Girlfriend

•Amethyst•

I was not a fan of staying over at other people's houses.

Maybe it's just me, but I always felt that everything I did was wrong. Like, if I needed to use the bathroom, I was wasting toilet paper. Or if I needed to take a shower, I was being too comfortable. Or if I was changing my clothes, I was being too impulsive. Even though all of those things are something I do on a daily basis, I feel like an absolute asshole every time I do them at someone else's house.

I hate being me sometimes.

But I put that all aside and followed Elm up the stairs. She said that she was going to get me some clean underwear and toiletries, even though I told her not to bother. Audrey said that she would let me use her bathroom and an extra shirt to sleep in. As I was following Elm, I looked at all of the pictures on the wall.

There were a few of Max and Audrey when they were little, the both of them arguing in each of the photos. They looked so adorable when they were kids. There was also a few of them holding the twins when they were babies. Ethan had really curly hair while Noah's normally black hair looked dirty blonde. They were absolutely adorable and looked like they were in love with their older siblings. Ethan was smiling brightly as he reached up to hold Max's hand and Noah was sleeping soundly in Audrey's arms. There was also some of Alexander and the girls. My favorite one was when he was sitting in a chair, looking about ten years old while the girls were two, with a bunch of badly done make-up and hair clips, bows, and ties all over his hair and face. He was still smiling brightly and the girls were giggling with various make-up products in their small hands.

"They all grow up so fast, don't they?" Elm asked as she stared at the pictures with me.

I jumped a bit in surprise but nodded anyway. "I guess so, yeah. It kinda feels like yesterday when I was playing in the sandbox." I didn't say that I was alone and had no friends when I played in the sandbox, it didn't feel necessary.

"Max used to talk about how he always saw a little girl playing all alone all the time. I don't mean to intrude, but was that you?" She asked.

I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't very good with people."

"But you seem fine with Max and the rest of us."

I smiled. "I guess the fact that I knew Max when we were kids made it easier for me to become good friends did with him, or, I guess more than friends."

Elm smiled and turned to me. "You make Max very happy, honey. Always have. I remember the first day he met you, he said, 'Mama, I wanna be friends with the pretty girl over there.' It was so cute! He never stopped talking about you, I hope you know that."

I blushed. "Really? What about third grade? We didn't have any classes together."

She smiled. "He still talked about you. He always talked about how he saw you in the hallways or the library." She kept walking up the stairs and I followed. "He was so happy when he talked about you. I had always wanted to meet you because you made my baby smile so much." She opened a door and led me inside a room, I'm guessing hers. "He always had a hard time when he was little because his dad is always on business trips. You always seemed to make him forget about that, even if it was just for a little bit."

I smiled. "I'm glad I was able to do that for him. May I ask where his dad is now?"

She nodded and rummaged in her drawer for something. "Back in Italy to raise money for a poor town. He has a soft spot for Italy, since that's where he grew up... and where we met."

I smiled. "That's what Max told me."

She chuckled and turned to me with a bundle in her hands. "I only have lingerie, sorry. I got this new pair, but it's apparently too small now that it's out of the store, so-" she paused mid-sentence and walked over to the wall near the door.

She signaled for me to be quiet and leaned her ear against the wall. After a few seconds, she kicked the wall, quite loudly, and started to scream. "Why the hell are you guys listening to our conversation?! I've taught you better than this, you nosy assholes! Come in here!"

I gasped when Noah, Ethan, and Alexander came in with their heads down. Noah was blushing super hard while Ethan was scratching the back of his neck. Alexander, who surprised me the most, looked really disappointed in himself.

"Why were you guys listening to Amy and I talk?" Elm asked with a stern, motherly voice.

Ethan and Noah shrugged before Alexander answered. "We wanted to see what underwear you'd give her."

I felt my entire body heat up in embarrassment.

