I tell you, writing this story is truly my escape. It seems like this is the one thing that I can actually control, out of all the crazy things in my life. I love just sitting down in front of the T.V. at night to write these chapters, and this is my favorite story that I have written for fanfiction yet. I know that those of you that read the last chapter think that it must be moving a little bit too fast and too abruptly. But don't worry, because unlike anything else I write I actually have a plan for this one. So, without further ado, chapter nine!
I woke up, snug in bed. I remembered these blankets briefly, so I wasn't too freaked out, just thinking that I had fallen asleep in someone else's bed in the flat. I sensed more body heat farther away, and I wriggled into it, finding that it was a person. However, I was in that state, you know, the one when you just wake up and you really have no idea what was going on, and I didn't really care who the person was. It only barely registered to me that my bare skin was touching another human's bare skin. Actually, it felt really nice.
The other person wrapped their arm around my waist, pressing me into their chest. It hummed contentedly, and I realized that it was a boy. So, what? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was warm and he didn't mind me being so close to him. He dug is face into the tangles of soft curls that swarmed my head, breathing in and sighing. This is nice, I thought, smiling and stroking the hand that was on my stomach.
I wondered who the mystery boy was. I must have had a few too many for my skinny body to handle if I didn't really remember what happened last night. I'm sure that if I thought hard enough…. Wait, what if I didn't want to know? Like, maybe it was someone off limits, like Jude or someone, and I was going to regret it? Before I could panic too much, I swallowed my suspicion and rolled over.
Oh. My. God!
I leapt out of bed, making Max jolt awake. I quickly looked down at my naked body (as did he) and pulled the sheet off the bed, unfortunately displaying Max. We stared at each other for a moment, me shocked, and him completely blank.
"Fuck, Max! We didn't!" I wrapped the sheet around me more securely, then ran my hands over my face, already in Freak-Out mode.
Max chuckled, leaning down to pull his boxers on. "Oh, contraire, Miss Ellie. It looks like we very much did." He stood up, still wearing nothing but his boxers, and rubbed his eyes.
"How in the hell is that funny? It's not!" I bent down, searching for my clothes. "You're my best friend's brother!" I looked back, finding him still staring at me, his eyes a little wider. He recovered himself in a moment, though.
"Oh, really? I always thought I was a little bit more than that, El." I knew he was only teasing, but I couldn't help the flush that was creeping over my cheeks. In truth, he was always a little more than just my best friend's brother. He was my counselor, my guardian, my friend. And now he was my lover. Oh, my God!
"Lucy can NOT know about this." He laughed again, turning around to take a quick a peek at himself in the mirror, smoothing a hand over his stubborn long, dirty blonde hair. He gave it up as a bad job, shrugging it off.
"Chill out, dude." He leaned against the doorway, smiling cockily. "It's not like this changes anything."
I couldn't believe he was being so nonchalant about this! You don't just have sex with your friends and expect them to stay that way! I mean, I didn't like Max like that, but I was sure SOMETHING would change, even if I wasn't feeling anything right now. Maybe in Max World this wasn't a big deal, but in the normal world, at least mine, you don't just sleep with anybody.
"What DOESN'T this change, Max?" I crossed my arms, cocking my hip. I was going to get a serious answer out of him, whether he like it or not.
"Anything. This doesn't change anything. I have plenty of friends that I do this with." He smiled smoothly at me, but I wasn't buying it. I didn't want to be a bar-slut, or even worse, a Max-whore. Please, spare me.
"Oh, yeah? Name one." I narrowed my eyes, daring him. He looked a bit caught off-guard like he might not expect me to say something like this. And normally, I wouldn't. But everything had changed since I had come to New York.
"Ummm." I could tell he was hesitating. Maybe he didn't want me to know about all the girls Lucy and Jude and Pru had told me about. "Jude." He smirked a little bit, turning around and heading into the kitchen.
I knew I should be mad that he didn't give the truth, but I had to grin a little bit. Same old Max. Unless he wasn't kidding…but I didn't want to think about that. "You're horrible, Max Carrigan!" I called after him, but he just waved a hand airily behind his back.
