Graffiti Girl // Michael Clifford

|| CODA ||

Try your best to change your fate. You can just enjoy the ride. The sun will rise, the moon will fall. Tomorrow never dies.

«Tomorrow Never Dies» 5 Seconds of Summer**

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I. August 2016

"I really need you to be done."

While I hear the annoyance in R's voice, Michael continues to kiss me with everything he's got, and who am I to get in the way of that?

Suddenly there are fingers pinching my sides--hard--and I jump with a shout, knocking my head against Michael's, leaving us both groaning in pain.

"That was unnecessary," Michael grumbles at Calum who backed away as quickly as he could.

"It was very necessary," Ashton laughs. "She needs to get to security soon if she doesn't want to miss her flight, and we'd like to get our own goodbyes in. As fun as it is to watch you swallow each other in a crowded airport."

I roll my eyes but laugh and wipe the corner of my mouth clean.

"My turn!" Calum shouts, hurrying to wrap me in a tight and slightly painful hug. I smile against his shoulder and hold him closer. I already got my goodbyes with my family out of the way at home, because I didn't think I could handle it all at once. So far, it doesn't feel much easier.

We mumble our personal goodbyes before Ashton is demanding a turn.

"We're going to miss you so much," he says with his mouth pressed against my hair, sounding choked up.

"I'm going to miss you guys too. I'll be back before you know it, though."

He groans about how it won't be soon enough, then lets me go with one last squeeze.

Luke already has tears in his eyes when he bends to wrap his arms around my waist, hiding his face in the crook of my neck. I can feel the tears cool against my skin.

"This isn't goodbye forever," I try to comfort him. "I'll be back in a few months. We'll go get our own Christmas tree and decorate it with so much glitter that R will yell that we'll be finding glitter in the warehouse for years because of us."

"Promise?" he says into my shoulder.

"I promise."

When R approaches me after Luke has moved to cuddle Calum, the tears I thought I was going to get away without shedding hit me like a truck. She sees my impending breakdown and runs into my arms, wrapping me up and keeping me close.

"We'll talk all the time and FaceTime and you'll get sick of me taking up all your time in your new, glamorous life, okay?" she promises me. She's just as much of a mess as I am, though, so I don't know how much it's helping.

"Okay," I mutter, trying to keep my voice from breaking.

We stay like that until Ashton tells us I really need to start heading towards my gate. I pull apart and wipe under my eyes, trying to appear somewhat put together.

"I get one more," Michael says before I'm back in his arms, giving up on holding it together and sobbing into his chest.

"I love you so much," I say into his t-shirt.

"I love you such a ridiculous amount," he whispers against my temple, voice wavering and obviously holding in his own tears.

Michael presses one last kiss to my lips before letting go. He pulls up the handle of the one suitcase I didn't ship and rolls it over to me. R picks up my backpack and insists on helping me put my arms through the straps. I don't complain and relish in their care for as long as I can.