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OLIVER FLETCHER
PAST
AUGUST 2019
Thankfully the art studios on campus were open over summer, God knows what I would be doing if I had to just sit in my room for another month and a half. I would most definitely drive myself insane.
I had been working on a piece that I wanted to experiment with, push myself out of my comfort zone so I was in an advanced mindset when I start my second year. If anything, I couldn't wait for the first term to begin.
Eager to learn, eager to get stuck in and paint until my fingers fell off. Then suddenly remembering the theory based side was still just as important, I hated exams more than the next person. But that was the idea of the course, to be good at both the practical and the written.
First year had given me a chance to understand what it was all about, learn how to reference and not plagiarise anyone. Submitting my first essay was terrifying, I had no clue if I had done anything right but I managed to get myself a 2:1 so it can't have been that bad.
As I slide the paintbrush down my half completed easel, my phone flashes up out of the corner of my eye. Max's name stretching across the screen, my phone vibrating against the table loudly.
Placing down the brush and wiping my paint stained hands onto my trousers before picking it up.
"Hey," I say warmly.
"Oh my God Oliver, you'll never guess what just happened to me?" Max's voice rushes through the receiver.
My heart thumps inside my chest but his tone didn't seem scared or hurt, he sounded happy and excited. "What?" I say as I blink once.
"Honestly, this is the best news ever!" He shouts loudly causing me to smile. "Where are you? I want to tell you in person."
"I'm just on campus in the art block C," I say as I look around at the empty room.
"Okay I'll be about twenty minutes," he says like he was out of breath.
My head nods. "Okay," I breathe out. "I'm excited to hear."
"You should be," his voice radiates warmth. "I'm going to run now. I can't keep this in any longer."
A small laugh slips past my lips. "See you in a bit," I say before cutting off the call.
Placing my phone back down onto the table and glancing up at my painting, a million ideas racing through my head. What was he going to say?
Never had I heard Max so happy, normally he's a grumpy ass unless he's around me.
My knee begins to jog in anticipation, flicking my eyes over to the door every minute to check if he was here. Now I was beginning to get anxious, I hope that he actually is running and hasn't stopped to grab a coffee.
Just on que, the handle of the art studio presses down and Max strolls in. A white t-shirt clung to his body, sweat evident across his forehead as he swipes away his dark hair.
He definitely ran here and it was baking outside.
"Hey," he pants as he shuts the door behind me.
"Hey," I respond as he walks towards me, attempting to catch his breath. "What's going on?"
"Oliver, you're not going to believe it." He shakes his head as he reaches my chair, pressing a hand to the back.
I stand and glance up at him. "Tell me," I rush as I flick my eyes between his.
"You know I had that art showcase for my end of year graduation thing?"
"Yes," I nod.
"Well my comics were scouted, I've been offered to create a sketch for this online animation site. Oliver, they're huge. Mostly well known in America and they want me to draw a sketch for them to show on their site!" Max's voice booms through the art room, echoing off the walls.
My mouth falls open and then I instantly grin, rising up onto my toes to wrap my arms around his neck tightly. "Holy shit Max," I squeal as he encloses my body into his. "That is fucking amazing, I am so proud of you."
Max squeezes my body impossibly tighter at my words. "So good, honestly I almost choked earlier when they rang me." He mumbles into my ear.
I pull back and rest my hands onto his arms, beaming up to him with pure pride. "You're fucking amazing, you know that?" I tell him.
He laughs and looks away but I grab his cheek and force his eyes back to mine. "You are," I say seriously. "Now maybe you'll believe that your work is incredible because it is. Max, this is so fucking exciting!"
Slowly he nods and grins at me. "It is slowly sinking in but I don't think I'm going to fully accept it until I've completed it and they actually want to use it. They might end up hating it and wish that they never asked to work with me."
"Hey!" My voice rockets through the room, Max blinks back at my tone. "None of that pessimistic shit. They've asked to work with you for a reason, don't go all negative. This is such a great opportunity for you, who knows... they might want to keep you on their team."
"Maybe," he nods with a smile.
I lean up and press a kiss to his lips gently, his mouth hums against me. "I am so proud of you, you have no idea."
Max presses his forehead against mine softly. "I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without you, keeping me sane, convincing me to study and draw when I couldn't be bothered, actually making me go to class."
My mouth opens and I laugh quietly. "I mean getting you to go to class is my greatest achievement."
He nods against me. "You pushed me to do the best I could, I never thought I was good enough but you helped me understand that I am. My art is good enough."
"You've always been good enough," I frown slightly before kissing his lips again. "Never forget that."
"Thanks Oliver," he closes his eyes with a smile.
