The annoying charisma of Max Brown (Now published so sample size only)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I tried to avoid Max for the next week but it was a near impossible feat. He always seemed to be around where I was. He tried talking to me but I ignored him for the most part. It didn't stop my thoughts about him. It also didn't stop the fantasies that I'd had about him either.

I woke up everyday and went for the longest walk, then I'd grab food and hide in my room. It was a week of spending a lot of time hiding in my room with a good book and headphones on to pretend the outside world didn't exist. The outside world being Max Brown.

Sneaking out to catch the train to work always turned out to be the trickiest part of my day. He wanted to be there to drive me to work but I always refused. I didn't let him drive me home either. He was always out there waiting but I ignored him and marched straight to the train station.

It was late on Saturday morning when I could no longer avoid him. He did something that I never expected but would always appreciate.

Friday night had been a long, arduous work shift. Refusing to take Max's offered lift had ended up being the wrong choice. The train home had contained horrendous men trying to pick me up who had trouble hearing the word no.

I stumbled out of my room in the middle of the day and I'm surprised that I didn't miss seeing the object. You see, I kept a little shelf of trinkets and things I loved on the outside of my bedroom door. I didn't want them to end up broken when I started pacing. I don't know why I never put my snow globe there.

While lamenting the loss of my precious snow globe, I happened to notice it sitting on the shelf. It looked brand new but exactly the same as before I smashed it to pieces. I paused, picked it up and looked at it closely. Realising it was mine set my heart to racing with joy. I ran into the lounge room with it clutched in my hands.

"You fixed it!" I squealed to Carly who sat watching Ry waste his time on one of his video games.

"That wasn't me, Sweetie. I wouldn't even know where to start finding someone to fix it." Carly replied with a sly grin.

"Then who?" I asked mystified.

"I'd go and tap on his bedroom door and ask him all about it." Carly waved a hand towards Max's room.

"Seriously?"

"Go."

I stared between the precious snow globe to the ominous presence of the door to Max's bedroom. Had Max fixed my snow globe or was Carly just trying to give him credit? I wasn't sure what to think, but I started making my way to his door.

Going to knock had to have been the most uncomfortable moment of my life. I started twitching and pausing, which I'm sure would've looked hilarious if I wasn't so dang nervous.

There was a lot Carly didn't know about what had happened between Max and I this week. He'd come to my workplace every night and kept away the groping hands of other men. Every time he offered me a lift, my ability to resist him weakened. I don't know why he kept smiling at me as if nothing had changed between us. As much as I ignored him, he'd been there with me all week.

With a dry mouth, shaking hands and potentially running away feet, I managed to knock. I rubbed my moist hands down over my yoga pants. Then I tried to compose my face into a calm expression. I'm sure I just looked even more nervous.

"Come on in." Max sounded so smug that he must have known it was me on the other side of the door.

Another moment when I wanted to hate him but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. He'd done something that I never expected and it was a wonderful something. Even now I wasn't quite sure how I would ever be able to repay him for his kind gesture.