"You're a great friend."

He thought over in his head. "Actually Max, I know I've never really been straight forward with you about my feelings and all… but I like you... a lot." Warren was surprised he was able to come right out and say what he was thinking, but there was no going back now. He watched Max for a reaction, but when there wasn't one, he felt his heart drop.

"I already know that, Warren." was all she said.

"…and?" Warren asked, scared of her answer. Max sighed, standing from her bed and putting enough distance between the two of them to make Warren feel like he had a disease all of a sudden.

"Warren, I'm in a relationship." She crossed her arms awkwardly, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "I thought you off all people would notice that. And besides, I see you too much like a brother... No offense."

Warren just got rejected and brother-zoned. Is it possible to feel ones heart to physically rip in half?

"Oh. Okay, then. I'll go then if that's all you needed. See ya around." He said as he stood from her bed and walked straight out of her room, closing the door behind him. Max wanted to stop him, but she knew that it had to be done. Her relationship with Chloe wasn't really a secret, but she felt like Warren just chose to ignore it and pine after her anyways. "It had to be done." She said to herself before walking over to the door locking it.

Nathan looked at his analog clock; what was taking Warren so long?

He looked down at his bare chest.

Oh, yeah. Might want to put a shirt on.

He stood from his bed and grabbed a shirt from his junk drawer. Right as he went to lay back down the sparkle of brown liquid in the light caught his eye. He bent over and inspected the glass peeking out from under his bed spread. He picked up the mystery bottle and examined its contents.

Shit! I forgot all about this!

He had stolen this bottle of scotch from some party outside of town. He unscrewed the cap and sniffed it tentatively, deciding whether it was a good idea or not to take a sip.

No, I have to wait for Warren to get here.

He put the bottle down on his desk and turned to walk back to his bed.

But what if Warren doesn't want to drink? It would be rude to drink in front of him… might as well do it now.

Nathan turned and picked the bottle back up, hesitating once again before unscrewing the cap and bringing it to his lips.

But just as the liquor hit his tongue, his door swung open and an upset looking Warren stood in the doorway. Nathan jumped so hard at the door opening suddenly; he choked on the alcohol he had just poured into his mouth. He spit it out and coughed on the bit that ended up in his lungs. Most of it landed on the shirt he had put on minutes before and the rest landed on the carpet by his feet.

Warren quickly shut the door behind him, rushing over to Nathan to try and help. "Put your hands up over your head!" He shouted over Nathan's coughing, raising Nathan's arms for him. Nathan shouted out in pain and immediately retracted his arms. Warren had forgotten all about the bruises.

"OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY" Warren shouted, his eyes widening. He went to help again but Nathan held up a hand to stop him as he doubled over with the pain in his sides and his persistent coughing. "God, I'm so stupid. Good job, Warren. Good fucking job." He whispered as he began pacing in front of Nathan.

"Hey… Calm down." Nathan spoke, his voice raspy after the coughing had finally decided to subside. But Warren kept pacing, muttering stuff under his breath. "Hey!" Nathan said louder. Warren halted and looked up at Nathan; his eyes were watery like he was going to cry. "I'm fine, okay? Don't beat yourself up." Warren nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. Nathan raised his eyebrow, "Are you okay?" Warren nodded again, sniffling.

The way Warren acted, Nathan had seen it before. Muttering self-depreciating things, pacing, crying; they were all things Nathan had done to himself many many times. Now that he thought about it, that's probably how Warren knew how to calm him down when he almost had a panic attack in the school's hallway. Because he's had those kind of talks with himself.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Warren asked quietly. Just the sight of how bad Warren's posture was, the way he nervously messed with his hands and refused to look Nathan in the eye, it was all enough to make Nathan feel for him. He knew what must have been going through his head, and if what ever happened before he got to his room gave calm and collected Warren a anxiety attack, it had to be bad.

Nathan walked over to the other boy and put a hand on his shoulder, forcing Warren to look him in the eye. "I'm fine, Mom."Nathan teased before giving a smile to the other boy. Warren didn't know what it was, but seeing Nathan smile was enough to making him smile in return.

Warren's eyes trailed down to Nathan's chest. Nathan followed his gaze and looked down at his shirt. Shit, this was his favorite shirt. "Great, now I gotta change." Nathan said as he released Warren's shoulder and pulled off his shirt. "I'm sorry…" Warren said quietly as he watched Nathan get a new shirt from his drawer. "Nah, its fine. I didn't like that shirt anyways." Nathan reassured. Warren only nodded, smiling weakly.

Nathan knew that Warren was embarrassed about the whole freaking out thing, so he decided to change the subject.

"Have you ever smoked weed before?" Warren's expression changed from stressed to curios in record speed. "No, I haven't." Nathan smirked, "What about drinking?" Warren shook his head. Nathan's theory had been correct. "Well, there's a first for everything." He said, handing Warren the bottle of Fireball. Warren looked skeptical, but after considering today's events, he took a sip from the bottle with no hesitation. His face instantly scrunched up at the burning feeling of the alcohol making its way to his stomach.

Nathan could feel the mischievous smile spread across his face as he watched Warren cringe. But that was wiped right off his face when Warren to go back for more, taking a larger drink from the bottle. He was impressed to say the least.

"This is going to be fun." He said as Warren handed him back the bottle.