Chapter Thirty

Sunday morning arrived too quickly.

The house had been full all weekend.

Full of laughter, noise, memories, food, and the kind of warmth that made leaving difficult.

Now, suitcases sat beside the front door again.

Micah had already packed everything into the car.

Sarah moved around the kitchen preparing food for the journey, despite everyone's repeated insistence that they had enough snacks.

Nate stood in the hallway, checking his phone.

His hospital schedule was already waiting for him.

Tomorrow morning, he would be back at the hospital.

Back to long shifts.

Back to patients.

Back to the second year of his residency.

He sighed.

"Ready?"

Micah appeared behind him.

"Almost."

Nate glanced toward the stairs.

"Where's Max?"

"Upstairs. I'll get him."

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Max was sitting on Nate’s bed when he walked in.

"Ready?"

Max looked up.

"Not really."

Nate smiled.

"Same."

Max stood and picked up Nate’s backpack.

"I hate Sundays."

"Because you have to go back to school tomorrow?"

"Because you have to leave."

Nate's smile faded slightly.

"You knew I couldn't stay forever."

"I know."

Max slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"I'm not complaining."

"You're absolutely complaining."

"I'm stating a fact."

Nate laughed.

Max followed him downstairs.

At the front door, Sarah hugged Nate first.

"Don't wait another year before coming home."

Nate smiled.

"I won't."

"I mean it."

"I know."

Then she hugged Micah.

"Call me when you get there."

"I will."

Max stood a little apart from them.

Nate looked at him.

"Come here."

Max walked over.

Nate pulled him into a hug.

Max hugged him back tightly.

"Thanks for coming," Max murmured.

"Wouldn't miss your birthday."

"I know."

They separated.

Max looked at him for a moment.

"I meant what I said yesterday."

"About what?"

"That I want you to come home more."

Nate smiled.

"I'll try."

"No."

Max shook his head.

"Not try."

"Come."

Nate laughed softly.

"I'll come."

"I miss you."

The words were simple.

But they hit Nate harder than expected.

He smiled.

"I miss you too."

Max studied his face.

"You've gotten really bad at coming home."

"I've been busy."

"I know."

"But I'll do better."

"Good."

Then Max smiled mischievously.

"Maybe if you knew how much I missed you, you'd stop making me wait so long."

Nate stared at him.

"What does that mean?"

Max shrugged innocently.

"Nothing."

Nate narrowed his eyes.

"You've been acting strange all weekend."

"Have I?"

"Yes."

Max smiled.

"Maybe you just haven't gotten used to me being eighteen."

Nate laughed awkwardly.

"Maybe."

Max stepped closer.

"Or maybe you're just nervous around me now."

Nate blinked.

"What?"

Max laughed.

"Relax."

He gave Nate another quick hug.

"Drive safely."

Nate's face warmed.

"Yeah."

He cleared his throat.

"Sure."

Micah was completely oblivious.

He stood a few feet away, deep in conversation with Sarah about his job.

"So the new patient has been responding really well to the treatment," Micah was saying.

Sarah nodded.

"That's wonderful."

Neither of them seemed to notice Nate's increasingly confused expression.

Max did.

And he looked amused.

"Bye, Nate."

"Bye."

Max smiled.

Nate suddenly seemed to realize that he had absolutely no idea what Max was doing.

He didn't know whether Max was joking.

He didn't know whether Max was simply being affectionate.

And he certainly wasn't going to stand there trying to interpret every word.

So he did what felt safest.

He hugged Max again.

"Take care of yourself."

"I will."

"Focus on school."

"I am."

"And don't get into trouble."

Max grinned.

"No promises."

Nate shook his head.

"You're impossible."

He turned quickly and headed toward the car.

Max watched him go, smiling.

Micah finally glanced over.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Why are you smiling?"

"Birthday weekend."

Micah shrugged.

"Fair enough."

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The drive back to the city was peaceful.

Micah talked about work.

Nate complained about his schedule.

They stopped for coffee halfway through the journey.

By the time they reached the apartment, the weekend already felt like a memory.

Nate carried his suitcase upstairs.

His hospital clothes were laid out.

His alarm was set.

Monday had arrived before he was ready for it.

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For Max, the next chapter of his life began too.

He returned to school for his final year.

This time, he wasn't the angry boy sitting at the back of the classroom pretending not to care.

He had plans.

He was thinking about university.

He was thinking about what he wanted to study.

He had started researching courses and talking to people about applications.

He still didn't know exactly what his future looked like.

But for once, that uncertainty excited him.

He wasn't simply trying to survive anymore.

He was preparing to live.

His confidence continued to grow.

He was comfortable with his sexuality now.

He had dated.

He had experienced heartbreak.

He had learned what he liked and what he didn't.

He had made friends who knew the real him.

And he no longer felt like he needed to hide.

There were still difficult days.

There would always be difficult days.

But Max had finally stopped believing that being different meant being alone.

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Nate returned to the hospital.

His second year of residency demanded more from him than the first.

He was entrusted with more responsibility.

Longer shifts.

Harder cases.

More decisions.

More exhaustion.

But he was growing into the doctor he'd always wanted to become.

Eric had become a memory.

Not an entirely painless one.

But no longer an open wound.

Nate had finally accepted that the future he'd once imagined with Eric wasn't coming back.

And he was learning to build a different future.

One day at a time.

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Micah returned to his physiotherapy job.

His career continued to grow.

He became more confident with his patients and more comfortable in his position.

He still called Sarah regularly.

And he still made trips home whenever he could.

He made sure Max knew that distance didn't mean abandonment.

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Life moved.

Weeks became months.

School became exams.

Hospital shifts became routines.

Weekend phone calls became traditions.

Max called Nate almost every evening.

Sometimes they talked for hours.

Sometimes it was five minutes.

Sometimes Max simply wanted to tell him something ridiculous that had happened at school.

Nate always answered when he could.

And whenever he couldn't, he called back.

Because promises mattered.

Especially to Max.

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One evening, months after his birthday, Max sat at his desk surrounded by university brochures.

His final year was already moving faster than he'd expected.

He picked up his phone.

A message from Nate was waiting.

Nate: How's school?

Max smiled.

He typed back.

Max: Surviving.

A second message arrived.

Nate: That's not an answer.

Max laughed.

Max: It's the only answer you're getting.

Across the city, Nate smiled at his phone.

Some things hadn't changed.

Max was still stubborn.

Nate was still busy.

Micah still complained about both of them.

Sarah still worried about everyone.

But something had changed too.

They were no longer trying to put their old lives back together.

They were building new ones.

Separately.

Together.

And somewhere between the grief, the distance, the mistakes, and the years they'd lost, they had finally learned something important.

People grow.

People leave.

People come back.

And sometimes, the people you love don't stay exactly where you left them.

They become someone new.

Someone stronger.

Someone you have to learn all over again.

And life, whether you're ready or not, keeps moving forward.