It's a well known fact that lost and found clothes sucked, and yet the second Simon dropped the bin down on the floor, they all dove in, hoping to simply snag the least bad outfit possible. They needed to make sure that none of them had any of Sam's blood on them, so Simon dug out the lost property basket at the school and they were all digging through it. 

"We have to decontaminate," Josh said. "You can't have any of Sam's blood on you,"

"Well," Sam crossed her arms, trying to keep her tone light despite the exhaustion seeping into her voice. "Not much I can do about that," She turned to walk down the hallways to the science classrooms, Deena grabbing the rest of her clothes and hurrying after her without a word.

"Deena, you have to get clean too!" Josh reminded her. "Not a single drop, okay?" Deena waved him off hurriedly and Josh scoffed at his sister, shaking his head.

Deena felt almost a sense of deja vu following Sam into the lab. Biology had never been her strong suit, but it was Sam's, the younger girl put in the junior class when she was only a sophomore.

Deena had immediately stalked towards the back, not even looking up when the seat beside her was sat in. She knew this girl, not well enough to put a name to a face, but she'd seen her at football games. She was a cheerleader.

Deena hadn't known what she was expecting, it wasn't like Sam wore her blue Shadyside cheer uniform all the time, but dark ripped jeans, a green flannel over a white shirt and heavy doc martens that made her taller than Deena, was not what the junior was expecting.

"Can I sit here?" her voice, a slightly husky yet sweet tone offset her entire vibe completely and Deena found herself nodding.

The classroom looked virtually the same as it had since junior year biology, but the mood was completely different. Of course it would be. Yet, as Sam came and stood beside her, Deena felt like not much had changed.

"Rub-a-dub-dub time!" Simon skipped cheerfully into the boy's bathroom, Kate going towards the women's on the left. Maddie was right behind her when she stopped, turning to her friend with a conspiratory glance.

"You'll thank me later," Kate pushed her gently to the right, Maddie steadying herself against the door, which swung open at her touch. She stood awkwardly, glaring at Kate, who turned to Josh. "I don't wanna go in by myself,"

Josh looked between the two girls before deciding he didn't want to know (he also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to be alone with Kate), following her into the girl's bathroom with a whisper of the konami code, leaving Maddie with no choice but to go into the other bathroom with Simon.

Simon had already discarded most of his clothes by the time Maddie walked in, standing unapolagetically in the middle of the room. She felt a little relieved that Josh hadn't gone in, because knowing the younger boy, he definitely would have been awkward about it. He hadn't seen her yet, and Maddie allowed herself this one moment to study him before things would go back to normal.

As normal as fighting a witch's curse could be.

The faucet was turned on and Simon was hunched over the sink, scrubbing his arms with the shitty soap from the dispenser, and the whole thing seemed so absurd for a moment that she let out a laugh. Simon's head snapped up, "You're... not Josh,"

He'd heard the door open, but he hadn't paid it much mind, thinking that Maddie would have gone with Kate into the other bathroom. His gaze flicked down to the tiled floor, unable to hold eye contact with her. She'd seen him like this plenty of times, but that had been before. Before their fight, before the car accident, before he'd told her he loved her. And sure, she'd allowed herself to settle back into the concept of them over the night, but the two of them hadn't been alone since Ruby, and Maddie had been out of it. He doubted she even remembered anything other than the razor blade hitting her shoulder.

"What gave it away?" she giggled nervously, shuffling her feet. She didn't know where this sudden awkwardness had come from, half an hour ago she'd been ready to confess her love to him, but standing there in the dimly lit school bathroom, she wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. 

It took them both a moment, a very long moment, standing a few feet away from each other, before they both spoke up.

"Can we talk?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

The night that they'd first met, Maddie had been taken aback by his boldness, the lights blaring down on her imparing her judgement as she dragged him away by the sleeve of his hoodie, not stopping until they were safely tucked away in her bedroom. But now, Simon looked almost shameful, and the only light was from the flickering flurescents above their heads, and the only thing Maddie could do was nod. 

"No," he clenched his teeth. "No I don't want you to leave. I never did, I never have. And, for some reason you seem to think that's all I ever wanted," he let out a breath, head tilting back as he looked at the ceiling. "Mads, all I ever wanted was for you to stay, and I'm sorry that what I said at the party freaked you out, but-"

"What?" Maddie spoke up so softly that he almost didn't hear her. "What did you say that freaked me out?" She remembered the freak out part, but she had no idea why Simon thought her panic attack was his fault.

