Therapist friend

Chapter 4

Wednesday, 12:43am
When Max woke up, it was already late. He and Luca stayed up really long and he still felt like he didn't get enough sleep. He thought about waking Luca up but he was so generous, he did not. He stood up, trying to be as quiet as possible, and went into the bathroom. He undressed and went straight into the shower.
While Max was showering, Luca woke up by someone calling him. After a quick look at his phone, he saw it was Michael, who was calling him. He answered the call and greeted him with a tired "hello?"
"Dude... I know you're at Maxs' but I- idk" -he sounded stressed and out of breath- "I just had a panic attack and I don't know, it's just all too much right now. Everything is just so much and I can't deal with all of it. School is just so stressing and my parents want me to move out- I- I can't take it anymore I just-"
Michael started sobbing and Luca was tired to answer but he forced himself to sound happy and awake. He started comforting Michael and doing his best to calm him down.
While Luca was talking with Michael, Max got out of the shower feeling way better than before. He dried himself with a towel and started brushing his teeth. He looked in the mirror and smiled. He was really happy at the moment. He had some pretty annoying problems the month before. Luca had helped him out of it and now being here with him, was making Max feeling really good. He missed his best friend a lot.
Max finished brushing his teeth, when he noticed, he forgot to take new clothes. Fuck
He quickly got out of the bathroom and ran into his room. Getting clothes, he heard Luca talking to someone. He put on some shorts and an orange sweater he got for his 19. birthday.
All dressed, Luca went into the living room, where his friend was still talking to Michael:
"Yeah, I will. Please take care of yourself and call me, when something's wrong! Bye..."
Luca, who still hadn't noticed Max, let out a sight and lied back right after he ended the call. He rubbed his eyes and sighed again.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah of course." Luca tried his best to hide the fact, how shocked he was about Max sudden appearance, but failed miserably. Max didn't say anything tho.
"Hungry?"
"Always."

5:27pm
Max was arguing with himself for the whole day. He wanted to talk to Luca. He was worried. His best friend is making sure his friends are okay all the time, but he wondered, if anyone takes care of him. He barely talked to him the past months, until Luca needed his help. They talked everyday during that time. But it was always about Max. Luca never told anything. And when Max thought about what Luca looked like, when he arrived... he looked really tired. Like he hadn't slept for a whole week. And skinny. Way too skinny. Luca told him he just forgot to eat enough for some days, but for Max it looked like it was way more, than just some days. He had the feeling Luca just focused on his friends and forgot to take care of himself doing that. Almost like he didn't care.
Why has he not noticed before? Why has he never asked him if he's okay? Could he have helped?
However he wanted to talk to him. Ask him what has been going on. If he's okay. Maybe ask him how often he helps his friends. But he was scared of the answer. And he didn't want to bother his friend too much. Maybe he just didn't want to talk. Max decided to talk to him on Friday. It was too late today and the day after they wanted to go to the city. He didn't want to ruin the mood, so he decided Friday would be the best solution. They hadn't had anything planned that day.

"So pizza or should we cook something together?"
"Is pizza okay? I'm really exhausted for some reason... let's cook something tomorrow."
"We're eating in a restaurant tomorrow. Let's cook something Saturday."

8:19pm
"Do you have ice cream?"
"What?"
"Do you have ice cream?"
"Uhh yes, I think so."
They were sitting on the couch, when Luca asked that question. He didn't even know, where his sudden wish for ice cream came from. He just thought of ice cream and wanted it. He started laughing and soon after Max just started laughing with him. He stood up and went into the kitchen. He had chocolate and strawberry ice cream. He just took both out and got two bowls and spoons. He took another Coca Cola bottle as well and got back to Luca, who was smiling, as he saw the ice cream. Chocolate was his favorite.

At the end of the night, they finished both ice creams and had a lot of fun. They both went into their rooms, after they brushed their teeth. Max went straight into bed, while Luca couldn't sleep. He worried about his friends. He hadn't heard anything from Ryan in a while and only communicated with Sam via text. He hadn't heard her voice, so he didn't knew, if she was actually okay or if she just didn't want to bother him. She tended to do that.
Eventually, Luca also fell asleep, as he got too tired.