when the two boys made it back to the hotel, it was only max inside.
"where's nick?" chris asks handing max his iced latte.
"he's gone to go see audrey and kennedy." max says with a smile, thanking chris.
"oh ok." matt says with a shrug.
chris looks over at matt, hinting for him to leave so he can talk to max. matt gets the message and begins to head towards the door again.
"where are you going?" max asks.
"i'm gonna go see art and vincent." matt smiles back, walking out the door before he can be questioned.
max doesn't bother to think much of it and just pulls out his phone to scroll on tiktok.
"you gotta ask nick out." chris says abruptly.
"umm- excuse me?" max laughs awkwardly.
"i know it's sudden, but i think you should go for it." chris tries to explain.
"incase you didn't know, i only realised i was in love with him an hour ago." max says, his voice tense. chris noticed that max was becoming tense and tries to break the tension a little.
"i know, and i don't wanna pressure you, but i really think you should do it."
"but i don't think i'm ready for that chris. you know that. this isn't as simple as me just having feelings for him. we have a history that he doesn't even remember." max says, raising his voice slightly.
"nick will understand. he will, trust me. you can explain what happened when you tell him." chris tries again to bring the tension down, but it doesn't do much.
"it's not that simple chris! you know that. if i ask him out i have to make him remember. and then i have to explain why i kept it a secret, why i didn't tell him as soon as i found out. i also don't know how he reacted to my sudden disappearance. i don't know if he was angry, sad, disappointed. and don't say you know, because i know you don't. so don't tell me that nick will 'understand', because he won't. atleast not straight away. and i don't want to lose him again. I CANT LOSE HIM AGAIN."
chris steps back, shocked at the reaction that he got. he wasn't expecting max to act this way. he expected a little resistance, but not a full blown monologue.
"im sorry. i shouldn't of brought it up. you can tell him when you're ready." chris says sympathetically. he sits down on the other bed, facing max.
max feels a twinge of guilt twist in his chest. it wasn't chris' fault. he didn't know the severity of the situation as much as max did. and that isn't his fault.
"i'm sorry, i shouldn't of yelled." max says, his head hanging low.
"no, you have every right to be upset. this is a big thing for you, a lot bigger than simply asking someone out. there's layers to this, layers to which i don't fully understand." chris sighs.
"look at you with the big words and sentence structure." max chuckles trying to break the tension. chris simply chuckles at the comment. it goes quiet between the two, until max speaks up.
"look," max puts his hand on chris' knee, making chris look up at him. "i'll think about it. i'm not sure when i'll be ready, or if i will be while you're still here in LA, but i'll consider asking him out, soon."
"you don't have to if you're not ready. it's your relationship, not mine." chris says worried.
max sighs, his head falling.
"i'll think about it." max says simply. chris smiles at him before standing up.
"wanna go hang with everyone else?" he asks.
"sure. i feel like i haven't seen them for ages." max laughs, following behind chris.
they walk out the hotel room and knock on audrey and kennedys room door.
they wait a few seconds before audrey opens the door.
"why hello. fancy seeing you two." she smiles sweetly.
"hey audrey." chris walks in the room, "hey guys." chris sits down on the bed, max sitting next to him.
nick looks over at chris and can instantly tell he's tense. he doesn't know why, but he knows his brother. somethings on his mind.
he pulls out his phone and texts matt
nick
hey-
is everything good with chris
mattyB
yeah?
why?
is something wrong?
nick
he just seems kinda tense
that's all
mattyB
he does?
nick
yeah-
mattyB
the boys and i are coming
nick puts his phone down and waits for the knock at the door. when it comes he springs up off the ground and rushes towards the door.
"hello friends, come in." nick says to vincent and art.
"hey nick." art says giving him a hug. nick returns the hug, he's missed art. it's been not even 24hrs since he saw him, but so much has happened, he really needs to talk to him.
once the two boys walk past him, he makes eye contact with matt. matt looks at him confused, he looks over nicks shoulder to take a look at chris.
"oh shit." matt whispers to nick.
"yeah. i have no idea what's wrong."
matt knows what's wrong. it has to be about max. that was what he was doing in the hotel room right? it must've not gone well.
"do you know why he could be acting like that?" nick asks. matt tries to think of a valid excuse so nick will drop the subject.
"umm, no i'm not sure." matt says not coming up with anything. nick looks at him skeptical for a moment, matt knows something he doesn't. he just doesn't know what.
"matt, nick. what the fuck are you doing?" vincent chuckles. he's sat on the ground, sitting up against the end of audrey's bed.
"sorry." nick says. he walks away from matt. "this conversation isn't over." nick whispers before he goes and sits down next to kennedy. he gets comfortable by resting his head on kennedys shoulder.
"hey nicky." kennedy says putting her hand on his knee.
"hey ken." nick smiles.
"you ok?" she asks softly.
"yeah, just tired." nick closes his eyes.
"how come?" she starts to draw comforting circles on his knee.
"late night." he sighs at the memories of last night.
kennedy notices that his eyes are shut and just lets him rest.
matt looks at the two and smiles. they're friendship has always been so pure. they've never gotten into an argument, well at least a serious one.
matt looks away from the two friends and meets eyes with chris. nick was right, he is rather on edge.
you alright? matt asks with his eyes.
yeah chris responds, not verbally of course.
matt looks at him like he doesn't believe him. chris rolls his eyes before pulling out his phone
krisp
i promise i'm fine
mattyB
u sure?
krisp
yeah?
mattyB
you don't seem so sure
krisp
max just kinda freaked out when i asked about nick
mattyB
about asking him out?
krisp
yeah...
mattyB
shit
krisp
it's ok though
he said he'd think about it
mattyB
well that's good?
krisp
yeah
it's all good now
if i seem tense, i promise im fine
trust me
mattyB
ok
i believe you
krisp
thank you :)
matt looked over at over at chris and smiled. chris smiled back, a small sigh leaving his lips.
they just wanted nick to be happy, that's all they've ever wanted.
helloooooo
i hope you enjoyed this chapter! it was a little filler but got a little more of the storyline.
thing are gonna happen quiet quickly because i get bored quickly and if there isn't something important happening i procrastinate writing. so shits gonna happen pretty fast, j hope that's ok. but dw, it won't be TOO quick
thanks again for the support, it means so much :)