Chapter 7

"Hey there, gorgeous, what's got you zoning out?" I snapped back into the real world when I heard her concerned voice. I look over to her and give a small smile.

"I can't help it. I am so nervous about telling our parents. We've been together since we were thirteen. For five years, they never saw us as anything more than best friends. What if they're disgusted? What if they disown us?" I say faster than my mouth could keep up, as I hear some of my own words get jumbled together. We stop at a light, just as she turns to me and gently moves my face towards her for us to make eye contact.

"Just breathe, okay. We are doing this together, so no matter what happens, you are not alone." She turns back to the road as she continues talking.

"We still have a few months till we are telling them anyways. We've already put down the first month's rent for our apartment, so even if they kick us out, we can just go there. We are already done with our classes. We could just skip our walk and have them send our diplomas to us." I sighed with somewhat relief as I considered what she said. She was right; it's so far away from now. Even if they did disown us, she's right; we can just move in before we go to Europe for our backpacking trip instead of after.

"You're right. You're right. I'm sorry I convinced you to go home from the party early; I just couldn't do it anymore." I say, being genuine. I know she wanted to go to the party so badly because it was the last one before we had to chill out the rest of the school year. Even though it's only a few months, we don't want to take chances of losing our college scholarships. She put her hand on my thigh and lightly squeezed reassuringly.

"Baby, don't be sorry at all. Honestly, I kind of wanted to leave too. I don't want to take any chances, and we hung out there for a few hours. No reason to stay until the party is done." She said, and I saw her smile in my peripheral vision. I know she wouldn't mind, but I still feel a little bad.

"I love you, Maddie. I'm just so in love with you. I look forward to loving you, endlessly." I profess out of nowhere. I shyly looked over at her to see her fully smiling, and at that moment, I was in a trance. Her smile always stopped me in my tracks from whatever I was doing and thinking.

"Awe, baby. I am so in love with you too. One day I'm going to make you my wife. Then we're going to have a beautiful house, with a couple of kids, and a farm of animals. Then one day, we'll be old thanking our younger selves that we met each other and that our lesbian asses were brave enough to make a move." She lightly chuckled at the end. My Heart Skipped a beat, and everything just seemed to slow down. I'm so happy; I'm so lucky, I'm so grateful, I'm so in love.

"Give me a kiss." She said, smiling, bringing me out of my trance once again. I smile as I lean over to kiss her. I barely brush her lips when we both notice a light getting bigger, brighter, and getting closer to us. We both looked forward, seeing a pair of headlights swerve into our lane. Maddie swerved right, but the car still made an impact.

"Maddie!" I jolted up, out of my sleep. Gulping in air. I look over and see a figure. I can't tell you what it is, because my eyes are so blurry. I feel so disoriented. I feel hands start to wrap around me, and I immediately pull my body back away.

"No, I don't want to leave her. Don't make me leave her!" I shouted out. I feel the warmth wrap around me as I'm brought closer into its clutches.

"Shh. I'm here. It's okay." A soothing voice spoke. I felt one of their arms wrapped around me, holding me towards them, rubbing up and down my back gently. The person's other hand, I felt holding my head into their shoulder. I could feel the sobs wrack through my body before everything went black.

I woke up to find myself wrapped around someone's body, with my head on their chest. I lifted myself to see who it was. Oh, it's Hope. Wait, what is she doing here? How does she know where I live? I shake her awake.

"Hey, Hope! Wake up!" She jolted up, eyes wide open, almost hitting our heads together in the process.

"Huh? What's going on?" She said, disoriented. I start snapping my fingers in front of her face.

"Hope, come on, snap out of it." She shakes her head and pauses for a minute. Then she snaps up, looking at me. She grabs my face on both sides gently, looking at me deeply into my eyes.

"Are you okay?" She says softly, with concern.

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be? Also, why are you in my bed? Better yet, how do you know where I live?" I questioned her, both confused as to why she would ask if I was okay and very concerned if she was a crazy stalker. Her concerned look starts to grow solemn.

"I was out walking when I noticed your name on the mailbox at your gate. I go on this walk all the time to get to the duck pond down the street. I had no idea you lived so close. One of your maids buzzed me in. I'm sorry I know this may make me seem crazy, but honestly, I'm glad I stumbled upon your house and came in. When I got up to your room, you were thrashing all around. You started crying and hyperventilating, so I tried to get you to wake up. You finally jolted up, screamed for someone named Maddie with tears streaming down your face. You looked straight at me; I thought you were awake. I went to wrap my arms around you when you jolted away from me, yelling at me not to take you away from her. I crawled up on the bed, laid next to you; you turned over and wrapped yourself around me, so I just held you. Your eyes then closed, and you fell back to sleep. I guess I fell asleep too." She informed me of events I don't remember. I remember my nightmare vividly, though. A nightmare that is very much a real memory from my past. I shudder outwardly. Every time I sleep, the wreck happens over and over again.

I feel Hope's fingers brush off the tears I didn't realize I was shedding.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I looked down, taking in a shallow, shaky breath.

"Don't be sorry at all. I'm glad I was here. Does that happen every time you sleep?" I lightly nod my head.

"Every night for the past three and half months," I say, pulling my knees into my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs, and laying my head on top of my knees. I look over to Hope and see her analyze me.

"What happened? Who's Maddie?" I close my eyes and suck in a sharp breath as I hear her say Maddie's name. Hearing her name sent a sharp pain through my heart, making my hollow chest ache.

I just turn the other way, quietly letting the tears flow freely down my cheeks. I can't speak. I just can't talk about that night. It hurts too much. I feel the warmth of arms wrap around me again.

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me. I'm always here if you ever want to talk about what happened and who she is, okay?" I just lean into her warmth, nodding my head.

"How about I go get us some snacks, and then we can have a movie marathon?" I pull away just a bit and look up into her eyes. I could see my reflection in her eyes, showing how broken and little I was. I could tell she had been crying too.

"I don't think I'll be good company, but if you're okay with me being out of it, then, by all means, stay." I slightly chuckle, but you can tell it's forced. She purses her lips, and I could feel myself looking at her, confused.

"Don't do that. You don't have to fake smiles and act like you're not broken and depressed around me. You shouldn't hide your emotions and fake happiness just to make others comfortable. It's okay to feel what you're feeling. This." She waves her hand back and forth between us. "It is always a safe place. I will never judge you for your emotions, nor will I ever be uncomfortable with them." She says genuinely. I can hear the slight tremble in her voice.

I feel so bad for making her cry. I can't help but hold in my emotions. I don't want to worry my parents any more than what they already are about me, and I don't want my depression scaring people and making them uncomfortable. I know she's telling the truth because she's still around after stopping me from falling to my death.

"Yeah, okay. I'll try not to fake it. It's just what I'm used to. I'm always here for you, too, okay?" I look into her eyes, just for her to snap hers down quickly with a sigh. She stands up, looking everywhere, but directly at me.

"Thank you. I'm going to go get the snacks now. Choose a movie." she walked out of my room as if she couldn't get out fast enough. Was it something I said? Maybe she just wasn't used to others being there for her like she is for others.

She returned a while later with a plethora of snacks. I decided on the Shrek movies to binge-watch. I'm hoping it will raise our spirits, at least a little bit. We made it to what I believe was the beginning of the third, or maybe it was the fourth one before we both drifted off to sleep.