Cause for Concern ✓

twenty one

MONDAY. 11. OCTOBER. 2021. (unedited)

"SO you were upset for nothing then?" His mom asked with a teasing smile as he slumped beside her on the living room sofa.

"Shut up," he muttered, kicking his shoes off and towards the coffee table. "How was I supposed to know that I was freaking out over nothing?"

"I don't know. Maybe by confronting your problems earlier?" She suggested, taking a sip of tea from her mug while she curled up on the couch in her usual corner.

"That's not fair," he argued, pointing his index finger at her as she watched whatever romcom was playing on the TV, "because you let me stay off school yesterday, meaning that you let me avoid my problems for even longer."

"Usually that's what I do," she said, sipping her coffee. "Ignore it until it goes away." Max thought of Tommy. "But that's not productive for anyone. I let you have Monday off because I thought you might have needed it but I was sending your ass straight into school on Tuesday. Best believe that."

"So you get to ignore your problems and I don't?" He inquired, quirking a brow.

She smiled a little and rolled her eyes. "You should be thanking me," she remarked after a deep exhale.

"I know," he said, "but it's easier to tell you how hypocritical you are."

"You're welcome," she hummed sardonically.

"You shouldn't ignore your problems, you know," he chimed, half-focused on the conversation and half-focused on Sandra Bullock talking on the TV.

"I'm supposed to be raising you, not the other way around," she chimed back, lifting her mug to her lips and taking another sip. "Focus on your own problems."

He fiddled with a loose thread at the end of his sleeve. "I haven't talked to Cole or Tommy yet," he said after a moment. "I mean, I've text them obviously but I haven't talked to them."

"Cole is 'the pretty one with the blue eyes' and Tommy is the brooder, right?" She asked, glancing at him.

His face flushed pink and he tucked his chin closer towards his chest. "Yes," he mumbled, irritated by the warmth of his skin. "Cole is the pretty one with the blue eyes and Tommy is the brooder."

Momentarily, there was a pleased smile on her face and she hummed triumphantly. "So?" She asked. "Have either of them text you back?"

"Yeah," he said, shuffling a little uncomfortably. "They both have."

Whatever time it was was lost on him but he knew it had to be nearing ten pm. The movie with Carter and Danny had ended around half eight and, after they hung around for a little while, he'd pretty much driven straight home from the movie theatre. Despite barely doing anything all day, he couldn't help feeling exhausted, even with half of the burden removed from his shoulders.

As soon as he'd gotten back inside his car, still parked in the movie theatre parking lot, he'd taken his phone out and sent messages to Tommy and Cole, short and sweet. He knew that keeping things brief and easygoing was exactly what Tommy would want from him because it helped to downplay any drama or conflict. When it came to messaging Cole, however, he couldn't help but hesitate for a few minutes.

For a few seconds, he'd even considered typing out a message in his notes and reading it over to himself before sending it. He even opened up his notes app, but, even then, the cogs in his brain felt like they had stopped moving and all his fingers could do was hover over the keyboard illuminating on the screen. The longer he stared at the blank note, the more evident it became that putting that much thought into it was the wrong move to make. In fact, hoping to possibly explain himself in a text message was probably the wrong move to make altogether, especially knowing that Cole had been the most worried about him.