"So are we celebrating tonight or what?" I release his body as he opens his eyes.
"Celebrate in style like we always do?"
"Hell yeah, this day needs to be remembered." I nod firmly.
Max's smile made my stomach turn to mush but I couldn't help it, he was a gift from heaven. A real life angel that I couldn't believe was in my life.
"See this is why I love you," he mumbles before reaching for my arm, pulling my body back into him. "Remember what happened on graduation night?"
I flex an eyebrow at him. "Yeah..." I trail off, not able to fight my smile.
"And you're proud of me right?"
My eyes roll dramatically. "Yes Max," I nod. "You want me to tie you up, give you the world's sexiest blowjob and then ride you until you come?"
Max grunts and kisses my neck unexpectedly. "Only if you think I deserve it." He grumbles into my skin.
"You always deserve it," I breathe out as he kisses my pulse. "But maybe I'll make this one extra special."
He pulls away from my neck and looks me directly in the eye, placing his hand against my cheek. "Shall we just do it here?"
"No!" My voice screeches. "Anyone could walk in."
Max smirks and presses a kiss to the corner of my mouth and then down my jaw. "You let me fuck you in the club toilet that time."
I gasp at his words. "I was drunk and clearly very delusional to the idea of being caught and or being arrested." My chest breathes out slowly
"We won't get arrested," he whispers as he dips his hands down my back and squeezes onto my ass.
"We are on campus!" I whisper-shout. "Private property, I don't want to get suspended from University."
Max sighs and then smiles, moving away from my neck to press a kiss to my forehead. "Okay, okay. I'll stop." He says before holding up his hands.
"But tonight," I nod firmly. "It will be going down."
PRESENT
AUGUST 2021
I didn't realise that my breathing had come uneven until Max drags me out of the building and onto the street, tears clouding my vision and my head thumping like I'd been stomped on over and over.
Max doesn't say anything as we slip down a small alley, away from the views of pedestrians and cars on the main road.
"Please don't hate me," I mumble out, tasting my tears in my mouth.
His head whips to me instantly as he traps me between the wall. "Why would I hate you?" He asks sounding confused
My eyes flick down to my chest, noticing how it was rising and falling quickly. He was livid, absolutely livid. "Because of what he said, what I did. I'm not proud of it. That must change your view on me completely." I mumble before clenching my eyes shut.
Fuck. Was he angry at me?
Max's forehead presses down on mine softly as he clenches the side of my cheeks. "Hey," he drops his tone instantly, my eyes opening to meet his. "I couldn't give a fucking shit what he said. What happened in the past is in the past. All I care about is that it's me and you now. Just us."
I open my mouth to release a sudden breath that I didn't realise I was holding. Max's thumb rocks against my cheekbone as he wipes away my tears gently. "I fucking hate him so much," I grumble out. "I can't believe he did that in front of everyone."
"I think everyone at the party is more embarrassed for him than they ever would be for you. He was creating a scene and making a total fool out of himself. Trust me, he's probably starting on someone else now. They would have forgotten what they said about you." Max's voice calms me and I nod towards him, trying to accept what he says might be true.
"I wish you punched him twice as hard," I sigh before wiping my nose.
Max's lips curve up into a smile. "He deserved it, didn't he?"
"Totally." I nod.
My eyes glance at Max's wrist before I grab onto his hand and look at his knuckles. Slight red marks beginning to form between his rings, my lips frown at his skin.
"Can we go get milkshakes or something?" I suggest as I drop his hand.
"Fuck yeah," Max says instantly. "That party was fucking dead. No clue why we go to them anyway. You're right, maybe we are too old."
I laugh shortly. "I told you."
"Don't think about that stupid prick," Max shakes his head before wiping the remainder of my tears. Slowly he reaches down for my hand and pulls me back onto the main road. "Let's go to Creams and get some good fucking milkshakes."
My head nods as he begins to pull me down the street, pulling out his phone to find the nearest dessert shop. Luckily we were near central London so we didn't have to search far and wide for one.
We sit down inside the American style restaurant, red leather sofas and large posters on the walls with baseball players. I look down to the menu instantly and eye up the milkshakes, my stomach lurching out at the descriptions of them.
The waitress comes over to take our orders. "Can I get the standard chocolate milkshake with lots of cream and sauce, please?" I ask quietly.
She nods and jots down my order before turning to Max. "I'll get the strawberries and cream milkshake please." He says as he places down the menu and she nods before turning. "Oh wait," he calls after her and she stops to look at him. "None of this is contaminated with nuts or anything is it? Oliver is allergic."
