lease for her flat was up at the end of the year.

As for Lou and Livia, they now occupied Louis and mine’s old flat, which worked out perfectly. Livia had plans to start at uni in the spring, but for now she was working at The Cafe and saving up all the money she could.

“How’s Mickey’s new job going anyways?” Niall asked me.

I shrugged. “Good. She’s a lot happier, even if it means she’s traveling a lot. She loves it.” She did, too. Mickey ended up finding a new job, after a lot of searching and hard work, as the assistant fashion buyer for a London based company. It was a lot of work, but it also made her much happier than her previous job, which was really all that mattered.

“Is she going to come out on tour with Liv?” Lou asked, and I nodded, a smile pulling at my lips.

We’d argued about it for awhile when the idea first came up. Mickey had just found her new job and she didn’t want to jeopardize it, but she also got two weeks worth of paid vacation. Eventually, I pulled and pushed and pestered enough that she agreed--Mickey would fly out for a week or so during the European leg of our tour along with Livia. Tour was still several months away, but I couldn’t wait. It would be the first time Mickey would actually see what I did, and for that I couldn’t wait.

“She is,” I told him finally, a smile on my lips. “She’s coming out for a week with Liv. I think she might come to the New York City show as well.”

It was funny, because several months ago I wouldn’t have been thinking about having someone come out and visit me on tour. That was Louis, or Liam, or even Zayn’s territory, but not mine. But now, with Mickey? I wanted nothing more.

When the plane finally landed, I thought I was going to combust. I just wanted off the plane and in my car so I could go home. I just wanted to see Mickey.

I was bouncing at the front of the plane, waiting to be told I could get off. Paul was there, laughing at me. “Go,” he said, a nod of his head towards the door once we had the go-ahead to get off. “Tell Michaela hello, aye?”

I just smirked and hurried off the plane.

When I stepped outside, I wasn’t expecting to see Liv standing there with a smirk on her face as she leaned against her car. She had recently gotten herself a vehicle so she didn’t have to rely on anyone else, so she said. I didn’t know why she was there though. Far as I knew, no one was set to pick any of us up.

“Liv? What are you doing here?”

“Picking up my boyfriend, Haz. What the hell’s it look like?” She was smirking when I was closer, and she pulled me into a quick hug. “How’d it all go?”

I shrugged. “Long. Busy. You know. Wait, so you’re here to pick up Lou?”

She nodded. “I dropped him off, remember? Wasn’t going to very well leave him stranded.”

I frowned, feeling the crease form between my eyebrows. “Oh,” was all I said.

Livia laughed and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure she wanted to pick you up too, Haz. Don’t pull that. Just go home.”

I nodded, figuring she was probably right, before I waved goodbye and headed to my car. I threw my bags into the trunk and then climbed in, pulling my phone out of my pocket while I waited for the vehicle to warm up.

There were several messages from Mickey, and all of them made me smirk.

Livia’s there and I’m not. Not fair, Harold. Not fair.

You better not still be on the plane. Ugh. Hurryyyyy.

HARRY. Come on. Throw me a bone?

Twat. I’m locking the door before you get home.

I laughed and shook my head, deciding against texting her back before I shoved the phone back into my trousers and put the car into drive. I waved to the other lads as I drove out of the area, but once I was on the road I had one thing and one thing only on my mind.

Mickey.

***

I pulled up to my house and put the car in park before shutting it off. It was, as always, good to be home. I left my bags in the car and headed into the house, making sure my key was in hand. I knew Mickey was serious about locking the door so I didn’t even check it before I slid my key in the lock and headed inside. “Mickey?” I called out to alert her I was home.

There was no response. I sighed and made my way through the house, checking all the obvious spots. I didn’t hear any sounds in the kitchen and the TV was off in the living room, so I skipped those and headed upstairs. “Mick?” I called again as I got closer to my bedroom.

I stopped short in the doorway, finding her on our kind-sized bed nearly naked. A smirk fell on my lips as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re cruel,” I mumbled, kicking my shoes off in a desperate attempt to be near my girlfriend.

I heard her laughter before I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was sprawled out on the bed in a chiffon nightgown that was almost completely see-through, except for the bra portion covering her chest, which was lace. I could see her black lace underwear as well, and I wanted nothing more than to pounce on her. “New nightgown?” I asked, working desperately to take off my shoes and jacket before I went to work on the belt around my waist.

She watched me with amusement flickering in her eyes. “Well,” she said, looking down at herself, “I went shopping yesterday and I found this. Thought it fit me nicely, yeah?” I caught the smirk on her lip as she lay on her side, her one arm holding herself up while her other was planted on her hip.

