Getting Closer

Chapter Fifty One - Juliet

My parents are gone for the week once again, so I have the place to myself. Well not for long at least. Every week day, Max comes straight here after school. We fuck, we talk, I fall more in love with him. But on Friday, I become host once again.

Hosting seven people by myself is daunting but it's all my friends and their significant others so the pressure isn't too bad. And of course, Max arrives first. With an overnight bag in his hand, I take him upstairs right away before people arrive. "Wanna take a bet?" he asks as he puts his bag at the end of my bed.

"Depends," I say as I wrap my arms around him.

"Let's make several."

I smile. "Like what?"

"Okay here we go, I'm gonna say Charlie is gonna announce he's dating Leia; Seth finds your dad's liquor cabinet downstairs; your friend Brooke will almost drown; and I'm going to have trouble keeping my hands off of you."

"You've thought long and hard about this, haven't you?" I laugh.

Max brushes his lips across my forehead. "C'mon. Tell me what you think."

I sigh. "I bet that Leia will say it before Charlie; we can't bet the one about Seth because of course that's going to happen; umm... Brooke's girlfriend will almost drown; and I am the one who's gonna have trouble keeping my hands off of you."

Max snorts and starts pushing me towards my bed. "You're on." We fall onto my bed and I laugh as Max nibbles on my ear. "Do we have time to-"

Before he can even finish his thought, the doorbell rings. "Unless you're in and out in thirty seconds, I assume no," I say as I shove him off.

I adjust my sweater and I feel his eyes on my ass. "I mean..." he trails off.

I give him a look over my shoulder. "No." He frowns and gives up on the idea that we're fucking right now. He follows me downstairs as Seth, Charlie, and Leia all come in at the same time, presumably altogether in Charlie's truck. "Welcome all," I smile.

"Where are we hunkering down for the night?" Seth asks as he raises his own overnight bag.

"You and Jon unfortunately will be in the living room tonight."

"And me?" Charlie asks, not including Leia in the question but I will.

"You and Leia will be downstairs. If that's alright."

While Charlie's face grows red, Leia answers for him, "That'll be great. Thanks."

"Well you guys can leave your bags right here if you want and make yourself at home." I pause and give Seth a look. "Well not entirely like home."

"I'm not that dirty!"

"Yeah you are fucker," Max says.

While Seth complains, I wave everyone else to the living room. "Brooke and her girlfriend will be here in an hour so we have some time to kill." Once settled, I notice every nervous tick in Charlie as she settles into his side but he's too awkward for his own good. As I throw my legs across Max's I ask, "So Leia. As the new one of our group, tell us about yourself."

"What do you wanna know?"

"Zodiac sign, moon sign, star sign..." Seth drawls from the floor.

Though a joke, Charlie still shoots him a glare. But Leia answers, "I'm a Pieces, the others I have no clue. Sorry."

"Charlie told us you're from Chicago. Has the move been rough or..." I trail off, hopefully that's a good enough question for Charlie.

Leia nods. "It sucks that I had to move in the middle of my senior year but there was nothing I could do and nothing my father could do either. Living here has been nice so far but I do miss the rush of the city."

Though we're close to the Twin Cities - roughly thirty minutes away - it's still not like the suburbs of Chicago. "Well we're lucky to have you," I say honestly. Charlie seems to be really smitten with her and after seeing him with Kate, I'm happy that he's happy.

"Thank you, Juliet," Leia smiles and turns to look at Charlie. Here we go, I think, here we go. "So if it isn't painfully obvious," Leia starts and I pinch Max. "Charlie and I are an item," she finishes and Charlie finally cracks a smile.

"Fucking finally," Max mumbles but we all know he means it in the most loving way possible.

"What he means is that we're happy for you both and we completely had no idea," Seth laughs.

Charlie rolls his eyes, "You guys are nosy bastards."

"Well we do hang out every single day," Max says as he casually puts his hand under my sweater. "You're not exactly subtle."

"Welcome to the club," Seth smiles to Leia. "We like you a whole lot better than his last girlfriend."

"Seth," Charlie hisses.

"What? It's the truth," Seth shrugs. By the way Charlie looks mortified, I can just guess that they really haven't had the conversation of past relationships.

Before I can come to his aid, the front doorbell rings which means Brooke is here. I nearly squeal at the thought of my best friend here and I almost trip on Max's legs as I get up to get to her. I've been a terrible friend lately as I've been spending all my time with the guys but also in my defense, Brooke has a new job in Minneapolis that has her spending all her time over there and with her girlfriend, Eliza.

Opening up my front door, I scream, "Bitch!"

She smiles wide, "Bitch!" We wrap our arms around one another and laugh. "I fucking missed you," she says in my hair.

"I missed you." We squeeze one another for so long that my dad would have yelled at me for keeping the front door open for so long but I don't give a fuck. My best friend is here. When we finally let go one another, I smile, "You are somehow ten times more beautiful."

"I think you were just forgetting how I look," Brooke laughs.

"Maybe that's it." I kiss her cheek and I finally turn to her girlfriend. "I'm Juliet."

"Eliza," she smiles, her dark hair getting into her eyes. "You can call me Liz if you want."

I nod and wave them more inside. "Come, everyone is in the living room."

When the three of us walk into the room, Seth whines almost immediately, "Why am I the seventh wheel here?"

I snort. "Because lovely Jonathan couldn't get off of work." And god do I miss him. He would complete this night. "Leia, this is my best friend Brooke and her girlfriend Eliza," I say to introduce my friends together. When everyone is acquainted, I say, "Now who wants to go into the hot tub with me?"

***

In the privacy in my room, I turn around, finally dressed in my one piece and see Max rubbing his bad knee. In his swimming trunks, his scars on both his knee and shoulder are in clear view. Wrapping myself in my towel, I sit beside him on my bed and I lean against him. "Do they still hurt?"

He shrugs. "The doctors say I'll always have pain. Some days are better than others."

Getting sad at the thought that he's in pain, I kiss his good shoulder and whisper, "I'm sorry you have to go through all that."

"I'll survive," he says as he kisses my forehead. "I have a physical next week to check up on my progress."

"Good," I say as I perk up. "Want me to go with you?"

"My mom is going," he replies. "But thanks for offering."

I run my hand down his leg and end at his knee, my fingers lingering on his scars from his two knee surgeries. As my focus is on his knee, I feel his eyes studying me. "Let me know if it ever hurts when we're intimate," I say quietly.

Max snorts and pulls me into a kiss. "I assure you I am never thinking about my knee when we're fucking."

"You're such a romantic, Torres." I kiss him one last time before rising. "Come on. Let's join our friends."