If The Stars Could Reach Us - Lance Stroll

𝐓𝐞𝐧

❝ Lᴇᴛ's sᴛᴀʀᴛ ᴏᴠᴇʀ. Wʜᴏ ᴋɴᴏᴡs? Mᴀʏʙᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴛɪᴍᴇ, ᴡᴇ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇss ᴜᴘ ❞

・・・・・・・・ ō͡≡o˞̶

𝓜𝓪𝔂𝓪'𝓼 𝓹𝓸𝓿

"I think there's a better question to ask here," Lance says, and I look back up at him. 

"What question?" I reply. 

"Do you still love me, Maya?"

His question immediately shut my mouth. I stare at him as I try to swallow the lump in my throat away. 

I never stopped loving you.

The words are on the tip of my tongue, but my throat is squeezed shut, and I can't let them out. 

Lance nods slowly, and I see the look in his eyes getting dazed. I see him swallow and look around, probably for a way out. 

"Lance," I say softly; I want to reach out to him, but I stop myself from doing so. 

"It's fine, Maya," He retorts. "I don't blame you." 

"Lance," I repeat. "I do." 

He bites his bottom lip, "You do what?" 

"Love you." 

The words are barely above a whisper, and Lance looks at me, questioning. I don't know if he heard them. His eyes feel like daggers; he bites his lips and shakes his head.

"I love you," I repeat, more clear this time. "And the past few weeks, I missed you so much. It might not have looked like it, but I did miss you, and leaving you here was the hardest thing I ever did." 

Lance steps towards me and embraces me with a tight hug. I close my eyes as I rest my head against his shoulder, taking in his scent for the first time in a long time. The amount of alcohol, which seemed to have flown away in our fight, settles back in a wave of nausea. 

"Are you okay?" Lance asks, pulling away from the hug and looking at me worriedly. 

"Nausseous," I reply. "From the alcohol." 

"Come on, let's get you to bed," He guides me to the bedroom and gently unzips my dress. 

I giggle, "Oh, remember the first time this happened?"

"You mean when you practically threw yourself at me, even got all handsy, after you denied for weeks that you found me attractive?"

I groan and feel the heat in my cheeks rising, "Oh, please, do not remind me of that night ever again."

Lance laughs; he truly laughs, and I feel the butterflies awakening in my stomach. I lean back against him, feeling the warmth of his body against my naked skin.

"You started about that day."

I turn around and can't help the playful smile on my lips, "You wanted me that day, too. Don't act like I was the only one here."

"You were very hard to resist."

"Why did you?"

Lance grabs my shoulders and gently pushes me away, but still holding on to me, looking confused, "Why did I resist you? Maya, you were drunk. I would've taken advantage of you... I know I slept around a lot in that time, but never non-consensual..." He looks lost for words and quickly licks his lips. "I could've never done that to you."

I nod and gently push myself from his hold. His words were a reality that, for the longest time, I didn't know was possible. 

"Maya..." Lance grabs my hand before I can walk to the bed. "I would never cross that boundary, okay? If I ever do... did... I need you to tell me."

"Of course," I say and smile. I can't recall a moment where Lance crossed that boundary. "But you've never done so far."

"And I never will, okay? I promise you that I will never intentionally hurt you like that. Or, never intentionally hurt you ever again. But we will have this conversation tomorrow, okay? When you've sobered up a bit."

I nod slowly, and Lance gives me one of my sleeping shirts. As I slowly look around his bedroom, I see that a lot of my stuff is still there, exactly how I left it. I didn't touch any of it; he didn't remove it. I want to comment on it, but maybe it's better if we have the adult conversation tomorrow morning. 

・・・・・・・・ ō͡≡o˞̶

The next morning, the other side of the bed feels cold. I slowly open my eyes, only to see Lance's side of the bed is unslept. I rub the sleep from my eyes, only to see Lance isn't even in the room. 

My robe hangs over the chair; I get out of bed to put it on and make my way to the living room. Lance is sleeping on the couch, the blanket barely covering his body. He looks tired, maybe even exhausted. 

"Lance, baby," I say softly, but he doesn't respond to it. I smile and softly stroke the little hairs from his face. I wish I could take everything back to the first weekend. I would've never run away if I had that choice again. 

Everything had been a nightmare, one I couldn't wake up from. How can I expect Lance to forgive me when I had the hardest time, to forgive myself for my actions? 

I turn around, but before I can start walking, Lance grabs my hand, "Don't go," he murmurs sleepily. "Please, don't leave me again."

"I'm not leaving," I say immediately. "I am here, baby."

Even the hangover isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I drank because I wanted to forget Lance's presence, I wanted to forget what he did to me during the dinner, and I just wanted to disappear because staying would have to acknowledge I liked his presence and I liked what he did to me. And disappearing was easier than to admit it. 

Lance stirs, and it doesn't take long before he opens his eyes. I sit squatted down next to him, softly stroking his hair. He smiles as he sees me. 

"Good morning," I say. "I would've loved to have woken you up with coffee, but I was ordered not to leave your side."

"I prefer this over the coffee."

"Why didn't you sleep next to me?"

"Boundaries," he replies and pushes himself up to sit straight. "And I know that sounds crazy after last night's dinner, but... what I did during that dinner was wrong, too."

"I didn't mind it."

He chuckles, "I know you didn't," he says cockily. "But that doesn't make it entirely okay. We hadn't seen each other in so long, and we were both drinking... I should not have done it."

"And perhaps I shouldn't have let you touch me. But I wanted it as badly as you," I say and sit down next to him. "You've got nothing to worry about that, okay?"

"Okay."

I grab his hand, and he immediately looks at me; his hair is ruffled, and his eyes are soft and staring at me deeply. I give his hand a little squeeze and receive one back. 

"We've got a lot to talk about, but I believe you when you say you're not the dad of Natalie's kid. And I am sorry I did not believe you immediately." 

"You had every reason not to believe me," Lance says softly. "I wouldn't have believed myself either. We've both said and done things we shouldn't have." 

I nod, "And we're both sorry for them, right?" 

"Yes," he nods, too. He wants to continue speaking when his phone loudly disrupts our conversation. We both look at his caller ID. 

"What does he need now?" Lance mutters before picking up. "Dad?" 

・・・・・・・・ ō͡≡o˞̶

A/N: I know I said I wouldn't make y'all wait three months, but I know two is way too much, too. I promise I will try to better myself, but as previously said, life's been tough and my biggest inspiration for this story is gone.

But I still love Maya and Lance, and I want to give them a full story, which they will get! Stay tuned for the next chapter, loves <3