AN: Part 2 of the epic Maxanne saga unfolding over at MDRP (not really, seriously we joke about how awkward we are. But we love it). Once again, half of the credit goes to Max's incredible RPer, Ash. Anything written in his point of view was her doing, not mine.


Roxanne felt guilty for what she said to Max everyday after it happened. It was absolutely eating her up inside.

Besides, she had waited all this time for him to come home, and now that he was here, she was purposefully trying to stay away from him? What was the point in that?

So, she finally decided to answer one of his phone calls (and, she had to admit, she had really missed the sound of his voice) and he had asked if she wanted to grab lunch with him sometime. Just as friends, of course. So, she agreed.

She made sure before she left to apply a little extra mascara. They might not be on a date, but she didn't need anyone thinking Max was single.

She felt an odd sense of giddiness, a bit of butterflies in her stomach, as some say, as she waited outside of the restaurant for him. She liked the place they were going. It was very casual. Casual enough for two friends to go and have lunch and make nothing of it.(But just dressy enough that any single girls with wandering eyes wouldn't make their way over to interrupt them)


"Alright Max, you can do this. Besides, its not even a date! Just don't…you know, GOOF IT ALL UP." he thought, giving himself a bit of a pep-talk while looking in the bathroom mirror.

Max was beyond nervous. He'd asked Roxanne to a friendly lunch da- I mean gathering, and was having second thoughts. Not as in he didn't want to ask Roxanne, but it was more of a matter whether or not it was too soon. The two had had an interesting conversation a couple of days earlier which resulted in Max discovering that Roxanne was a little less than ready to forgive him for what he'd done.

Realizing he was on the verge of being late, Max quickly searched through the piles of clothes scattered around his room for a shirt descent enough for going out to eat. "Perfect" he said quietly upon finding his nicest shirt, a shirt he remembered Roxanne had complemented him on. It was simple, dark colored, and not really his style. But if Roxanne liked it, he would wear it.


It had been ten minutes. Roxanne sighed outwardly, every fiber in her being filled with disappointment as she made the realization. "He's not coming. You've been stood up."

She hated the feeling that washed over her. She was upset, hurt that he did this to her. And yet, at the same time, she couldn't help but think that she deserved it. She had been a total dirt bag to him. He was trying to make up with her, and she just….she ruined everything. No wonder he didn't…

But then, there it was. His silhouette walking towards her. She breathed a sigh of relief, and the butterflies had returned for full force fluttering in her stomach.

"Damn he looks good" she thought as he got closer, his image becoming clearer and clearer. "That shirt looks so good on him"

Soon he was close enough to have probably seen her. She waved him over, smiling just a little too widely.

"Hey!" she smiled as he was literally just a few feet from her. "You ready to head in?"

Roxanne seemed so…happy. He instantly relaxed. "I can do this." he thought to himself simply. "Um, Hey! Roxanne…" he trailed off, searching through his back pocket. "I have something I want to give you. Here, hold this." he stated matter-of-factly, handing Roxanne a quarter. She stared at the coin in her hand, a confused look on her face. Seizing his opportunity, Max quickly rushed to the neighboring lock store, who's owner happens to be good friends with his dad, and retrieved the bouquet of flowers he'd asked the man to hold for him.

Once he'd rushed back out, Roxanne was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, alone, fiddling with the flower vase. "Um…Roxanne?" he said hesitantly creeping up towards her, the flowers hidden behind his back. "Sorry I um, left like that." he spoke slowly, his nervousness beginning to turn up again. "Its just that I needed to get…these" He flashed a big smile as he held out the flowers. It was a beautiful arrangement; pink and yellow daisies with sprinkles of baby's breath here and there. He'd spent awhile in the flower shop trying to decide on the perfect bouquet, not wanting to give her the wrong impression (i.e. a huge bouquet ofroses). But once his eyes fell on that one, he knew it was perfect. "I-I hope you like them" he said shyly, a slight blush beginning to form on his cheeks as he waited for her reaction

At first, the redhead was upset, once again feeling like she had been stood up. But as she made her way to the table she tried to convince herself otherwise. He showed up. And that's better than what she had thought was going to happen ten minutes ago. She should give him a chance before she automatically jumped to the worst conclusion.

