Written In The Stars: Book Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: DEEPEST DESIRES

Once Elijah made his way back into the apartment, Madeline appeared freshly showered, curls wet and dripping, in a robe similar to her mother's as she sat on the couch rather than recliner, going through each photograph one at a time.

"Jesus, how long was I out there for?"

Madeline glanced up. "A couple of hours. My dad was already awake and moving around by the time I woke up, so I had him help me in the bathroom, and my mom helped me shower before she went outside for you. My dad noticed one of the boxes you brought in was a shower chair thingie, so he set it up for me. I hope that's okay."

"I certainly wasn't saving it for me," Elijah told her with a small grin as he ran his fingers through his unkept hair. "I'm guessing you found out where I ran off to yesterday."

Madeline nodded her confirmation. "She's beautiful. And your uncle looks so much like you did at that age. I think I remember him being at your dad's funeral, but I never spoke to him. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had."

"That's a vicious game to start playing, M&M. I'd recommend against it."

"I know," Madeline muttered. "What was your grandfather like?"

A barely audible laugh escaped Elijah before he walked over and sat next to her. "He was... kind." It seemed like such a simple word to use, and Elijah searched for a better way to phrase it. "He's lost so much. His wife, his daughter. But when I told him who I was, there was so much hope that filled his eyes. Like all the grief finally led him somewhere decent.

"He was frail, quiet. I feel like he spent most of the time just trying to maintain composure. It felt like he was waiting my whole life to meet me. Me showing up at his house, it was this huge moment in his life, and I went there completely disconnected. Maybe even a little angry. But he seemed to accept that, and still welcomed me with open arms. It took me a bit to let my guard down and open up, but it was worth it."

"I wish I could have been there to see it," Madeline replied, still keeping her voice quiet.

When he realized those were the only words she was going to speak, Elijah leaned back. "You were there in spirit, and in the conversation."

Madeline's eyes shot over to him. "How did I get brought up?"

"He asked me if I had anyone at home waiting for me, so I told him about your accident and explained who we were to each other. He'd like to meet you."

"Why would he want to meet me?" Madeline asked.

It didn't even seem like a real question, but Elijah answered it all the same. "Because you're important to me, and he wants to learn more about the things that are important to me."

Madeline made an 'o' shape with her mouth before she pressed her lips together, her fingers fidgeting with each other like she was trying to keep her hands busy. "How important am I to you, Elijah?" She risked a glance up only for a moment, before her brown eyes looked around the room, then focused back on her hands. "Because last night you made it sound-"

"Like I was still in love with you?" Elijah finished for her. He wasn't afraid of what he felt for her anymore. He wasn't afraid to open his heart to her. Yes, she could reject it, and that was her right. If she felt she couldn't trust him because of their past, that was all on him. If she no longer felt anything more than friendship, he'd deal. But in order to show her she could trust him, he had to be honest with her. Elijah was done hiding. "I am still in love with you. I told you as much when we first saw each other in the hospital, and now that you aren't completely drugged up, I'll say it again.

"I invited you to come stay with me because you'll always be the most important person in my life, and you'll always be my best friend. I wanted to take care of you because best friends are there when you need them. There are no ulterior motives here. Yes, I'm in love with you, but that has nothing to do with why you're here.

"Do I want you to still be in love with me? Absolutely. Before, I just wanted you to have a good life far away from me because I thought all I would do was drag you down, and honestly, I would have. If our breakup hadn't driven me to the bottle something would have, because I wasn't handling what I needed to, which made hitting rock bottom inevitable.

"But I've said it to your mom and dad, and now I'm saying it to you. I'm not that guy anymore. I've worked on my mental health, I've worked on my inner peace, Minus punching your ex, I've had a great handle on that anger I felt. I've been chipping away at my demons. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to hide my past and my issues. Yesterday, I faced one of them head on, even though I thought for sure it was going to cause me pain. It didn't, but it easily could have, and I was ready to confront it.

"I'm not running away scared anymore, and I'm not scared of what we could have with each other. I mean," Elijah continued, running his fingers through his hair with a shaky hand, "I'm scared. You're always going to be scared when you put your heart on the line, but I'm facing this like I've faced everything else. If this all blows up in my face, at least I can't say I didn't try.

"You don't have to say anything, because I get that I haven't stopped talking for a good five minutes, and this probably feels like a mental and emotional overload. Instead, I'm giving you options, and all you have to do is respect my one stipulation. If you aren't in love with me anymore, all you have to do is not ask me to lie down next to you when I bring you upstairs tonight. If you do love me, even if you're still not sure if you can trust it, we'll just continue doing what we have been doing. We'll lay next to each other, talk, whatever. Nothing happens until you make it happen or ask for it to happen."

Elijah felt like he was going to stroke out by the time he was done, but he spoke his peace, and that was all he could do. Just in time, as only moments after he stopped talking, Mitch's legs came into view from the stairway.

Madeline was the definition of a deer caught in headlight. He wasn't sure when she looked up from her fingers and over to him, as Elijah just completely spewed his truth in a daze, and quite possibly could have blacked out for a second somewhere in the midst of it all. It took her a moment to even notice her father at the bottom of the staircase, looking half-tempted to walk right back upstairs.

Now that she had noticed him there, Madeline tucked her hair behind her ear and licked her lips before daring to look in his direction once more. "You said there was a stipulation."

He did say that, but for a moment he almost forgot what it was. Like the night before, his brain was struggling to function after pushing it damn near over the edge. "Like I told you at the hospital, I can accept if we aren't a part of each other's lives. It'll hurt, but I can't have it hurt as much as last time. I just can't. So if this ends with you healing and finding your own apartment, moving on from our friendship... I just need our ending to be simple. No tears, no desperation, no drama, no dangling hope that gets ripped away."

"An 'I wish you well' ending?" Madeline guessed, using his words from the hospital.

Elijah nodded his confirmation as a knock sounded at the door. After a few moments of staring at Madeline, Elijah got up from the chair and glanced through the curtain. "Looks like the police have a few more questions to ask," he muttered before glancing over in Madeline's direction. "Are we good?"

He wasn't certain if she heard him right away, but eventually Madeline shook herself out of her own thoughts, took a moment to catch up to what he said, and gave him a nod. "We're good."