Max's P.O.V.
I honestly couldn't believe half the shit I was reading. I probably couldn't believe it because I didn't want to. I don't want to hear from one of my best friends that the reason I was single was because the girl of my dreams lied to me. Not about cheating with Austin. No, I knew that. That's why I dumped her. But she lied that it only happened one time. She said it was a one-time thing. But my best friend, who has never lied to me, is telling me a different story. One where as soon as she met the guy she wanted to fuck him. And quiet literally did. When I was at football practice she was giving him head in the back of her car. And since that first day, it was almost every other day she was with him. Weather she was blowing him beneath the bleachers, letting him fuck her in the bathroom, she was always on his dick. The bitter, petty part of my brain said I was happy she got hurt and left by him in the woods two nights ago. But my mothers voice kept creeping into my head telling me I was better than to think like that. I hated it. "Hello?! Lovely Knight family?!" I sighed looking up from the dinning room table hearing Robbie, my best friend walk into my house. "When you didn't text me back…" Robbie walked into my house like it was his own making me sort of smile. He set his car keys onto the table I was sitting at, my laptop open in front of me, with an empty bowl of cereal next to me. He walked into my huge open kitchen going right to the fridge. "I thought maybe you had gone to find Austin and kill him."
"Is he just running his mouth to everyone at school?" He nodded grabbing a bottle of OJ and I frowned sitting back, shoving my hands into the pocket of my sweater. "Wait until I go back. I'm fucking beating his ass."
"I don't see the point my dude." I glared back up at Robbie who was pulling himself up onto the island looking at me, while he poured OJ into a plastic cup. Robbie and I have been friends since pre-k because our dads used to be partners on the force. But about 10 years ago, Robbie's dad found out his wife had been sleeping with his brother and he lost it. His dad killed his mom and then himself. Ever since then, Robbie has lived with his grandparents and on more occasions than not, at my house. My parents loved the kid like he was one of theirs. And because Robbie is black, whenever my dad gets the chance he tells people he is their child. By blood. The looks people give him is hysterical. "How are you feeling man?" I glanced up to my friends face and smiled small but shrugged. He took a sip of his OJ just as I heard my parent's soft voices coming closer. "You think your mom will let me hug her this morning?" I flipped him off as he slid off the counter, just as they walked in, both dressed. I frowned seeing my mom dressed like she was going to work. "Mrs. Knight! Beautiful as ever!" My mom smiled big at him as she walked to me and put an arm around my shoulders, bending down. As she did, I saw Robbie glance to her chest and gave him a dirty look as my mom kissed my temple. Before I could say anything to him, my dad grabbed Robbie by the back of the neck and turned him walking him further into the kitchen.
"How do you feel this morning? Excited to get your stiches out?" I nodded watching both my dad and Robbie separate, smiling. "And how are you today Robbie? Got any good town gossip for me?" Robbie looked at me, silently asking if he could tell my parents about Emily, but I shook my head. He smiled and watched my mom walk to him. She stood on tippy toes, even in her heels, and gave him a little kiss to his cheek. He closed his eyes fist pumping the air. I shook my head standing up and Robbie shrugged backing up to the sink as my mom and dad started to work around the kitchen, getting coffee, and food.
"Nothing interesting. My Aunt is starting to catch on that I blab her stories to you. She said if you come see her at the salon more often you could hear things first hand." My mom laughed as she stirred sugar into her coffee cup and my dad shook his head.
"Please don't encourage her to go get her hair done more often. The last time she came home, I got in trouble for not noticing a one-inch cut." I smirked at my dad as I set my bowl in the sink quickly washing it out. "I am curious to know how football has been without Max."
"About 20 times better." Robbie smacked my back, both him and my dad laughing. "It's boring. Just like school is without him. When can he come back?"
"Two more weeks."
"Or if his physical therapist says it's okay." I turned quick to see my dad getting a death glare from my mother. "I think…"
"It's not your decision Kendall. The doctor said three weeks of bed rest so it's three weeks of bed rest." The whole kitchen went quiet as my mom turned to the fridge and pulled it open. "And you wonder where he gets his stubbornness from." She said it under her breath making my dad roll his eyes and turn to Robbie who was now standing next to me. "Shouldn't you be going to school Robbie?" I gave an apologetic look to my friend, but he smiled big before finishing off his OJ and handed me the empty cup.
