Shortie & Knight

Girlfriend

•Amethyst•

I was not a fan of staying over at other people's houses.

Maybe it's just me, but I always felt that everything I did was wrong. Like, if I needed to use the bathroom, I was wasting toilet paper. Or if I needed to take a shower, I was being too comfortable. Or if I was changing my clothes, I was being too impulsive. Even though all of those things are something I do on a daily basis, I feel like an absolute asshole every time I do them at someone else's house.

I hate being me sometimes.

But I put that all aside and followed Elm up the stairs. She said that she was going to get me some clean underwear and toiletries, even though I told her not to bother. Audrey said that she would let me use her bathroom and an extra shirt to sleep in. As I was following Elm, I looked at all of the pictures on the wall.

There were a few of Max and Audrey when they were little, the both of them arguing in each of the photos. They looked so adorable when they were kids. There was also a few of them holding the twins when they were babies. Ethan had really curly hair while Noah's normally black hair looked dirty blonde. They were absolutely adorable and looked like they were in love with their older siblings. Ethan was smiling brightly as he reached up to hold Max's hand and Noah was sleeping soundly in Audrey's arms. There was also some of Alexander and the girls. My favorite one was when he was sitting in a chair, looking about ten years old while the girls were two, with a bunch of badly done make-up and hair clips, bows, and ties all over his hair and face. He was still smiling brightly and the girls were giggling with various make-up products in their small hands.

"They all grow up so fast, don't they?" Elm asked as she stared at the pictures with me.

I jumped a bit in surprise but nodded anyway. "I guess so, yeah. It kinda feels like yesterday when I was playing in the sandbox." I didn't say that I was alone and had no friends when I played in the sandbox, it didn't feel necessary.

"Max used to talk about how he always saw a little girl playing all alone all the time. I don't mean to intrude, but was that you?" She asked.

I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't very good with people."

"But you seem fine with Max and the rest of us."

I smiled. "I guess the fact that I knew Max when we were kids made it easier for me to become good friends did with him, or, I guess more than friends."

Elm smiled and turned to me. "You make Max very happy, honey. Always have. I remember the first day he met you, he said, 'Mama, I wanna be friends with the pretty girl over there.' It was so cute! He never stopped talking about you, I hope you know that."

I blushed. "Really? What about third grade? We didn't have any classes together."

She smiled. "He still talked about you. He always talked about how he saw you in the hallways or the library." She kept walking up the stairs and I followed. "He was so happy when he talked about you. I had always wanted to meet you because you made my baby smile so much." She opened a door and led me inside a room, I'm guessing hers. "He always had a hard time when he was little because his dad is always on business trips. You always seemed to make him forget about that, even if it was just for a little bit."

I smiled. "I'm glad I was able to do that for him. May I ask where his dad is now?"

She nodded and rummaged in her drawer for something. "Back in Italy to raise money for a poor town. He has a soft spot for Italy, since that's where he grew up... and where we met."

I smiled. "That's what Max told me."

She chuckled and turned to me with a bundle in her hands. "I only have lingerie, sorry. I got this new pair, but it's apparently too small now that it's out of the store, so-" she paused mid-sentence and walked over to the wall near the door.