Never Really Over

Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, I love that you're enjoying the story. I'm sorry I kind of disappeared, life just always got in the way whenever I wanted to write this chapter. But now that I finally have my schedule under control, here's the new chapter in celebration of the season three announcement! Hope you guys like it x

Otis just stood there, staring at Maeve. It felt his heart was dropping, every second that Maeve stood in front of him in silence.

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know." Otis said. The silence in the room was beginning to feel suffocating.

Maeve didn't say anything in response; she just stared at Otis, her eyes shinning with tears waiting to be shed.

"Hey, don't cry! It's okay; we're okay no matter what you feel. I know this has been confusing as all hell and that's because of me.." Otis began; he really wanted to be comforting. Despite how much his heart was breaking in the moment, the last thing he wanted was for Maeve to feel hurt because of his unrequited feelings.

"Otis.." Maeve said, trying interrupt what she knew was fast becoming an unstoppable rant.

"Feelings are complicated, I get that. It's completely normal to feel overwhelmed.." Otis continued, not hearing Maeve try and stop him. Somehow his mind thought the right reaction to this situation was to turn on his therapist mode.

"I love you!" Maeve shouted. She didn't actually mean to shout; she just didn't know how else to stop Otis from rambling. She was also kind of overwhelmed by her feelings but she didn't want to encourage Otis turning into a therapist every time they had an argument.

"You do?" Otis asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

"I do." Maeve said, taking a deep breath. There was so much she had left unsaid and she knew she didn't want to hold back any longer. She just needed to collect her thoughts.

"I'm not good with feelings. Actually I've spent my whole life trying to find ways to suppress them. Feelings just felt like a weakness when all I really had was myself. And I spent my life being okay with being alone to the extent that I imagine my future in a house alone, looking in on people living out the rest of their lives. And this is something I have never said out loud to anyone. I just barely found the courage to write about it. But the thing is, with you, I didn't have to think for a second. And I think a large part of that is because if you 'd heard my essay, without anyone telling you it was mine, you would just know. You're the reason why for the first time in my life I feel like I can have things that I didn't even let myself have in my daydreams because they seemed so far fetched. You make me feel safe and that felt scary for a while because I did had never experienced someone who could actually stay long enough to provide me with safety and warmth and love. And that's what scares me the most, how deeply I feel for you, even in moments where it's the last thing I want to do. Every single bone in my body is telling me to run, to not let you all the way in. That somehow now is when I still have an out. But I'm not going to run because the way I feel when you look at me the way you are right now, as if I make your world go around, it gives me strength to put my heart on the line for you and for me. Please don't prove me wrong. " Maeve said, saying every single thought and feeling she had held back out of fear of being too much.

"You're all I want, Maeve. I promise to love you, always. I'm not fucking this up again." Otis said, taking a step towards Maeve.

Maeve smiled her signature smile, where she kind of bit her lip and looked down. She couldn't believe she was blushing or even the fact that she had butterflies wrecking havoc in her stomach. But none of that mattered in the moment because she was seconds away from kissing the love of her life for the first time.

Both Maeve and Otis leaned in at the same time. At first it was just a slight brush of the lips but it felt like someone had set each and every one of their nerves alight. Maeve had always thought it was super cliché when people said they saw fireworks when they kissed someone, she thought it was a bunch of badly written mush. But standing in that dingy bathroom, kissing Otis, she could literally see the fireworks going off behind her eyelids, as if her whole life had been leading up to this moment. But she would never admit that because even though Otis was her whole heart, she still didn't need no man.

Otis, on the other hand was trying to stop himself from blacking out. They were now kissing properly, both of them tilting their heads a little to deepen the kiss. Otis was so nervous; he was never good at these kinds of things. He really didn't want to disappoint Maeve before they even got started.

While he was busy trying to muster up the courage to make the next move, Maeve had already sensed the unease in Otis' body language. She knew she would have to make the next move and she was okay with that, all she wanted was Otis. Maeve brought her tongue near Otis' bottom lip, as if to ask for permission, which he granted.

"Wait!" Otis said, pulling away with swollen lips and his breath caught in his throat.

"What's wrong?" Maeve asked, equally breathless and in shock at how things had turned out.

"As much as I enjoyed this because I did, I do. I just, I don't want to do this for the first time in an old, leaking bathroom. I want to take you out on a date and actually show you how much you mean to me." Otis said, suddenly getting shy when he realised how vulnerable he was being.

Maeve couldn't stop smiling, at all. She couldn't help remember the first time; she had bumped into Otis, how she hadn't given him a second thought at the time and now he was all she ever thought about. And he was here, standing in front of her, being the perfect guy. He literally felt like he had come out of a romantic comedy, something Maeve had sworn was not her thing. But here she was, falling, so fucking hard.

"So you want to take me out?" Maeve asked, smiling at how fast Otis' ears had turned pink at the question.

"Yes." Otis said.

Maeve just stared at Otis, waiting for him to ask.

"Maeve, would you like to go on a date with me?" Otis asked.

"I would love to." Maeve said. Now she was the one with pink ears, looking at anywhere but Otis. Maeve honestly had no idea how she felt about herself being coy. This was the literal opposite of the image she had created for herself. And while she was going through this internal existential crisis, she finally looked up at Otis. Looking at his blue eyes shinning in the sunlight coming from the broken window, the last of her walls came crumbling down.

"How about tomorrow night?" Otis asked, taking Maeve's hand and beginning to walk out of the bathroom. He had no idea where he got the courage from but he decided to go with it.

Maeve took a couple of seconds to understand what was happening. She just stood there staring at her hands intertwined with Otis'. When her brain finally caught up, she decided to reply. "Sounds perfect." She said, giving Otis a peck on the check, making him turn red all over again.