𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 828 || 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲, 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 || 𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬. 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

april 7th, 2013. the day you lost your best friend, your favorite person, the person who had been by your side for as long as you could remember. it was easily the worst day of your life.

you remember when you heard the news, you and olive broke down into each others arms. screaming and crying. neither of you could believe it, you didn't want to.

the two of you stayed up all night, eyes on the news, eating tubs of ice cream grace had broughten from the store.

all the two of you wanted was news. good news, bad news, any news. cal was your best friend. ben was like a second father to you, and you always went to micheala for advice. you had no clue what to do with yourself with them being gone.

for the next 5 and a half years, you and olive relied heavily upon each other. you were each others support systems, you had to be.

the day the plane came back, you and olive were studying for a history exam in a cafe a few blocks away.

"okay ol, quiz question. the law of supply and demand was the brainchild of what scottish economist?" you asked her, holding up a flashcard.

as she was about to answer, the tv in the cafe started blaring with "breaking news" and olive's phone began to ring. it was grace.

the plane was back. after five and a half, miserable years without some of the most important people in your life, the plane was finally back.

you and olive dropped everything and ran to the airport, called the quickest cab you could and ran into the hangar with grace.

that's when you saw him. exactly the same as when you left. he wasn't 5 and a half years older, he was still the same 10 year old cal you said goodbye to in queens years ago, right before he boarded the plane to jamaica.

"oh my god." you cupped your hands over your mouth as tears began to pour. you wanted to give him a hug, but instead, he ran and hid behind grace. olive was sobbing while hugging her dad and her aunt.

a lot had changed in five years, including your age. you were 15 now, and somehow, cal was still 10. you didn't know how you would manage a friendship with him like this, but you knew how broken you'd been without your best friend the last couple of years.

things slowly started to go back to normal, a different normal than before 828, but the same feeling. the feeling of having your favorite people surrounding you.

the day cal aged, you couldn't say it was a good day. you were happy, more than happy. it was all you had wanted, was to grow up together with him. you'd loved him since you were just kids. you two were finally 20, together. when you were younger, you used to talk about all the things you could go together when you were older.

the circumstances in which he aged weren't great. grace was dead, and eden was gone. olive was blaming him, screaming that it was all his fault. zeke had to hold her back as he fell to the floor, head in his hands, sobbing. you were the only one who would comfort him. you held him close. he was bigger than you were now, for a change.

even his own father couldn't look at him. ben had gone through a rough night, loosing both his wife and daughter, but it was no excuse for anyone's behavior.

the next months following, you had moved into the stone house. you shared a room with olive, helping out with bills, cooking breakfast in the morning. they'd always been your second family, it felt right.

over those months, you'd realized something that you should've when you were just kids. you admitted something to yourself you should've admitted years ago. you'd fallen in love with your best friend, the one and only cal stone.