Miss Davis || m.m. au

8

[A/N] I'm back! I'm sorry it's been so long. School almost ate me alive, but I'm here and ready to write! Because it's been a while, I tried to make this chapter a little longer, with lots of more dialogue, so I'll let you get to it!

Curled up in a cozy blanket, I watched auburn leaves fall from their branches, momentarily distracted from the book open in my lap. I redirected my attention to the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. Though I had read it a million times, I couldn't get enough of the story. Such adventure! I never did anything fun, I wasn't brave enough. But I had my books. Not very long after I surrounded myself in the story once more, a knock on the front door shook me from my book-induced reverie.

"Meryl, can you get that?" My mom called out from the kitchen. Groaning, I unwillingly rolled out of bed and trudged over to the door. To my surprise, a very handsome Maks stood in front of me. Smiling, I accepted his hug.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"You down for a ride?" He countered my question with one of his own.

"I don't know, dinner's going to be soon," I started. Maks' encouraged me to say yes with his eyes until I gave in, "but I can ask my mom." He grinned at me eagerly as I let him in; he waited by the door. In the kitchen, my parents donned dirty aprons and floury hands. They danced around on the tiles lost in their own world. For a second, I hung back and watched. I wanted to find love like that someday. Hesitantly, I cleared my throat, "Can I go for a drive with Maks?" My parents looked knowingly at each other, as if they were in on their own private joke.

Cocking a curious eyebrow, my mother said, "Honey, you've been spending a lot of time with him these days. Is there something, y'know-"

"Mom," I rolled my eyes, cutting her off, "It's just a drive."

"Dinner's starting soon," my dad interjected.

"Mom, dad, please," I whined. They caved.

"We'll leave your plate in the fridge," he sighed, waving me off. I excitedly clapped my hands, thanking them as I quickly made my way over to Maks.

"Let me just change, I'll be right out," I moved in the direction of the stairs, but he gripped my wrist.

"You don't need to change."

"But I'm in a pair of workout shorts and a tee shirt-" I began to object, before I was interrupted.

"And you look beautiful as ever. C'mon, the sun's already going down!"

"Fine," I succumbed to his appreciation of my attire. Swiftly, I took the sunglasses resting in the mass of his raven waves, and put them on. "Let's roll." Once out of the driveway, he blasted his music, rolled down the windows, and drove at a speed high enough to send me flying into the dashboard whenever he slammed on his brakes. Nevertheless, I felt great. With Maks, I was so alive. For most of my life, I had been on the sidelines, and then out of nowhere, this bold boy took an interest in me. For what reason, I'll probably never know, but I was grateful. Maks was confident, and attractive, and careless in the best way, and I was just not. In that car, in that moment when we were belting out the wrong lyrics to radio hit, I promised myself that up until the day he realized I was just a shy bookworm, I would accept every crazy thing he threw at me.

"Meryl?" Maks waved his hands in front of my dazed face. "We're here." I took in our surroundings: we stood on a dirt road off the beaten track, alone, while the sun continued to set, surrounded by golden willow trees and fireflies. We were in paradise. Looking up at Maks, I found him already gazing down at me, an expectant smirk graced his lips.

"This is," I struggled to find the right word, "magical," I breathed.

"There's more, if you'd like to see it." I held my hand out at his implication, urging him to show me the rest of the enchanting forest.