When Friendship Becomes Forever

Chapter 23

Max

I didn't know.

I didn't know anything anymore.

I lay alone on the sleeping bag that was laid out on the floor of Hopper's cabin, thinking about everything.

Robin was at work so I had nobody to echo these thoughts to aloud.

I wanted to talk to somebody but I didn't.

I wanted to speak but I wanted more than that.

So much more.

I wanted to scream.

Nothing made sense.

Tears came and went, their pathetic heat drying on my pale cheeks.

And in between all of the thoughts and questions and emotions one thing stood out.

El.

I wanted her here.

I wanted to be anywhere with her.

But I wanted things to be different.

I wanted time back.

And so, my feet found themselves walking out of the house and down a path that I used to know like the back of my hand.

I found myself back where I started.

And the girl I loved was there too.

She looked up, brown eyes glassy and cheeks streaked with tears.

Neither of us spoke for a moment, our gaze so strong it was almost startling.

"Hi," she whispered.

And that was when I broke.

Tears streamed down my face, gasping for breath as I fell into her.

She gripped me tightly against her chest, brushing my hair gently from my face.

El.

"I'm sorry," we said as one, voices barely making a sound.

But we both heard it.

The sun was falling behind the clouds, giving way to the simmering skies of dusk in late June.

Then it happened.

She gripped my waist tighter, pulling me towards her, our lips connecting with such passion that tears fell once again.

We had found it.

After everything that had happened today, this summer, this past year, we had found it.

We kissed harder than I had ever in my life, whimpering and crying and struggling for breath.

But we didn't stop.

We couldn't.

Because we were both lost in time; the two of us in a different place, somewhere in the past when we were both still kids.

Stupid, innocent kids.

Happy.

The kiss was as intense as it was heartbreaking.

It was the definition of perfect.

Her hands were touching the bare skin visible from the edge of my singlet.

Mine were gripping her shoulders, hidden behind the sleeves of her dress.

We were a mess, but it was a good mess.

It was better than anything I had felt in months.

In...well in a year.

Since last summer.

She smiled a little, as if thinking the same thing. I missed that, her smile.

I missed everything about her.

The real her.

The her she used to be.

But I couldn't be one to judge, and I doubted any of the people I called...or at least used to call friends could either.

I hated the person I had become but I didn't know how to turn back.

How to get rid of her.

Maybe I would never get the old me back.

Maybe she was simply who I was as a child and this was the real me.

But I liked who I used to be better.

She was happy, she laughed, she smiled.

She didn't give a sh!t what people thought of her.

And now everything was different.

But maybe it didn't have to be, even if just for one night.

El's lips were on mine, and it felt like it used to.

Finally.

After all this time we had found the passion that truly controls us all.

We had found love.

(A/N: This broke me 😭😭😭 But I hope you guys like it anyhoo lol :) Stay safe and totally tubular and I'll see you all in the next one xx)