by Olivia Besse
“I guess...”
“I loved you even before I knew what love even was,” Max replied, his cheeks turning pink as he turned to her with an earnest expression.
“Lie or no lie?” she whispered, staring down at the leaves on the ground so as to avoid his gaze.
“No lie.”
“I don’t believe you,” Riley muttered, her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment as Max stared intently at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It just... It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why wouldn’t you have just told me?” Riley asked. “We used to tell each other everything. You used to talk for hours about Pokémon and Goosebumps books. How’d you forget to mention something as important as that?”
“I didn’t think you’d consider me in that way,” Max said with a frown. “You were too busy being boy crazy over other guys.”
“Well, I mean, I did have a crush on you in 6th grade,” Riley admitted. “But then you started dating Madison Lundberg and I kind of got over it.”
“I dated her for three days,” Max recalled, scrunching his face up in confusion.
“Three days is, like, eternity in junior high time,” Riley mumbled defensively.
“I only asked her out because I found out that you kissed Brian Whittaker over the weekend,” Max informed her, letting out an offended scoff.
“He had pizza breath!” Riley replied defensively. “And it was only because I lost during Truth or Dare!”
“So this was all just a big misunderstanding,” Max dramatically sighed out.
“We could have saved ourselves so much trouble,” Riley agreed with a tiny smile.
“So how about we make a deal?” Max slowly began, holding his hand out to her good-naturedly. “Let’s finally just get together and do it right. Make up for lost time, you know?”
“Sounds good to me,” Riley replied, unable to wipe the grin off of her face as she placed her hand in his and shook on it.
“And to think,” he said as he kept her hand tightly gripped within his own. “Today could have been our tenth anniversary.”
“Maybe we can celebrate that in ten years’ time,” Riley offered with a laugh. “We can get a cake and everything.”
“Piñata too?”
“Only if it’s filled with Doritos.”
“Deal.”
“Maybe this isn’t so much destroying two decades’ worth of friendship,” Riley began, hugging the cat to her chest as she smiled up at him. “As it is starting a relationship two decades in the making.”
“I like that,” Max said with a grin.
“But let’s please forget everything that happened in the last two decades,” Riley said with a groan. “Especially the past few weeks.”
“Deal,” Max said, nodding his head in agreement. “I’ll forget about all of the dumb shit that you pulled if you promise to forget all of the stupid crap that I said. But from now on, I’m going to hold you accountable for any and all bullshit that you put me through.”
“Right back at you, Fletcher,” Riley quipped in response.
“I’m serious,” Max told her, an earnest expression on his face. “This is a real, live relationship now. No more games, got it?”
“Duly noted,” Riley said with a smile.
“Good.”
“So, Max Fletcher, as your fellow relationshipper, I have a huge favor to ask you,” Riley began, pulling a face as she did. “I have this really lame thing I have to go to tomorrow. Have to wear a dress and everything,” she sarcastically moaned out. “Really, really lame, but my attendance is required.”
“Is that so?” Max asked in amusement.
“Unfortunately,” she muttered under her breath before looking up at him expectantly. “So I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come with me. Dampen the pain, you know?”
“Only if you promise that your next speech will be as epic as the one you gave earlier,” he teased in response.
“More like epic-er,” Riley replied with a sarcastic scoff.
“Then how could I resist?”
Riley couldn’t help but beam as she looked up at him. “So, it’s a date?”
Max nodded in agreement, leaning forward until their noses were practically touching. “It’s a date,” he whispered, taking her lips in their first official kiss.
———
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