"I'm going out for a walk." I told Dad as I finished the dishes.
"Be back by ten." He said curtly. "And if you're late, you're banned from being near that Banks' kid."
I simply nodded before going to grab a jacket then I left the house. I balled my hands up and shoved them into my pockets as I walked to Mason's house.
"Hey stranger." Mason greeted me as I walked up his driveway.
"You just saw me at school." I sat next to him on his front steps.
"How's your family?" He avoided looking at me.
"Fine, I guess." I shrugged and looked up at the night.
"Is your Dad still mad at me?" I barely heard him.
"He isn't mad at you." I looked back at him. "He's mad at me."
"It's my fault." He hung his head, and I laced our fingers together.
"It's your mom's fault." I told him. "She put bananas in the muffins and didn't tell you. I skipped school because that put you in the hospital. My Dad is mad at me for skipping school."
"Still-" He tried to put the blame on himself.
"Mason." I reached over and grabbed his jaw with my free hand. "You've done nothing wrong."
"I told Justin to flirt with you." He rushed out and looked ready to throw up.
"What?" I furrowed my brow as I tried to understand what he was saying.
"I told Justin to flirt with you." He pushed my hands away and scooted away from me. "It was stupid and a total fuckboy move-"
"Why?" I asked him.
"Because I..." He made a vague gesture after he abruptly trailed off. "I don't know."
"Bullshit." I tucked a leg under myself as I turned to look at him. "Why did you tell Justin to flirt with me? Why not one of the guys on the team?"
"Because I trust Justin and knew he wouldn't do anything stupid." Mason looked down at his hands.
"It made Hannah question if he still loved her." I leaned over and smacked the back of his head. "You, sir, are the definition of dumbass."
"I know." He buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the idea."
"How did you come with that stupid idea?" I asked him. "What was the outcome suppose to be?"
"I don't know?" He didn't remove his head from his hands. "I honestly have no idea why even Hannah thinks-"
"Hannah knew?" I frowned. She didn't tell me...
"Justin told her around the time he slept over." Mason ran his hands down his face and looked over at me. "She didn't tell you."
"She probably forgot." I shrugged. "It's not the first time we've kept things from each other."
"Do you hate me?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
"No." I answered immediately. "I knew he wasn't serious about it, I thought it more of a he thought Hannah wasn't wanting to continue the relationship after high school or something."
"It was stupid." He laughed.
"Like failing U.S. History by less than a percent." I joked even though he passed this time.
"Same level just about." He smiled softly. "Can I tell you something?"
"Always." I bumped my knee against his before tucking my hands between my knees.
"I don't want to do our deal thing anymore." His tone left no room for argument.
"The whole 'I help you get laid and you help me with my list' deal thing?" I know that's our only deal but still.
"Yeah." He nodded. "I shouldn't have asked you do that in the first place. If your Dad ever found out-"
"He won't and if he does, there's nothing he can do about it." I laid my head on his shoulder. "Why the sudden change of mind?"
"I've been thinking about a lot of things since I nearly died." He laid his head on mine.
"Like what?" I pulled on his hands until he let me lace them together. "Other than calling off getting you laid."
"Just thinking things over." His voice was softer now. "What I want and don't want. Should do and shouldn't."
"Got examples for those?"
"I don't want you to through with your end of the deal because I don't to have sex to just have sex anymore." He sighed deeply before continuing. "Still figuring out if I should or shouldn't move in with Walt."
"What?" I pulled my head away. But his grip tighten on our hands. "Walt offered to let you move in with him? When did that happen?"
"After Faith took you home." He was looking straight ahead without any emotion coloring his face. "He was allowed to stay longer."
"Are you going to take him up on it?" I stared at his profile because he refused to look at me.
"I don't know." He opened his mouth but closed it again.
"What's keeping you from giving him an answer?" I asked even though I had a feeling why he was hesitant.
"I don't want to switch to a different school my last semester of high school, don't want to leave my friends, don't want to live in a strange city, and I don't want to leave you." He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye for half a second.