Elm smacked all of them on the head with the lingerie. "Fucking pigs," She muttered. "Imagine if some guys did that to Noelani, Ainsley, or Audrey, huh? You guys wouldn't be very happy to find that out, now would you?" They shook their head no. "Besides, what would you do with that information?"

"Guy stuff," they all muttered.

Elm scoffed. "I'm raising douchebags!" She threw the lingerie to me and grabbed all of them by the ear. "Go over to Audrey's room and get some pajamas, okay Amy? I have to do something important with these idiots."

And with that, I walked to Audrey's room as Noah, Ethan, and Alexander cried for help.

~<~<~<

"So, How was your date?" Audrey asked as she took out my buns.

I smiled. "Amazing. We even got to sing together!"

She chuckled. "Milo was making fun of Max, I'm sure."

She shrugged. "I guess so. He called me a 'Purple lady'."

"It's because of your name, I'm guessing. He always used to come up with weird nick names for everyone. He calls my mom 'Tree' all the time. It used to make her mad but now she doesn't care."

I smiled. "That's cute. What did he call you?"

"Warrior, since my name means noble strength."

"He knows a lot about people's names, doesn't he?"

She nodded. "He's a weirdo like that. He's always wanted kids since we were very little and researched them all the time. He wants their names to be unique and different. He just needs to find the right person to have that child with."

"Awe, that's cute-"

"Audrey! Daddy's calling!" Ainsley cheered as she burst through the door.

Audrey quickly got out the last hair tie before jumping off the bed. "Come on Amy! I'm sure my dad would love to meet you!"

I fluffed out my hair and followed them downstairs. Everyone was sitting at the kitchen table, crowding around something. Once I walked up, Max turned to me and smiled brightly. I smiled back and stood next to him when he motioned me over. I then saw that they were crowded around a laptop, the face of an older version of Alexander and Max on the screen.

"Dad, this is my..." Max hesitated.

I thought for a moment before answering. "Girlfriend."

Max looked down and me and smiled before turning back. "My girlfriend, Amethyst."

The man smiled brightly, reminding me of Max, and started to talk in a thick Italian accent. "Amethyst! I've heard so much about you, ah? You're just as beautiful as Breaker describes you." His voice was so deep, just like Max's and Alexander's, and kind of intimidated me. He was still very welcoming and kind, though.

Breaker? "Thank you, Mr. King," I mumbled shyly.

"That's Max's nick name," Ainsley whispered into my ear. I nodded in understanding.

"Is he treating you right? I told that boy to treat you like a princess, since he describes you as one," Mr. King asked.

I nodded and hugged Max's arm. "He's amazing."

"I've taught him well, then." He searched the screen for a moment. "Firecracker? Where are you?"

Ainsley perked up from beside me. "I'm right here daddy!"

He smiled once he saw his daughter. "Where's little Noah?"

Noelani waved from beside Ethan. "Hi papa!"

"You're as tall as Amethyst! You've grown so much!"

"Amy is taller than us, daddy! Besides, she's really tiny. Ethan and Noah are taller than she is," Ainsley corrects.

I duck my head in embarrassment as Mr. King chuckles. "My boys are tall. Anyway, I think that you guys should go to bed, okay? Your mom was telling me that it's 12:00 a.m. over there," Mr. King says.

Everyone waves and blows kisses. "Bye!" We all said in unison.

Elm blows a kiss to the camera. "Bye love."

He kisses back and waves. "Bye kids! Bye mi amore."

Audrey lead me back upstairs, Ainsley and Noelani following us, and sat on her bed. Noelani closed the door and locked it before sitting on the soft carpet, Ainsley sitting in a beanbag. I just sat next to Audrey and played with my hair a bit.

"So, you and Max are dating now?" She asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. I mean, I really like him, but we haven't talked about getting together yet."

She shrugs. "You guys are basically dating anyway, might as well make it official."

