“I appreciate your friendly advice, Max,” I say dryly, taking a wide step around him.
“Ace …”
I turn, waiting for him to say what I need to hear. His lips part, but before he says anything, his phone rings piercing the moment.
“It sounds like she’s looking for you,” I say, looking at him, willing him to object or deny it. He stares back at me for a long moment before I turn around and make my way to my house.
“Dammit!” I hear Max growl in frustration, but I don’t turn around. I know if I do right now, I will reveal too much.
It’s been six days since I’ve seen Max. I’m driving myself crazy as I overanalyze everything about my relationship with him.
I’ve been cleaning for the past couple of days, using the excuse of going back to school and needing to pack to remain holed up in my room. I know from the looks and the many check- ins that I receive from my family that they can see through my excuse, and I won’t be able to hide out much longer.
“Are we okay?” I look up from scrubbing the baseboard and see Max making his way into my bedroom. He sits on the edge of my bed, waiting for my reply.
“Are we okay?” I repeat, wishing to know the answer myself.
“I haven’t seen you since Dante’s.”
I shrug noncommittally. “I’ve been busy. You’ve been busy.”
“I haven’t been busy. Did I do something?” Max stands up and takes a step closer to where I’m crouched. I have no idea what he’s thinking by the guarded expression on his face.
“No, of course not.”
“Do you want to go get something to eat?”
“I’m busy right now,” I answer, reaching into the bucket of diluted bleach to rinse my sponge.
“Scrubbing the walls?”
“Why do you care?”
“Why are you upset with me?”
“I’m not upset with you.”
“What are you, then?” He fires.
“Busy,” we both answer his question.
“I can’t fix it if you won’t tell me what it is.”
I shake my head, turning my attention back to the baseboards.
“Is this about Felicia? Because I’m pretty sure you’re still dating Eric.”
“No, we’re friends, Max. Friends don’t see each other every single day. There’s nothing weird between us.” I’m not able to hide the irritation in my tone.
“Alright,” Max says, retreating to the door. “I’m not going to push you to talk to me. But when you’re ready…” he changes directions and walks over to the window with the shade that has been permanently closed for the past nine odd years and tugs the strings to raise it “…you have my phone number. You can call me, text me, send me an SOS, throw a damn rock at my window. Hell, I’ll leave it open so when you’re ready, you can just yell to me. But don’t push me out, Ace. You don’t want that either.”
Before I can respond he strides out my bedroom door. I let out a deep sigh, dropping the sponge back in the bucket as I lean against the wall. Agitation bubbles inside of me with the knowledge that he’s right, and even more so because he knows he’s right. I stand up. I need to get out of here for a while.
The next day is Sunday. Typically I stick around the house on Sundays, offering help to my parents with cooking and preparing for the family to come over as I spend time with my parents, but I need some time out of the house and away from Max. So instead I take Abby up on her offer when she calls to hang out.
She recently began dating a guy named Jesse that I’m moderately familiar with. The two have been spending a lot of time together, and I’m happy for her, even though my love life is really sucking lately. She adamantly declares it’s just a “casual relationship” and I know she’s doing it to try and protect my feelings so I try to be overly enthusiastic about everything she shares with me.
When we pull up to my house it’s obvious we’re some of the last to arrive based on the congested driveway.
“Finally! I thought you were going to be a no-show!” Kyle cries, kicking a soccer ball across the yard with an impressive arc that I catch at chest height as Abby squeals and jumps.
“Sorry, Abs!” he calls, jogging over to us. I’ve stopped paying attention though because I’ve spotted Max. He’s standing beside my dad, holding a beer, as Jameson and my dad laugh at something. His face is stoic as he stares at me.
My line of sight is interrupted as Kyle wraps me up in an aggressive hug that has my feet dangling a few inches off the ground.
“You want to go golfing Thursday? Dad said you were on fire last week!” He sets me down and steals the soccer ball from my hands.
I close my eyes to move my focus and nod. “Sure.”
“I’m glad you’re so excited to hang out with me!”
I laugh, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so excited that I’m overcompensating to keep it all in.”
“That’s better.” I laugh, wrapping my arm around his waist as he wraps one around my shoulders. We walk to the yard, dribbling the soccer ball back and forth.
“How come you never get that excited to see me?” Caulder teases.
“Seriously,” Mindi says with a laugh from her lounge chair. “He doesn’t get that excited to see me.”
“Obviously he gets pretty excited to see you,” Savannah says, lifting an eyebrow as she motions to Mindi’s growing stomach, making us laugh. Kyle and I head to the back corner of the yard as Abby sits down to chat with my two oldest sisters.
“You’re rusty.” Kendall approaches with Jameson and Max flanking her.
“Don’t provoke her. She can still kick my ass,” Kyle says, dribbling the ball on his knees.
“Don’t lie.” I watch as he begins alternating from his feet to his knees with his dribble; Kyle taught me everything I know about soccer.
He grins and catches the ball with his hands and tosses it to me. “I wish I were. I need to go check on Mindi before she really does kick my ass.” He grins.
I watch Kyle make his way over to her chair and dip down as he kisses her sweetly on the cheek. I turn back to Kendall and offer her the ball.
“Don’t be a smartass,” she mutters, eliciting an innocent smile from me. I drop the ball and watch it roll.
“What did you guys do today?” I ask, trying to ease the awkwardness that’s quickly swallowing us.
“I want to see your mad skills,” Jameson says, nodding to the soccer ball that has ironically stopped a few inches short of Kendall. He’s either oblivious to the mood, or trying to distract them as well.
“You’d feel like you lost a piece of your manhood if I showed you,” I tease.
“She is pretty good,” Kendall admits.
“Why don’t you play anymore?” Jameson asks.
“I just was.”
“Like for college.”
I shrug. “We’re pulling your leg, really, I kind of suck.”
“She’s lying.” Kendall’s growing annoyance with me is evident in her tone as she kicks the ball at me in frustration. I laugh, raising my sandal-clad foot to stop it from hitting me in the shins.
“What did you guys do today?” I repeat.
“Mom and I made a bazillion tamales. Since you weren’t here to help it took forever.”
“You should’ve called. Abby and I would’ve come.”
“We did! Guess who answered your phone?”
I look at her confused, trying to recall where my phone is. “Who?”
“Eric! He said you left it there yesterday! I thought you were breaking up with him!” I don’t mention that I’d left it because Eric was acting like a complete idiot and had friends over that made Nate look like a boy scout and didn’t feel safe going back to get it by myself.