1996

-.-

The month of May was almost behind them and summer was just turning around the corner. And so was graduation.

One day when the sun was bright and the active breeze was soft against their skin, Allison leisurely began to notice how Max was trying to measure out his footwork, avoiding stepping on any large cracks formed into the sidewalk.

She laughed openly at the old or break your mother's back! superstition. "Huh. Who would've thought...?"

He looked up, smirking. "What? Me, being a true believer now?"

"Yeah, that." She replied, slipping her fingers through his for the rest of the way home.

Dani tapped her pencil against her notebook. Much to her dismay, she still had a final Communications essay due at the end of the week. Then, she would be officially finished with seventh grade.

However that fact slightly peeved her. While her classmates were busy bubbling excitedly with Summer Vacation Fever, she felt restless on the inside. Perhaps it was because Max's big grad party was nearing, or because he would be leaving soon, permanently moving out into the world without her. Max had previously applied to a college on the boarder of southern California—only a few hours from L.A—and he had also received his acceptance letter recently.

He was moving back to their "homeland," and Dani didn't know what she was feeling after that exactly. Lonely, she supposed. Allison was choosing to stay in their beloved Salem for college, sure, but without Max in the picture, the three-way friendship was bound to shift.

Her foot kept tapping against the kitchen tile below. She eventually let out a disgruntled growl between her teeth when the front door had clicked open and slammed shut again before she heard, "Yo, Dani!"

Speak of the devil.

"What, Max?" she called back.

And as soon as he emerged from the archway, he approached the other side of the table, leaning over it. "Wanna come with us to get more moving boxes for the road trip this weekend?" he clarified.

"I would...but I have to finish this paper."

"Oh c'mon, sis," he teased, "can't spare a half hour?"

"I just want to get this out of the way with first."

Max faltered for a moment at her insistence. "You doing alright today?"

"I'm fine," Dani promised him, forcing a wider smile. "Don't worry. I'll help you pack when I'm done."

"...Okay, then. See ya." he nodded and spun back around.

Once the silence returned, she tossed her pencil across the kitchen, her lack of concentration vanishing completely at that point.

As the chain of back-to-back grad parties came to a steady close and the move snuck up on them, the Dennison caravan departed from Salem.

Dave and Jenny drove the rental van ahead of them down the freeway, and Allison and Dani piled into Max's new Jeep with the rest of his luggage.

They had light rock playing on low as Max retold their best and funniest Californian stories—including how his parents had actually met at a college Christmas celebration and went caroling down the streets after they got a little tipsy.

Dani giggled at parts from the backseat, sporadically adding on when there were things she could remember too.

Finally, after several pit stops, slipping in and out of a couple of breakfast diners and two driver-exchanges, they crossed California's state boarder.

"How does it feel to be back here, Dani?" Max threw over his shoulder when making a left turn.

"It's a little weird," Dani muttered, watching familiar terrain of her earlier childhood stretch out along the side of the road. "But I did miss the heat sometimes."

Allison grinned, fiddling with the radio controls while static started to come in through the speakers. "Still not a big fan of snow, huh?"

Max hummed in agreement. "I have to admit...that's the one thing I won't miss that much either."

Arriving on campus, they toured the cafeteria and art galleries for bit, wanting to do something before getting back in the car right away for hours on end. They peeked into the large gymnasium where Max's orientation would soon take place, and then, Max's dorm room came last.

And that was when their parents suggested it was time to move everything in.

Once they finished that final part much later, Max ran his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh, looking around at his new setup. "...I'll walk you guys down, I guess."

Dave and Jenny got the first emotional goodbye before they climbed into the van again, waiting patiently for the girls.

"Well, this is it," Max added with a meaningful expression pointed at Allison. She wasn't the type to fully gush all over her now-long-distance-boyfriend in public, but her eyes did turn a little glossy as she closed in on him for one more kiss.

Pulling away to touch foreheads, Max reminded her, "I'm coming for this Thanksgiving break. And there's Christmas and even weekends if I really want to..." he trailed off by then, ultimately concluding with, "It's going to be fine."

Allison nodded back, her fingertips tracing his cheek. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Dani bit her lip then, seeing Max turn towards her. She figured it had to be her turn to make a melodramatic scene with him, and she hated it. She never handled goodbyes that well.

And Max saw right through her. "Hey, what's with that look?"

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, "I'm the one who's been a jerkface these days."

Max gently rubbed the length of her arms. "Hey, it's okay. I know it's a big change. It's going to be...for all of his."

Dani let herself to fall into his arms encircling her seconds later.

"I'll miss you, sis."

"Me too."

"Take care of each other for me, yeah?"

"Yeah."