"I'm making this weird, aren't I?" (remake)

The agurment

A week or so ago

"You've been spending a shit ton of time with that peanut gallery." Max laid back in Neil's neatly made bed. He carelessly wrinkled the blankets. With a remote in hand , he used it to scroll through the popular shows on Netflix.

Nikki blankly stared at him, puzzled. "Peanut gallery? You know A.J. (Space kid) would blow up like a balloon if they did eat peanuts right?"

"That's not- Never mind." He tossed his arms in the air. "It's an insult, Nikki," Neil added. He tried to flatten the wrinkles being made in the bed before sitting himself down at the edge of the bed. "Max is right though.."

Their words mostly flew past her head, didn't even process them. She zipped up her coat. A smile glowing on her face. "I gotta go. Tell your dad I'm leaving, or if you see my mom, tell her too."

"Okay."

Candy and Carl had been dating for a few years now. They reunited at some point after meeting at camp. For better or for worse. Candy treated Neil decently. Carl treated Nikki like the daughter he never had. The situation was one everyone had grown to accept.

Nikki left out a few minutes later, meeting the group that had walked over to Neil's house to greet her. Max and Neil never knew what the group would spend their time doing whenever she abandoned the trio. They also never seemed to click with the rest of them. Max never bothered much with other people and Neil never opened up socially to become as close as Nikki did with them. Plus Neil assumed the rest of them perceived the two of them as being more stuck-up in some way.

"Netflix has been garbage lately. Correction; more garbage than usual. My mistake. What do you want to watch?" Max turned and sat up to see the brunette scrunched in the back corner of his bed. His eyebrow raised a bit before gesturing for Neil to drag himself closer. He sucked in a breath seeing as Neil only slightly brought himself closer.

"This is your bed. I didn't realize I was taking up so much space. Next time tell me to get the fuck up, okay?" He sat himself up to allow more space. The bed slightly bounced as a figure climbed off the bed. A couple of soft steps behind him and eventually Neil took a spot next to him.

"I don't know. You usually don't like what I pick." He replied. Neil felt Max's eyes linger on him for a while. His blue orbs locked on the TV ahead of them, acting as if he cared for the preview of the show it paused on. "You watch documentaries for entertainment. Can you blame me?"

"...Yes?"

-
Eventually, they decided upon a random movie. The room was only lit up by a small lamp with how dark it had become. Neither cared for the movie. Both just stared at the screen because they had nothing more to say. The breeze banging against the slightly opened window was the loudest thing between them. Occasionally they'd exchange a look. That's about it. Until Max finally spoke.

"This movie sucks, doesn't it?"

"We're watching it, aren't we?"

"Cause what else are you going to do? Sit around and stare at a wall?"

"Hm?" Neil hummed. That finally locked in his attention on Max.

"We don't say anything to each other. Remember last time when we went to the diner? We stared at each other while we just eating for 40 fuckin' minutes. It's exasperating."

"Sorry?"

"What happened to us? We were cool and you're, I don't know, Neil-ing up the place?" Neil furrowed his brows, scoffing. "This is my fault? You don't say anything to me either. It's not like I'm ignoring you, Max." He argued.

"Oh really?" Max mimicked his expression more harshly. "You always look like you're thinking about something else even when I do talk to you. Like, are you Maladaptive daydreaming all the time?"

Neil nibbled on the bottom of his lip. His limit for eye contact ended, opting to stare down at his socks instead. "What are you saying?" His voice slightly cracked. "Spending time with me isn't "entertaining"for you anymore? You'd rather be hanging with else with some other shitty friend group? Well don't let me hold you back." The silence that followed dug a deeper and deeper pit in Neil's stomach. It confirmed he's contemplating it. That pit dug deepest when Max spoke up again, confirming it. "Maybe."

"Oh. Sorry for "Neil-ing" up the place. Find that other friend you can hang out with whenever Nikki ditches us, cool?" Max's expression softened as he watched Neil stand up and exited the room. Later that night attempts were made to resolve this ended up with only harsher messages being sent. They never told Nikki.

-

Back to the present day, after school. 4:30.

- The mall -

"I'm surprised you came... Thought you would've found someone else to go with." Neil adjusted his glasses.

Max didn't say anything. He walked ahead of him towards an escalator that sent them straight toward the nacho place. He slipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out a worn-out wallet.

"I thought it was my turn to pay?" Neil questioned. Nosily he peered over his shoulder into the wallet. "Fuck off." Max flicked his middle finger into his forehead. "Ow???" He whined as he rubbed the area.

"Just let me do this, okay?" A small smile crept onto the corner of the brunette lips. A small gesture as an apology for Max.

"Than-" "Yup." Max quickly cut him off.

Neil found themselves a table when he left to go order and soon the other came back with an order of nacho chips with cheese oozing all over it.

"I'll buy you something." Neil offered. Max grabbed a chip. He scooped more cheese onto it. The chip crunched loudly beneath it from the bite he took.

"You don't have to do that. You know these are my apology nachos. Don't ruin it." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah... but. I want to." Neil took his chip to munch on.

There was a pause of silence from Max's end. "Why? Aren't you still mad at me?" Neil opened to talk but Max continued. "I didn't mean it, you know that. You're my best friend apart from Nikki. I'm never going to stop hanging out with you. I get it. Your social battery drains, you can't start conversations and we're not usually alone much. I got frustrated."

"Why?"

"Cause' it kind of feels like you're acting like this for a reason, not because you're not good at conversation. I'm wrong though, right?"

Neil hesitated. Max noticed. "Yeah." He scratched his eyebrow. "You are so wrong.."

"Good to know."

"...Can I still buy you something?"