this love is good, this love is bad [wenclair]

chapter 34: sun sinks down, no curfew

A/N: hi y'all! It's been a while! My exams are finally over so i should update more often. As per usual TYSM FOR THE READS, ty for the recent binge readers and active comment makers, I appreciate it a lot 🥰🫶🫶 also u guys have no right to be that funny lmao, keep the ajax slander up please and thank you 😊
and kinda random but this fic is now one year old so yea thanks a lot for all the support. a year ago, i really didn't think it would get attention but IT DIDDD
tysm ♥️

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November 1, Saturday
Wednesdays point of view

After walking around for some time, both my family and Enid's sat down on a picnic carpet that I had thought of bringing.

We were still there, in the middle of the grass, as the day was ending. There were lots of other students on the field. Some families even. However, all parents were starting to say goodbye to their kids. Some were coming back the next day, and some weren't.
My parents had left about an hour earlier, but Enid's brothers were still there. However, Anthony was getting tired, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they would leave too. I just hoped it would be later, for Enid.
I snapped out of my thoughts because I felt people staring. Dante and Neil and Enid. She looked away, smiling.
"What?" I asked, a bit annoyed.
"They're all sleeping, it's unbelievable," Neil said.
"I'm not," Anthony yawned with his eyes closed.
Oh yeah, apparently I happened to be a children magnet as both Sarah and Juliana were in my arms, and Anthony was totally not sleeping with his head resting on my lap.
Not moving for over thirty minutes was starting to hurt.
"Want me to hold her?" Enid asked, sensing that.
"No, I'm fine."
I wasn't.
"Well," Neil started, looking over at Dante, "I think we're going to go anyway."
I saw Enid frown a bit, but she kept her cool.
Dante got up and then bent down to pick up Anthony.
Once Juliana was back in the baby carrier attached to her father's chest and Sarah was in his arms, I stood up as well.
"Are you coming back tomorrow?"
"We, uh, we already bought train tickets."

"Hey, hey, there will be other occasions. There's the Christmas break, you have his number now..."
I didn't know what to do more; as soon as they were far enough, Enid had sat down on the carpet again, and tears had begun to flow.
"It's okay."
The sun was almost done setting, projecting its last pinkish colors into the sky and tinting the darker clouds purple.
"I'm sorry."
"Gosh, you still apologize for everything," I scoffed.
"I do," she chuckled.
I put my arm over her shoulders.
"It's beautiful."
She was going to need to be more specific.
"The sky."
"Yeah."
She was still crying.
"What a bummer the dorm is in the whole other direction. We're missing this every single day."
She didn't stop.
"Come on, doll face, save those tears for another time."
"I wonder how I even have some left since yester— Waits what'd you call me?"
"Doesn't matter," I whispered. "Please stop crying, though. We brought no water, and I'm concerned about your hydration level."
She laughed.
"Oh, I'm being dead serious," I added.
"Of course you are."
Right then her phone rang again. She immediately put it on silent mode, not even checking who it was.
"Sorry."
"There it is, an other apology," I remarked.
"Whatever."
I felt her looking at me, while I was still staring at the horizon. She snuggled closer.
"It's not that cold for fall, but it's chilly nonetheless," she said.
"You want my jacket?" I offered.
"No, I'm fine."
I removed my jacket and gave it to her anyway. There was no doubt that if she wasn't cold now, she would be cold later.
"Oh, thank you."
She put it on and positioned her head back on my shoulder right after. And I put my arm around her again.
"It's funny because literally anyone would think that you feel cold but actually... you're pretty warm. Like, warmer than the average. Kinda like a bird."
I shrugged my shoulders, moving her head a bit along the way.
"Sorry."
"So you give me this long-ass lecture every time I apologize for no reason, and now you're the one apologizing," she chuckled. "And—"
I covered her mouth with my hand.
"Respectfully, please shut up."
I felt how she smiled under my fingers. And at that very moment, I had completely forgotten why I had been mad at her for so long in the first place.
"I miss you."
It slipped out without me wanting it to.
Enid lifted her head up, confused, trying to lock eyes with me.
"I'm done with being angry at you."
I looked her in the eyes after saying that.
"I'm dying for you to be a part of my life again, and me of yours."
She kept staring at me.
"Please say something."
Before I could react, she crushed me in a hug, which propelled us on the ground. Her scent overwhelmed me. I closed my eyes.
"You don't remember yesterday, do you?" she mumbled.
"Still not," I sighed.
"We had pretty much the same conversation."
She hugged me even tighter.
"But I'm so glad to hear you say that while sober."
I patted her back and left my hand there.
The sun was almost completely gone, and the stars were starting to appear.
"Look at the sky," I said.
She switched positions until she was lying on her back, right next to me.
"Damn, I forgot stargazing was a thing," Enid laughed. "It's beautiful."
"It is."
Even though we were side to side, she still looked for extra physical contact by taking my hand in hers. And I just let her. It was so easy to fall back into an old habit. Her fingers were so cold, yet so soft.

We should get back inside.

I shook the thought off. I wanted to freeze this moment in time, no pun intended.
"You know," she started, "I'm not stupid, I know it'll probably never be what it used to be between you and me. I fucked it up."
"Maybe it's for the better."
"What'd you mean?"
"I think we rushed ourselves into something we didn't even define, while we both knew you were already in a relationship," I explained.
"That was mostly on me, I should've—"
"No, I knew what I was getting into—"
"Yeah but it was me that—"
"What if we just start all over again? From scratch... a new beginning."
She sat up and looked at me. I stayed on the ground.
"Really?"
"Let's start from a clean slate," I nodded.
Enid smiled, then hugged me again.
"And maybe take it slower this time," I added.
"Agree. Let's build stable foundations first."
At that moment, it was practically night already.
"We should get back inside," I suggested.
"Do we?"
"I only said we should."
"You're right, I don't wanna get detention for not respecting the curfew or something. Is there even a curfew during holidays, I mean they should give us a break sometimes and—"
While still talking, she got up and offered me her hand.
"So boyfriend of you," I teased, interrupting her flow of words.
Damned Stan. That's something he would say, slipping into my vocabulary just like that.
Why was he acting so distant all of a sudden?
"Are you going to take my hand or not? Because it's getting kinda awkward," Enid disrupted my thoughts.
I took it without saying a word. Enid had already gathered the carpet and was folding it. I looked around me. Everything was so different at night. The river, the forest...
It brought me back to reality and paradoxically, to my dreams, which could come true at any time.
"Ready to go?" Enid asked.
I took a last look at the woods.
"Yes."

As soon as Enid put her key in the lock, the door flew open.
"OH MY FUCKING GOD, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I've called you seven times already! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"
"What's up? What's all of this about?" I asked.
Alice pulled us inside and then locked the door again. There were lots of people in the common room, especially for after curfew. From our dorm, only Chloe was absent. Even Cascina and Tatum, whom you would never find in their room on a Saturday night, were here. Besides us, there was the guy Alice had slept with, Divina and her twin Kent, and Bianca and Ajax.
"Emergency meeting?" Enid joked nervously.
But Yoko looked at her and mouthed a 'don't'.
"Chloe's missing."
It was Bianca who announced that.
"And she's not the only one; a guy from my dorm is also gone," Ajax said.
"And so are a mermaid and a siren," Kent added.
"And we don't even know about other people," I mouthed to myself.

• FIRST POSTED: 12/20/2023
• EDITED (1st time): 27/02/2024