The truth was out.
Abby stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes blinking in slow motion before she stood up. She tilted her head to the right a bit before she opened her mouth and then closing them a moment later.
Alvin sat up straight and looked away, feeling the dread washing into him for a moment. "What?" she asked as Alvin shrugged helplessly. "Dating Max? Alvin, what..."
"Well, Max came into the room one day and said he wanted to try dating a boy and um, he somehow asked me for it," Alvin explained. "I disagreed, but then he was all this making pouty faces and stuff and just, you know..." Alvin couldn't continue as he was suddenly surged by the shoulders.
Abby opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to get some words out but Alvin was sure she was speechless. After a few silent moments, she straightened herself and rubbed her face. "You are dating Max," she said slowly as she looked at her brother. "Max Asher. Our Max?"
"Yeah?" Alvin said slowly. "How many people with the name Max Asher do you think I know?"
"No, that's—" Abby didn't finish her sentence as her cheeks flushed.
"Well?" Alvin asked after realising that his sister was just standing there and staring at him. "You wanted to know."
"Yes, Alvin," she said after a minute. "I did but I didn't think this would be it!"
"It?" Alvin couldn't resist making a confused face, causing Abby to groan.
"Alvin," she started as she smiled cautiously at him. "You're dating Max Asher! Max! Isn't that—why did you look, you know, off?"
"Abby, the problem is because I'm dating..." Alvin said as he slowed at the word dating before taking a deep breath. "...Max Asher."
"Right," Abby said suspiciously as she took her seat again, crossing her legs. "Explain to your older sister. Why is that a problem?"
"Abby, I'm a boy," he said quickly. "And he's a boy. Boy and boy do not date. That isn't right."
"I guess?" Abby said slowly before she shook her head. "Look, Alvin, it's just dating. So what? It's like experimenting. You'll be fine. Don't think too much into it and just go with the flow."
"Experimenting?" Alvin questioned again. "I'm not the boy to experiment with! I'm Alvin and he's Max. Asher."
"I don't really see your—" she stopped when realization dawned her. "Oh! There's something more going on than just experimenting here, isn't it! That's why you're so uncomfortable." She quickly leered in closer, squinting her eyes at her brother. "Something to do with feelings, isn't it?"
Alvin stiffened a moment before he felt a short shudder working through his body. "Feelings?" he asked as he recalled the definite affection from just now. What was Max feeling anyway? Why was he so adamant that Alvin dated him? Max could definitely just date one of the boys that were always crowding him if he wanted to. And yet, he wanted him as his date.
"Yeah, you're obviously freaked out about something," she deduced. "You told me that Max wanted to try and date a boy and he chose you. You've somehow accepted that or else I would've noticed you having your silent panic attack sooner." Alvin frowned at that.
"I do not have silent panic attacks," Alvin retorted. Abby just raised her eyebrows before he corrected, "That much."
"Do you like Max then?" she asked. Alvin immediately looked at her and frowned.
"Of course I do. He's my best friend."
"I mean like-like type of like, Alvin," she quickly corrected her sentence. Alvin's eyes widened at that before he shook his head. Of course he didn't like Max like that! He was Max Asher, for goodness sake! But, could it be the reason why his heart was fluttering lately?
No, of course not! Alvin concluded but somehow, he couldn't find it in him to ignore that thought completely. "No," Alvin said slowly but Abby just smiled.
"Well, figure out what's happening then," she said as she leaned back to her seat. "If certain feelings are involved, I think you should talk to Max."
"Abby," Alvin started. "That's the most ridiculous advice ever."
"Hey, I've dated guys before," Abby said defensively. "Take it from your sister, who currently is dating as well, I think Max likes you. Like-like you."
Alvin's heart skipped a beat at that as he stared at Abby as if she had lost her marbles. "Abby, that's preposterous."
"Really?" she challenged. "Max is totally devoted to you from the moment he met you. He would do anything for you, Alvin. I think he really likes you."
"Abby, we're friends," he said.
"And yeah, that's so normal for a boy to ask his best friend to date him just so he could see if he likes boys too," Abby chided sarcastically.
"This is Max Asher," Alvin defended. "He does things like that! He's not normal. He's Max-normal."