"Those are legit reasons to not move." I said my thoughts slowly. "But Mase, you need to be selfish and think of yourself."
"I don't know if it'll be good for me." I could see the tears in his eyes, and I knew what I had to say to make him pick the right choice.
"Mason, you died for two minutes because your Mom didn't know you're allergic to bananas. My coworkers know you're allergic." I told him. "Your Dad barely looked up from his phone when they were at the hospital, and he's ready to pack up and start over with his girlfriend."
"I know-"
"I love you, and you're my best friend." I removed a hand out of his grasp and gripped his jaw, forcing him to look at me. "And as your best friend I'm telling you to move in with Walt."
"He lives twelve hours away in Nevada, Hailey." He was crying now.
"I know, Mase." I blinked away my own tears. "But we all lost you for two minutes. I don't want to bury you before we're old and grey and covered in wrinkles. Move in with Walt or I'll never speak to you again."
I don't want him to live in a different state than me, but my feelings don't mean shit in comparison to his life.
"You wouldn't." He pushed my hand away. "You would miss me too much."
"Mason." I spoke through my teeth.
"I'm going to move in with him." He pulled me into a hug, and I buried my face in the crook of his neck. "Only because he's more of a parent, and I like talking to you too much."
I let out a small laugh. "At least you're getting away from your parents."
"I'm gonna miss you." I felt him press a kiss to my temple.
"Hey." I pulled away and wiped my eyes. "There's FaceTime and college."
"I know." He brushed a few strays of hair out of my face before he smiled brightly. "I almost forgot!"
"What?" I was confused by his sudden change of demoner. Gone was the heartbroken Mason Banks no one ever saw, and here was the carefree Mason Banks I was use to.
"Your Christmas present." He dug something out of his pocket and turned on his phone's flashlight. "I have finally given in."
"Oh my god." I traced the necklaces. One was the shape of a guitar pick on its side with the words 'to the moon' written across the bottom with a little sideways heart shaped hole in the upper left corner, and the other was the same sideways heart shape but had the words 'and back' taking up about two thirds of the pendant thing.
"Do you know how long it has taken me to find a best friends necklace that didn't say Best Friends or Partners In Crime or some other bullshit?" He motioned for me to turned around.
"A week?" I asked as I lift my hair up.
"Try four months." He grumbled as the cold metal hit my collarbone as he clasped the necklace around my neck.
"You kept something a secret from me for four months?" I laughed. "How?"
"I have many secrets that you don't know about." He said as I turned around.
"Sure you do." I rolled my eyes playfully and gestured for him to turn around. "Let me put yours on."
"Okay." He handed me the necklace and turned around.
I clasped the necklace around his neck and stood up. "I should go before my Dad starts yelling."
"Want me to walk you home?" Mason offered as we walked down his front steps.
"Normally I would say yes, but my Dad isn't your biggest fan right now." I shoved my hands into my back pockets.
"Pretty sure he'll love me once he finds out I'm moving to Nevada." Mason said bitterly.
"And Hannah will hate you." I laughed humorlessly.
"Hannah's gonna bash my door down demanding why I'm leaving you." I looked over at him.
He was smiling but it wasn't reaching his eyes; he was conflicted by all of this.
"I'll tie her down until you've crossed the stateline." I tugged on his wrist when we got to the end of his driveway. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." He looked down at me.
"Kiss me?"
"Why?"
"Because you promised to help me with my list, and I'm not gonna find anyone I give a shit about like that before graduation." I shrugged. I also like you in a romantic sense.
"Fine." Mason rolled his eyes, cupped my face in his hands, and kissed me.
I didn't know what to expect my first kiss to be like. Didn't know if there would be fireworks or if it would be the most awkward moment of my life.
Surprisingly it was neither of those things.
My hands immediately to his chest, palms pressed and fingers spread. Eyes shut with my heart beating fast but not bust-my-ribs fast.
