"Where are you?" Max's panicked and rushed voice flooded through the speaker of Maelle's phone as she began her trek back to Paul and Coralie's, hopefully unnoticed.
She was tempted to lie, but she figured there was a reason that Max was calling her, so she told the truth, "Walking back to the house," Maelle told the boy, who sighed heavily.
"Tell me what street you're on. I'm coming to pick you up, so don't move,"
Maelle looked up at the road sign above her, then told him.
"Stay on the line, I'm coming to get you," He told her. She heard the sound of an engine start in the background. They sat in silence, except for the occasional checks that she wasn't dead yet.
Soon enough, a car rolled up next to her, rolling down the window. She waited until she saw that the driver was, in fact, Max, then hopped inside the passenger seat.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to walk around town in the middle of the night?" He asked her, his smile gone from his face for the first time since she met him, other than the trial.
Maelle looked straight ahead, "Anything can be dangerous, depending on your luck,"
He sighed from the driver's seat, "I need you to call Paul. He's been worried sick about you, so he called me. I told him that you had wanted to come over, so I went to get you and that I had just assumed that you had told him that you were leaving. Then, when he asked where you were, I told him you were taking a shower and that you would call him as soon as you were done. So, obviously, now you need to call him. Are we clear on the story?"
Maelle couldn't help but stare at the boy in the driver's seat, "Why would you lie for me?" She asked him, unable yo imagine a scenario where it could make sense.
Max shrugged, "I figured that wherever you were, you had good reason," He said. He didn't bother to ask her where she had been, since he knew that she would be much likely to admit her whereabouts if she was pressured into it.
Maelle processed this. From what she could gather, Max either cared about her, or, he trusted her to make the right decision. Perhaps, even both.
"Should I use your phone or mine?" She finally said, referring to the phone call she had to make to Paul, her anxious foster father.
+
"Thanks for letting me stay here," Maelle told Max sincerely. She couldn't find it in her to be snarky with him, after what he had done for her.
It didn't matter that she was uncaring of the punishment that she would have gotten when she got back to the house, it was the fact that Max protected her that caused her happiness.
She never thought that she would be ale to feel happy again, especially not so soon after the trial. Yet, when Max behaved like an older brother towards her, after she had been left without any family at all, she couldn't be upset.
"It's really no problem. I don't have a lecture until ten in the morning tomorrow, so I can either drop you off at school from here, or at home, if you have anything you need," He offered.
She shrugged, "I should probably get my books from home, so if you could bring me there that would be great," She told him, appreciation lacing her tone.
He nodded, before handing her a pile of blankets and pillows, "Floor or bed? Answer honestly, because I'll take either one," He told her, raising his eyebrows in anticipation of her answer.
She smiled, "I'll take the floor. Next time, though, that bed is mine," She told him, seeing his eyes light up at the mention of a 'next time'.
They talked for a while, making small talk and laughing. Max came to the decision that Maelle should have a new nickname, which they decided would be 'Mae'. After that, he profited of every possible opportunity to use it.
They both fell asleep for the night, though by morning, the evidence their lack of sleep was obvious. They both had matching bags under their eyes and walked sluggishly, which they attempted to cure with coffee, unsuccessfully.
Still, Maelle felt comfort in knowing that she had at least one person in her corner. She couldn't wait to stay over again sometime, though she would prefer to do so on a weekend, when she didn't have to wake up to go to school the next morning.
She wished that she could have skipped at least first period, but she was well aware of the amount of school that she had already missed. Also, she was fairly excited about the prospect of seeing her new acquaintance, Kaydence Blanche.
She realized that in order to be happy, she would need to stop dwelling on the past and begin to enjoy her future, even when that was the last thing she wanted to do at some moments.
+
a/n: hope you guys liked all the max/maelle fluff in the chapter:) max is probably (100%) my favourite character in this book, so prepare yourself for a lot of him!!!
-danz
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Adopted by Stromae
Fanfiction-this story is written in english- Maëlle Vaillancourt, left parentless by an accident that claimed the life of her mother and a drug addiction that claimed the liberty of her father, had no other options. In hands and under the protection of social...