"All containers are washed during use and we don't mix between the nutty chocolate and the regular chocolate," she turns to me with a smile. "But I'll let the kitchen know just to be extra safe."
"Thank you," Max says gratefully as she walks away.
"You didn't have to say that," I shake my head towards him. "But thanks."
"We should always do it everywhere we go, I never want to see you like that again thanks to that fucking idiot," he grumbles out as he drops back into the booth with a thud.
I nod at his words and look down to the table where my hands were clenched together, not able to take my mind off what happened for a second. Is that what everyone thought of me? A stupid boy who seeked attention from the whole of London after a tragic heartbreak... it sounds even worse when you say it like that.
Max clears his throat but I don't look up at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"
My eyes clench for a second before I raise my head to him. "Huh?"
He shrugs and leans forward, resting his hands onto the table. Our hands were merely inches apart from each other.
"It's clearly playing on your mind, do you want to talk about it?"
I snort quietly to myself and then sigh. "It's probably not something you really want to listen to." I mumble.
"It might not be," he agrees. "But if it's going to help you by talking about it, by realising that you are not the one in the wrong. Then I want to listen."
My teeth chew down on my lip as I glance up at Max, his expression relaxed and that's when I realised what he was saying was true. He wanted to help me get over this dark cloud that has been hanging over my head since he left, the cloud of shame.
"Sometimes I get why I put myself in those situations and other times I don't," I start and Max watches me carefully. "I am a sexual person, there is no doubt about that. But when you left, my heart was ripped in two and I just tried to fill that space with guys I didn't even care about."
I breathe deeply and then look up at the ceiling, Max's hands clutching mine softly.
"But no matter who I was with, nothing ever filled the hole in my heart. Nobody could come close to how you made me feel," my voice begins to crack. "And that was what I was chasing. Someone to make me feel as good as you did, but it just never happened. I was being desperate and slaggy for such a stupid reason."
My eyes look down to the table quickly, too scared to look up into Max's eyes, feeling sick to the core. Something was wrong with me, I was beyond desperate and quite frankly embarrassing.
"That's why I said I'm not proud of what I've done, I realise I treated some like shit and just abandoned them once they didn't fill my needs." My eyes build with tears again, feeling my chest beginning to contract tightly. "I was such an asshole to these people, I get why Logan is so angry at me. He didn't get out everything he wanted to when he came to my apartment in April."
"Wait what?" Max's voice raises.
I peek my eyes up at him. "After the whole nut thing, he came to see me." I say slowly.
Max's eyebrows crease at my words. "You didn't tell me that..." he trails off.
"Because he came over and shouted at me, telling me I needed to focus on myself as I was just using others for my own benefits," I bite down on my lip and look down to our entwined hands. "I just felt like shit and I was so embarrassed."
Our hands raise and Max kisses the edge of my knuckles. "Just because you were dealing with your heartbreak in a way that others might not understand, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."
"I just feel like an idiot," I mumble.
"Hey," Max tugs at our hands and I look up at him. "You're not an idiot. He's just jealous and instead of trying to deal with it in a mature and calm manner, he decided to be malicious and call you out. It says more about him than it does about you."
"I wasn't even horrible to him," I admit as I squeeze onto his hands. "I let him down gently, it's not like things were super serious between us. He hospitalised me for God's sake."
"So stop thinking about that asshole and focus on us, on the future. I don't give a shit what he said. It doesn't influence my thoughts on you whatsoever," he shakes his head.
My lips fall at his calm tone, making my heart flutter between my ribcage. "I love you so much," I exhale suddenly. "It scares me sometimes."
Max's lips stretch into a firm grin as he kisses my knuckles again. "I love you so much too," he whispers against my skin.
"Your milkshakes," the waitress says as she approaches the table with a tray.
We both pull our hands back and watch as she places the glasses to the table with ease. "Hope you guys enjoy it." She nods before tucking the tray under her arm.
"Thanks," Max tells her before his eyes settle on mine. "Milkshakes are so much better than some stupid party."
"I'd choose this over a party any day," I say as I look down to my milkshake with wide eyes and a hungry stomach. "This has made my night."
. . .
Read up to chapter 39 on Patreon
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Link is also in bio!
Hello my loves, what did you think of this chapter?
Honestly I'm sure I fall in love with Max the more I write. Even just asking the waitress about nuts for Oliver's allergy. Sometimes it's the little things, ugh I love him.
I also admire how Oliver admits he didn't treat some guys he had been with well and now he's addressing it, he feels bad.
Hope you enjoyed!
Also I have a new account SavannaWritess — where I will be posting other YA romance books, so make sure to follow me!
See you all on the next one, love Sav x
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