Elijah had gone home to change before her parents arrived, while Madeline finished her coffee, then headed upstairs for a shower. She'd planned on taking her sweet time in it yesterday, but there Elijah was, and she hadn't taken one at all.
Her phone was ringing on her bed by the time she was done. Madeline rushed to accept the call coming from her dad's cell phone, putting it on speakerphone so she could comb her wild hair.
"Good morning, sweet father of mine."
"Your mother's driving like a bat out of hell, so it's good I had the sense to set up our wills last year," her dad joked. "Is he really there? "
Madeline licked her lips and dropped herself on the bed that still smelled like him. A slight aroma of shaved wood and metal. "He went home to change, but he'll be back before the two of you get here."
There was a long pause before her dad responded. "Maddie, where does Elijah live?"
That was the part she still couldn't get over. Truth was, when she'd woken up that morning and looked up at Elijah sleeping peacefully, she'd forgotten for a moment that she wouldn't have to say goodbye at the end of the weekend.
"Somewhere in town. He moved here a few months after I did. He was going to go to the funeral, but decided he could finally let himself look me up on social media first, and that's when he figured it out. I felt like I was going to have a stroke when he told me that one. We both have the same favorite restaurant, even.
"He said our North Star probably guided him straight to me, but he wasn't paying attention." Just the thought of that caused tears to prick at Madeline's eyes. "I'm trying not to dwell too much on the fact that it took two years, but then I think about all the time we could have lost if his dad hadn't died.
"Anyhow, after he looked me up and saw I was living here, he felt it would be easier on him if he didn't go to the funeral. He's not ready to go into his dad's house yet. He was going to have me call you two in a couple of hours, but mom called me first."
Her dad let out a heavy breath against the phone. "What's he like, Maddie? "
She licked her lips as she thought about the question. "It took me a few seconds to register who he was, honestly. Eva snuck him up to my room before I got home, and he was asleep on my bed. It gave me a chance to study him before he woke up. He's so different, dad. Taller, muscular, facial hair. He has glasses now."
"So, right up your alley?" Her dad teased.
It was true. Maddie had a thing for glasses. And height. And facial hair. But she didn't really care about muscles either way. Not that she'd be confirming her father's allegations. "There are some things that are the same," she continued. "His smile and facial expressions. Still easy to talk to. Still sweet."
Her father let out a breathy laugh. "Sounds like the two of you picked up right where you left off."
"In a way," Madeline agreed as she caught a snarl with her comb. "I thought we'd hit some awkward stage, but we didn't. All the hugs felt natural. Conversations went smoothly. But it feels different. We're both adults, which gives it a different sort of feel. Familiar, but new, if that makes sense."
"I understand what you mean," her dad told her. "Two different people, same connection."
"Exactly."
"Mitch, let her know we'll be there in an hour," her mom said in the background.
"You'll be here in an hour," Madeline confirmed. "Which means I better get going and try to finish my paper. Don't be surprised if my grades are lower this semester."
Her father let out a laugh. "That's fair. I can't imagine being able to concentrate on anything besides Elijah's return. But I told your mother, and now I'm telling you. Let's not try to smother him too much, okay? I know you still feel that connection to him, Maddie. All of us do. But we're all going to have to take the time to get to know each other again.
"We've been out of his life for a very long time. In a lot of ways, we're strangers to him. We may need to start from scratch, but him contacting you and wanting to contact us means something. Even if he feels distant, we need to remember we still matter to him enough to reach out."
For many, Madeline didn't doubt that would be the case. And maybe there would be times of emotional distance. She remembered after her cousin had studied abroad and ended up moving there after her studies were complete. When she came back five years later, no one was really certain how to talk to one another. It was awkward.
But he'd come to her. Not just with a letter in her mailbox, which he could have easily gotten away with, but Elijah had come to her home, and waited probably a good three hours for her to return. He'd held her body against his own as if Madeline were a life raft. He'd kissed her on the cheek when it was time to say goodnight, and now that she thought about it, Madeline could have sworn she felt another kiss against her shoulder as she drifted off to sleep.
Her father always said that whenever a big event in her life came and went, Madeline had never shown the sort of excitement most would in the situation. Turning thirteen, her first date, her sixteenth birthday, her driver's license, prom... There was always a looming sadness hovering over those big moments in her life.
All because someone was missing to celebrate with her. That someone no one could ever fill the void of. There were people who tried, but Madeline never allowed it. That place in her life was reserved for only him.
When Madeline heard the creaking of the floor, she knew Elijah had returned, as she was the only one to live on the top level of the house. Unless it was Eva wanting to ask more questions about Elijah, but Madeline knew little more than her friend. They'd stayed up talking for a while the night before, but he'd wanted to know all about her. Just as well, since her parents would badger him for information today anyhow.
"I have to go, dad. I'll see you guys soon."
"See you soon, honey."
After ending the call with her dad, Madeline turned away from her desk to see Elijah walk through her open doorway. He looked handsome in dark jeans and a grey-blue button-up short-sleeved shirt. With a backpack slung over his shoulder, he could have passed for a college student.
"Where'd the glasses go?" Madeline asked. He was good looking either way, but there was just something about glasses that completed the package. Not that she should have had an emotional investment in it either way.
"In the bag," he told her before a small smile appeared on his face. "Why? You got a thing for glasses?"
Feeling her cheeks turning warm, Madeline turned back to finish combing her hair. "I wouldn't call it a thing."
"What would you call it?"
There really was no way of making it sound any different, now that she'd already confirmed as much. "Just like the look, is all. It suits you well."
"You'll see them again at the end of the night," Elijah told her with a growing smile, dropping his bag near her door. "I take it that was your dad on the phone?"
"It was."
Elijah scratched at his facial hair, his eyes wandering around her bedroom until he noticed the North Star prism hanging in front of her window, making small rainbow reflections against her wall. "It's strange hearing everyone's voices again after this many years," he confessed. "Especially yours, since it's changed so much. Sort of feels like I'm waking up from this crazy long dream."
"Except when you wake up from your dream, everything's back the way it was. Who we all are to each other hasn't changed, but we're different people. My dad said that could take a while for you to get used to. That we might feel like strangers to you for a while."
"You don't," Elijah responded quickly. "I may be just getting to know who you are now, but you could never feel like a stranger to me, M&M. I don't sleep next to people I don't trust completely."
Tears pricked at her eyes as she went over to Elijah and wrapped her arms around him.
Elijah held her, not just accepting the hug, but feeling like he truly needed it. "You and I are special, Maddie. It didn't matter how much time passed. I still trust you more than anyone. You still matter to me more than anyone else ever could. I love your parents, but yesterday, I just needed you. I've always needed my best friend, but it was never just about my needs."
The darkness. He'd warned Madeline twice of the darkness that began brewing within him so long ago. If it was just his father's beatings he had to worry about, Elijah probably would have pushed through, left on mutual terms with his father, and settled in the town nearby their area so he still could have kept her family in his life.
At seventeen, he could feel that anger he feared every day from his own father, finding its way into himself. If everything about his father soaked into himself, Elijah wouldn't risk that around Maddie. It was a while before she truly understood that.
Elijah never left to protect himself from the beatings. He left to save his soul, and if that was deemed impossible, at least he could protect Madeline from having to watch him change into someone irredeemable, or fall victim to it herself.
It was the fear of turning into his father that drove Elijah far away, not allowing him to return until his father's death.
"You never stopped being my best friend," Madeline told him, her head resting safely against his chest. "I know you wanted me to move on, but I could never bring myself to."