e d i t

chapter seventeen

Ihop
(Yn)
Thursday December nineteenth twenty-sixteen, eleven O seven pm

Soon enough there he was, standing outside the front doors. I beckoned to him from within, waving him inside with my hand, he tried the door and it opened.

"Hey you!" He said in his persona 'dada the dolphin's voice,

"Hey Max," I sighed smiling, he walked over to me and I gave him a lighthearted hug, one of those squeezy warm ones where you're both rocking back and forth on your feet, laughing a little to yourselves. "How was work?" I asked when we finally parted,

"Same old' same old', Adam pissed me off on camera and then I filmed a lego challenge with Barney so that sucked. I edited, ate some tacos for lunch, edited some more and now I'm here." He was still only wearing a black pullover sweater over top of a red tshirt, rather then his normal black beanie, this one was red. "What?" He asked, I realized I must have been studying him.

"Nothing, red." I smiled a little but he only looked a little pissed off.

"Don't call me that," He said, fakingly serious.

"Can you blame me?" I stifled a little laugh and gestured to his red shirt, beanie and hair,

"There's a newish guy at the offices named Michael but we all just call him 'red' cause he has red hair,"

"oh? I bet you don't-"

"Damn right I don't like it, I used to be the only red head at the offices and then that bitch came along." He was so cute when he was sorta angry.

"Then what can I call you?"

"Max,"

"Lame"

"Max n' cheese"

"I thought you hated when people rhymed stuff with your name,"

"I don't mind that one, Mac n' cheese is my favorite food."

"I thought ihop had your favorite food?" I asked, raising an eyebrow,

"No, Ihop has my favorite waitress though," I blushed a little and looked down,

"Awww," I muttered, "Let me just finish up and then we can go"

"Okay,"

I finished wiping down the windows and busting / setting all the tables for tomorrows breakfast and turned off all the lights before I realized Max was vlogging me doing so. I let him, and pretended not to notice. When I finished up, the two of us returned to the entry hall by em's hostess stand and kind of just stood there for a second.

"I hate it here," I whispered.

"So quit-"

"I can't just quit, I like the people."

"you will always see the people if you quit,"

"It's, it was my first job it's like my home" I uttered.

"Look (y/n)" He said, grabbing me by the hands and turning me to face him, he let go of them soon after and the fell at my sides, "I think- I think It's time for you to move on from everything."

"Hm?" I asked,

"Well, you thought Eli was your home but he's really just a douche, and now that you've left him you're happy right?"

"Well yeah-"

"And you used to say he was your home, and now you're saying this is your home but I don't think you understand that home is where you want to be." He said softly,

"Well I do want to be here, with Callie and-"

"No," he interrupted gently, "No, you want to be with Ty and Callie and Bry, that doesn't mean you want to be here." he gestured to the building around us. He picked up my hands again without looking at them and mindlessly was running his fingers over them, lacing them between mine, placing them between his, I felt my heart leap into my throat. He was still talking, his eyes flicking over the empty ihop around us.

"I think you should be where you want to be, doing what you want to do, because those who want to be with you, will still be with you, even if you leave." He said,

"I-I mean I never thought of that,"

"It's just a thought. I'm not telling you to quit your job by the way, I'm telling you to do what makes you happy (y/n), because-"

"Because I am not defined by my job." I finished for him,

"Yeah," He muttered. He seemed a little out of it, as if he was very tired. He then looked down at my hands between his and I saw his face go as red as his hair before letting go of my hands, "Sh-should we go for that walk?"

"hang on,"

I turned so I was standing next to him, (I was hardly up to his shoulder) and together we just stood at the entrance of a darkened, empty Ihop, reliving the memories.

I looked at the table Cal and I always roll cutlery at, I looked at the waitress prep station, and remembered one time when someone dropped eggs all over the floor and no body cleaned it up for nearly an hour, so we were all trudging through it and serving tables. I looked at the slit between the waitress station and the kitchen, and remembered how Bry and Ty always share quick kisses through there when they thing people aren't looking, I looked at all the tables, those I had served again and again and again and my eyes fell on the dining room.

where I first served Max and Ross and Tim,

where he pointed at his menu and said 'I'll have this,'

where we first shared a moment of us laughing about the wall head incident,

where he forgot his wallet purposely so he and I could touch hands,

where he yelled at me, only to return and apologize

where he stood up for me against Eli,

where we had first held hands,

where we had met,

where we were standing.

and now he was right next to me and I felt his hand nudging at mine and slowly his fingers lacing through mine and as my eyes flicked across the room, reliving memories, his were fixated on me and only me. And he was there and I was there and he was telling me to do what makes me happy and even though all those memories happened in this place there were so many more to make and so all I whispered was "okay," and at the time I didn't know it, but before we turned and left, walking hand in hand into the night, that moment was the last of mine in Ihop, as a waitress, as a manager, and I instead now, was happy.

Author's note

So guys, what did you think about this chapter! I was so excited to post this one because every chapter up until now has started with 'ihop', and this whole story has started with ihop and how you hated it and finally, you were going to do your own thing with Max and I just- I dunno it gives me the feels guys.

WE ARE SO CLOSE TO 1K READS I AM SO STOKED!

the second chapter of the double update will be coming tonight, where you will finally venture out of ihop and live your new life as- as what? I guess you'll just have to find out! I am so so SO excited to share the next chapter with you guys, and I am so happy ya'll are enjoying reading this story as much as I am writing it. Hope this chapter made you smile at some point! Comment if it did! Comment what you think will happen! Vote/follow/comment if you enjoyed and let me know what you want to see happen :D I would love to incorporate yall's ideas into 'edit'.

As always, goodbye lovelies! :D