[ Max ]
I stirred a little before waking up to the bed shaking and hoping it wasn't an earthquake or worse, Nathan getting laid. I turned my head and opened my eyes just a crack. He wasn't being rode by anyone, but he was tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable. I sighed in relief.
Until he woke up and was just staring at me.
"Maxey?" His voice was groggy.
"Yes?" I yawned.
"Why are we—" yawn "—in the same bed...naked?" He was obviously hungover.
"Uh..." I wasn't a bad liar when I lied. "I had a few drinks and found you naked in here. I tried to redress you but you fell asleep so I guess I crawled in bed with you..." he knew I slept normally slept naked, so maybe it would be enough to save my ass.
Nate hesitated, "Nothing happened, right?"
You only took my virginity.
"No." I said blatantly.
"Thank God," He said, chuckling lightly.
I swallowed hard. "Am I really that bad?"
Nate stopped dead in his tracks when he realized what he'd said. "Max, I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just...we're practically brothers so it'd be kinda weird."
"Oh." I said. "Right."
It was silent between us for an uncomfortable amount of time before he shuffled on to his side, looking at me. "Do you think Ronnie would make us food?"
"Maybe." I shrugged. I wasn't really all that hungry.
"Well c'mon," He got off the bed and got dressed. "I'm starving."
I told Nate I'd meet him down there and he agreed. So I got dressed alone and in silence. I'd never tell Nate. Not as long as I lived would I ever tell him.
He meant too much.
Ronnie fed us chocolate chip waffles and bacon and coffee for my fakeover as well as Nathan's legitimate hangover. We scarfed our food down, not wanting to be around when Ronnie's parents woke up. They wouldn't be mad about the party because no evidence of the party exsisted. Everything was spotless and there weren't any people left behind except for Nathan and myself. Ronnie's parents were split between being old fashioned and up to date. They were workaholics and having an eighteen-year-old daughter, they pretty much let Ronnie do whatever she wanted to do, except throw parties.
I texted Ronnie, telling her I needed to talk to her as Nate and I went for my truck. She responded with an 'okay, be at your house soon' while I was driving.
Nate lived about five minutes away from me so I dropped him off and went home.
My mother wasn't around when I got home so I assumed she was still asleep. I took a shower in my bathroom and brushed my teeth, it's Saturday and there's only a week left before seniors leave school. I laid in my bed with my music playing off of my phone.
My mom had had me in their early twenties; my dad was in my life until he died when I was four. Then she started dating my stepdad, Owen, when I was six or seven. They got married and then my brother, Ty, was born.
Owen's not a bad guy and he does care a lot, but he's not my real dad. And I've made the two of them extremely aware of them.
It didn't take long for me to doze off, again.
"C'mon rude boy boy can you get it up? C'mon rude boy boy is you big enough? Take it! Take it! Baby! Take it! Take it! Love me! Love me!"
I woke up to Ronnie singing, dancing and jumping on my bed. I threw my pillow at her and it hit her in the face. I giggled as she stumbled and landed on her ass on the bed.
"Nice to see you're finally awake." She took her ear buds out.
"Hi to you, too." I yawned and stretched.
"Owen wants to know what you want for dinner, Nate's called you three times, plus texted saying that he wants to hang out tonight, your mom thinks we're having sex and that we're into S&M, Ty wanted to know if you'd play Grand Theft Auto with him, and I went on your Instagram." She tossed my phone at me.
"Did you reply to Nate at all?"
"What the hell do I look like? Your secretary?"
I gave her a bored, blank stare.
"I told him you were sleeping."
"Thank you."
"And I played GTA with Ty."
"Sounds fun." I shrugged. "Why does my mom think we're having sex? And S&M?"
"Because when she called, I answered and S&M by Rihanna was playing and then I was punching you in the stomach while you were sleeping and you were making sex noises."
"Lovely."
"Truly."
I laughed.
"So...what'd you need to talk about?"
I went on to Instagram to evaluate the damage done by Ronnie, but all she did was post a couple of obnoxious stories that I let slide.
"The party." I sighed, setting my phone next to me.
"What about it?"
"I may have slept with someone."
"WHO." She demanded.
I remained silent, hoping she'd take the hint.
"You slept with Nathan?" She asked after a minute of silence. Oh yeah, she got it.
My cheeks flushed. "Yeah."
"You had sex with Nate?"
I nodded.
"Really? With Nathan?"
I glared at her. "Cheese and rice, woman, how many times are you gonna make me repeat myself?"
"So help me, God, you better tell me, everything!"