I stood in his room, debating what to do next. By the light coming into the room, I'd guess it was about noon, so Lucy wouldn't be in our room. I should just sneak in there….
I walked into the flat, finally back from my crazy night, around seven in the morning. I didn't really want to go to sleep, what was the point? I decided that I would just take a quick nap, then make some coffee. I walked down the hallway to go to the bathroom to wash some of the hangover off of me with a shower, and happened to glance into Max's room.
There was a girl in his bed. That was funny, I hadn't seen him go home with anybody. Nobody except…. Uh-oh. But it wasn't like I hadn't found myself in that position before, too. Max and I had done that a few times, but I had stopped it after a while. Max was hot and all, I guess, but I had realized I had feelings for somebody else, and they were way stronger than the weak lust I had felt for Max. Needless to say, I had stopped sleeping with him a long time ago.
I leaned in his door, needing to make sure. Sure enough, Ellie was asleep, quite naked, next to Max. He had one arm draped lazily over her, and he was breathing heavily. She was very recognizable with her dark red curls. She was smiling, and they looked so adorable with each other, I had to smile a little bit, too.
"Max," she murmured. For a second, I thought she was awake. I froze in the doorway. She sighed a little bit. "I love you, Max."
!!!!!!
NO WAY! Then Max's features flickered a little bit and he was smiling lightly. I was sure they were asleep, but their thoughts were so in sync. He whispered something, but it was so quiet I couldn't hear.
I wondered if they had done it out of drunken passion or out of…well, love. I doubted this last one. Max Carrigan did NOT seem capable of true love. But then again, some things might surprise you about him. I bit my lip, trying to decided what to do. I was suddenly finding myself rooting for the two of them, and I didn't want to do anything that would make them loose each other. I quietly closed the door, found some paper, tape, and a pen, and tore the paper in half. On one side I wrote in my best imitation of Max's hand:
Do not disturb. And that means you Jude!
On the other side I wrote in what was somewhat like Ellie's handwriting:
Luce- I ran out to get some hangover-remedies. I'll be back later. –E
I taped the Max one to his door, and slid the Ellie one on the counter. I smiled at my work. Then I went back to my previous business, feeling good at the good karma I had just sent out.
It was around noon when Max emerged from his room, looking a little worse for wear and clothed in nothing but boxers. He smiled jovially. That was a little weird. When I was hung over, the last thing I wanted to do was smile. More like puke.
"Well, hello there, Prudence. And how are you this morning?" He poured himself a cup of the coffee I had made, leaning back against the counter and taking a deep sip.
Should I pretend I didn't know? That seemed best. Ellie hadn't emerged yet, but I was positive that she was going to be way past embarrassed. I should spare her, shouldn't I? Ever since I had seen them in bed this morning, whispering sweet nothings to each other and not even knowing it, I had wanted them to be together SO bad. I wanted Ellie out here now so that I could determine what this was going to be like.
"MAX!" Jude shouted from the Whatever Room. Max rolled his eyes, sauntering into the room where Jude and Lucy were requesting songs for Jojo to play on his guitar. Sadie was still sleeping. Just thinking about her…. Ugh, snap out of it Pru. I was making myself sick.
I walked in behind Max, still clutching my coffee. Max stretched, and it became ten times more evident that he was wearing basically nothing at all. Seeing this, Jude grinned again.
"So, Max, which one was it this time?" Max looked confused, glancing from each slyly smiling face to the next. I could see the wheels in his head turning, trying to figure out if they knew, probably.
"Um, what?" He scratched his head, playing dumb. Don't tell them, don't tell them, I chanted in my head, trying to beam this thought over to him. Max wasn't stupid, he knew what would happen if he told them. Lucy would freak out, maybe even hit him, and Jude would make fun of him so bad. Jojo could obviously care less, but he was another story. He didn't get fired up for much. But that was okay, it was what made him Jojo.
I was afraid that if he told them, and they were all laughing and mad at him, he wouldn't be with Ellie. And that was kind of a sad thought, as they were obviously in love with each other, though it didn't seem like he realized it. My thoughts weren't confirmed until I saw Ellie enter the room, which was conveniently right then.
