AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, bollocks.” She walked down the steps to where I was with a huff. “It’s been a bit of a day.”
I nodded. I understood that, all things considered.
“Hey.” Ellie reached for me, resting her hand on my arm. Concern darkened her usually bright gaze. “Are you okay?”
“It’s Mum’s birthday,” I said, smiling tightly. “I just got back from the cemetery.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Why? It’s not your fault.”
“I know, I just…” She smiled, stepping closer to me. She hesitated for a second before she wrapped both of her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest.
I hugged her back and pressed my mouth to the top of her head, barely resisting the urge to kiss her hair. It was such a simple thing, to hug me, yet it said more than any words ever could.
I hadn’t realised that I’d needed this until right now.
It was even scarier that I’d needed it to come from her.
That I’d needed… her.
Shit.
IneededEllie.
She was a part of my life. I wanted her to stay a part of my life. The idea of her not being here, arguing with her cat, complaining about Winston’s latest antics, muttering about ‘her bloody characters’ was unfathomable.
I didn’t want to think about my life without her in it.
The one thing that scared me more than anything else was happening right now.
I was helplessly falling in love with her.
Unequivocally so.
The realization rushed through me with an overwhelming sense of fear. Every muscle in my body tensed so harshly that my hands shook, and my fingers were clenching around her dress until my knuckled burnt with the stress of my grip.
“Max,” Ellie said softly.
“Sorry.” I released my hands from the trembling claws they’d formed. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, no.” She leant back and rested her hand against my cheek. “Do you want to do something tonight? I have to go shopping because I have basically zero food because I keep eating it in a pit of sad self-pity when I’m writing.”
I pressed my tongue against my top lip as I fought a smile.
“I mean, never mind.” She blushed. “I understand if you’d rather be alone.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Um…” Ellie paused, letting her hand fall to my chest. “Well, after my grandma died, I would visit my grandpa and we’d do things she loved. Like, I used to go over every Friday after school.” A wistful smile toyed with her lips. “And we would always bake, but every year on her birthday me and Grandpa would kick her out of the kitchen and make her favourite chocolate cake.”
Her airy smile became a wide, cheeky grin that was impossible not to return.
“She hated it because we made the biggest mess. After she died, he didn’t want to bake anymore. The first birthday without her was about five months after, and I was so upset when he said he didn’t want to bake her cake because she wasn’t here that I tried to do it anyway. Not recommended for a nine-year-old,” she added with a pointed look. “He found me crying in this huge pile of flour because I’d knocked the whole packet off the side and Grandma hadn’t come to shout at me for making a mess of her kitchen. I guess it was the first true sign that she was gone.”
Sadness flitted through her gaze.
I smiled.
