Maxie Jones stopped walking as she heard some random church bells ringing. She looked up noticing the birds returning from the south. Spring was returning. The air was warmer, the sky was brighter, and whenever the wind blew she felt as though Georgie and Coop were letting her know it was okay.
"If your going to do this with me, keep up." Spinelli's eyes were flashing an urgent need to keep moving.
"Sorry, don't know what came over me." She took a few run like steps to catch up to where he was hiding out, behind a bush.
Off in the distance Maxie heard a song she had loved years ago. It would remind her of Jesse and Coop. Oh how she had loved and lost.
"I guess you saw, what no one else could see." A woman's voice was filled with her smile. "You found me."
Maxie recognized it as a Kelly Clarkson lyric, but she wouldn't tell Spinelli that. "What are we looking for?"
Spinelli turned and a goofy smile came over him. "When you see it you'll know it."
Maxie moved to get a better crouching position. Catching the way the sun danced on Spinelli's face—sent her stomach in weird flip-flops.
Peering out she saw a couple, about the same ages as herself and Spinelli. It appeared that they were breaking up. As she turned to him again, she saw he was taking pictures.
"This?" She hissed before storming off.
He snapped another picture and then went after her.
"They were breaking up." Maxie snapped at him.
"I know." His eyes got that droopy thing going on.
"That's what they want everyone to think."
She spun around on her heel. "Love isn't a game. It's a battlefield."
He watched her storm off, wondering what she was talking about this time. He spun around himself in frustration and almost jumped when he saw her standing in front of him.
"I'm glad your not trying to be someone else anymore." Was all she could say.
His mind flashed with moments he and Maxie had shared. Part of him was begging the other part of him to do something.
She was waiting, right?
Maxie just watched him, wishing she could get some sort of sign that what was stirring inside of her was perfectly normal and what her sister and the boys would want for her—and for him.
The inner battle Spinelli was having with himself was driving him insane.
"I'll see you later." Maxie left him alone, in the park, on what should be a beautiful spring day. Only now it was feeling more and more like it should be very overcast.
She sat in her car and began to cry. She didn't know why she was crying, but it felt good to have the release of her emotions. She had bottled it all up for so long it had been bount to get released at some point, right?
Then as she looked for a tissue, she saw the half0full bottle of orange soda and began to cry in more violent sobs.
After months of this weird friendship her and Maxie had been building, it was clear now that they were from such different worlds. He only wished that he could force the feelings he was keeping trapped hidden. Especially if Maxie was right, if love was a battlefield, he wasn't ready.
He leaned against the lamp post in anguish. His mind flashing to all the film noir-esq fantasies he'd had about him and Maxie. He looked around the street, and saw her in her car, leaned back in the drivers seat. Her face, puffy and red, streaked with tears.
Maxie turned on the radio, regretting the choice as soon as she made it.
If there's a soulmate for everyone.
He tapped gently on the window, which she rolled down with ease.
"What do you want Spin?"
Do it. Do it. Do it. His brain screamed at him.
"Well?" She was sticking her head out the window.
DO IT! His brain screamed once more before he leaned in and kissed her.
Stunned was the only word Maxie could use to describe this moment.
When she broke away she smiled, "Finally."