unconditional

1| healthy

MADDIE

"I THINK MAYBE we should move it over there." I say, pointing at the other side of the living room.

"I've moved it six times, Maddie, if you don't pick where you want it right now and keep it in that spot, I'm doing it for you." Parker snaps, and I frown, scrunching my nose up at him.

"Who pissed in your cornflakes, mister?"

"Mads, it's five o' clock and I promised Leo that I'd be home by six so we could go on a date. She's been planning this for weeks and I promised I would've screw it up." He replies, running a hand through his messy hair.

"That's an hour." I shrug.

"Yes, and you live fifteen minutes from home, so if we don't get a move on we aren't going to get all the furniture in here. And it's supposed to rain tonight."

"Ugh, okay, that's fine where it's at." I pout a little, squinting at it, and he just huffs out a breath.

"Princess, why can't Sam just help you out? He's your boyfriend, this is like in the job description." He starts to move the couch where I want it, and I grin.

"Cause he's at the academy, he won't be home till six." I reply, and when the couch us where it's supposed to be, I walk over and lean up to kiss his cheek.

"Tell him he's majorly slacking as a boyfriend."

"But that just makes you look like an even better brother." I hug him and he snorts, patting my head.

"That's true." He laughs, pecking the top of my head.

When I step back and look at the half finished apartment, scattered pieces of furniture, cardboard boxes lying around, some open with the contents left out.

Not to mention the solid forty paint swatches laying across the counter, some marked with my handwriting and the others with Sam's, saying whether we liked it or not.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Parker admits, and when I look at him, I find his eyes wandering the apartment.

"We've been planning this for weeks, Parky, didn't you prepare?" I smile, and he just shrugs, shaking his head a second later.

"I dunno, not really. I kinda figured you'd bail or something."

I lean against a couple boxes, looking at the word Maddie's bathroom shit spelt in Ollie's messy scrawl across the top.

"Nope, not bailing." I say softly, taking in the somber expression on his face.

"Yeah, I noticed." He grates out a little laugh, scuffing his feet against the hardwood.

Stepping over to him, I hug him again, my cheek pressed against his shoulder. "It's okay. I'm only a fifteen minute drive away, I can come over whenever I want."

"Yeah, but you're not down the hall, Mads, it's different." He mumbles, dropping his chin on my head and hugging me tighter.

"I just feel like you're too little to leave."

"I'm almost nineteen."

"I know, I just- I thought maybe you'd be older. Like- thirty or something." He says, making me laugh, pushing back the burning in my eyes.

"Thirty? I do want to have kids, I can't do that if I'm still living at home." I step back, fiddling with my sleeves, and he rolls his eyes with a smile.

"There's one more reason why you shouldn't move in with your boyfriend."

"Hey! That isn't the only reason I'm moving in with Sam, you idiot," I laugh, shoving his arm, and he just pushes me back.