I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them. "It was an accident, and in your bed. Sorry about that." I didn't my best to not look into her wrathful gaze. "There's nothing going on between us because he doesn't even know."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the hell do you mean he doesn't know?"
I felt the guilt creeping up my cheeks, making them hot all the way up to the tips of my ears. "He was beyond wasted and it was his fault. He was kissing me and..." My voice trailed off. "...he woke up this morning and asked if we if anything happened because we were both naked and I said no."
"I wish my first time was that dramatic." She shook her head.
"Veronica!" I scolded her. "This is serious! What happens if he finds out?"
"You and Nathan have know each other since we were eight and he glued you to the chair. You've been best friends ever since. I don't think he'll react too harshly to being told the truth. It probably wouldn't be his first time. Well, with a guy it would be, but in general, it wouldn't."
"This is Nathan, our residential man-whore." I sighed.
"True." She sighed, back. "Did you use a condom?"
"Of course I made him use a condom, do you think I'm dumb?"
"No, not dumb, but when in the heat of the moment, things can happen!"
"This whole thing was a heat of the moment." I grimaced. "And here's the biggest problem of them all, he thinks I'm straight."
"So then, start with coming out."
"It's not that easy, or simple, Ron. And besides..." I rested my forehead on my knees. "...I told myself I'd never fall for my best friend."
"And?"
"And after last night, I fell."
"Oh, Max," Ronnie said sympathetically. "I still think you should tell him."
"Do you think he'll be mad at me?"
"If anything, he'll glue you to a chair again."
I smiled. "Will you be there with me?"
"If you want me to."
"Text him to come over in an hour." I handed her my phone.
"Where are you going?" She asked as I started for my door.
"To make us some food."
I'd made Ronnie and myself food and then she threw on Junjou Romantica. For some reason, she carried the entire series in her purse. I don't know what type of emergency required it, but according to her, it was very necessary.
"I'd like to have a Nowaki of my own." Ronnie admired the taller boyfriend in the second couple of the show. "He's sweet, funny, adorable, and he'll fight for you. How precious is that?"
"Not to mention he'll leave you for New York for a few years."
"Hey! That was Hiroki's fault. If he had just been paying attention, it would have never happened."
I laughed and tried to imagine her with a 6'4" Japanese boyfriend. It wasn't that bad of a mental image.
When my bedroom door opened, we quickly turned it off and Nathan walked in my room followed by a very pretty brunette girl, who looked oddly familiar.
"Sup, Maxey." Nathan nodded in my direction. "Ron."
"Hi, Nathan." Ronnie sat up. "And this is?"
"Jazmine." She smiled. "Nate's girlfriend."
And then it dawned on me. "You're the girl that wanted a threesome last night."
She looked at Nathan, awkwardly, and then down at the floor. "Uh, yeah."
Nate's cheeks flushed. "Anyways."
I looked at Ronnie and she could sense my discomfort. "Hey, Jazmine, why don't you tell me how you get your hair so...clean looking."
Ronnie didn't even own a hair brush, and I could tell by the skeptical look on Nathan's face that he knew she was faking it.
"Uh...sure." Jazmine looked so out of confused and out of place.
Ronnie lead her out and then came running back a few minutes later. "She's using the bathroom so hurry!"
"Oh don't worry, she'll be in there for at least an hour and a half. She fixes her hair and makeup every twenty minutes." Nate threw himself on my bed. "Anyways, she's a good catch, isn't she? Pretty hot."
I shrugged, keeping quiet. What was the point anymore?
"Oh, Max, about this morning, you know I didn't mean to say it like that." He said, softly.
"What'd you say?" Ronnie asked, looking at him.
Nate looked uncomfortable but defended himself. "It wasn't anything bad. It just came out wrong."
"Um, Nate—"
I was cut off by his bobble headed girl coming back into my room. "Nate, I wanna go, you said we were going out to eat."
"Yeah, afterwards." Nathan gestured towards me but sighed when she looked upset. He hesitated and then stood up. "Go get in my car and I'll be there in a second."
Jazmine kissed him on the lips—those same very lips I had kissed just last night—and I physically cringed, Ronnie as my only witness.
Nate waited until Jazmine left my room to sit on the bed next to me. "What'd you wanna say, Maxey?"
I shrugged and stared anywhere other than him. "It can wait."
"Max, c'mon. Just talk to me." He pried.
"I'd rather tell you when you've got longer than a 'second' to listen."
He sighed. "Fine. I'll stay the night on Saturday and you can tell me." The he left.
"Ronnie?"
"Yes?"
"Find me a boyfriend?"