"You know..." Why was she making him say it again? It had been hard enough the first time, when he'd thought there was a semblance of a chance that she reciprocated his feelings but this time, he had to physically force the words out of his mouth. "When I said I loved you,"

Maddie froze, and for a second her brain shut off. Her breath caught in her throat and Simon was cursing himself, ready to grab his lost-and-found outfit and get out of there, ready to resign himself to the fate that he and  Madeline Holt weren't meant for each other.

"You," she coughed, the words getting caught in her throat. "You love me?"

"I mean, yeah," Simon let out a breath. "What did you think I was kidding, or that I was drunk or something, because when I said it that night, I meant it,"

"I didn't hear you," Simon fell silent at her confession, and suddenly it all made sense. She hadn't known what Simon had said, probably too preoccupied by the commotion downstairs. But she heard him this time, and this time there was nowhere for either of them to run.

So Maddie went the only way she could, straight towards Simon. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pressed her lips to his, gasping at the way his hands landed on the sides of her stomach almost immediately. Her hands tangled themselves in his curls and Simon didn't realise what was happening until she pulled away. "I love you," she breathed out, cupping his face in her hands, eyes shining.

"Is that what that kiss meant?" he teased lightly, Maddie tugging on a strand of hair towards his neck in response as he brought his lips to hers once more. Her head tilted to the side, her mouth opening of its own accord as Simon's hands slipped under the hem of her top, caressing the skin there until Maddie separated them again. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "It's okay,"

"Okay's good?" Simon asked, concern evident on his face.

Maddie let her eyes drop down to his mouth once more before resuming eye contact. "Okay is perfect,"

Simon let out a breathy laugh, pulling her close to him the way he had so many times before. His face delved into the crook of her neck and she hissed out in pain again, the bandage Kate had put over her gash was nearly soaked through. "Let me do this for you," Simon said, Maddie nodding as she turned around. 

His hands ghosted over her shoulder, cleaning it up as best as he could before breaking open the first aid kit in the cabinet. He wrapped her shoulder and helped her put on the sweater she'd pulled from the container. It was green and far too big for her, but Simon found her hands under the exess of her sleeves, pulling her into him so he could rest his head on her shoulder. "Can you say it again?"

"What?" she asked, not being able to stop the smile breaking out over her face.

"That you love me," he sing-songed, swaying her in his arms slightly.

"I love you," Maddie said seriously. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess,"

"I work in a grocery store," he said, Maddie tilting her head in confusion. "I can handle a mess just fine,"

She kissed him one last time (plus another two quick pecks he pulled her in for), before pulling on the blue shorts she'd grabbed. Simon pulled on a deep blue sweater, not taking his eyes off the girl in front of him.

Once they were both done, Simon took her hand, squeezing it three times. Maddie gave him a curious look. "Once for each time I've thought about how amazing you are in the last five minutes," he squeezed her hand again and she scoffed, laughing.

They waited in the hallway for the others, Simon taking in the feeling of Maddie's hand tucked safely into his. If she stayed like that forever, he felt like maybe they'd be alright.

The door to the other bathroom swung open and Simon swore he could smell the amount of stubborn tension in the air, watching as Kate and Josh shuffled out into the hallway, Kate avoiding Simon's rapidly growing smirk. "No!"

"Calm down," she rolled her eyes stiffly. "It was barely first base,"

Maddie didn't have time to comment on Josh's small prideful smile before Sam and Deena finally approached, hand in hand.

She beamed, ducking her head slightly to hide her happiness that the two girls had gotten over themselves and finally talked about their breakup. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Simon gestured between the four of them. "Did you all go to pound town?"

None of them answered, Simon breathing out a wistful sigh as they all avoided his smug look. "Well," he said. "We've been living there since February,"

As Maddie lifted her free hand to smack his shoulder, she saw Kate mouth "you're welcome" in her direction, but all she could concentrate on was the feeling of Simon squeezing her hand again.

────────── ⋆˚✿˖° author's note
ahhhh big chapter!! fun fact about me 🫣 i'm actually a miscommunication hater. like just literally. talk to each other. but it's fine when i do it 😮‍💨😎  the "okay is wonderful" comes from a university of michigan harry potter parody musical from 2009 that was posted on youtube, the quote comes from a quirrel x voldemort scene where they confess their love for each other 🥰

#livelaughlove brian rosenthall