Chapter Text
Nina Angelina Salazar-Roberts walked into the Honeycomb with spunk that summer, rocking her new backpack and her red bow. She looked towards the bottom bunk which was always secretly her favorite. Nina would never admit it though, but she liked to think 10-year-olds are too grown up to be scared of falling off the top bunk. Turning around, she noticed a girl a little smaller than her, standing in the doorway.
Approaching her with a wave and a smile, she said, “Hi! I’m Nina, welcome to Honeycomb. What’s your name?”
“Maddox, but my friends call me Maddie.” Maxxox shyly smiles at her and pulls her army green suitcase next to her.
“Nice to meet you, Maddie. My friends call me Nini. Do you want to share a bunk? You can choose top or bottom if you like.”
“Oooh, the bottom! Thanks, Nini.”
The following month was the best month of her life because she got to spend it with Maddox. She loved learning about Maddox's love for singing, and all things tech, and that Maddie was the world's biggest scaredy cat. For a while she was able to forget about what was going on back at school, but the closer it got to leaving camp the more Nina didn’t want to go. Back at home, she was asked out by this boy and thought it was nice of him to think of her so highly so she agreed. Now she hated him, for being a stupid kid who tried to kiss her on the playground. When she didn’t want to and walked away saying sorry, he spread all kinds of lies about her on the playground. The worst part for her was that everyone believed him. Nina didn’t have to worry about camp because they didn’t know her there, but she wanted to keep knowing Maddox.
Before they left, Nini started talking to Maddie about all of what bothered her in the bunk beds while the older kids had a movie night. She gave her the best advice a girl could ask for, “Who cares? He’s just a boy, you’re Nina.” Nina really liked that, and it made her heart flutter. She soon started to forget anything that happened with the boy who spread lies about her, she just wanted everything to be with her.
Despite this conversation and every conversation the pair would have over the next 9 years of camp, nothing ever happened. It took her a while to admit her feelings but in freshman year she tried to tell her but Maddie made it clear that she didn’t like her. So, Nina dropped it even if she never really stopped liking her.
“Nina?”
She was too busy thinking about their childhood to notice her best friend barge into her apartment (since she has the key) and place headphones directly into her hands.
“Oh sorry, zoned out for a second. When did you get here?” She laughed as she played with the headphones in her hands.
“You're fine. I just want you to listen to the final cut of the song before I send it to the label. I’m kind of overthinking this right now, and you’re like the most talented person I know.”
Nina nods as Maddox begins playing the final cut of her song What are we… on the headphones. It starts off with the instrumental of the guitar, and the smooth vocals of Maddox singing. She wanted the song to feel like it did in the video that went viral, raw, and honest. So a lot of this is live vocals and limited harmonies. Over the last few months, she’s seen her best friend jolt directly into fame, and it hasn’t stopped. Maddox is still going to school full time while going to the studio to work on new tracks for her EP that is set to come out later that year.
She couldn’t help but put herself in the lyrics, because while this was about Maddox's first love, Maddie was hers. Maddox got dumped by her first love, and all Nini could think about was that her first love would never know it. Nini hated being just her best friend because, in all honesty, Nini would have done anything to have Maddie for 4 months. Or even a day. Nini would never call Maddox ‘too much’, especially because Nini was there to watch her cry over her family. To watch them have to repair their bond only for them to break it again come college. Nini knew every flaw Maddox thought she had, that she only ever admired. She also thought Ashlyn was a complete idiot.
The final strum of the guitar played and Nini couldn’t help the smile that sat on her face. Maddie pulled the headphones off her head and lifted her eyebrows as she anxiously paced around the room.
“I love it.” Nini laughs as she tries to form words to show just how proud she is of Maddox.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. You deserve the entire world, Maddox. I love it.” Nina envelops Maddox in a hug, stopping Maddox in her tracks. Part of Nini wants more, she wants to be the person Maddox loves. She wants the ability to even ask “what are we?” because even that would be the greatest gift of all. But deep down she knows she will never really stop loving her, and she doesn’t know if she ever wants to.