"So Ben says, 'My sister doesn't just sleep with anyone, guys!' and Teags looks up from his game and yells, 'He's right! She told me and all those other guys from the club the same thing last night!'" Max and Caroline laughed as Kevin Came to the end of his story. It was midnight and the rain had begun again. The trio had been chatting away since they'd got up to the small apartment and it didn't seem like they were going to stop. Kevin told stories of his time spent in other countries with his band, and the girls told him of their various adventures in New York. Kevin had pulled a bag of crisps (he had explained that since they were his snacks, then they would be referred to as they should be/he wanted them to be) out of his backpack, which also contained some shower stuff, spare underwear, a Nintendo DS, a jacket, and a book. The girls managed to find a bottle of wine (they had no idea where it came from) and were dosing it out between each other. When they offered Kevin, he politely declined. Now, the crisps were gone, the wine bottle was reaching its bottom. Both girls were feeling rather light headed and Kevin's jokes had become much funnier.

"Kev, Kev, Kev," Max slurred as she tried to finish laughing. "Why no booze, dude?" Kevin smiled.

"I don't drink," he said. Max's jaw dropped.

"You don't DRINK?!" she yelled.

Kevin shook his head.

"I quit a long time ago," he said. Max stared in disbelief.

"You're missing out on so much fun!" She gasped. Kevin turned away and became solemn. The girls became confused. After a moment, Kevin spoke up.

"I quit for a reason," he said. "And I don't plan on starting again." Max and Caroline were quiet. The crazy, funny, loud young man they were getting to know had disappeared and been replaced by someone much more serious. Suddenly, Kevin stood up and smiled.

"Alright, I'm tapping out. Where do I crash?"

Caroline shrugged and gestured to the couch she was sitting on.

"Perfect," Kevin said as he pulled a sleeping bag off a velcro patch behind his bag. "This always comes in handy." Max laughed. Partially because everything is funny when you're drunk. Partially because she was confused at Kevin's sudden turn seconds earlier. What hid behind the young man's carefree demeanor?

Caroline couldn't sleep that night. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Kevin's face. Hear his laugh. Smell his scent.

Gross, Caroline, don't be weird.

She laughed at herself. Then her thoughts returned to all things Kevin.

He's so strange. One moment he can be a child, the next a fifty year old philosopher, and everything in between. He knows so much, but you wouldn't realize it looking at him. He's smart. Unconventionally so. But still smart.

She grinned dirtily.

His arms are rather impressive too. And he looks great in a sweat-drenched shirt.

As Caroline lay thinking to herself, Max did the same across the apartment.

He's a rocker. But he doesn't drink. That doesn't make sense! He should be sharing heroin or acid with me by now but he's not for any of it! What the hell?!

Once Max had given up on trying to understand this contradictory way of life, her mind turned to other Kevin related thoughts.

What a weirdo. I've never met anyone so strange…

She lay there for a bit, thoughtlessly listening to the night sounds.

… is that why my pulse gets faster when I think about him? Or is that because of his body? Is it weird that I feel like smiling whenever he talks? Or that I don't want to miss a word of what he says? His smile makes my legs jelly. And he gives me butterflies. And chills. And he makes me blush. I can't think properly with him.

She rolled onto her side.

How does he do this to me?

She heard a door opening in the main room of the apartment and scrambled out of bed.

"I swear, if this is Oleg again, I'll neuter him," Max growled as she opened her door enough to peek through. She saw Kevin carefully shut the main door behind him as he snuck out of the apartment.

"What's that weirdo doing now?" She muttered, quietly re-opening the door and stepping out into the middle of the apartment building. She heard footsteps on the stairs above her and began to follow Kevin up to the roof. As she stepped into the cool night air, Max saw Kevin standing at the edge of the building. She was about to call out to him and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing when he did something that she would never have guessed he would do, if she had to guess. He balled his hands into fists, threw them to his sides and began to scream. Loudly. He screamed and screamed until he fell to his knees, and then he took an uneasy breath and continued to scream. Soon, the screaming began to die down, and became loud sobbing, with an occasional yell. Kevin then turned his face to the sky and shuddered with each breath he took. He was quiet now. Max felt a drop of water lightly fall on her nose. It had begun to drizzle. She was shocked. Those screams were real. Screams of deep pain. And Max knew all about deep pain. She quickly reclaimed her senses and walked over to where Kevin kneeled. He had his head down now. She got down and hugged him from behind before he could turn to see her.

"Max, did you-"

"Sh-sh-sh," she quieted him. "Yeah. I saw."

Kevin tried to break her embrace. She pulled him closer.

"I won't tell anyone, so you can relax. Just...let me do this. No one ever did it for me but it's what I always want whenever I'm like this,"

Kevin stopped struggling and his shoulders relaxed. The two of them sat like that for a minute, as the rain picked up. Max released Kevin as he turned to face her. He didn't look her in the eye. Couldn't.

"Th… thanks," he whispered. Max smiled.

"Hey," she said. "Hey, look at me,"

Kevin looked up.

"No problem."

Kevin's deep blue eyes brimmed with tears as he began to smile back at her. Then he stopped. Max did too. The pair stared at each other for a moment. Then, their hands slowly joined, fingers interlocking. The two brought their faces towards each other, and began to kiss. Delicately. They didn't kiss for long. Only a few seconds. As they broke away, Max saw that Kevin had stopped crying. She smiled. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, and the appropriate thunderclap followed shortly. The duo stood up as the rain suddenly bucketed onto them.

"C'mon, you idiot," Max chirped. "Let's get back to bed before we end up in the Land of Oz.