It had been a rollercoaster ride the next few months with Coal, the Pitbull, bouncing his way through life and the majority of AJ's bras. Punk had gone in multiple huffs where he stated he regreted ever getting the 'little shit' but he loved him really, when the mischevious day was said and done, and Coal curled up on the couch beside him and AJ, his heart still swelled.
The life of mourning over their miscarried child seemed like a lifetime away. Coal had definitley been keeping them both on their feet, including Max who took him out for a walk when he came home from school.
"Max, what do you want for dinner?" AJ asked as Max walking into the kitchen, just having came in from school on a boring Monday.
"I don't know." Max shrugged, looking over at Coal who was muncing into his own dinner, AJ having just given him the dried food, putting it in his little food bowl along with fresh water.
"Well have a look." AJ told Max, pointing to the freezer and cupboards, occupying herself with doing the dishes from this morning that she never had time to do since Coal had made her late enough for work as it was.
"Can one of my friends from school come round?" Max asked, since his brother was at work, next in line to ask things to was AJ of course.
"Sure. Where's he from?" AJ nodded, "I can give you money for pizza if you want." She smiled, wiping the kitchen counter down as Max leaned against the tall fridge.
"Well actually, it's a girl." He said as AJ turned around, folding her arms with a smile, her eyebrows raising in the midst of the smile.
"Oh yeah?" AJ nodded to him as he rolled his eyes, "Aren't you a little young for a girlfriend?" She asked him.
"I'm fifteen years old?" Max put his hands out with confusion, "Nearly sixteen."
"I know. I'm sorry, I just... I always see you as that little eight year old boy that left with us." She admitted, "The fact that you're getting old, means I'm getting old. And I don't want to get old." She said as Max just nodded awkwardly, waiting for the right amount of time to ask again.
"So can she come over?" He asked.
"Yes... yes, she can." AJ nodded, "Here." She dug in her purse for some money, passing some over to Max, "Buy some pizza. But I want to meet her first." AJ warned with a smile as Max just shook his head, walking away to go shower.
AJ smiled to herself and turned back around to tidying up the kitchen. It was true, the older Max got, the older she got, and she didn't want to get old. It was almost surreal to think Max was nearly sixteen. Soon enough he was going to be leaving school and home for that matter. She really would miss him, but maybe then her and Punk could really focus on them and their relationship. But she wasn't one to wish her life away.
She turned round after hearing a clatter in the corner, shaking her head as she looked at Coal with his water bowl in his mouth, the floor wet with the emptied water surrounding his paws.
"I'm so sore." Punk maoned later that night after getting home from work and sitting down beside his girlfriend on the sofa for some tiring comfort.
"From what?" AJ asked with confusion.
"From lifting so many weights today. I think my arms are going to fall off." He sighed.
"Well maybe I'll give you a massage later if you want." She smiled up to him as he chuckled irresistably, turning his attention to a sleeping Coal on the sofa beside AJ. They were suckers. They gave in right away to their set rules and Coal now sat on their living room sofa and also slept at the bottom of their bed, sometimes he would accidentally get kicked off during the night, but he never seemed to complain, in fact, he would normally just stay fast asleep on the carpeted floor in their room.
"Has Max had dinner?" Punk asked.
"Yeah... actually, he has a friend over." AJ said, "A girl." She looked up at him, watching Punk raise one eyebrow with confusion.
"A girl? And you left them in his room? With the door shut?" Punk stood up as AJ rolled his eyes.
"Phil. Get back here." AJ sat up as Coal awoke beside her, watching Punk barge on into Max's room, only to find what he had least expected.
"Phil... what are you doing? Get out!" Max shouted as he sat on his bed with his books opened in front of him, a girl sitting beside him timidly at the sudden intruding.
"S-Sorry..." Punk waved his hand with apology, "Is that... math books?" Punk asked him as he just rolled his eyes, going red with embarassment. This was exactly why he went to AJ to ask about this.
"Yes, now please... get out." Max said.
"I'm Phil." Punk ignored Max, looking at the blonde haired, fairly beautiful girl sitting beside Max, extended his hand out to her as she shook it with a chuckle.
Max just wanted the ground to swallow him up. He really liked this girl, he didn't even need help with math, it was just a way for him to get her to come round. Either way, she wasn't going to come back after meeting his obnoxiously annoying brother.
