"Hi Max." I managed to speak past the lump in my throat.
"Hey gorgeous. What brings you here?"
He gave me a huge bear hug and had the biggest smile on his face. Max was always so happy to see me - it was quite refreshing to be honest.
I smiled and hugged him back with all my might. He actually gave pretty good hugs.
"Uh, is this a good time?" I sort of mumbled, I was scared that he'd be busy.
"It's always a good time for you. What's going on?" I think he knew something was wrong, he had this odd look on his face. Like if he had just seen a puppy being run over.
"Can I come in?" I asked as I ran my fingers through my hair nervously.
"Of course." he rushed as he pulled me into his apartment.
I walked in and found the state of his apartment to be very interesting. It wasn't spotless but it was fairly clean. The walls were full of beautiful, detailed paintings of sharks. Which didn't surprise me - he had such a fascination.
As I walked further inside I noticed the shelves were full of framed pictures. I stared at them observantly and realized that most of them were photos of him and an older woman who I assumed was his mother, a dark, shaggy haired guy that was obviously his brother (the similar 'I know you want me' smirk gave it away) and an old man that seemed like he was high on life.
"Oh, I see you've stumbled upon all my pictures." he walked toward me and stood next to me, rubbing his stubble and smiling.
"Yeah, they're pretty adorable actually. I'm assuming they're all your family?" I asked, staring at all the photos once again.
"Yup. That's mum, Jack and grandad for ya." he pointed out each of them for me. I noticed there weren't any pictures of his father but I figured there was a reason for that.
"Well you have a beautiful family. Your mother is stunning." I stuttered a bit. His mom really was very pretty. I can see where he gets his good looks from...
"Thanks, I'll make sure to tell her you said that." he said.
"You talk to your mom about me?" I asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Um well not a lot but." he blushed and trailed off.
I cut him off with a chuckle as we went and sat down on his couch. It was pretty comfortable, I probably could've fallen asleep on it.
"So, what's wrong love?" his eyebrows furrowed a bit and a look of worry began to spread across his face.
I felt my belly flop a bit. I really enjoyed being called love.
Then I felt sick to my stomach once I remembered why I came in the first place. My eyes started to water and the harder I tried to fight it, the worse it got.
"Um, I need to kinda just vent I guess." I answered, my voice cracked slightly.
"Go ahead." he responded, scooting closer to me.
And I began to fill him in.
***
"And I have no idea what to do." I finished and pushed through the tears.
I decided it was best that I didn't tell him about the situation with Jay. He shouldn't be in the middle, it's not fair to him.
He leaned over and put his arm around me before kissing the top of my head.
"I'm sorry babe, I really am. I can see how much this is botherin you and I wish I could make it all go away." he sounded more hurt than I did.
"Thanks Max. That means a lot to me." I sniffled.
"I think maybe you should give each other some space. Sounds like you're all pretty bothered by what happened. You lot seem like you're pretty close so I reckon you'll figure it out. You're best mates so you know what needs to be done to make it all better." he responded, rubbing my arm.
"You're right. We'll figure it out. It just feels weird cause this is the first real fight we've had. I'm sure it'll be okay. Thank you so much for listening to my blabbering. It's just frustrating because I know that all my problems are my fault. I'm not a good person, I make people's lives turn into some kind of roller coaster. I have no idea how I even have friends, honestly." I felt like I was choking on that familiar lump in my throat as I tried to keep myself from sobbing like an idiot.
" You don't really believe that do you?" he stopped rubbing my arm.
I turned away from him once I felt my breath hitch.
"C'mon please don't cry. You're not a bad person, I promise. Hell, you're one of the best people I've ever met. I'm not just sayin all this to make you feel better, I really do mean it. You're a beautiful person, inside and out. So please don't think for one second that you're not a good person." he gently turned my face with his index finger.
He wiped my tears with his thumb. He was such a cutie sometimes. Whereas I was completely oblivious sometimes because I didn't even realize what he was doing. Before I could even react properly, his lips were on mine.
We'd kissed once before but we were both pretty drunk and I only kissed him to make Jay jealous.
It was different this time. I can't think of any way to describe it besides ... genuine? He always flirted with me and it was fairly obvious he was after more than friendship but I thought maybe he just wanted to screw me and leave me.
I pulled away, not wanting to lead him on or anything. I wasn't trying to go any further with him, especially when I was in a fragile state of mind.
"I-uh, should probably get going." I had to catch my breath a bit. Apparently we'd been kissing for much longer than I realized.
I stood up and began walking back to the door before I felt him grab my wrist and pull me back.
"You said they were still arguing before you left, remember? I'm sorry but I'm not letting you go home to that. Like I told you, you lot need your space for now. You're staying here and that's that." he had this weird look in his eyes, not scary or intimidating but.. stern.
I nodded my head in agreement and asked him where I should sleep. Of course he told me to take his room.
"Are you sure? I don't wan-"
"Yes. Now hush and get some sleep. You'll feel better I promise." he gave me a sweet smile that I couldn't resist.
"Yes sir." I laughed at how ridiculous I probably sounded.
"Alright, let me show you where it is. Unless of course you've been stalking me. Cos then you'd know where it is." he winked at me and I had to stop myself from going weak in the knees. His sass and that accent killed me.
I rolled my eyes and followed him into his room. I stopped at the bed while he went to his closet and searched for something for me to sleep in.
His room was decorated with all sorts of soccer and shark stuff. It made sense seeing as they were his two favorite things. His bed seemed pretty big too, there was huge pillows and what appeared to be...silk sheets? Interesting.
My thoughts were interrupted as he entered the room with a pair of sweats and one of his five thousand white v-necks.
"Is this okay?" he asked, holding the clothes up.
"Perfect." I smiled.
He laid them on the bed before speaking again.
"Alright well, if you need anything else just let me know." he said, looking around the room. I'm not really sure why.
"I think I'll be fine. Thanks so much for everything Max. You're the best." I kissed him on the cheek and gave him a hug.
"You're welcome Sal, I'm always here for ya." he gave me a kiss and hug as well before he left.
Sal.
I felt sick to my stomach. There was only one other person that called me by that name.
A certain, Jay McGuiness.
And I just kissed one of his best friends, yet again.
He probably wouldn't even care though... and that scares the hell out of me.
But what scares me even more, is that I enjoyed kissing one of his best friends.
And I wanted to do it again.
And again.
Maybe I did like Max after all...
-------------------
Hai.
Please don't kill me!
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (;
Thank you soooooo much once again for your reads and votes.
Xx