No Smoke Without Fire

Chapter Two: Love

"Hm? Oh, yeah." George replied, forcing a smile as Max looked at him in disbelief.

"Mhm, what did I say then?" Max asked, crossing his arms.

"..Sorry."

"It's whatever. Want food?"

"Uh no, I'm actually gonna head home now. Thanks though." George said, waving goodbye to his confused bestfriend and leaving the house.

George got him quickly, of course, and went straight to his room. He flopped on his bed and sighed, he wasn't gay for his bestfriends brother, that's not right.

"Rule number 9." 

George couldn't get those words out of his head, they'd always stuck to the rules even if they're stupid. George looked at the rule list him and Max had written when they were around 7, surely they didn't mean that much to him.

*Rules, DO NOT BREAK*

Rule number one: Only your bestfriend gets to know your birthday wish

Rule number two: Never share our secrets with anyone else 

Rule number three: Never lie

Rule number four: Never fall out

Rule number five: ALWAYS dance to our favourite song

Rule number six: If you can't tell your bestfriend about something you're doing, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

Rule number seven: No matter how mad you get at each other, you have to forgive each other if you dance to your favourite song 

Rule number eight: Tell each other if there is something on their face or in their teeth

Rule number nine: Relatives of your bestfriend are off-limit

Rule number ten: Never break the rules

George kept re-reading over the rules, rule number nine was underlined, it must be important to Max. George faced the fact he was gay, but for his bestfriends brother?! How would he even tell him that? "Oh hey, just thought you should know I'm in love with your brother!". He couldn't lie, he needed to tell him but he wasn't sure how. George rubbed his face aggressively and sat up on his bed, he didn't want to think about that anymore.

*A week later*

George had thought about how he was going to tell Max everyday, none of the ideas he came up with seemed practical. He had see Max everyday since he got home, Clay was there sometimes but never said anything more than "Hey". George was kind of glad, it means he didn't have to face Clay and blush at the sight of him. He was going to Max's house today to watch a movie, hanging out with Max and knowing he's keeping a secret from him was difficult. George was sat in Max's movie room, sharing popcorn with Max, the movie had started 5 minutes ago , unlucky for George, Clay walked in.

"Can I watch?" Clay asked, hovering over the seat next to George.

"If you have too." Max replied, glaring at Clay.

"Sure." George said, smiling.

"I'm gonna go get more popcorn then." Max left Clay and George in the room together, awkwardly sat next to each other in silence.