Here We Are (Maxpres) | ✔️

Chapter Seventeen

   "Turquoise?" Max thought, staring at his slip of paper. "The hell am I suppose to do with turquoise?"

   He pulled out a sheet of paper and tried naming things people associated with the color. "The ocean... Nikki's hair... Jewelry... Beauty? I don't fucking know!" He tightened his grip on the pencil, getting frustrated. He studied the room, trying to find something, anything, turquoise.

   His gaze landed on Preston. The boy was in a turquoise turtleneck with a long purple scarf. Max's anger diminished at the sight of him. "God dammit," he thought.

   He glanced back at the paper. "Purple goes well with it, and it's... Calming? I guess?" His eyes darted towards Preston again. "Or is he calming? Damn you, emotions!"

   Max had been feeling like this for a while now, and he had no idea what to do about it. He was strangely calm around the dramatic teen, and he had a better attitude. The freshman had an idea of what was going on, but he didn't want to label it as that. Shaking his head, he went back to work.

•~•

   "It's almost Halloween!" Nikki squealed, plopping down at the trio's usual table. Max whooped right along with her while Neil sighed.

   "Will you two stop over hyping it? It's October tenth," the nerd grumbled. Nikki snorted. "You're just being a pussy, Neil."

   A look of shock spread across his face, but he quickly recovered. "No. I just don't want to be bored of it when it actually comes around. It's too early, anyway."

   Max glared at his friend. "It's never too early for Halloween," he growled.

   The girl at the table nodded and scarfed down some of her food. "So..." she spoke in between bites. "Do you guys know what your costumes are yet?"

   Neil groaned loudly, but they ignored him. Max shrugged. "Preston suggested I should be a vampire, but I'm not sure..."

   She cocked an eyebrow, her hair bobbing. "Preston, eh?" She slowly took another bite. "I'm thinking about being a monster of sorts."

   "What's that tone of voice supposed to mean?" The shorter boy asked defensively. Nikki avoided his eyes and the table fell silent. Neil rolled his eyes and blurted in out.

   "You've been talking about him a lot lately. She- well, we- are just wondering why."

   Max was praying his blush wasn't obvious. "Chill out, we're just... Friends..." He glanced over at Preston a few tables away. The teen was laughing about something, amber eyes bright. He let out a tiny sigh before remembering his friends were watching him. He cleared his throat and returned his gaze to them. They were unimpressed.

   "Sure you are..." Neil snickered, taking a swig of his drink. The other male's eyes narrowed. "Shut up, Neil. We all know you've got a thing for magic boy over there." He pointed his thumb at the other trio's table.

   The brunet choked on his drink. Nikki put a hand over her mouth to suppress the giggles. Max smirked, satisfied.

   "Oh my god," the athlete giggled, "You two are so gay."

   "Nikki!" They hissed in unison, causing her to laugh again.

•~•

A/N: The season finale has weakened me... I cried for about thirty minutes. If you haven't seen it yet, it's on youtube now.
~FB667