And that brings us back to that fateful afternoon, my friends.
Max hit the ground and stared up at his now ex-girlfriend. She had tears in her eyes and her fist was still raised. A crowd was gathering around them, trying to figure out what was going on. They all knew that Max and Nikki had broken up, but they didn't know why.
"I've been carrying that around since the weekend," she told him. "See you never."
She walked away, leaving Max with a black eye forming on the left side of his face. He didn't even react. He just stood up and walked towards his car.
"Max!"
He turned to see Neil.
"What the fuck did you do to Nikki?" the nerd asked.
"Something I can never take back and that I wish I could." He gave Neil a small, sad smile. "Tell Nikki that I didn't lie about how I feel, and that I still love her. I doubt she'd listen to me."
He got into his car and drove for home. Neil, on the other hand, ran after his sister and caught up with her quickly.
"Nikki—"
"I don't want to talk about this, Neil."
"You just punched him! Out of nowhere!"
"Yes, I was there. And it wasn't out of nowhere."
"I know you guys broke up, but what exactly did he do?"
"He was paid to date me and break my heart, Neil!" Neil stopped and stared at her. "Sasha paid him five hundred dollars to break my heart, and guess what? It worked!" Tears poured down her face as she fell against Neil and cried into his shirt.
"He said that he wished he could take it all back," Neil told her gently. "And that he didn't lie about how he felt."
"He's a liar, Neil! I'm not going to listen to anything that bastard told you to tell me!" She stomped away, towards her and Neil's car. He caught up with her again and they headed home.
As soon as they were there, Nikki went to her room and buried her face in her pillow.
He didn't lie about how he felt.
He said that he wished he could take it all back.
Yeah, right. He just wanted more money.
"Sweetheart?"
Nikki looked up to see her mother in the doorway, holding a cup of hot cocoa.
"What, Mom?"
"Neil told me what happened. Max was such an asshole to you, and you didn't deserve it." She handed the cup to her daughter. "You deserve a man who will help you up. A knight in shinin' armor for my little princess… or, maybe a thief to help my little warrior. Whichever you prefer."
"Thanks, Mom."
"And, if you want, you can stay home for Spring Break instead of comin' with us to the mountains. You seem like you need to be alone right now."
"I do." Nikki gave her a smile.
"We're leaving in the morning and there won't be cell phone coverage up there, so you won't be able to get in contact with us while we're gone. If you need anythin', just call one of your friends."
"Okay. Love you."
"I love you, too, sweetheart."
"Max?"
David poked his head into his son's room worriedly. He'd just gotten a letter from the school board regarding Max's disciplinary hearing, and Max was packing his duffle bag with enough clothes for Spring Break. He also had a black eye.
"Hey, David," he sighed, sitting down on his bed. David sat down to his right and put an arm around him.
"You want to tell me what's going on?"
"I fucked up big-time." Gwen entered the room cautiously and sat down to Max's left.
"How'd you fuck up?" she asked.
"It's a long story, but… the gist of it is that I fucked up my relationship with Nikki, and now she hates me. She's the one who gave me this." He pointed to his black eye. "I deserved it. Now she's never going to speak to me again, and the school board is going to expel me."
"You turned yourself in," Gwen pointed out. "That's gotta count for something."
"Not much."
"So, why are you packing your bag?" David inquired.
"I'm going up to the cabin for Spring Break to clear my head. Maybe stop hating myself long enough to figure out how to apologize to Nikki before I'm shipped off to jail." He sighed and slid off the bed. "I'll see you guys next Sunday. It'll be our last day as a family, before everything goes to shit."
"Be careful," Gwen warned.
"And we love you, Max," David added. Max picked up his bag and faced his adoptive parents.
"I love you too, Mom and Dad."
David's eyes filled with tears as Max walked out of the room and down to his car. Once he was on the road towards the cabin and away from everyone who knew him, he let his thoughts consume his head.
You deserved that. You accepted the request in the first fucking place, and now Nikki hates you.
I don't care. That's why I turned myself in. I don't care what happens to me. It'll probably make her happy to see me carted off like this…
She's still got a hold on you.
Because I fucking love her. I love her more than anything else in this world and she deserves to be happy. Even if it's not with me. I'd take a million punches from her if it meant I could see her smile again.
Sasha needs to pay.
That's not going to do shit. It'll only be more against me and I'll be gone longer.
Gwen and David will probably be happy. They can have a biological child together and not have to worry about the shitty adopted one.
Yeah… better that I stay away for now… better for everyone.
You're a piece of shit.
I know I am. I'm an asshole, a douchebag, a bastard, a piece of shit, and any other insult I can't think of right now. Nikki deserves better.
Nikki felt her phone buzzing against her arm as she laid on the couch, watching a movie. She picked it up and realized Tabii was calling.
