✧.* ❛ and everyone seems fine, am i losing my mind ❜ ✧.*

Mariah was freaking out.

Malachi had asked to come round and she was not mentally ready for it to be just them two. Just the two of them. That was a scary thought.

She had done a really good job of ignoring her ever growing feelings for the boy and whenever she was around him at least she had the rest of the group to help her not act like a fool but now it was going to be the two of them. It had been a long time since it's been just the two of them.

She was excited but her feelings were mainly overcome with anxiety and she couldn't stop her thought from racing about everything that could go wrong and how she could easily embarrass herself.

She made sure to fix her hair and double check how she looked until she heard her phone ping.

He had messaged her letting her know he was here and she sighed as she went down the stairs to let him inside.

As she reached the hallway downstairs she noticed her mum greeting malachi who was smiling happily at her mum.

"oh it so good to see you!" her mum said gushing as she pulled mal into a hug, "thanks for having me" he replied.

"oh don't be silly you're always welcome" she said waving it off and welcoming him into the house. As malachi stepped inside he caught mariah's eyes who was watching the interaction in amusement.

"hey" she said walking up to him, "hey, you alright?" he questioned pulling her into a quick hug.

Her cheeks turned slightly pink "yeah i'm good but we should probably get upstairs before my dad sees you're here" she said smirking.

"he still hates me?" he asked as he winced at the thought of her dad spotting him. She simply nodded in reply as she grabbed his hand and ran up the stairs pulling him along into her room.

She sat down in her bed and watched as malachi walked around her room looking at all the posters and clutter she had laying around.

"your room looks so different since the last time i was here" he noted as his eyes lingered on a bunch of photos of mariah with her friends, a lot of them where with isabelle and he noticed some from when they went to the arcade but his eyes stayed on the photo of the both of them a couple years ago.

He eyes felt trapped on the photo remembering that exact day. Mariah had a large grin on her face and her cheeks were dusted with pink as malachi was leaned into her kissing her cheek.

It was a cute photo and he remembers how his mum had practically begged to take a photo of them two. Mariah was eager and wanted to take the photo but he remembers complaining saying he wanted to hang out with mary and how they only had an hour left before her mum would pick her up.

She noticed what photo mal was staring at and smiled wondering if he remembered that day just as she had. It was a week before they started drifting away from each other.

"c'mon hurry up" mal said groaning as he noticed the mariah was still struggling with her coat. "this stupid zipper is stuck" she complained as she kept pulling at the zipper. He watched in amusement as she continued to struggle with it as soon as she did it once more and the zipper still didn't budge, she huffed and looked over at mal noticing his expression. "i hate you" she said glaring at the boy as he continued to merely watch.

"we both know that's not true mary" he said and could see the way she bit her lip trying to hide her smile. She could never stay mad at malachi especially when he called her his nickname. It always caused an overwhelming amount of butterflies to flutter through her stomach and mal just said it loving the way mariah would instantly smile and blush at the name, it filling him with a sense of pride that he was the reason for one of her smiles.

Before anything else could be said malachi's mum ran up to them "thank god you two are still here i want to take a photo" she said pulling out her phone.

Mariah instantly nodded going over to where mal's mum was instructing. "mum! mary can only stay for one more hour and i want to go to the swings before she has to leave" he groaned knowing his mum would take forever.

She brushed off his worry "please mal, this won't take long" she said instructing him to come over next to mariah. He was about to continue protesting but saw the way mariah looked incredibly excited to take a photo fixing up the summer dress she was wearing as she looked over at mal pleadingly. He doesn't think he'd ever be able to say no to her.

His mum instructed them were to stand and as they smiled happily at the camera he quickly kissed her on the cheek. Her smile brightened and she could feel her cheeks heat up once more as his mum snapped the photo gushing about how absolutely adorable it was. Before she could even register what had happened malachi was dragging her away from his mum towards the park.

She had nearly forgotten about that moment "that was nearly two years ago now" she said reminiscing about their friendship back then. He seemed to have been thinking about the same memory as he had a small smile on his face but her words snapped him back to reality and immediately his eyebrows furrowed as a look of guilt covered his face.