And she was so glad she did. A blush took over her face and her heart began to flutter when he returned, showing her the flowers.
"'He got me flowers. Oh my god." for the longest time, those words and a giddy feeling was all that her body was allowing her to recognize. Realizing that he was still waiting for a response, her brain finally allowed her to respond with "Oh my gosh! Max, I love them!" She stood up to hug him, but quickly remembered that they were not together, and this was not a date, so she laughed awkwardly while breaking eye contact as she reached down to straightened out her shirt in a lame attempt to cover up her mistaken action.

As the two sat down, Roxanne cleared her throat before nervously asking "So, any idea what you're going to order?"

Max couldn't believe it. "She liked them. She-she really liked them!" he thought to himself. "I thought she would've been so mad when I got back"Snapping out of his daze, Max realized that Roxanne had already sat down! "Darn, I wanted to pull out her chair for her" he thought. "Oh, no not really. I uh, haven't been here in awhile." he said with a cheesy grin as he sat down in the chair right across from Roxanne.

As Max began to study the menu, while casually glancing at Roxanne every now and then (when he was certain she wasn't looking), he noticed that the food at this restaurant was really… girly?It definitely wasn't what he and his best buddy PJ usually ate back at school, which, now that he thought about it, was mostly pizza. "Strawberry salad with sugared Almonds? Hummus cups with lettuce and tomato? CUCUMBER SALAD? Aw, man. What was I thinking when I picked this restaurant?"he thought to himself, beginning to feel his stomach growl.

But it didn't matter really, he was just happy to be in the company of the girl he'd been thinking about for months. The one he hoped he could soon win back.

"So, what about you?" he asked, hoping to start up some light conversation, "See anything…interesting?"

Still a bit embarrassed from earlier, Roxanne spent much of her time staring at her menu. Every once in a while she felt Max's gaze on her, which only made her sink farther into her menu in an attempt to hide her blush.

After a few minutes of this, she heard his voice ring out a question. She had already thoroughly studied the menu and its contents, so she answered with a light laugh in her voice "Oh, I see a lot of interesting things."

"This menu is so weird." she continued, although now mostly to herself. "Like, you have no idea what I would give just to have a grilled cheese right now. I swore, the last time I was here I got a hot dog. Her eyes then traveled to a different part of the menu, as she sheepishly admitted "Probably because the last time I was here I was old enough to order off of the kids menu."

Finally braving it enough to look him in the eye "I mean, can you believe some of this stuff? How do you make a meatless meatball. Meatballs are balls of meat."

She smiled as talked, forgetting how natural conversation had come between the two of them. She had missed this. She had missed this much too much.

Max chuckled, though not too hard, the last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself by hyucking again. Max began to twiddle with the edge of his napkin, unsure of what he should say next to keep the conversation going. He then looked up, ready to spout out some dumb question he'd thought of, but instead he stopped and began to stare at her while she continued to look at the menu. "Man, she has no clue how much I've missed her." he thought to himself, watching as she delicately tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear."She's so…beautiful."

Snapping out of his trance, Max asked "So, Roxanne how's your dad? I mean its been awhile since I've seen him. Though I'm pretty sure he doesn't miss me one bit." Max let out a small laugh while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, reminded of the first time he met Roxanne's dad.

Roxanne couldn't help but giggle at Max's question. Her dad was always tough on any guy she brought home, and the longer Max was around, the more her dad tried to intimidate him. Probably due to the fact that he could tell just how serious they were getting, just how much Roxanne liked him…

"He's been good. Pretty much same as always with him." as she gently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, she added "And don't take it personally, he's like that with everyone."

She saw what she knew Max was trying to sell as a slight smile but was actually a bit of grimace. The subject of Dad's was always a touchy subject between the two. And while she genuinely wanted to know how Goofy was doing, she didn't want to make things more awkward for Max. So, she tried a more general question. "How are things with you? Have you settled back into Spoonerville well?"

"Ah, kind of." Max paused, trying to think up the right words to. "I guess you could say I have." Max replied simply. "besides the fact that you haven't been off my mind since the moment I got back." he thought to himself. "It's been kind of tough though, being that I haven't seen any of this in awhile." Max looked down at the table as he spoke. "But it's great to be back in good ol' Spoonerville, you know…getting to catch up on things." Max took a short pause, exhaling deeply, before continuing, "things you missed". Max then looked Roxanne straight in the eyes, a slight smile forming on the corner of his mouth.

