Ghost - Elmax

Chapter 34 : Recipes

Max and Jane were not working today, so they went to Lucas and Gabrielle's apartment. It was planned for Max, but Jane wasn't supposed to come at first. But she seemed ready to see Lucas again, like if she wanted to draw a line under what happened, it was a good thing. They arrived in front of the door, Jane behind, but Max didn't knock immediately.

- "You're okay?" asked Max.

- "Maybe they don't wanna see me, I mean, it was my fault..."

- "It wasn't you fault, Jane; they know that."

- "I don't know..."

- "(holds out her hand) Come on, it will be fine. She told me if you wanna come, you were welcomed. Everything changed."

Jane nodded and grabbed her hand. Max placed a kiss on it before knocking. Gabrielle almost instantly opened it and had a surprised and happy expression when she looked at Jane.

- "You came!" stated the black-haired girl. "I knew you would come, (turns her head behind) I told you she would come!"

- "I'm glad you win then!" answered Lucas from the inside.

Gabrielle was so happy that she took her in her arms. Jane got surprised at first, but then relieved. She wrapped her arms around her too. The black-haired girl broke the hug and invited them to enter. Lucas was waiting them, standing, a crutch in his right hand.

- "Oh my god! You're standing! You finally found the right prothesis!" stated Max with excitement.

- "Yeah, and after weeks of rehabilitation, I can finally walk, it's not perfect but, it's better than nothing."

- "I'm so proud of you!"

The redhead took him in her arms and realized he was smelling good. While this moment, Gabrielle took Jane's arm to invite her to come closer to them. The brunette was still uncomfortable with it, she still thought she was responsible for his leg. Gabrielle rubbed her back while Max broke the hug with Lucas and went to her girlfriend to hold her hand.

- "Two girls at your arms and you only look at me, I'm honored," joked Lucas.

Jane had a small amused sigh but looked down, feeling a bit embarrassed.

- "We should let you talk alone," proposed Gabrielle.

- "If you need us, we're in the kitchen," added Max.

The two girls kissed their lovers before leaving and putting their ears on the door to listen. Jane was looking around, avoiding eyes contact with him.

- "I'm sorry for telling you it was your fault," apologized Lucas.

- "Don't be, you were right..."

- "I was wrong, more than wrong. Blaming you was stupid, I should have supported you after, and helped you, but I didn't. I preferred looking for a responsible than realizing we were all feeling bad and losing our minds."

- "Yeah, we fucking lost it!" stated Jane with a small smile.

- "We did."

- "Sorry for your jaw, by the way."

- "It's fine, it was full of shit anyway."

Jane nodded and pinched her lips together.

- "I heard you had a complicated first day?"

- "Oh, yeah...you know, um, I, I-"

- "Max told me you were on a mine, relax," smiled Lucas.

- "Oh, okay, well, I'm not gonna lie, I thought of you this day, even if Max took your place rapidly."

- "I hope she did, you needed to think of something positive, seeing me with one leg wasn't a good idea. How are you?"

- "I've nightmares again since this day..." explained Jane.

- "Oh..."

- "Yeah...What about you? You work or something like that?"

- "I work in a garage, it's pretty cool. If one day you're tired to be a cop, I'm sure there will be a place for you in there."

- "Yeah? I don't know, for now, I'm good with my work."

- "Okay, cool, no problem," smiled Lucas. "We're good?"

- "We're good."

Lucas had a big smile on his face before giving a friendly tap on her shoulder. They joined their girlfriends in the kitchen and began to eat. The ambience was warm and relaxed. The four friends really spent a good moment together, able to finally have fun with no worries.

- "Did Bev call you?" asked Lucas.

- "For?" frowned Jane.

- "She finished her report, she wants us to watch it together when it's broadcasted, what do you think?"

- "I, I don't know...I'm not sure I really like watching me."

- "You can say no, you know," told Max.

- "No, I think it's important for Bev, I can watch her work. When is it?"

- "Next week," answered Gabrielle.

- "If it's not a problem for you, Jane, they could come to our apartment, we have a bigger couch," proposed the redhead.

- "Yeah, sounds good for me," weakly smiled Jane.

Max intertwined her fingers with Jane's. She was so proud of her, Jane seemed ready to keep living, and watching this report with Beverly and Lucas was the proof of it. And Bev would be so happy to have them with her.

At the end of the afternoon, Jane and Max left the apartment of their friends to go back to theirs. When they entered, Abigail was asleep on the couch with a ring binder on her chest. Max and Jane looked at each other, then, Max slammed the door, waking up the blonde girl. Abigail opened her eyes with difficulties but recognized the two girls.

- "Oh, hi, how was your...lunch?" asked the girl, sitting and putting the ring binder on the coffee table.

- "It was cool, we had lots of fun," told Max. "You're reading my recipes?"

- "Um, yeah, they're cute."

- "Cute?"

- "Yeah, (Jane leaves the room to take a shower) I mean, all the notes you write, it's all about Jane, what she likes, what she doesn't like, which one she prefers, what kind of cream she digests, the ones to avoid, and all of this. It's pretty cute. You even wrote which recipes to do with all of her mood, when she is angry, sad, or happy. I mean I would love someone to do the same for me! It's so cool, you're the definition of love."

- "Oh, thank you, I don't know if we're the definition of love but, we're doing our best."

- "Come on, I wish I was lesbian to flirt with you."

- "Okay, calm down!" chuckled the redhead.

- "You even have an entire menu dedicated to your friends, "The Party"! The "Crusty Dusty", "Lucas's burger", "Picky Mickey", "Wave Bev", "Cute Will", and "Sweet Jane". That's impressive!"

- "Yeah, I'm still working on it, I want them to be perfect," smiled Max.

- "They already look delicious."

- "Yeah? I prefer when it's the concerned one who tastes their recipes, but I can cook some for you, if you want."

- "Really!? I would love to! Like a last meal before leaving you!"

- "Yeah, why not," chuckled the redhead.

- "How are you gonna call your restaurant?"

- "MadMax!"

- "'Can't wait to see it."

The two girls kept reading Max's recipes. The redhead felt nostalgic by reading this, remembering when she made Jane taste them and took notes of her reaction to make it better the next time. She didn't think of it before, but she could create a recipe for Abigail too, now. After everything that happened, she deserved her name in the menu. She would think about it.