"Yes ma'am." My mom glared at him as she walked to the stove in front of my dad and gently shoved him to the side. "I will be stopping by afterwards to bring the kid's homework."
"And you can stay for dinner if you'd like." Robbie only nodded gently patting my shoulder as he walked to the kitchen table.
"See you later dude." Robbie gave me a peace sign over his shoulder as he walked out of the house, car keys jingly as he went. Once I heard the front door open and then close I turned to my dad. He was watching my mom spread cream cheese on her bagel holding his coffee cup, smiling small. Without even looking at him my mom sighed.
"Stop looking at me Kendall." My dad chuckled turning to me and sipped his coffee. "So…once you get your stiches out, you guys are going to come have lunch with me, right?" I felt my phone buzz in my pocket but ignored it as my dad walked to me finishing off his coffee.
"Yes ma'am." My mom sighed very loudly making my dad laugh as he stood next to me. "If you are that worried about it baby, why don't you come with us?" My mom turned, one bagel half in hand her coffee in the other.
"Because I really have to go in today. Sarah's maternity leave started today. I have no front desk help. And I'm about 30 orders down since my new girl already quit. I have two employees in that building and it's not fair to just throw everything on them. It is my business after all." She took a small bite of her bagel looking at me and chewed fast. I suddenly felt weird. Like…knowing my mom wasn't going to be home today with me made me feel…scared. I don't know why. Maybe because I was so used to her being here the past week with me, cooking for me, helping me with homework and watching numbing TV with me…now that she was going to work, and wouldn't be with me when I got my stiches out made me feel sad. And alone. "You feeling okay Max?" I looked up fast, smiling and nodded.
"These stiches itch really bad. I didn't get a lot of sleep because of it." My mom nodded giving me an odd look which seemed to make me feel worse. "I'm going to go shower." I saw my dad nod as I pushed off the counter and walked to my mom. She quickly put down her bagel and coffee and let me wrap around her tight. I had to sort of bend to get down to her neck but when I did, I put my face in it and closed my eyes tight. One of her hands went to the back of my head while the other rubbed my back soothingly.
"I love you. I'll see you after your stiches are out." I nodded giving her one last squeeze and stood up.
"I love you too. Have a good day at work." She smiled small, putting her hand on my cheek rubbing under my right eye. I let her go and turned walking to the dining room and let out a low breath.
As I got in my shower, putting some music on in my bathroom, I sat in the middle of the tub legs pulled up to my chest letting the water run down around me. I wanted so bad to cry out and scream. I felt miserable because of what Emily has done to me. I felt helpless with the idea of love. I wanted to grab Emily by her throat and squeezed until I felt better. But that wasn't healthy. I didn't know what would be healthy. I couldn't move on because I loved that girl more than myself. But I couldn't dwell on this either. I guess I was just going to have to sit in my own depression until I found another girl as great and amazing as Emily. Which was probably going to be never.
I stayed up in my bathroom for about 30 minutes knowing my mom was probably gone for work, and my dad was waiting for me to be ready to go to the hospital. As I dressed myself in a pair of black skinny jeans and a plain black short sleeved shirt, something hit me. James was my surgeon when I was shot. Did that mean he was going to be the one to take my stiches out? I hated the idea as I pulled on a dark red and black plaid flannel button up shirt and put on my dad's old Minnesota Wild baseball cap. I turned it around, so it was backwards and walked down stairs while trying to pull on some black socks. When I got down to the living room I frowned seeing it empty but hearing something from the backyard. I slipped on my all black sneakers and headed to the glass door leading out into our large backyard equipped with a 7-foot-deep pool, and a large grass area for me to practice football with my dad. And as I stepped out onto the dark wood deck my dad built from hand I had to smile. My dad was raking up leaves from the huge tree that sat on the side of our backyard that was already starting to change with the fall season right around the corner. I smiled because I knew it was something my mom asked him to do sometime last week when I was in my rut after being told Emily cheated. I remember looking out my window and seeing them outside cleaning up the yard after a rather windy storm came through. "You need some help?" My dad looked up from his already huge pile and smirked leaning on his rake.