As their eyes locked, Roxanne felt her smile grow with his. She broke the contact as she went to play with her hair. "Th-things you missed?" she asked. She knew that he didn't probably mean her. But…the hope was still there. And it was welling up inside the redhead the more she thought about it.

Realizing that she should probably add something to the conversation, she then said "You know, Spoonerville is one of those places that you don't think you'd miss. Things are so boring around here. But as soon as you leave, you start missing the little things. So, I can see what you mean. A-about, catching u-up on, things, that um, you know, miss." she finished lamely with an awkward chuckle as she began to play with her hair. However, her curiosity (and, you know maybe her jealousy) got the better of her, as she asked "Miss anything in particular?" before she even realized it came out of her mouth. She winced. She should have really thought that out more…

Max was taken aback for a moment. He didn't think she'd ask him what exactly he missed. "Uh, you know, going to school here, being able to hang out at the music store, going to Powerline concerts…" Max said, flashing the redhead a big smile, he figured she'd get the joke. But soon Max's demeanor changed and he became more serious. He knew deep down he'd have to tell her eventually, if he wanted their relationship to get back to what it once was that is. He began to look down at his hands, too afraid to look her in the eyes as he spoke. "And there's something else I missed. Something I couldn't stop thinking about the whole time I was away Roxanne." Max looked up, he noticed her confused look at she stared at him attentively, not moving a muscle. "I missed you Roxanne…a lot." he said, his cheeks beginning to turn red.

"Alright, that's it. You've really done it now Maxie." he thought to himself, slightly regretting his decision.

Roxanne felt her stomach knot up and her face flush as his words hit her ears. "Max," she began, her voice soft at first, but growing louder and more confident with every word. "I missed you a lot, too. That's..." she sighed before finishing her sentence "….probably why I blew up at you the way I did. There was just, so much bubbling to the surface, all the old feelings, all the new ones…but whether they were good feelings or bad feelings, they were all things I was feeling because I was thinking of you." Roxanne realized just how quickly the conversation had turned from the light to the very serious, so she nervously added "Look, we don't have to talk about this right now if you don't want to. I'm sorry I even brought it up."

Max continued to look down, he felt like he was going to be sick. "Well, yeah, maybe we should…" he paused, he knew that wasn't what he really wanted, and besides, maybe this would be his only opportunity to talk to her. To really talk to her.. "Wait. Roxanne, what I've been trying to say is…"he stopped, trying to think of the best way to truly convey what he was thinking.

He took a deep breath, looked her straight in the eyes and began. "What I've been trying to say is…RoxanneI'vemissedyousomuchandyouhavenoideahowmu chIwantustogetbacktogetheragain." After his surprising outburst he instinctively clamped his mouth shut with his hands, his pinkish blush beginning to look more like the color of an itchy red rash.

To say Roxanne was completely stunned by what happened would be a complete understatement. After what probably felt like hours to the poor boy, she finally managed to utter "You…you want to get back together?"

As soon as the words flew out of her mouth, her brain had completely registered everything. All of a sudden, she felt like her entire body had just been re-energized, everything abuzz with happiness, spreading to a giant smile of her face.

Max just looked at her, unsure if he should just go ahead and tell her, or try to back-track and pretend like the whole thing never happened. But, judging by the look on her face, the latter wasn't going to work. "I mean…" he trailed off, running his hand though his hair instinctively as he tried to buy himself some time to think of what he should say next. He sighed heavily, dropping his hands into his lap.

"If I tell her, there's no way I can take it back. And if she says no I'll look like a complete idiot. But…"

"Yes" he whispered, looking at the floor. "No! If you're going to tell her, at least be a man about it!" he thought to himself, picking his head up. He took in a deep breath and conjured up all the confidence he possibly could before continuing. "Yes, Roxanne…I do."

Roxanne's eyes widened upon his words hitting her ears. She ran a hand through her hair, trying desperately to make sense of all the thoughts bouncing around in her head. However, one permanent thing was the giant smile plastered on her face "R-really?" she asked "You'd really want to get back together, even after all those horrible things I said to you?" Now twirling a piece of hair through her fingers "B-because…" she gulped nervously, though she didn't know why "I'd like, that, too.