"you know, i've been meaning to apologise" he said looking over at her, guilt and sadness prominent in his features. "apologise?" she asked confused.

He nodded "yeah, i'm sorry for drifting away not.. not keeping contact and going to other people" he said not being able to make eye contact with her.

She smiled as it wasn't his fault but it was sweet he felt he needed to apologise "it wasn't your fault" his eyes snapped to hers "we both drifted away we found new friends and started to enjoy new things it happens plus we're friends again now anyways right?" she continued not wanting him to feel guilt over this.

He sighed in relief and smiled. "i'm really glad we're friends again" he said as he looked deeply in her eyes. She could hear the softness in his voice and how sincere his eyes looked as they stared at each other for a second.

It was interrupted by something smashing downstairs and she instantly flinched knowing it most likely wasn't something accidentally falling on the floor. She could see that mal noticed as his face scrunched in worry and confusion.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he searched her face in worry "your parents.. are.. are they still the same?"

She could tell he was worried about saying the wrong thing and if it was anyone else she would have told them everything was fine but this wasn't anyone else. This was malachi, he could read her like second nature and was the only one she had ever told about her parents arguing.

"it's honestly gotten worse, which is surprising that that's even possible" she answered, chuckling though it had no amusement behind it.

Before she could stop herself she was telling him everything, she was like a bucket that had over flown and now she couldn't stop the words from spilling out her mouth.

When she was done she realised she was crying and immediately began wiping at her tears, he was at her side as he wrapped his arms around her "it's okay, i'm here for you" he kept saying over and over as she cried into his shoulder.

Eventually the tears stopped spilling and her breathing calmed down and she found comfort being in malachi's arms listening to his heartbeat.

"i'm sorry" she said as she pulled away to look at him he immediately looked over at her "don't be sorry, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for" he assured as he cupped her face in his hands staring right at her, she felt like he could see through her right into her soul like she was baring him her deepest secrets. His thumb grazed her cheek as he wiped away a tear.

Even though she had just cried for what felt like forever she had never felt happier. She smiled as she looked over mal's face and appreciated how close their faces were to each other right now. She welcomed the feeling of his hands on her cheek and the warmth it gave her.

Her mind practically stopped working as she realised she was leaning in, she saw the way his eyes flicked down to her lips then looked over her face as he seemed to lean in too.

She felt his warm breath on her skin and the now common feeling of butterflies in her stomach as they both kept leaning in. Her mind was dazed and the only thought she could think about was his lips and how they would feel against hers.

She felt the ghost of his lips as their noses practically touched from how close they were. She felt her eyes begin to flutter shut.

Suddenly they heard her bedroom's door opening and in a blink of an eye, malachi was sitting on the bed and looking over at whoever was coming in. She felt like she had imagined them nearly kissing just now as she looked over at him. The only way she knew she hadn't was as she could see the blush on his cheeks and how his eyes were slightly widened in shock from what had nearly just happened.

She noticed that her little sister had walked in. She was stood in the room, gaping in shock at mal. "lulu i've missed you" he says smiling as he got up and opened his arms inviting her in a hug.

Lucie began to smile as she ran into his arms "malachi!" she said giggling as he picked her up and began spinning her in his arms.

"wow look at you, you're so big now" he said teasingly and she immediately began nodding looking proud of herself "i'm 6 now"

"6?" he asked faking shock as he put her back down on the ground. "can you come play with me?" she asked looking sheepish. "depends what your sister says" he replied smiling at her as he ruffled her hair which caused her to giggle again.

Riah was watching them in awe and she saw how they both looked at her so she smiled and nodded saying they should.

Lucie began jumping in joy and immediately started dragging mal out the room "let's play dress up!" she announced causing mariah to laugh at what malachi will have in store for himself now.

.・。.・゜✭・.

this is my longest chapter yet, also chapter 10!

i imagine in the flashback they're like 14/15 as right now they are like 16/17

don't forgot to comment and vote, lovelies!

hopefully you guys liked the flashback as i'm going to be bringing a lot more into this book