Punch, Cut, Kiss

PCK Chapter 21

"Kye, what is today?" Max asked, as he sat down, looking at his menu.

"Um, Wednesday... I think. Why?" I replied, looking over the burgers.

"No, the date."

"Oh, October fifth, I believe. Why?"

"Hm, isn't homecoming soon?" Max said, lowering his menu to look at me.

I shrugged. I was never big on school dances. My eyebrows pulled together at a thought though. "Hey, Max, why aren't you at football practice?" I asked, tilting my head sideways.

"I didn't sign up this year," he said.

Weird. Max really loved football. Well, he loved the boys playing football. It wasn't his fault he was good at it.

The waitress came over and we ordered our drinks and food. We small talked until she brought us our things. That's when the real conversation began.

"So, I was thinking," Max started slowly. "You know how your pregnant and all?"

I laughed, almost choking on the food in my mouth. "Yeah," I said after swallowing.

"Well, I don't want baby Max to go without two sets of grandparents," he said. He took his time saying his words, like he was picking them carefully.

I gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Max cleared his throat. He looked down at the table and then back up at me. "Kye," he said. His face was totally serious. "Today I realized how much you love your dad. I- I want to figure out some way to help him."

I settled my back against the booth. "I don't think anyone can help him anymore," I whispered. My eyes were on my half eaten burger. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling hungry.

Max reached across the table and grabbed my hand. "I know that I told you to forget about him, but you've already lost your mom. You shouldn't have to go through losing your dad because he's selfish. Maybe we can talk to a rehab center or something. We can tell them what he's been through, and maybe even what he's done to you. They can try to help."

I looked into Max's blue eyes. They were so deep and caring. Hope lit a candle in my heart, but it was quickly blown out. "He would never agree to go," I said, removing my hand from Max's and playing with a fry.

Max sat back, defeated. He sighed. "Well, I tried," he huffed to himself.

"Are you going to homecoming?" I asked. I forced cheer into my voice to lighten the mood.

Max saw through my mock happiness, but answered anyway. "I don't know. Do you want to go?"

I shrugged. "It might be fun. I only went to my freshman year homecoming."

Max smiled as we remembered the memories. We both danced until we literally dropped. Max drank about a gallon of water because he was so dehydrated.

"Yeah, it would be fun," he said after a moment.

*

After we went to the phone store, I was happily awaiting the arrival of my new phone. It would be in the mail the next day or so. I ordered one that was out of stock because it was so popular.

"Which store?" Max asked, driving around the parking lot of the mall.

I glanced at the clock. It wasn't even five o'clock. "We have time to look around everywhere," I decided.

He nodded and parked outside of the main entrance. We unbuckled and got out.

"Oh," I heard Max say. I walked to his side of the car and saw another person standing there. "Luke, how weird to meet you here," Max said. His voice was robotic.