Just Fine (RE-EDITING)

Chapter Thirteen

Max acted as if nothing had ever happened. Alvin didn't know what to think about the way Max behaved. He was back to his grins and goofiness as if he didn't touch Alvin that way. The young scientist simply frowned to himself, wondering what Max was really doing with him.

The youngest Ackerman was sure that their experiment had gone long enough. Especially now that Alvin realised that he actually liked Max that way.

Alvin knew that this would have been totally weird if a normal boy with normal sense of curiosity had indulged himself in this experiment. He would have said that this was enough, that he knew where his sexuality stood. But Max didn't retaliate. He acted as if this was normal, as if they had been dating from the start.

It had been two days since Max's weird behaviour. Alvin was in his room, trying to finish up his homework when Howie knocked on his room window. Alvin looked at her before smiling, gesturing her to come in. She pushed the windowsill upwards and got into the room before slamming it down.

"Hey, Howie," Alvin said as he closed his books and placed it aside.

"Hey, Alvin," Howie said as she took out her scarf and folded it before she walked up to Alvin. Placing the scarf on his bed, she looked at his worktable. "New inventions?"

"Yeah, the X-ray sunglasses," Alvin said with glee as he got up from his bed and walked to his worktable. Picking up the sunglasses, he looked at Howie. "I have tested it a few times and I believe it is now functional."

"Let me try!" she said as she grabbed the sunglasses from Alvin. She looked at him before she wore the pair of sunglasses against her eyes. "How do I turn it on?"

"Just press on that small button there," Alvin said as he pressed onto a small knob at the right frame of the glasses. Howie gasped in astonishment when she looked at Alvin.

"I can see through your clothes!"

Alvin immediately took a step back. "Howie!"

"I mean," she said as she dragged the sunglasses down to her nose. "I can see through your skin. I can see your bones."

The young scientist relaxed before adjusting his glasses. "It doesn't just see through skin and muscles. It sees through different layers by adjusting the other knob on the left frame of the sunglasses."

"So, I can see through clothes?" Howie asked with a devilish grin on her face. Alvin raised his eyebrows before he crossed his arms.

"Who do you want to see through their clothes?" the youngest Ackerman asked.

"Max," she said nonchalantly and shrugged. The young scientist rolled his eyes before he grabbed the sunglasses back. "Hey!"

"I just need to adjust a few more things before it's truly functional," Alvin explained. Howie nodded before she pointed at the glasses.

"Then I can use it to see through Max's clothes?" she asked. The youngest Ackerman simply shook his head at her weirdness.

"Whatever you want, Howie," he said as he placed the sunglasses on the table. Just then, the door to the room opened and Max walked in, already taking out his beanie and shaking the snow off of it. He grinned when he saw Howie.

"Hey, Howie," he said as he waved at her and walked past them to his bed. He dropped his bag on the bed before he took out his jacket.

"You're getting snow all over the place," Alvin muttered dryly.

"Hey, Max!" Howie said with a happy grin. Max continued to grin before he looked at Alvin. The young genius immediately broke their eye contact and turned around to his worktable.