Back To The Beginning | Marco Reus/Erik Durm

Chapter 16

FIVE MONTHS AFTER

With shaking hands, I knocked on the door. It had been ages since I'd last been here, but it looked like itself. Nothing much had really changed. I didn't even know how he would react. I wouldn't blame him for smacking the door in my face. Maybe he wouldn't even be able to recognize me. I heard footsteps behind the door, before it was opened. As his eyes met me, his smile dropped.

Alright then. Can I just hide?

"Mila?"

"Hi" I smiled, licking my lips.

"How are you?" Erik asked, surprised to see me.

The smile was now back on his lips again. It allowed me to breathe properly again.

"Good, how are you?"

"Good! Come here" he smiled, before pulling me into a hug.

It was a little awkward at first, but somehow I didn't really mind it. It just felt great to see his friendly face again. When we pulled out, Erik just looked at me for a moment.

"You changed your hair" he said, more to himself than me. I nodded, sending him a smile.

"Can I come in?" I stuttered.

Erik stepped aside, allowing me to walk in.

"Of course" he smiled.

We walked into the living room, before sitting down. We looked at each other for a while; I had missed his smile. The worst part of not being with Erik, was our lost friendship. Throughout the five months I had been gone, there had been so many things I wanted to share with him. Several times I had even picked up the phone to call him, but then hung up, because I knew it would be weird.

"What are you doing here?" Erik asked, pulling me back from my thoughts.

"I just got back"

"Really? How was England?"

"Rainy" I said, making him laugh.

Our eyes met, but then I had to look down. Why was I so nervous?

"Really, I'm here because I feel like, I owe you an explanation" I stuttered.

"You don't have to-"

"I want to" I said, meeting his eyes.

I had wanted to explain everything since the day I left. As soon as I'd gotten on the plane, I'd regretted the way I left both of them, but I knew, I couldn't make up that mistake.

Erik nodded, leaning back in the chair. He waited patiently for me to continue speaking.

"I'm sorry to just leave you with a letter. I'm sorry for everything, especially the way I handled things..."

"Mila, you don't have to be"

"But I do! I shouldn't have brought you into my life like that. You were right, I had mixed feelings and you didn't deserve that-"

"Mila, shut up. You have to stop apologizing for being you"

"I just... I got you hurt, my mistake"

"No-" he started, grabbing out for my hand.

"Look, I knew you still had feelings for Marco. I took advantage of that... Your heart was broken and you needed a hero... for a while, I pretended to be that. But we both know heroes don't exist" he said, licking his lips.

Wait, he wasn't mad at me? We were actually okay?

"Are you just saying this or do you actually mean it?" I joked, but with a serious tone.