Miles from Home - Max and Harvey Mills FanFiction

Miles from Home - CH 5

CHAPTER FIVE

I glance toward my right, past the six beige chairs set at the dark chocolate dinner table with a bouquet of exotic white flowers, and at the closed white door, framed by dark chocolate moulding, that leads into Max's bedroom and bathroom. Behind his door, the splashing of a waterfall shower head tells me that Max is still going to be a few more minutes—I can't wait to spring my surprise.

On the white porcelain-like tabletop of the coffee and tea station in front of me, I turn off the electric kettle and finish steeping the bags of tea—English breakfast tea—as I specifically requested the hotel to stock in our rooms. Removing the spent tea bags from the two cups atop saucers—the entire tea set is of white ceramic with enough to serve five—I add a dash of milk to each from the mini fridge below the table, add one sugar for myself, and two for Harvey, with an additional three cubes of sugar beside his teaspoon, atop the side of his saucer.

Behind me, wearing his typical white shirt and red shorts, Harvey sits on the beige tweed couch facing my direction, but staring down at the screen of my laptop that sits atop the circular coffee table of opaque white glass before him. While he talks to his parents—Paul and Sara—on a video call, Harvey seems perfectly unaware of my plans. Behind him, flanked by dark chocolate curtains, the sliding glass door frames the twelfth-floor balcony overlooking the sunny, clear skies of the Manila Bay.

"Two sugars," I say as I hand him his cup of tea. The splash-fall of water from Max's shower shuts off from behind his door.

"Thank you," Harvey says as he accepts his tea from me. I wave to Paul and Sara on the screen before taking a seat on an adjacent beige tweed couch that divides the dining area from the living area of Max's suite.

"Avery, so nice of you to serve Harvey tea on your day off," his mom's voice says as I set my cup and saucer on the coffee table and several inches away from the back of my laptop.

"Avery never stops working," Harvey says toward the direction of my laptop as I retrieve my phone from my pocket.

"Well, I wouldn't know what to do with myself, otherwise." I sip my tea.

As Harvey continues to talk to his parents on the screen, I zone out while looking at my laptop bag, the black leather satchel sitting on the taupe carpet leaning up against the end of the couch. Inside my bag, my surprise presents for Max and Harvey wait for their chance. Two gift-wrapped little boxes, each with an adjustable-length, bolo-style bracelet with sterling silver fittings and an engraved sterling silver band—the leather braid for Harvey's bracelet is crimson, while the one for Max is navy blue. I agonized for weeks thinking about what I should have done for the engraving, thinking along the lines that having my initials would be a little too ridiculous even if it was alongside theirs, and having just their initials or their full name would be too commonplace, so I hunted down a place that could engrave something more artistic—I eventually settled on choosing the outline of two ducks spreading their wings towards one another as if they were two people holding hands. My guts twist, uncertain about if they will even like the gifts at all—much less, wear them.

Muffled shuffling noises behind Max's door remind me to text Dalton. I message him with my phone, 'he's almost out.' I take a sip of my tea and set it back down onto its saucer just as my phone vibrates. Dalton's return message reads, 'I'm outside.' As Harvey laughs wildly at something said but unheard, I glance at him, but he doesn't seem to notice me—the surprise should still be on my side. Max's door finally opens, revealing the other birthday boy wearing his usual white shirt and black shorts as he hangs his white towel on an unseen fixture. We share a smile as I stand and walk toward him—secretly aiming to be nearer to the vestibule of the door to the hallway, where Dalton awaits just outside.