Strip

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

It had been maybe a month and a half since I had seen Max, but he looked like he had aged a couple years. His face seemed thinner and more angular, his shoulders broader, and at least an inch or two added to his height. As he came closer, I realized he had a slight bit of stubble. His hair, thankfully, was still the same blonde mop that made him look a little like a puppy no matter how much he aged.

Janice took a step back as he stopped walking, and started sprinting at me. I was frozen, hugging James tighter against my chest. My heart had completely stopped, my brain sprouting moss and mushrooms. He was growing closer and closer, until he was there, his arms thrown around me, his face in my hair. He didn't even seem to notice James squeezed between us.

After a moment, he drew back, and looked at me. He looked at me with such relief it made my heart contract, and start beating again at twice it's normal speed.

"Thank god," He whispered, reaching out to lightly stroke my cheek. "Thank god you're alright."

And then I burst into tears.

Janice took James from me, my limbs shaking to violently to hold him anymore. My whole body convulsed, my legs shattering as I fell to my knees. The tears burned my skin as they streamed down my face. Sobs escaped my mouth that sounded like my lungs were filling with water. I felt like my brain was shutting down, my entire body devoted to turing me into a snotty mess.

Max kneeled down besides me, wrapping his arms around me again. "It's ok Molly," He said, lightly stroking my hair. "It's alright."

I don't know how long I stayed in that position, but when I looked up, all the stars seemed brighter, and the sky seemed darker, and the world seemed quieter. I pulled myself up, my hands and knees still shaking. I wiped the tears and snot from my face, and looked at Max.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi."

I looked down at my shoes. "How did you find me?"

Max pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Um, I kinda went back to Dirty Girls a lot after you disappeared. I thought you had quit or something like... I don't know, like you were avoiding me. Which is stupid, I know. Anyway, Janice came up to me one day asking if I knew where you were. We kinda stayed in touch after that, and once you called her... She called me afterwards and picked me up on her way here."

"You were looking for me?"

Max looked at me in shock. "Of course! I was worried sick about you. Gosh, I could barely sleep for weeks."

I looked back down at my shoes. "Sorry."

He shook his head, and took my chin in his hands, forcing my eyes to meet his. "No. I'm sorry. I can't even imagine what you've been going through. What happened?"

I took a deep breath. "So I have this really shitty mother..."

And I told Max the story, the whole story, his mouth hanging open by the end. "You were in an orphanage?"

I nodded.

"A real orphanage?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you call me?"

I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. "I know. I know, I should have. I was just... I want to leave everything from my old life behind. It's full of so many awful, awful memories and... I don't know, I thought that even if I tried to contact one of the few good things in it..." I looked up at him. He waited, his eyes pushing me to keep talking. "I guess I thought that it would just bring back everything awful too."

Max's eyes seemed to droop down. "What are you going to do now?"

I sighed. "Um, one of those girls, in the car, she has this cousin in Arizona, and they'll take us in."

Max's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah."

"Molly, you can't go to Arizona."

"This is my choice Max-"

"How will you survive?"

"I'll get a job-"

"As what? A stripper? Molly, do you really want to be a stripper for the rest of your life?"

"I can get a different job-"

"What? You have no experience in anything else! Gosh, you don't even have a high school diploma!"

"I'll find something!"

"And you think it'll be enough to live off of?"

"Max-"

"And how long have you known these girls? How long until they throw you to the streets?"

"They wouldn't do that!"

"How do you know!"

Whatever words I had dried up in my throat.

"Molly, you're going to make all the same mistakes again and end up in the same place. Or worse."

"I can do this. This is what James needs."

"No it isn't." Max took half a step closer. "People will be looking for you. He's going to spend the rest of his life running if you do this."

Tears were returning. "So what am I supposed to do? I can't lose him, Max, I've worked so hard-" My voice caught in my throat. "I've worked so hard so he'll be ok. I just want him to be ok."

There was 12 full seconds of silence.

"You're coming with me," Max said.

My head snapped up. "What?"

"You and James. You're coming with me."

I shook my head. "We can't. We've already planned this out, we can do this-"

"Molly."

I stopped.

"Please." He whispered. He was so close. Half an inch between us. "Please come with me. I promise, we can fix this, we can fix everything. Please, just... don't go with them."

And the last string holding me back was snapped.

"Ok."

---

Hellllllllllllo everybody!

Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, please vote, comment, all that jazz.

If you saw the comments on my last chapter (which I said I'd be keeping up for a week, oops, I lied), then you may know that Strip will be...... *drum roll* a stand alone! Which I'm actually glad about because it means that once Strip is wrapped up (which will be pretty soon) I'll be able to work on something new for all of you! Yay!

ALSO STRIP REACHED HALF A MILLION READS, OHMYGOD, THIS IS NOT REAL???????

(I love you all so much you're the best)

ALSO A MOMENT OF APPRECIATION FOR THE FACT THAT GAY MARRIAGE IS NOW LEGAL IN ALL 5O STATES I JUST NEEDED TO SAY THIS BECAUSE I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY OHMYGOD.

Ok, ok, I've calmed down now.

Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes.

XOX

Ps. The wonderful banner is by Lanie39, I forgot to add it earlier.