“You’re so cruel,” I repeated, finally taking more steps towards her. “Why do you do this to me? I try to be a nice boyfriend...” I trailed off, finally getting my belt off and letting it fall to the floor before I was crawling on the bed towards her.

She clucked her tongue. “Oh no, you’re the one who left as soon as I got home. I think that qualifies as a bad boyfriend, yeah?”

She was on her back now and I was hovering over her. I smirked as I trailed my lips over her collarbone towards her neck, stopping at her ear. “Are you going to punish me then?” I nipped at her earlobe and she arched her back, obviously enjoying it.

“You’re a twat,” she said, laughter laced through her breathy response.

“You love me,” i said, looking her in the eyes finally.

She nodded. “Unfortunately, I do.”

I smirked before capturing her lips with my own. Tired of holding myself up over her, I fell onto my side, holding her flush against me as my hand traveled up and down her side, sliding under the fabric of her nightgown and back down, stopping only long enough for my fingers to grip her thigh.

Our kiss deepened, her tongue trailing over my bottom lip before venturing further, fighting with my own. We were starting out slow, but in no time we progressed into dangerous territory.

Eventually I ended up on my back with Michaela straddling me. Her hands roamed under my shirt, her nails gently scratching my skin and making me groan. She pulled my shirt off my body and then went to work on my trousers, her lips never leaving mine.

She dragged her teeth over my bottom lip, earning a hearty groan from me before she was slipping my jeans off.

“Your turn,” I said with a smirk when she came back up to kiss me. I slipped the straps off of her shoulders pulling her into my chest to kiss her as I worked on the clasp on her back.

I was still on my back, Mickey laying on top of me, working on getting her out of her clothes so we could have a proper hello, when I heard my phone going off towards the end of the bed where my jeans were.

Mickey pulled away. “Answer it.”

“But you’re--”

“Answer it, or it won’t stop.”

She was right. If it was one of the lads, I would kill them, but they wouldn’t stop. If it was my mum, she’d keep calling as well. Or Gemma, or Livia, or anyone who hated me. The possibilities were endless.

My head fell back onto the mattress as I groaned and Mickey crawled off of me. Scowling, I sat up and retrieved my phone from my jeans before answering it. “What?” I practically barked. Mickey, laying on her back, laughed from behind me. I scowled at her over my shoulder before returning my attention to the phone call.

“Now is that any way to talk to your dear old sister?”

I groaned and fell back on the bed beside Michaela. “Hi, Gemma.” Mickey kept giggling, so I poked her side, which just made her laugh harder. “What do you want?”

“Just wanted to see if you were home. Mum wants to see you tomorrow, but I figured I should call ahead of time so we don’t just show up tomorrow only to be scarred because you and Michaela haven’t left your bed in twenty four hours.”

I barked out a laugh. “You’re something, Gem. You know that?”

She laughed, which gave me my answer.

“Yes, sure come over tomorrow. I’ll cook dinner.”

“Good, sounds good. I’ll tell mum. Go back to doing what I’m sure are inappropriate things that could potentially scar me for life. Bye baby brother!” she chirped before hanging up.

I groaned, tossing the phone to the side. “My sister,” I told Mickey, even though I’m sure she knew.

“How’s she?”

“A piece of work, as usual. It’s like she has a blood radar...” I muttered.

Mickey just laughed.

We told Gemma not long after we became official, and she took it well. She didn’t care one bit, she was just glad we were out in the open now. “I’m tired of pretending I don’t know who my brother’s sneaking around with! It’s a right laugh, but an annoying one,” she had said. She apologized for keeping it all to herself, which I didn’t care about in the least. I was just glad everything was okay.

I glanced over at Mickey, who had her eyes closed, but I knew she wasn’t sleeping. “Mood ruined?” I asked, hopeful the answer wouldn’t be what I knew it would be.

She smirked, her eyes still closed. “Mood ruined.”

“You tease!” I exclaimed.

“I’m not going anywhere, yeah?”

I smiled, because she was right, and leaned over to kiss her full on the mouth once more. She reciprocated for several moments before pulling away. I fell back on the bed and pulled her into me, holding her close before I closed my eyes and traced circles onto her bare skin, just happy to be there with her.

I had known Mickey for well over a year. We hadn’t been the best of mates at first, but then we became more, and while it had been complicated and messy at times, we figured it out. It took a few mistakes and it hadn’t been easy to get to the end point--together, happy--but all that mattered was we were there now.

“I love you, Mick. You know that?” I said, looking down at her with a smile.

She grinned, looking up at me. “Yeah. I love you too, babe.”