only fools fall for you [mileven]

17 - good intentions

I have the sudden need to tell Max about me and El, but it might seem out of place. Even Lucas, Dustin and Will don't know about the second kiss. 

I manage to give her some idea of it. Constantly exchanging fond smiles with El and touching her hand might have given it away.

Max whispers back and forth with Lucas a lot, and I get the feeling she likes him, or he likes her.

Suddenly Dustin gets a call, and he goes to pick up the phone.

He rushes us out of the house, telling us his parents are coming home and they need Dustin to be alone. We all go our separate ways.

When I get home, I stare out my bedroom window. The grass is covered in sparkly frost, that's only just melting, so it looks like a thin sheet of ice all over the yard.

It looks so magical, yet so lifeless. I watch as some little kid plays in the front yard of his house, stomping in the frost. I smile to myself, thinking of El.

A car drives past, making a sharp turn and drenching the child with water. I hear laughter and I run out the door, picking up my coat.

I cross the road quickly and I don't see a single adult watching the sobbing kid, so I walk him into our house and wrap a towel around him.

Mom walks in, blinks and asks about him. I tell her the story, and she quickly rushes to their house with the little boy.

When she walks back through the door, she looks at me. 'Mike, you cannot take a child from their front yard because they look cold.'

I realise how bad that sounds. 'Yeah. Uh, sorry, Mom.'

She looks at me, then laughs. 'Oh Michael. You have good intentions sometimes but you can really be quite stupid.'

I grin. 'I know.'

I know.