"i'm bored." sam huffed, surrounded by her three best friends, max, joji, and ian.
"samantha, if you complain one more time i'm gonna scream." max grunted, nudging sam's legs that were currently wrapped around his.
"guys, i'm bored." sam immediately turned to ian and joji, waiting for a reaction from max.
"go do something with your meathead boyfriend." max spoke up, sarcasm apparent in his voice.
"maybe i will." sam popped up, reading the messages on her phone.
"oh, look, derek wants to hang out." sam smirked, waving her phone in max's face.
"don't leave." max pleaded, pulling sam down on top of him, earning a loud laugh.
sam's laugh was one of max's favorite sounds, it could brighten up even his darkest days.
max and sam remained in the same comfy position for a few moments too long, earning a glare from the boys sitting awkwardly across from them.
ian loudly cleared his throat, shifting the attention to him.
"i'll text you guys later." sam smiled warmly, walking out the door.
"dude, you have to tell her." joji spoke as soon as the coast was clear.
"it's so obvious." ian added.
"i don't know what to say or even how to go about it, what if she doesn't feel the same way? what if she's in love with derek?" max leaned his frizzy head back, letting his mind think of multiple different scenarios, good and bad.
"well, you can start with 'i've been in love with you for the past eight years'." joji chuckled.
max slowly tilted his head forward again, giving joji a borderline life threatening glare.
"she has to feel some type of way, she's always so handsy with you." ian rambled, taking the negative attention off of joji's snarky ass.
"can we do literally anything else." max nodded slowly, exhaling a deep breath.
"jean shorts, shotta henny." joji smirked, bringing out the large bottle of hennessy from the kitchen.
many shots later the boys were half-lit, they would say.
"have you guys seen the movie avatar? it's overrated in my opinion, unless you've got surround sound." max slurred, obnoxiously cracking open a beer.
"okay buddy, i think it's time to slow down with the drinks." joji laughed, guiding max to the couch.
"i miss sam." max whined as ian replaced the full beer bottle in max's hand with a cup of water.
"you're such a light weight, dude." ian joked, taking a seat on the couch across from him.
after many moments of silence, max spoke up "sometimes i think of the memories i had with sam, before douchey derek fucked everything up." max admitted, sipping on his water.
"what ever gets you through, man." joji shrugged.
with the help of water, pizza, and time, max was nearly sober again.
"sam?" max questioned as the petite brunette entered the room.
ignoring everyone, sam slumped down on the couch in between joji and ian. joji and ian simultaneously observed the now frazzled girl.
"sam, what happened?" max questioned hesitantly, intently watching her pick at her nails.
"he's cheating on me." sam replied, scrunching her face up out of pure anger.
derek was definitely a douche, there was no doubt about that, but no one thought he was that low.
"i'm gonna beat the piss out of him." max spoke quietly, after a few seconds of processing what his hurting best friend said.
"don't. i think i just need to have a very long talk with," sam paused, looking around.
"hennessy." she smiled picking up the large glass bottle, unscrewing the top, taking a long swig.
"fellas, it's a party!" max yelled a little too loudly, moving the party to the kitchen.
sam followed into the kitchen, hopping up on the counter along with her bottle.
ian stood next to sam, probably conversing about memes and such. judging by the way sam laughed and continued drinking, they were definitely talking about dead memes.
max sat by the table, his head resting on his hand. observed the way sam smiled, the way her eyes would crinkle at the corners. as well as how she would take a drink every time after laughing.
staring at the hennessy bottle, a certain favorite memory sparked in his head.
*flashback*
"are you sure we should do this?" sam whispered grabbing a small bottle from under the cabinet.
max nodded, quietly snickering, slowly shutting the cabinet making sure no one would know.
"let's go." max whispered pulling sam along out of the sliding door.
the two teenagers made their way up the creeky ladder leading up to the wooden treehouse.
the warm summer air blew threw the open windows, causing both sam and max's hair to flow.
with the only lighting coming from the bright moon, max peeled the wrapper off of the top of the bottle.
"are you really, really sure we should do this?" sam questioned hesitantly.
"just drink some." max chuckled passing her the bottle.
sam reluctantly grabbed the bottle, taking a long sip letting the warm liquor burn down her throat, finishing with a loud hiccup, earning a cheeky smile from max.
sitting closer to max, sam played with his long curly hair as the two talked about life and stale memes, passing the bottle back and forth.
"we're drunk." max giggled obnoxiously.
"i think i," sam paused for another hiccup.
are these the words max has been yearning to hear since freshman year?
"i love-" max's memory faded as he was snapped back to reality.
"i love you, max." sam slurred, taking a seat on max's lap, playing with max's curls just as she did when they were teens.
"you what?" max was taken aback and slightly disappointed that those weren't sober words.
"i never noticed how pretty you are." sam smiled, putting her hands around his face, pulling him close so that their noses were touching.
max's breath and heart immediately jumped, considering he's been waiting for this moment for years.
"are you gonna kiss me?" sam asked, putting her lips even closer to max's.
max immediately closed the small space, placing his lips on hers. he knew it was wrong, but damn did it feel right.