"Well I was hoping I'd be finished before we had to go but…" He looked at the gold watch on his wrist and sighed out. "Your appointment is in 30 minutes and I want to grab a coffee at Starbucks." I nodded looking around our yard sighing out. "So…you wanna tell me what that was with your mom?" I heard him walk up the deck to me, but I stayed still looking at our pool, still filled. "Don't get me wrong. You made your mom very happy. She loves when you get all clingy like that. But I know better. Something is bothering you or you broke something." I laughed looking at my dad who set the rake up against the wall of the house. I only shrugged making him sigh out as he motioned me to go inside. As I walked in I grabbed a muffin sitting on a plate by the coffee pot and led my dad to the garage.
We stayed relatively quiet the whole drive only talking when we got to Starbucks. He bought me a drink and then we went back to being quiet. We when we got to the hospital I let him walk me to the 5th floor where James would be. We got to a empty waiting room and while my dad went to the front desk, I sat down in front of the TV and watched the quiet news as my dad quietly told the nurse who we were. I was glued to the TV seeing we were going to be getting another huge storm just as my dad walked by me and gently swatted at my leg. He nodded to the door he was walking to and I got up quick, following him fast. He held the door open for me as we walked down a hall with closed off rooms with loud beeping noises coming from them. I tensed up suddenly realizing this might very well hurt and wanted to call my mom. But my dad slowing down as we got closer to the end of the hall made me listen closely to the voices coming from a half open office door. "She's not going to learn if we don't punish her in some way Logan. Do you want her going out into the woods at midnight again? Do you want her hanging out with that kid again?" I swallowed hard as my dad stopped a few feet from the door making me also stop.
"She can't drive right now. Why not just wait until she's better?" My dad and I locked eyes and I opened my mouth. He shook his head soft and reached out knocking softly.
"It's me." I heard a chair squeak and tensed up seeing my Uncle James face smiling big at us. He motioned us in and my dad let me go in first. I smiled at Logan who still had a black coat on, and his brown messenger bag hung over his shoulder. He smiled right at me and grabbed a Starbucks cp on James's messy desk.
"Have loads of fun guys. Don't let James give you a hard time." I nodded as Logan walked past me, gently squeezing my shoulder as he went. When he walked past James, you could tell there was a chill in the air as James tried to grab Logan. Logan ducked out of his grasp and hurried out of the office. James laughed walking to his desk and shimmied out of a zip up black sweater. Underneath were his scrubs and my nerves came back.
"You get a good breakfast in Max?" James bent slightly writing something furiously on a piece of paper and I nodded. "Cause if you didn't…" He stood up giving me a funny face before laughing and walking to the door. "You won't have anything to throw up." I swallowed hard seeing my dad smiling and giving his oldest friend a not so nice finger.
"Is it really going to hurt?" James stopped walking fast and turned to me, in the doorframe. I saw my dad walk to me quick and set a hand on the back of my neck. I looked at him before looking down and shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "Robbie told me Emily didn't just sleep with that guy once. She's been doing it for a while. Behind my back. It…" I saw my uncle get in front of me and quickly wiped at my left eye, so they didn't see my tears, not like it mattered. "It hurts to think she would do that to me, all the while I loved her and bent over backwards for her. I just don't want to feel hurt anymore." My dad gently pulled me into him and squeezed the back of my neck. "Sorry…I…"
"Max." I looked up quick seeing my Uncle smiling down at me, but had pity written all over his face. "I promise this wont hurt. And I promise you that Emily…" He stopped swallowing hard and looked down shaking his head. "Emily cares about you a lot. I think she may even love you. I don't have any reason for you as to why she would do that and I'm sorry." I quickly wiped under my eyes again and shrugged looking back down. "How about we get these stiches out and I'll buy you lunch." I looked up at him and forced a smile making him smile back. "But not for your dad." I laughed quietly turning to my dad who was only looking at me, smiling small. I nodded to him as he moved in fast and hugged me tight letting me know above all else, he was there for me. For the time being, that seemed to be enough.