Understudy [ABO] [MxF] [18+]

T H I R T E E N

"Will you stop acting like a child already?" Morgan growled at Ally as they made their way to their next class, watching her with annoyance as she glanced around every corner warily. "It's been, like, nearly a week since then. He probably doesn't care anymore."

"He does," Ally said with a frown, but stopped shuffling around like a criminal. "There's no way he would be happy to see me after I turned him down like that." 

Morgan rolled her eyes, "Yeah, he was probably a bit butt hurt over it, but he's a big boy. It's not like you're the only girl out there for him. He's hot. He doesn't have a shortage of girls willing to bang him."

Ally glared at her, "Wow."

"Just telling it how it is."

"You know, you've been so much meaner to me lately."

"You've just been acting more stupid lately. Since when did you care so much about boy drama?" Morgan sighed, "From Hana I don't expect anything different, and even Xanthe has days. But you? Cmon Al, you're meant to be the most reasonable one of us all."

Ally shook her head, "No way, you're definitely the mum of the group. I'll accept my role as the oldest daughter though, helping you raise the two troublesome ones."

Morgan laughed at that, "Yeah, that sounds about ri--- Oh, look who it is?"

Ally's eyes followed Morgan's gaze to meet Maxim's gaze. The moment their eyes locked, she felt her face begin to burn up and looked away, too ashamed to look longer.

"He's coming this way," Morgan whispered and elbowed her. "Get your shit together. If you act like you've been acting the last few days, he's going to feel like shit."

She was right. Ally took a deep breath and resolved herself, and by the time Maxim reached them, she was able to give him an almost normal smile.

"Hey," Max smiled softly at her, and gave Morgan a slight nod, "I've been trying to catch you the last few days, but you've been making yourself pretty hard to find."

Morgan glanced between them and gave a slow nod, "I'll go ahead, again. See you in class, Al."

Ally watched her shield walk away with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Before you try and run away out of embarrassment," Max said with a teasing grin, "just know I don't hold what happened the other night against you. Everyone copes with heartbreak differently, and you obviously just aren't ready to move on yet. That's totally fine."

She felt even more guilty now, knowing how she had been avoiding him when he felt that way. She was such a coward. "Thank you for understanding..."

"In saying that," he continued, and took a step closer to her. She found herself not wanting to move way, enjoying the subtle citrus scent that wafted towards her, "I also wanted to let you know that I'm not going to give up on you. I still want to be with you, Ally, even if it takes some time. I can help you forget him, I promise. I can go as slow as you like, you call the shots."

Ally looked up at him, and felt her resistance melt away a little at the warmth in his eyes. "Max, I don't really know if---"

"Please just consider it," his voice was soft as he reached up to caress her cheek. "You don't have to commit to anything. Just say that you'll think about it. We can go on another date, no expectations of anything, just somewhere fun. If you want, we can go with your friends somewhere so it's a group thing, and you feel more comfortable. I just want to spend more time with you, and I hope that you'll eventually want to spend more time with me."

She watched him for a moment, torn, before finally giving a small nod. "I'll think about it."

He flashed her a brilliant smile, "Great. That's all I need. I'll let you go to class now," he pulled away and winked at her as he walked off. "I'll message you later!"