Casey's POV

The steady drumming of his fingers against the steering wheel was driving me insane. Max hadn't said a word to me since we left the Halloween party at the KT house. There was something bothering him that he obviously didn't want to talk about. I'd asked him several times if he was alright and he continuously gave me a terse, ' I'm fine' in response. He certainly wasn't acting fine. He was acting like he was pissed off. I let my mind drift back over the evening, though it was difficult since parts of it were veiled in a heavy layer of alcohol.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the headrest while trying to remember if anything had happened that might explain his mood. I hadn't done anything to him, I was pretty sure of that. And if someone else had pissed him off, he seriously needed to quit taking it out on me before he started a fight.

He pulled up in front of the ZBZ house and turned the car off. I glanced over at him and found the same stony faced expression he'd been sporting since we left the party.

I pulled in a deep, frustrated breath and turned sideways in my seat. " Max, what is wrong with you? You've been acting weird since we left."

His hands were still gripping the steering wheel, but thankfully the drumming had stopped.

He was quiet for so long I thought he was going to ignore me. But he finally did speak and his voice was low and very control. " Did you know that Cappie has pictures of you in his room ?"

I blinked in surprise. " No, I didn't know that." I told him honestly. I hadn't known about any pictures, but I wasn't surprised. I still had a few pictures of him. I didn't have them out in the open, but I had them.

" I didn't know you two were so close. And you don't seem that surprised. " He commented blandly.

" We're friends. We've been friends for a long time. I'm not surprised he has a picture of me around somewhere. How do you know what he has in his room, anyway ?"

" He asked Rusty to get a bottle of whiskey out of his closet and Rusty dragged me along with him. I saw them when he opened the closet door. They're on the inside of the door, hidden. I don't think Rusty meant for me to see them, because the second he noticed them, he grabbed the bottle and snatched the door closed. Like it was some kind of secret." He explained.

" I'm sure it wasn't like that. The fact that Cappie and I are friends isn't a secret. He was a lot of pictures of his friends sitting around his room." I told him, trying to belittle the significance of the pictures.

My mind was doing the exact opposite. It was going into overdrive as I thought about the implications of Cappie having hidden pictures of me in his room. Did that mean he still loved me ? Did it mean that I still had a chance with him ? If he was as over me as he proclaimed to be, why did he still have my picture ?

" I think he has a thing for you." Max said quietly.

" A thing for me ?" I asked, pretending stupidity.

" Casey, what aren't you telling me ?" He replied, as he suddenly turned to look at me.

" What do you mean ?" I hedged. God, here it comes. Now I had to make a decision. Did I flat out lie to him to preserve my relationship with Cappie or did I tell him the whole truth and risk everything ? I couldn't see where I had much of a choice in the situation.

" I know you and Cappie dated for a while in Freshman year. How long did you go out ? I'm feeling like I'm maybe not getting the whole story here."

I took another deep breath. " We dated a couple of months. It was no big deal." My voice didn't even shake when I said that. I was amazed at how good I was getting at lying. " We broke up and it's been over for a long time. It was nothing. We are much better at being friends than we were at dating."

" A few months ?" he asked, speculatively.

" Yes, a few months."

" There isn't something big you aren't telling me ?"

" Are you accusing me of lying to you ?" I hated myself for saying it. He had every right to accuse me, I was lying to him.

He let out a long breath and shook his head slowly. " No, I'm not. I just feel like I'm missing something important."

I leaned over and took his hand. " There was nothing important. Cappie and I are over. We've both moved on."

" I wouldn't be so sure of that." He muttered.

" What do you mean by that ?" I asked, trying to keep control of my voice.

" I saw the way he looks at you. The way he was holding you when you danced with him. The way he talks about you when you aren't around. He's still carrying a pretty big torch." He explained.

My mind was having trouble processing all this new information. I was nearly jumping in my seat. I thought I was doing a descent job of keeping the excitement off my face, but apparently some of it leaked out, because Max's eyes narrowed as he looked at me.

" You're happy about that ?" he asked.

" No, I'm not happy. I think you're wrong, though. Cappie doesn't have feelings for me." I answered.

" No, you're the one that's wrong. He does have feelings for you. If you can't see it, you're blind. Or trying not to notice. But either way, it doesn't change the fact that your friend wants a lot more than that from you." He told me. I could see his agitation growing. His temper was flaring.

" It doesn't matter." I insisted. " Whether he has feelings for me or doesn't, it doesn't matter. That's his issue, not ours."

" So you're just going to keep hanging out with him, even though you know he's in love with you ?"

