The Writer | #4✓

Chapter 21

"I wanted him to touch me; run his hands between my thighs as he kissed the t—"

"Okay, that's enough," I said making to snatch my journal from Maxwell's grip as he started to laugh. My face was beet red with embarrassment, and it didn't help that he kept pestering me with his laughter as I closed the journal shut.

"Stop," I groaned, tossing the book under my bed before covering my burning cheeks with the palms of my hand. I might just die of embarrassment. I thought to myself, hoping the ground would just open and swallow me.

"What? I think it's cute," I heard Maxwell's voice say as he pulled me into a side hug. I removed my hands from my face, but I still refused to look him in the eye. Of all the things he could have done, he wanted to read my journal out loud to make me bothered.

"You just like teasing me, don't you?" I asked, turning to face him. Maxwell had a grin on his face, but he refused to either deny or confirm the claim that that was his intention.

We were sitting on my bed. It was late noon on Monday and Ollie had headed out with Adivk to play volleyball. Maxwell had come downstairs to my room to spend time with me, but if I knew he was just going to tease me I would have told him not to come.

Maxwell let out a sigh as he let go of me before lying down flat on my bed. I looked down at him, staring at his stomach that was now peeking through his shirt that had raised up a bit. I poked his belly button, and we chuckled before silence hovered over us. I laid down too, making sure I was face to face with my boyfriend. He smiled when I joined him on the bed, reaching out his hand to run a hand through my hair.

"Hey, Xander."

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to see my writing now?" he asked before sitting on the bed. I looked up at him, and the excitement was obvious on his face. I smiled, nodding, and soon he had gotten out of my small bed to head towards my desk where he'd dropped a pile of his books. He always brought his books down with him when he came to my room in the guise that he wanted to study with me, but we never did.

I watched him look through the stack, and soon he pulled out a small notebook before walking over to the bed and climbing on.

"Here," he said, placing the book right in front of me. "It probably sucks, but I wrote it while thinking about you so I want you to see it," he said as I took the book and adjusted the way I was lying down so that I could open the book with ease.

I hadn't noticed how neat and proper Maxwell's handwriting was until now that I was looking at paragraph after paragraph of it. It wasn't a story, more of mini-scenes of two people hanging out -- us hanging out. I soon found myself smiling, and my smile only widened when I Maxwell made to lay down next to me again.

"Well?" he asked, watching me with his brown eyes.

"It's great," I said, closing the book so I could just stare at him. "It's really great," I repeated, watching as his face grew red.

"Are you serious?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it was well written."

"So, I won't flunk writing courses, will I?" he asked, and a laugh left my lips.

"If you want to register a writing program as your minor, go for it. You're taking WRT 101 and you're not dead yet," I said, and he smiled. Soon he reached out and took the brown notebook away from me, putting it behind him before he made to pull me closer to his figure. I found myself burying my face in his chest, and he hugged me with a firm grip, letting his free hand run its fingers through my hair.

"Xander," Maxwell said as he pulled away from me so that we were staring right at each other. I raise a brow, wondering why he was staring at me with that intense look on his face.

"What?" I asked, and he blinked like he didn't notice that he had been staring at me for a while.

"I think I'm in love with you." I could feel the sound of my heart beating in my ears as my eyes widened at Maxwell's words. Maxwell's freckled face was beet red now, but he didn't look away from me. I just stared at him, not knowing what to do. I wanted to pull away so that the sound in my ears would stop and the beating in my chest would calm down, but I didn't want to scare him into thinking I was rejecting him. Heck, with the way Maxwell thought he would think the world was ending and that I hated him and didn't want to have anything to do with him again.

"I—"

"Like, don't feel pressured to say it back. You don't have to say it or explain why you don't want to," he said sharply, cutting me off. I closed my mouth, seeing he had hit the nail right on the head. I was a little flustered, so I didn't think I was in the right position to process what he had said. "Also, I hope I didn't freak you out. I — I don't know. I've been wanting to tell you for a while," he said, making to run a hand through my brown hair. I bit my bottom lip, smiling a bit and he smiled back at me.

"But then again, I don't know. You've just been really wonderful, and I really like you, but I haven't really gotten to date anyone for this long, and maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions since I haven't felt this way before—"

"Maxwell," I said, cutting him short. He blinked, staring at me with his brown eyes. "It's okay to say it. It really is, so don't worry too much."

"It's not too fast? You are not creeped out, right? I don't want to do anything wrong," he said, and I shook my head at his question. A smile made its way to his lips and he visibly relaxed. I stared at his lips. I really loved the bow shape of his upper one.

"Xander."

"Hmm?"

"I love you so much," I chuckled as he leaned in to kiss the tip of my nose before the side of my eyes and eventually my cheek. "Please don't leave." The words made the smile on my face dim a bit. He always said that, and I always wondered why. I understood that he was insecure about opening up to me, but I wasn't sure how else to let him know that I wouldn't do that and that he shouldn't worry.

I didn't have much time to overthink it though because he was soon kissing me again. He pulled me closer, molding his body with mine as he kissed me with intensity. Our tongues meeting made me shiver, and as usual, I tried not to freak him out by holding on to him too much. He pulled away from each other eventually, and he just stared at me like I was a picture that he didn't want to look away from.

"Please don't leave me. If I'm getting too creepy or annoying please tell me and I'll stop, don't leave," he mumbled, and I let out an audible sigh.

"I'm not leaving," I said, and Maxwell's features seemed dim like he had realized that I seemed a little irritated.

"I — I know. I guess I just want assurance," he mumbled, looking away. I sighed again, reaching out a hand to run my fingers through his wavy red locks.

"I won't leave, okay?" I repeated, and Maxwell nodded, and I smiled at that. He was like a big kid sometimes.

"Xander?" Maxwell called, making me stare at him. "I'm playing at the school's music festival. Will you come and see me play?" he asked, and I thought about it for a bit before nodding. He smiled, closing his eyes as he hummed.

We spent the rest of the evening on my bed. When Ollie came through the room door in his gym clothes he just rose a brow at Maxwell who was on my bed before sighing and heading to his own corner of the room.

"How was volleyball?"

"It was alright," he answered as he dropped his backpack and started to change.

Maxwell was asleep, so it wasn't like I could just ask him to get up and leave. He woke up sometime in the night while I was doing homework on my desk and left after waving over at Ollie who was texting someone — he was always texting someone.

I shook my head, not wanting to think too much about it. Besides, he had already made it clear that he wasn't going to tell me who he was always talking to.