It's time to find out who Max is...I can tell based on reviews a few of you don't like him already, especially seeing Gabby basically asked him over without any hesitation, but he's young, handsome, charming and British-wouldn't that make you forget about Punk for a night?
Speaking of reviews, this story has more then any of my other ones and I love that :) So happy to be able to entertain so many people...Shouts to Risinggirl108, TrissKins, msgemgem, StephNexus and Ivy for your feedback/review...also to all of you who have added or continued to read this story, I'm super happy you're liking it...
Without further ado, chapter 16 :)
Max showed up at 7:28 and was greeted with Gabby's dazzling smile. He never thought he'd see her after grad school, or at least that's what he told himself. She wasn't sure where she was going and he was headed to New York; clearly fate brought the two of them together in Chicago, this was the way things were supposed to be. He handed her a bouquet of daisies, one of her favorite flowers, and walked into the front room taking a minute to admire the house. It was big, but he could tell it wasn't Gabby's; the décor was very manly and he wondered if he should ask about her roommate or not. Max snapped back to attention when he heard Gabby pop the cork off a bottle of wine.
"Max…" She handed him a glass before taking a sip herself, "So Chicago, I don't recall that being the destination of choice. What happened to New York?"
"Well Chicago gave me a better offer and my own office; besides the New York Times is overrated anyway. What brought you here?"
"Well after school I went back home and quickly realized I needed to get the hell out, so that's what I did. I still don't know how it happened, but I was offered a copy writing job on the spot and here I am. Granted I don't want to do this forever, but it's a step in the right direction and Chicago is really growing on me."
"I can tell you look happy; in fact dare I say you look as happy as you did before I screwed everything up."
"Well I am happy and don't be so hard on yourself, I played my part in our demise as well. We wanted two different things, but it's nice to be reunited. I haven't had time to make a lot of friends here and Punk is always on the road, so it gets lonely."
"Punk?" Gabby laughed noticing the goofy expression Max made.
"I'm sorry, Phil Brooks he's my roommate…well actually I'm his roommate…this is his house and he's been very kind to let me stay here. Everyone calls him Punk, so I do it now without thinking. He's a professional wrestler."
"Oh, so one of Adam's buddies?"
"Sort of…they traveled together, but Adam wasn't too keen about me moving in. He had this thought that we'd fall for each other or something…" Gabby's voice faded at the last part as she stared down at the floor fiddling with a stray piece of hair. Max knew then that it was obvious she was hiding something.
"Well did you fall for each other?" Gabby looked at him wide eyed.
"Oh God, is it that obvious? It wasn't supposed to happen and it's fairly new, but we're testing the waters. Adam doesn't know yet, so please don't say anything."
"Gabby who am I going to tell?"
"That's very true; I'm sorry, I'm just paranoid. I don't like hiding things from Adam, but I know he's going to flip, so I'm holding off until I know if this whole thing with Punk actually means anything or not."
"I see…I recall his reaction to me, it wasn't as bad as you thought it would be. Perhaps you'll get lucky twice."
"That's funny, but I know it won't happen. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it…anyway, Chinese take out for dinner? I'm still a terrible cook, but because I'm the host it's my treat."
"Sounds good to me."
Gabby and Max ate dinner and talked for hours not realizing the time until Gabby's iPhone rang and she saw it was Punk calling.
"Wow it's 10:30 already…will you excuse me, I'll be just a minute." Gabby left Max in the living room as she went to the kitchen to answer her phone. "Hey, what's up?"
"Not a whole lot; it's been a rough day. My back still doesn't like me very much, but tomorrow Jenny is going to stretch me out and rub it down. For tonight tiger balm and ice are my companions, I wish you were on that list though."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that and I wish I was there too, but you'll be home before you know it and I'll give you a better rub down then Jenny does."
"Is that a promise?" Gabby giggled feeling the wine go to her head. She didn't drink often, but when she did she was a bit of a light weight.
"Behave yourself Mr. Brooks, I have company over, so there will be no talking dirty this evening."
"It's just Kat and Carla!"
"Actually it's neither of them…"
"Then who is it? I didn't realize you'd made more friends at work, you didn't mention it. Are you ladies chatting about the fabulous men in your lives because I'm pretty fabulous!"
"Actually it's not a girl…a friend of mine from grad school, Max, we ran into each other today. He just moved to Chicago, so I invited him over to have dinner and reminisce about when we dated." Punk widened his eyes raising an eyebrow as Gabby put her hand over her mouth realizing yet another reason why she didn't drink, it just got her in trouble.
"So he's an ex-boyfriend…a serious one?"
"Ahh…it's not a big deal, it's in the past…"
"Gabby I'm not mad, I just want to know."
"We may have been engaged…"
"Huh, interesting…" Punk tried to keep his voice playful like he didn't care, but deep down he cared; he cared a lot.
"It's not a big deal honestly. The whole thing was two years ago and it was a big mistake. He wanted one thing and I wanted something else, so we parted amicably and I'm with you now, which he knows." Gabby listened to the silence on the phone as she nervously bit her lip and twirled her hair hoping she hadn't upset Punk, that was the last thing she intended to do.
"It's totally fine with me, just two old friends. When I'm home next week we should catch a Cubs game."
"No, he hates baseball."
"Umm…okay then dinner or something, whatever; it would just be nice to meet Max because a friend of yours could potentially be a friend of mine."
"You want to meet my ex-fiancé? Don't you think that's a little weird?"
"Well you're just friends now…I hope…anyway I'm going to go to bed, but I'll call you tomorrow; good night Gabby." Before Gabby could respond he hung up. Staring at the phone she took a deep breath wondering if she shouldn't have mentioned Max, but she didn't want to lie to him. Granted she didn't have to go into full detail about the engagement and all, but that was the alcohol messing with her. She came to when she noticed Max in the kitchen putting the dishes in the sink.
"Thanks Max, but you don't have to do that. I can take care of it tomorrow."
"No it's fine; I never did mind cleaning up your messes." Max gave Gabby a half smile and she couldn't resist looking into his gray eyes. Shaking her head she smiled back before turning to the dishes in the sink quickly loading them in the dishwasher to further evade his gaze. She had been drinking, she said way too much to her current boyfriend and she had the temptation of a former boyfriend in front of her; this was too much for one girl to handle!
"Well I better be going because it's late and I have an early meeting tomorrow, but I'll see you around the office and you have my number."
"Yeah, it's in my phone…it was nice having company Max and I'll see you around." With that Gabby walked him to the door before locking it and turning off the lights heading to her bedroom for the night. Laying in bed she couldn't help but feel like she'd just screwed something up with Punk, so she sent him a text: I'm sorry about tonight and if it upset you, but we're honestly just friends. Anything I had with Max happened a long time ago, I'd much rather focus on making you happy and our relationship. Good night boo bear, sweet dreams.
She waited a couple minutes before putting her phone down thinking she wasn't going to get a response. Cuddling with Mr. Bear under the blankets she closed her eyes before hearing her phone vibrate and couldn't help but smile at his response: I can't believe you dated someone who doesn't like baseball, nonetheless you were going to marry him. With that aside I'm not mad, I'm happy you have someone to keep you company, just make sure he stays friendly. Good night cuddle bug, I'll call you tomorrow.