Max gave a nervous laugh, rubbing his arm with his gloved hand. "Those things you said…they didn't really bother me Roxanne." he sighed, hesitant to continue. "But feeling like I couldn't say anything to you, you know, like we barely even know each other at all, that's-" he cleared his throat, "that's what hurt". He looked up and gave her a cheesy smile, trying to soften his rather intense words. "But if you're up for changing that…I am too". He quickly looked down at his watch, still finding it hard to look her in the eyes, but soon realized something. "Wait, Roxanne… what did you say?" he said, his disbelief obvious in his voice.

Roxanne couldn't help but laugh out loud at Max's obliviousness. He was so cute when he was confused. Smile still carved onto her face, she couldn't help but laugh as she told him "Oh, Max. I said…" her voice got a little quieter and a little less giggly as she finished, "I'd like that, too." she gently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she waited for his response.

Max could hardly believe what he'd heard. He'd been dreaming of this exact moment for months, nearly since the two had broken it off. "Really?!" he exclaimed, hardly able to contain his immense feeling of excitement. "Roxanne this is…this is great! I can't-I can't even! Put what I'm thinking in to words I just-" he stopped abruptly, flinging his napkin off of his lap and leaning over the table, giving Roxanne a kiss.

Once he pulled away, Max's feeling of embarrassment was evident all over his face. His cheeks began to turn a bright red color and he could feel the heat of it beneath his skin. "I can't believe I just did that…" he thought to himself.

Needless to say, Roxanne was taken completely by surprise. When his lips met hers, all the fireworks that she had remembered and more were present. In that moment, suddenly all those months apart didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that they were together again. When the two disconnected, Roxanne instinctively covered her mouth her hand, a weird sense of nostalgia washing over her. Looking back up at him (he had grown to be about a head taller than the girl) she could see the red in his cheeks, causing her to giggle. Biting down on her lip, she blushed a little, too. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and asked, "So, I guess this means we're back together now?"

Max shrugged his shoulders, a cheesy smile plastered across his face."Uh, I guess it does", he said laughing slightly. "I'm really happy that we're back together Roxanne". He instinctively placed a hand behind his head, a habitual act he did when he was nervous, and Max knew Roxanne was probably onto it by now. An air of awkwardness hung in the air for a few moments as neither of the two spoke. "So, when do you think that um…that waitress is going to come over?" he asked, checking his watch. He figured once the food came he'd have something else to talk about.

Roxanne smiled, she couldn't help herself. She felt like a giddy school girl. Also sensing the awkwardness, Roxanne went into her own nervous trait - playing with her hair. Once she heard his question, a sudden curiosity fell over her. "Yeah, where is she, anyway? I mean, we haven't even placed a drink order yet!" Rolling her eyes, the girl joked "This place, I tell ya. Weird food bad service…" her voice trailed off as she shook her head. She then smiled "But you know, if it wasn't for this place," she blushed as she finished her sentence, "we probably wouldn't be back together right now."

Max laughed, "Yeah, you're right. I guess we wouldn't have". In that moment he began to think really think. She was absolutely right, heck, she was more than right! Before he and Roxanne had reconnected he didn't even think he'd ever see her again, let alone actually getting back together. "I know it's meant to be…it has to be." he thought, getting lost in a daze which he was abruptly jolted from when the waitress had arrived a their table. He and Roxanne gave their orders and the waitress promptly left, only to return a few minutes later with their orders. "Wow, that was fast", Max said, unable to wipe the smile off of his face. "If only they'd been this fast earlier!" he added. But deep down, it was for the better that they'd had to wait so long. More things had happened in those 30 minutes that to the two of them had been sitting there than had happened to him in a very long time. Max could feel a feeling of pure elation began welling up inside him, he had his girl back, finally.

Once the two were finished eating waitress returned with their check. "Will this be on separate checks? Or…" she asked blankly, staring down at her notepad. Max hesitated for a brief moment, and locked eyes with Roxanne before speaking. "Um, no its not separate You see, I'll be picking up the tab formy girlfriend and I…together." he said matter-of-factly. The words my girlfriend felt strange in his mouth, but the good kind of strange. He looked over to Roxanne to see her smiling warmly, he immediately did the same, placing his hand gently on hers.


AN:

Me: OMFG MELT MY HEART WHY DONT YOU?!

[Ash never responded to the thread because we were already working on part 3 via message]