Max and Nikki were getting completely wasted, laughing at everything and anything. Neil, on the other hand, was taking small sips from his beer. It had only taken an hour for Nikki and Max to go through their beers and then get a round of shots. He felt uneasy and stressed out that this would end badly. Neil was also shocked at how easy it was for them to get so much alcohol, the bartender must not give a shit since it was such a small rural town.
"Guys, maybe let's take a break from this and go outside?" Neil asked cautiously to his two unstable friends.
"Nah, we're just getting started! Plus look at you, you've barely dranken your beer." Nikki giggled out. Neil, cringing from her bad grammar, tried to help her out of her seat.
"What the fuck, Neil, we're just having a good time." Max whined as Neil tried to pull him out of his seat too.
"Well, I'd hate to be the guy who saves you from potential alcohol poisoning." Neil grumbled, tipping the bartender and then dragging his drunken friends onto the street.
"Neil! Why'd you have to- on my god Max, look!" Nikki exclaimed, pointing to a row of motorcycles.
"Damnnnn, we have to go on those, Nik!" Max replied in awe.
"No! No, we don't." Neil replied frantically, trying to turn their attention to something else. "How about we check out the mini mart instead!"
"Ooh, let's look inside and see if there are any tough biker dudes in there!" Nikki screamed, grabbing Max by the hand and pulling him back into the bar. Neil gave up trying and sat down on a bench outside of the bar. Why do I even care? It's Max and Nikki. They're like the power couple from Hell. Neil snickered as he thought this to himself, thinking of Max actually dating someone.
A few minutes flew by until Max and Nikki re-emerged from the bar with some drunken bikers. Oh my god they really did it. Neil panicked, running over to stop them from whatever they were planning to do.
"...and so you just shift gears like this and add a little gas. Not much to it." A scruffy biker with a gray beard explained to the wasted teens who were eagerly sitting on a bike.
"Guys! What are you doing?!" Neil screamed, grabbing Max by the hoodie and shaking him.
"Relax, we're just gonna go for a little ride. We'll be fine." Max slurred his words and laughed.
"The hell you are! Get off of that thing, you're gonna get yourself and Nikki killed! Do you even know how drunk you are?!"
"Drunk? Oh shit, right. Nikki, Neil's going to have to drive you. I'm too drunk." Max said, hopping off the bike.
"No way! I'm not driving that thing, and Nikki is just as drunk as you. Both of you need to sit down." Neil instructed, helping Nikki off the bike and sitting them down on the bench.
"Fine, but I wanna go to the super market." Max whined, standing up and walking over.
"Much better." Neil smiled, helping Nikki up and following Max. Once inside Neil watched as his two friends drunkenly roamed the grocery store.
"Hey, Nikki, check it out! Pickle flavored chips!" Max held up a package causing Nikki to laugh.
"Ew! Those aren't meant to be a flavor!" Nikki screamed, laughing uncontrollably. Max laughed with her. Neil sighed.
"Let's head back to camp guys." Neil said, watching as Max purchased the interesting chip flavor and stumbled out.
The trio got back to camp by hitchhiking again, this time with a family of 4 traveling in a minivan. It was intensely awkward and Neil had to apologize for his friends and their odd behavior. Once they arrived at camp Neil stormed off to his tent, done with his friends' behavior.
"Hey Max, we should eat those chips in our tent and try to attract all the birds in the forest." Nikki giggled, leaning on her friend for support.
"Ha! No, I think Neil is mad at us." Max said, feeling a little soberer, "we can still eat them in my tent though. Just don't get caught." The two stumbled their way to Max's tent where Neil angrily sat on his sleeping bag.
"Go eat your chips somewhere else." Neil growled, pulling his sleeping bag over his head.
"Yeah... I should get some sleep. Sober up a bit. Yay, hangovers!" Nikki said sarcastically, beginning to leave Max and Neil.
"Hey, wait." Max caught her arm for a second, causing her to face him again. "I had fun with you tonight. Like real fun, and... I have no idea where I'm going with this, I'm so fucked up." Max rambled awkwardly at Nikki. Something about the way Max spoke to her felt different like he actually cared about her more than usual. She decided to call it a drunken Max moment.
"I'm just as fucked up, if not more. Don't worry." Nikki patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Whelp, Goodnight!" Nikki called on her way back to her tent.
Max watched her go for a moment and then entered the tent where his angry friend lay.
"Sorry, I can get stupid when I'm drunk." Max apologized, the whole night was fuzzy in his head, but he knew that whatever went down ticked Neil off.
"You're always stupid, but you always seem to come up on top. I just hate mothering you two constantly. It's like nothing's changed since we were little kids." Neil explained, rubbing his temples.
"Uhuh." Max replied, feeling incredibly tired.
"You're obviously not registering what I'm saying." Neil sighed. There was a long moment of silence before Neil broke it, "...you don't like Nikki do you? Like more than friends?"
"What?" Max asked, immediately sitting up as if the question itself was a spark of energy.
"I mean, you came up with these elaborate plans to ruin people's lives back when we were kids, but that was for the sanity of all three of us. But this... tonight... it was all to impress her, right?" Max didn't answer. "Ah, never mind, I dunno where I'm heading with this. It's like talking to a brick wall anyways." Neil cut himself off from the topic and rolled over, positioning himself to sleep.
Max heard his question but decided to lay in the dark and process it as best as he could in the state he was in. Maybe it was just a drunken stupor, but Max actually felt something toward Nikki. Not only had she gotten way hotter, but she became more mature in a weird way. Max liked being able to shout out crazy ideas and have a girl go for it! Even if it was just tonight, Max went to sleep believing that for once in his life he had actual feelings for a girl, and maybe she had actual feelings for him too.