His thumbs caressed the top of cheeks along the bone. He pulled me a little closer and deepen the kiss?
I don't know to explain it since no book I've ever read has explained it.
But I don't care.
I'm too busy memorizing how soft and slightly chapped his lips are, how they move gently and lovingly against my own.
How his heartbeat is a steady beating drum under my palm, the warmth and solidness of his chest.
One of his hands slides down my cheek and around my neck, thumb still caressing the skin under it.
My God, I'm going to miss him so much. Is a thought running around my mind when we pull away together. Kiss me again is chasing it.
"Was that good enough to cross off 'having your first kiss' from the list?" Mason asked a heartbeat later.
"It'll have to be." I resisted the urges to touch my lips and kiss him again.
What's that piece of advice? It only takes a single taste to become addicted? Maybe a warning is a better descriptive than advice.
"So I'm just a have to do?" Mason grinned.
"I think that's a great description of you." I teased him before asking the question neither one of us wants to ask. "When do you and Walt leave?"
"Tomorrow probably." He looked down at the pavement. "I'll send you a Christmas card."
"You better or I'll have Hannah kick your ass." I gave him one final hug before walking away.
"I love you." He yelled after me.
"I love you too!" I started walking backwards, so I could wave goodbye.
*****
"Wait, why?" Hannah stared at me dumbfounded.
"What's there to question?" I brushed past her to go brush my teeth. "I told him to go live with Walt."
"But you kissed him." She followed me into the bathroom.
"I asked him to kiss me." I corrected her as I wet my toothbrush and squeezed some toothpaste onto the bristles. "Not that big of a deal."
"Yes, it is!" Hannah nearly blew my left eardrum out.
I just rolled my eyes as I started brushing my teeth.
"Did you tell him you love him?" She asked.
I waited until after I spat to answer her. "In an undying love confessional way? No. In the normal way I've always told him? Yes."
"Hailey." She sighed in disappointment. "That was your chance."
I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash, took a deep breath, and answered her. "Please fucking stop telling me to confess my feelings to Mason."
"He feels the same way!" She threw her hands up.
"Like Johnny Carson in sixth grade?" I asked her but ignored the regret in her eyes. "You pushed me to tell him I thought he was cute because he had to think the same of me. But he didn't. He asked me out as a fucking joke, and Mason was the one to comfort me."
"This is different." She shook her head.
"No, it's not." I told her. "You're pushing me to express feelings I'm not ready to confess yet. Don't say it's mutual or he feels the same because that's not the point. Do you know how terrifying it is to have feelings for your best and closest friend? And everyone demanding you to tell him regardless of the fact you're not ready and scared to your core that your friendship is going to be ruined? Because both of your parents were high school sweethearts and look at how their relationships turned out. It doesn't matter if our feelings are the same now because they can change in one, five, twenty years. I wasn't ready to lose Mason on the first day of Kindergarten, Hannah."
I was shaking with anger, frustration, pain.
"I don't wanna live in a world without my best friend." I could feel my eyes watering. "Because it sucks. Did you ever stop and wonder why Mase and I stopped hanging out at school for a good part of sophomore year? Why I was hanging out in the Art rooms while Mase was hanging out with the team in the Gym or on the outside court?"
She just shook her head.
"It's because random strangers were coming up to us and asking if we were dating then wanting to know why we weren't because you can only say I love you to family and significant others apparently." I was surprisingly calm. "I thought that would be the worse thing ever. That is until I learned he was in the hospital and died for two minutes the other day. Go ahead and yell at me that I'm weak and stupid for not risking the most important friendship I have over some stupid crush."
"That's why I told him to move to Nevada." I told her. "Because my platonic love for him will always be greater than my romantic love for him."
On that note, I turned on my heel, stormed to my room, and slammed the door behind me.
***AN***
Hope you guys enjoyed!
Let us know of what you thought of that amazing Hason moment and Hailey's explanation!
~ChasingMadness24