"I'm Hayley." The girl smiled timidly.
"So... how long have you two..."
"Ok, that's it. Get out." Max stood up as he closed his math books, pushing Punk out of the door with all his might, slamming the door over and locking it as he heard Punk laugh on the other side of the door.
"He seems... nice." Hayley smiled.
"I'm sorry about him. He's a dick." Max shook his head.
"Hey." Punk knocked the door, "These walls aren't made of steal, you know. I can hear everything. Everything, ok." Punk reminded Max in the most embarassing of ways, chuckling to himself as he walked back over to AJ on the sofa.
"You are terrible." AJ pushed him playfully as he sat back down beside her.
"I know." Punk nodded as he laughed, sinking down beside his girlfriend with a chuckle.
Later on...
"My mom is probably, waiting outside in the car. I asked her to come pick me up." Hayley smiled as she hopped off the bed, Max following her quickly and nervously.
"You have to go? Already?" He said with a frown.
"I've been here for four hours." Hayley laughed, "But if... you need more help with your math, I can come round another night." She smiled to him.
"That would be... that would be good." Max said, staring into her deep blue eyes.
"Or if maybe one night... you just want to, hang out?" Hayley shrugged, plucking up some courage as she too did have a strong liking to Max. She knew he was one of the misbheaved boys at school, and she was definitley the complete opposite.
"Yeah." Max nodded quickly, "We could even go see a movie. Somewhere my brother isn't." He suggested, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
"That new sci fi movie is out this weekend... I've been wanting to see it forever." Hayley said with desiring eyes as Max just nodded.
"Yeah... yeah, I love sci fi." He lied with a nod.
"Really?" Hayely chuckled, knowing fine well he was lying.
"Yeah. Me and my brother watched Wall-E a few nights ago." Max said as he watched Hayley laugh, looking down at the ground.
"That's a disney movie, Max." She smiled to him as he blushed with embarassment, "For a guy who used to be in a gang, you sure are soft." She smiled. She'd had her eyes on him for a while in school, but from her prespective, he always looked like he would never give someone like her the time a day. She was overwhelmed when he asked her to help him with his maths a few days ago. She knew he done fine well at maths.
"I'm not in a gang anymore." Max said immediately.
"I know. That's why I said used to." She said, "I think it's really great what you done, leaving they guys and focusing more on school. Everyone in school is talking about it." She told him, facing him in the middle of his room.
"Yeah? Well I only left because my brother made me." He rolled his eyes.
"I'm glad he made you." She whispered, "How about we go see a movie this weekend? Forget the sci fi one, you can choose." She smiled, walking towards his room door as he nodded.
"Yeah." Max nodded, "I'll text you." He walked her out of his room, catching Punk and AJ staring over from the sofa.
"Ok." Hayley smiled, walking out of the apartment door, smiling to herself as she ran down the buildings stairs, hearing the apartment door close over.
Max turned around, seeing Punk grinning over to him.
"She's cute." Punk smiled over to Max.
"You're so embarassing." Max rolled his eyes, dragging his feet along the floor to walk back into his room, shutting the door over and replaying all the faults he had made tonight, nevertheless not being able to stop thinking about Hayley.
"He seems to like her. Stop embarassing him." AJ told Punk, tapping him on the chest as he just laughed.
"Ok." Punk promised, "I could really do with that massage right about now." He told her with a smile full of wicked intentions, lifting her up suddenly as she squealed, bridal style in his arms as Coal lifted his head from the couch.
Punk walked to their bedroom door with AJ chuckling in his arms, pausing suddenly just at the door when Coal had seemed to have followed them, hoping to get some sleep beside them both at the bottom of their bed.
"I don't think so." Punk shook his head as they both looked down at the puppy dog eyes, "Little doggies shouldn't see what I'm about to do." Punk said, "You stay out here tonight." Punk told Coal who sat down, continuing to look up at his owners with sad eyes.
"He looks so sad." AJ frowned in Punks arms.
"He'll get over it." Punk huffed, "I'm getting impatient." He said, pecking her lips and walking into the bedroom, closing the door behind him as Coal howled a little at the door until finally giving in and jumping back up on the couch to continue sleeping where he left of.
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