My eyes snapped open widely. In love with me ? How had we moved to that all of a sudden ? I knew how Cappie and I once felt about each other. We were in love. Big love, not childish crush love, but real, complete and total, life altering love with each other. But Max didn't know about that. How had he made the leap from, he has feelings for you, to he's in love with you ? I needed to do something here. I needed to make Max understand that it didn't matter how Cappie felt about me.

Then I needed to jump out of this car, run back to the KT house and have a few words with the man in question.

" Of course I'm still going to hang out with Cappie. Why wouldn't I ?"

" It just seems cruel to me. You being around him even though you know how he feels. Its like your rubbing his nose in the fact that he can't have you." He said.

" So I should stop being his friend because you think he wants to be more than that ?" I asked, making it sound every bit as ridiculous as I thought it was.

" He's never going to be able to get over you if you're around him all the time like that." Max answered.

" Shouldn't that be for Cappie to decide. He knows that I'm with you. He understands that. If he has some problem with being around me even though he can't have me, then its up to him to tell me that. I'm beginning to think you don't trust me. That's what all this jealous is about."

He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him. " First you were upset because I didn't tell you about Evan, now it's Cappie. Should I give you a list of every man I've ever dated and a full summary of our relationship? Would that make things easier for you ?"

Okay, I was mad now and impatient to be done with this whole conversation so I could get on with the one I really wanted to have.

" Casey, I'm sorry. I don't mean for it to sound like I don't trust you. I do. I really do."

" You have a strange way of showing it." I said, sullenly.

" I..." He began but the rest of his sentence just kind of drifted off without going anywhere. Then he swallowed and tried again. " I'm having a real hard time understanding what you're doing with me."

Okay, I hadn't expected that. " What ?"

He took my hand and squeezed it gently. Then, he cast his eyes out the front window of the car and let them stay there as he spoke. " You're so beautiful and perfect and wonderful. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out why you're with me instead of someone like Evan, or even Cappie. It seems strange to me, like we don't fit together."

I took his chin and turned his face to mine. " We fit just fine. Why do you have to explain it ? I like you, you like me. Isn't that enough ?"

" Just like ?" he asked in a childlike voice that tore at my heart. I wanted to lie and tell him it was more. But it wasn't and I couldn't do that to him.

" For now. But there is a lot of potential for more." I answered, hoping it would be enough for him.

He nodded. " Potential is good."

I let my hand drop from his jaw. " But you're going to ruin it if you can't stop being so insecure and jealous. I can't deal with it. I would never cheat on you. I've been on the other end of that scenario and I know how it feels. I'd never do that to you."

" Someone cheated on you ?" He asked with a touch of shock that warmed my heart. Like he couldn't believe anyone would do something like that to me.

" Evan, several times I suspect, but the one time I know about was with Rebeca Logan last year."

He sat back and took my hand. " Wow, he really is an asshole."

I nodded. " Yes, yes he is."

" Is that why you broke up ?"

God, was he ever going to shut up and let me get back to Cappie !

" No, we were together for almost a year after the thing with Rebeca."

" Is he the only one that's ever cheated on you ? Did Cappie ?"

" Of course not !" I nearly shouted it in my outrage.

His eyes shot back to me in widened surprise. " Then why did you break up with him ?"

I took a deep breath to calm myself. " We just didn't mesh well at the time. We were both immature and had no idea what we were doing or what we wanted. It was just a mess."

He blinked slowly, then swallowed. " How about now ?"

" How about now, what ?"

" Do you think you'd mesh well now that you've both grown up and know what you're doing and what you want ?"

I shifted and grabbed his hand. " Max, I'm here with you. Whether Cappie and I mesh well doesn't matter. We mesh well. That's the only thing that's important."

" Do we ?" He asked, turning to face me again. " I care about you, Casey. I want you to be the happiest you can be. I'm just not sure I can do that for you."

It was a nice sentiment and I would have enjoyed hearing it more if I didn't feel like he was saying it, just so I would tell him that he makes me happy. It held a tone that told me he was fishing for a compliment or trying to get me to say more than I was ready to say to him.

" You do make me happy." I told me, " But we've been together for such a short time, can't we just go with it and see where it leads ? How can you possibly know that I can't be the happiest I can be with you ? We've been together for less than two months. Let's give it some time."

He nodded, not like he was happy, but rather satisfied. I was okay with satisfied if it mean we could go back to normal and stop this conversation. Satisfied was good enough for me for now.

" I'm going in. It's late and I'm tired." I said, gathering my things. Then I leaned close to him and took his hand. " We're good, right ?"

He nodded but didn't say anything. He did kiss me back when I kissed him goodnight. " I'll call you later today after I get up."

I tried to leave but he grabbed my hand and held me steady. " We are good, right ?" He asked. " I don't want this to end before it even really begins."

" Then don't make it." I told him as I got out of the car and shut the door behind me.