Close As Lovers

Twenty-One.

Song: Whiskey Lullaby- Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley

Three days.

I had been gone for three days.

I drove for hours, trying to clear my mind and avoid the feelings I still had for him, but not even the night air or the street lights stretching over my windshield could help me escape from the things I didn't want to face anymore.

I finally stopped at the playground down the street from Nikki's old house. It was the last place she and I had been together, since we always used to go there to practice our dance routines in the field next to the playground, and sitting on the swing made it feel like she was still there with me. When I glanced at the swing beside me, I suddenly saw her, her bright smile radiating like the stars above as she waved at me. In a split second, she was gone, and the swing was empty again. If she had still been there, she would've known what to do in my situation with Wes. Hell, she probably would've smacked him for being dumb and told him to grow up-- classic Nikki style.

Nikki would have never admitted it out loud, but she liked Wes, and loved him for me. Every time she saw a picture of us, she would always fangirl, and every time I hung out with her at dance or after school, she would tell me some story from school that day about how Wes was around me. Back then, I didn't want to believe it because he and I were still enemies and the way he treated me didn't correlate with what she told me. But Nikki had always been an observer, and after she died, I wished that I would've paid a little more attention to the things she told me and a little less attention to the things I had blinded myself to.

And as I sat on that swing set, the silence of the night reminding me of the ones I had loved and lost, I realized that it was times like those where I needed her most.

I sat on the swing for a while, watching the stars as they sparkled against the obsidian sky. I thought about Nikki, Evan and Lana, mom, dad, and Daniel, and then I thought about Wes, the one thing I tried so desperately to avoid thinking about. But he was like the moon in my sky full of stars, and it was impossible to ignore it when it spread light across the entire field. I thought about everything that happened and what was going to happen in the future. I didn't want to go back home and face him, but I knew I would have to.

Especially when my phone started ringing off the hook.

Numerous voicemails popped up in my notifications bar from mom, David, Lana, and Evan, but the most came from Wes.

Molly, nobody can find you. Where are you? Lana's voicemail had said. She sent two other ones before blowing my phone up with texts.

"Munchkin, if you don't get back here by tomorrow, I'm going to personally find you and murder you for leaving me with Meredith on our shift." Evan joked, and even though it made me laugh, I couldn't go back yet. He ended up resorting to texts too.

"Honey, Wes told us what happened. Please come home. We're worried about you."

"Your mom is worried to death, sweetheart. If you need help, just give me a call and I'll come find you. Stay safe and come home soon."

Mom and dad left a couple voicemails, but I eventually told mom where I was and begged her not to tell anyone else, and she let me go. She knew I would come back when I was ready, and that was all I needed in that moment.

And then I listened to Wes'.

"Everyone is worried sick, Molly. Just come home and we'll work this out."

"Look, if it makes you more comfortable, I'll leave before you come back and give you time to cool down. But we need to talk."

"Dammit, Molly, this is serious. Please pick up."