"Hey, guys," she greeted them timidly, shyly ducking her head as she came in. God, could she have been more obvious? She was obviously scared that Max had told on her. Thankfully she was dressed at least, so maybe they wouldn't catch on.
"Hey, I didn't hear you come in." Lucy said from her spot on the couch next to Jude. She smiled at her friend, who gave her a puzzled look back. But Ellie was smarter than the average pretty girl.
"Oh, yeah, well…" she muttered, shrugging. Lucy turned away, apparently satisfied. Ellie breathed out in relief, though to anybody else it would seem just like a gentle sigh.
"So, c'mon, Max. Tell us, who was it this time?" she asked, and from the doorway Ellie blushed furiously. Max's eyes widened a little bit, and I could see that he was thinking on his feet.
"Hell if I know. Might have been Lizzie, might have been Rita, might have been a totally random girl, I don't know." Oh, nice one Max. All ways the way to get out of things; saying you were too drunk to remember their face.
"Well, whoever it was obviously didn't want to be disturbed. I know it wasn't you who put up that note, the writing is WAY to girly." Jude seemed disinterested with the subject now, drawing things on his hand with a pen.
But Max seemed to really be getting into this, like he was purposely trying to mortify Ellie without actually saying anything. "Well, I don't really remember that. All's that I can really seem to remember, now that I'm seriously thinking, you know, is that we were up really late (or I should say early) just talking. After the initial sex, that is."
Lucy and Ellie gasped, both of them shouting at the same time, Lucy in surprise and disgust, Ellie in surprise and warning. "Max!" they both screeched.
But Jude wanted to know what he was talking about. "Okay, Max, I'll bite. What were you two talking about?" Ellie was glaring intensely at the back of Max's head, but Max was grinning away.
"Just about, you know, the space between us all, and the people that hide themselves behind a wall of illusion." A wall. Oh, nice one Max. That was really nice. I could see how dark red Ellie was out of the corner of my eye. I was determined not to look at her and give it away that I knew what was going on.
Jude chuckled a little bit. "That's, erm, a pretty deep conversation for a nightie." He raised his eyebrows.
Max shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say, I'm a deep person." Jojo snorted into his guitar, and after that everybody started to laugh. Everybody but Ellie, that was.
I hate him. I hate him so much it isn't even funny. He's sitting there, making fun of me, and he thinks that it's okay. Because don't worry, Ellie! Nothing's gonna change! Well, maybe not for you, buddy, but I don't think I'm so lucky.
But even as I'm standing here, bright red, and hating Max, there's something nagging at me. Some realization that I don't seem to remember from last night. I DO, however, remember talking after we, well, DID it, and I remember saying those exact same things to him. And that is just cold.
So, when Max got up to refill his coffee cup, I followed him right back into the kitchen.
"What the HELL, Max? Do you have to be so much of an ass?" I put my hands on my hips, curling my upper lip. One of the things that had never been very hard for me before was expressing anger, and that was still true now that the wall was gone.
Max froze at the coffee machine, then slowly turned around, and I could see that he was mad. Let me be the first to tell you: Max does NOT get mad. I mean, like, EVER. He gets…agitated. Sure, doesn't everybody? But right now, he was seriously pissed. And for no reason, too.
"Listen," he hissed, "when you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there. Think about that, Ellie."
..... What?
"What are you on, Max?" But he just shook his head in disgust and strode out of the room, leaving me staring after him, wishing that he was still with me.
Hmmmm, what seems to be going on? Are Ellie and Max (insert gasp here) falling for each other? It can't be! And what the hell is Max's problem? It wasn't like Ellie was sitting out there exploiting his poeticness to Mr. Jude! As you can see I'm totally on Ellie's side on this one. Oh, and by the way, can anybody tell me what the song this time was? And sorry for the weirdness of the words, but it's a weird song. I was listening to that song, and I was like, dude, that seems like something Max might say. If he was high, anyways. So, anyways, review, and get ready for a sad chapter coming up, because we all know what must happen eventually.