Ainsley nods. "Yeah! Like Josh and Maria, they liked each other so they started dating last week. They're still dating so I'd say it's true love. Max has been liking you longer than I've been alive, so I think you guys should be married now."

I laughed. "That's not how it works, Ainsley. Besides, Max had plenty of other girls he could choose, I wouldn't want to get my hopes up."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Come on, Amy! Be more confident! My brother likes you so much it could be classified as love."

I raised and eyebrow. "What?"

She pulled out her phone and went to Instagram. She searched up Max's username and found a bunch of pictures of him and I. I looked at them, there were some from the party and some from when we just took pictures at the school. There were even some random ones taken of us when neither of us were paying attention.

My favorite ones were at the party. Max was standing on his knees, and since I was in heels, I was taller than him. I was hugging him with a smile while he was kissing my cheek. There was also one where I was sleeping in his lap, my head pressed against his chest and my hair covering most of my face, and he was kissing my forehead. There was also another one, which wasn't at the party but at his pool the day after, where we were mid-jump into the pool. He was laughing while I was screaming in his arms.

"Who took some of these?" I asked.

"Samantha, Kyle, and I. We're like the OG fans of you two being a couple."

I laughed. "Wow, you all need lives."

She rolled her eyes. "I have one, thank you very much. Hey, now that I think about it, let's take some pictures of you with all of us tomorrow. Since you're basically a part of the family."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Really? But, you've just met me."

She waved her hand. "Max talks about you so much, it's like you've been here the whole time. Besides, we all loved you the day we met you."

Before I could answer, there was a knock on the door. Noelani unlocked it and peeked through. She fully opened it at revealed a blushing Max, standing there as he was scratching the back of his neck and looking down at the floor. I bit my lip when I saw him look up at me with his beautiful grey eyes and almost swooned out loud. It's really not fair for someone to be that hot. I thought to myself.

"What is it, baby bro?" Audrey asked slyly.

Max bit his lip as well. "I wanna talk to Amy, alone."

I got up and pulled down the long shirt that Audrey gave me before walking out with him. He lead me down the hallway to the farthest door from Audrey's. He opened the door and let me in first before closing it behind him.

I took in the room. It had light grey walls, a desk on the right of a large bed with black sheets, and a dark blue bean bag next to a nightstand. In the farthest corner was another door, which I'm guessing was the bathroom, next to a set a double doors, which I think was the closet. The room also had a large dresser right next to the door with a bunch of pictures and trophies covering the top of it.

"Welcome to my room," Max said awkwardly.

I nodded. "Nice." Nice? Are you serious? That's all you can say?

"Um... so you're my girlfriend now?" Max asked.

I sighed. "I get it if you don't want me to be, I mean, neither of us asked and we just had our first date. Even though we've know each other for basically our whole lives, we were always in different crowds and I guess that doesn't really work out. I mean, this isn't like some cute rom-com where everything is cute and adorable and the guy and girl get together so quickly-"

I instantly stopped when I felt a soft kiss on my cheeks. When Max stood up, he smirked at my flustered state. "I was just wondering, shortie. I'd love you to be my girlfriend. Hell, it's been my dream since the fifth- no- fourth grade."

I chuckled a bit before blurting out the first thing that came to my mind. "Well then, I guess I should just ask you out then."

Max's smile faded until he was staring deeply into my eyes. I felt my breath get caught in my throat at the way he was staring at me. He looked kind of hopeful, yet cold at the same time. Like he was hoping for something but knew it wasn't going to come true.

"Then why don't you?" He whispered as he inched closer to me.

I stared at his lips, which looked super kissable at that moment, and licked my lips. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

He nodded before leaning even closer to my face, so close that I could feel his minty breath on my lips. "It would be a dream come true."

I reached up slowly to wrap my arms around his neck. "You know what else would be a dream come true?"

"What?"

I looked up into his eyes, which were now a slightly darker shade. "If you kissed me."

He smirked. "I was thinking the same thing."

And then he kissed me.