Abby just rolled her eyes. "Alvin," she said. "Trust me. I know what I'm saying. He's Max Asher and that's why I'm saying, it's possible he likes you that way."
Alvin remained quiet as he stared at his sister, trying to take in whatever she was saying. Somehow, even though it sounded wrong and stupid, it filled in the holes in his mind. He sighed as he mulled the thought over in his mind before checking his own feelings. He needed time to think.
Alvin ate dinner without a word said to Max before he helped his mother with the plates, trying to occupy his time in the kitchen. Soon, he was the only one left in the kitchen, cleaning up the plates and keeping them away while the rest of the family had other things to do. His mind ran through everything Abby had said and even though Alvin assured himself that this wasn't the reason why his heart was fluttering, he couldn't help but to somehow accept it with some degree of truth.
Did he like Max like that?
Well, without panicking, he decided he did like Max as a friend. Sure, when he first met Max, he was overwhelmed with this immense hate and envy but after he knew Max for real, that hate turned into fascination and friendship. He enjoyed having Max around him even though the snowboarder would irritate him sometimes.
Sometimes, Alvin even wanted to create a black hole and push Max inside when things got too annoying. But every single time, without fail, Max was there for him. He was there when Alvin doubted himself and he was there when Wendy was trying to destroy his life. He was protecting his best bro from the harm this world was showering him with.
Max was like a comfortable shield, like he could always rely on him and hang onto him whenever he needed to and Max, he never broke apart or strayed. He was everything he wanted in his life for a while now and this friendship meant a lot to Alvin.
But when Alvin delved deeper into his emotions and the barriers of his feelings, he realized that there were some new foreign feelings somehow managed to entangle itself into his platonic feelings. It was vibrant and it was wet; it was a never-ending wet paint covering the walls of his heart. His heart would pick up speed when the feeling started to show itself and it happened whenever Max did something incredible.
Whenever Max did something nice for him, when he did something great and magnificent or when Max was just... being Max, his heart would recognise that feeling oozing through the walls and eat it up. The feeling also left a strange tingly sensation around his body. Relaxing his posture against the sink, he turned off the tap and stripped the yellow rubber gloves from his hands and placing them aside.
"Shred?" Max called out as he leaned against the counter and looked at Alvin with a cautious smile. Alvin glanced at him, realising that he was tense. He took a few deep breaths before he looked at Max and smiled cautiously himself.
"Hey, Max," he said even though his voice sounded timid to his own ears.
"You didn't talk much during dinner," Max said as he grinned. "What's up, bro?"
Alvin shrugged helplessly before he sighed. "Nothing," he lied.
"Come on, Shred," Max said as he walked closer to Alvin. "I'm here for you."
"I'm fine," Alvin said as he looked at Max. "I'm fine, really."
"You're a terrible liar, dude," Max said. "A very terrible one. But I get it, something about privacy, right?"
"Yes," Alvin said as he pointed at Max. "I'll tell you later."
Silence echoed for a moment between them before Max nodded. "But we're cool, right?" Max asked as he looked at Alvin carefully. Alvin smiled sincerely at Max.
"Yes," he said. "We're cool."
"Nice!" Max beamed up with a blinding grin before he said, "I'm going to hit the pow."
"Ah, have fun," Alvin said as Max nodded and walked away, not before patting Alvin's shoulder.
Alvin nodded and watched Max leave as he contemplated the new found realisation of his feelings for Max. If it was true, a big fat if, he did like Max like how Abby suggested he did, he knew deep down that he would never say it out loud to Max. There were many reasons as to why he wouldn't let Max know about it and one of them would be because all of this between them was just a short-termed experiment.
Max had made it clear himself on several occasions that these things between them was just something etching to experimenting, something that boys his age and onwards did before adulthood took hold of them tight. Alvin scrunched his nose at that thought and sighed, feeling the rims around his eyes aching all of a sudden.
If he liked Max that way, he was sure he was going to complicate things between them. Alvin would want this thing between them to be real and before he knew it, he would get his hopes crashed and destroyed when Max called this to an end.
Shaking his head, Alvin decided that he needed to conduct more rational hypotheses and observations before he could draw a conclusion.