"Hey, Tabii," she sighed.
"Hey. I heard about what happened with Max."
"Neil told you?"
"Yep. I can't believe Sasha pulled that shit on you."
"You used to help her."
"And I don't. Erin and I don't anymore because we realized that her bitchiness is too much for us. That's why we dumped her as a friend at the beginning of the year."
"Wow. Really?"
"Yeah. Anyway, you're probably feeling really shitty right now, so I wanted to invite you to a party up at Lake Lilac on Friday. Petrol, Pikeman, and Snake are throwing it and it's going to be great! Just what you need to forget about you-know-who. Maybe find some other guy to hook up with?"
"Thanks, I guess. Maybe I do need to get out there."
"We'll pick you up Friday at six. See you then!"
"See ya." Nikki set down her phone and sighed.
Earlier during Spring Break, Nerris and Harrison had attempted to talk to Max about what had happened by visiting his house. David and Gwen had informed them that Max was up at the cabin and wouldn't be back until Sunday. According to Harrison, David had been on the brink of tears the entire time, while Gwen was pissed off.
They know what he did. Good.
There was a small part of Nikki that wanted to go up to the cabin and apologize to Max, but she squished that part far down in her mind. He didn't deserve an apology. If anything, he should apologize to her.
That was how it worked, right?
"This is a great party, yeah?!"
Nikki could barely hear Erin over the music thumping in the background. She felt uncomfortable as college guys roamed the crowd, drunkenly hitting on any girl they saw as remotely attractive. Not for the first time that night, she wished Max was there. He would've taken her into a corner and started kissing her until she felt like she couldn't breathe. Then, they'd stand in that corner together and make fun of the people who were being idiots.
No! Don't think about Max! He's dead to you!
"Are you okay?" Erin asked Nikki, pulling her out of the crowd so they could talk.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… keep thinking about Max. He always knew how to spend parties like this." Her stomach twisted.
"Well, he's an asshole and not worth the neurons you're wasting on him."
"Erin, can I ask you something? Did Max and Sasha… ever go out?" Erin shook her head.
"They kissed once our freshman year during a game of 'Spin the Bottle', and then they slept together once our sophomore year. But Sasha told us it was just because they both wanted to lose their virginity. It never happened again."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah. Max hates her now."
"Well, I'm sure they'd be happy together." Nikki crossed her arms and leaned against a tree. She glanced up and realized there was a full moon out.
Just like the night Max had kissed her for the first time.
"I… I need to get a drink." Nikki wove through the crowd and over to the refreshment table, where she poured herself a glass of punch.
He didn't lie about how he felt.
He wishes he could take it all back.
Neil's words echoed in her head. Had… had Max actually loved her, somewhere deep down under his greed? Maybe… and then again, maybe not.
Without warning, a cup of punch spilled all over the minidress Tabii had lent her.
It was Sasha.
"Omigod, Nikki! I'm so sorry!" she squealed.
"I-it's fine. I'm going to go change before it gets sticky."
She ran for one of the small tents that the hosts had set up for people to make out in and took off the dress. She'd learned the hard way to carry extra clothes at parties, in case your first set got ruined.
Wait.
Where was her bag? It had been on her shoulder a minute earlier…
"Now."
A voice outside the tent.
Suddenly, the tent was flipped over, leaving Nikki exposed in nothing but her bra and panties. She tried to cover herself and reached for the stained dress, but Sasha was holding it in her hands. And Nikki's bag was on her shoulder.
"Such a shame Max can't do a simple job, isn't it?" she purred as the Sleepy Peak High crowd laughed at her. "Never send an errand boy to do a queen's job."
Nikki felt tears pricking in her eyes again. She scrunched down into a ball, hoping to expose as little as possible. The laughter began to subside as people began whispering instead. Then, a blue hoodie came down over her head. Startled, she looked up to see Max. He had an unreadable expression as she stared at him.
"Put it on," he told her. Sniffling, she obeyed and he picked her up, bridal-style.
"Hey!" Sasha yelled.
"Fuck off, Sasha," he stated in a voice that sent shivers down Nikki's spine.
The crowd parted and allowed Max a path through. He carried Nikki all the way to his car, which was idling by a clump of trees. Gently, he put her in the passenger's seat and closed the door. She caught sight of Sasha making her way over.
"What the fuck, Max?!" she screeched. "She fucking punched you, dumped your sorry ass, and you broke her heart! Why would you help her?!"
"Because even if I hurt her, I still care about her. I love her more than anything else. You just want me to flick the match so you can watch the world burn." Sasha stared at him, open-mouthed and shocked into silence. "Now leave her alone." He snatched the stained dress and the bag from the queen bee and put them in the backseat before getting in and driving away.
