❝ there isn't a word to describe how much i hate you ❞
❝ would it help you find one if i hit you with a dictionary? ❞
✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ- a story in which two rivals are given an ultimatum in order to save their careers while simultaneously fighting for the...
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MAX'S THINGS WERE ALREADY packed by the next morning. he'd accidentally dropped things and cringed when they clattered against the floor but isabel hadn't stirred once.
she woke up a few hours later with a raging headache and the sunlight in her eyes. charming. sitting up, she immediately reached for the bedside table and grabbed her water bottle and the packet of nurofen she had left there earlier on yesterday.
"i am a mess," she muttered once she realised her shoes were still on under the blankets. makeup wipes scattered the quilt and made isabel want to curl up under the blankets and suffocate even more. glancing across the clean room, she noticed that max was already looking at her. "what?" she asked.
"nothing," he shook his head. amusement was sparkling in his eyes, far from a cyclone and instead a crystalline stream in the morning light. "do you remember anything?" he asked curiously.
isabel blinked, eyebrows creasing. "should i?"
"no," he shook his head, "just that it was entertaining to watch daniel carry you and drop you on the bed." a lie.
her cheeks tinged pink before rolling over so that she wasn't facing him. "fuck off."
"gladly," max countered as he picked up his bag, slung it over his back and then grabbed his suitcase. he went to turn to the door but stopped. "wait."
'is your rivalry this important that you're willing to lose your seat because of it?'
isabel frowned when she heard max speak again. slowly, she rolled back over, her face just visible from the blanket cocoon she was currently wrapped in. "waiting."
he refrained from rolling his eyes. just do it so you can leave, he told himself as he fidgeted with the suitcase's handle. "i'm sorry," his words were rushed as they tumbled out of his mouth. there was no resistance to say it this time but it still didn't feel right. "i'm sorry for australia. i fucked up and none of it was your fault."
she froze. isabel stopped breathing completely as the words sunk in. this was the last thing she had ever expected when she woke up with a raging hangover. maybe this was just her imagination? but it wasn't because she could still feel her shoes on the bed and that was enough to remind her that it was, in fact, real. "okay," she said so quietly that he could barely hear her. she was stunned, eyes a bit wider than usual. max noticed that they didn't look as innocent as they did last night.
"okay . . ." he responded, unsurely, not believing that she had nothing to say back. no quick remark, no insult . . . just silence. "i'm gonna go . . ." he cleared his throat.
