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Mikayla got off the school bus, and begun trudging back to her house. Alone. She’d gotten used to it by now. Tulip had gone missing months earlier, and although the police were still searching for her, there wasn’t a trace of her. She heard whispers that they assumed she had run away to game design camp, and may have frozen to death, been kidnapped, or any other way. She hadn’t learnt about it until she had gotten worried that Tulip hadn’t texted her from camp yet, so she went to Tulip’s house to ask her mom if Tulip was still mad at her. She came in to find an extremely distressed Ms. Olsen, and Tulip’s father too. After learning the news from her parents, her heart sank. This can’t be happening . Tulip can’t be gone . She never even said goodbye. She sat right down with Tulip’s parents and bawled with them.
Mikayla had then gone into Tulip’s room for no particular reason. She supposed she was subconsciously in denial, and looking to find Tulip in there. When she looked around and saw the picture of herself that Tulip kept in there, her heart ached. She had always wondered why Tulip had that picture in her room. It wasn’t of her and Tulip, it was just Mikayla by herself. Was this a best friend thing? Mikayla certainly hoped it wasn’t for some reason. Before Tulip disappeared, Mikayla had found herself feeling strange feelings about her best friend. Butterflies in her stomach when they talked, a blush growing on her cheeks when Tulip complimented her, and a nervousness she had never felt around her before. She had never had much interest in boys before, so after a lot of late nights spent doing online tests, and much distress, she realized that she was a lesbian. She knew that Tulip would probably be completely fine with it, but she had never told her. Besides, she was a gamer. You never could be too sure with them.
But it didn’t matter now. She could never tell Tulip that she was a lesbian, or maybe even that she liked her. Tulip was gone. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about this, but looking across the road and seeing a green and orange figure in the distance led to more tears coming hot and fast.
“Tulip?!? TULIP!?!?” She yelled as she ran towards the figure, hoping, praying that it was her best friend. It wouldn’t have been the first time she mistook a random person for Tulip and made a complete fool out of herself. But as the girl came clearer into view, it was clear that it was her. Tulip was back.
“Mikayla?!” Said a tired voice.
“Oh my god, Tulip!” Mikayla said as she pulled Tulip into her arms, tears pouring out of her eyes. A small, wet feeling on her shoulder let her know that the same was happening to Tulip. As much as it pained her to free her shoulder from Tulip’s read resting on it, she needed answers.
“Tulip, where the hell have you been? Did you run away? Were you kidnapped? Do you know how worried we’ve all been? We thought you might have been dead!” She yelled at Tulip with a mix of sympathy, care and anger.
Tulip looked up at her. She was badly bruised, with scratches along her face and arms, and bags the size of suitcases under her eyes. “Mikki....”
Mikayla’s heart melted. Tulip rarely called her that, as it was almost like a pet name for her. Mikayla’s heart soared just thinking about the possiblility. It was usually saved for when Tulip was really happy for her, or she wanted something. Not right now though, as Tulip was half asleep, clearly thinking with her heart rather than her brain. She sunk her head back into Mikayla’s shoulder.
Tulip needed to see her parents, and then she needed rest. She took Tulip’s hand. “Ok Tutu, c’mon, let’s get you home.” There would be time for questions later. Right now her crush needed her help.
It would be a few days until Mikayla would see Tulip again, as she spent a lot of time resting and answering questions from her parents, school, police, and the newspaper. But on a cool Saturday morning, Mikayla received a text from Tulip, the first since the day she disappeared.
Tulip: wanna go 4 a walk
Mikayla: ofc
Tulip: come pick me up pls, mom wont let me leave by myself anymre
As she walked to Tulip’s house, she couldn’t help but feel like she was taking her out. Usually they would just meet somewhere, but coming to her house and getting her mother’s approval felt similar to prom movies she had seen, where the lights dim, and the entire world is stopped for a dance between two star-crossed lovers. But did girls like her get happy endings like that? Sure, being gay is legal, but every love story in media always seemed to be a man and a woman. The way it was “meant to be”. She wondered if Tulip ever wondered the same.
She came to pick up Tulip and Ms. Olsen explained to her that Tulip had fled for game design camp and had gotten horribly lost in the woods, while Tulip looked extremely uncomfortable behind her. After they had left, they went to an ice cream parlor, and sat down on a bench nearby, just the two of them. Mikayla quickly started the discussion on both of their minds.
“Soooooo, is that really what happened when you ran away?” She asked, Tulip looking alarmed that she had seen through her story so easily.
“Well- I m-mean- ah- of cou-” Tulip stuttered, not finding the right story to tell. With a sigh, she risked telling the truth. “Promise you won’t to tell anyone?”
“Of course, you can tell me anything!” Her nervousness was building now, hoping that Tulip made no stupid decisions.
“Promise you won’t call me crazy?” Tulip asked, them staring into each other’s eyes.
“Probably not? No promises though.” She admitted. She had to be honest.
“Hmmm.” Tulip really couldn’t ask for much more. “Ok, I’ll tell you.” And with that she begun to explain the Infinity Train to Mikayla, with the logistics of the train, who she met, and how she had to fight the evil conductor, Amelia. Mikayla sat there dumbfounded as Tulip explained her story, making Tulip assume she didn’t believe her.
“Now, I know all this sounds completely ridiculous, bu-” Mikayla cut off Tulip by grabbing her shoulders, making a fierce blush appear on her cheeks.
“Tulip!!? I’ve been there too! The strange horror train with the numbers!?” Mikayla exclaimed, absolutely shocked that her friend knew of this aswell.
“WHAT!?! When? How? Why?” Tulip yelled.
“A few months ago! You’d been gone for awhile and I was broken up about it. I wasn’t really functioning very well. That was an understatement. She couldn’t sleep, she couldn't eat, and all she could think about was Tulip. “I was walking home from school, and this huge train came out of nowhere! When I went inside, I was trapped in some huge, singing alarm clock room with a glowing 15 on my hand! I had to team up with a sentient toy and a walking fish to get out of there, and I had to get over the fact that you were gone to escape. The world really thought you were gone.”
“Woah.” Tulip said. She hadn’t expected Mikayla to believe her, let alone have had the same experience. That wasn’t even the most interesting part to her however. “You got on... just because you needed to get over me?”
A dark blush spread over Mikayla’s cheeks. “I mean... yeah, you’re my b-best... friend...” She almost choked on the ‘best friend’, as her heart was singing a much different tune.
Tulip rubbed her own neck. “W-wow, I didn’t know you cared that much...”
This provoked Mikayla to pull Tulip into another giant hug, this time letting Tulip make it last as long as she wanted. “Of course I care, Tutu.”
“Thanks, Mikki.”