Maxly in Love

Chapter 1

This was it. The moment Max and his lifelong best friends had been waiting for. Boddy pressed on the brake of the car in order for Max, Bobby, and P.J. to take in every inch of their new life. Dorms standing three to six or seven stories tall. Huge fraternity and sorority houses that must house twenty people at a time. Frat house after Frat house. But none of them mattered as much as one fraternity in particular. Max kept his eyes wide and unblinking in case he missed it. People lined the sidewalks and stood in the narrow, college town esc street laughing, talking, and throwing footballs. 

"Wow man." remarked Bobby. "This place is bigger than I imagined." Wow was right. Max's jaw was slack against the floor of the car. He had taken a campus tour in June, but a college campus was completely different in August. In June not a soul walked the sidewalks. The only company had besides his dad was the blazing summer heat. Max turned his body to Bobby while keeping his eyes on the building names, not wanting to miss a single detail. Or his future. 

"You didn't take a tour?" 

"No man, you just got to go wherever the wind takes you." Bobby replied waving his hand in a sideways wave motion. Max chuckled and rolled his eyes. That didn't surprise him. Bobby was never prepared; always said he was just "listening to the universe" or something hippy like that. Max had been surprised he was able to graduate. P.J., Max's best friend since birth, spoke up for the first time since they almost crashed 30 minutes ago. "Do you think there will be any hot chicks here?" P.J looked like he was going to chew through the car with nervousness. "Maybe." Max replied with a chuckle. Suddenly P.J. stuck his head through the middle of the two front seats looking at the two with excitement. He was sitting in the back of the car while Bobby and Max had been sitting in the front. "Maybe we can all get girlfriends at the same time! And go on dates at the same time! Oh! And get married at the same time." 

"That sounds like a great idea P.J." Max said with a kind smile. P.J. was always looking for a girl. Although he sadly had been out of luck all throughout high school. Max kind of felt bad for P.J. He was one of Max's closest friends next to Bobby. They had been neighbors their whole life, and Max cared for him a lot. P.J. was the nicest person Max knew. Even if he wasn't always the smartest. Bobby suddenly slammed on the breaks. Although they weren't going very fast due to their sightseeing, and all the people in the road Max still thought they were going to fly through the windshield. He made a mental note to wear a seatbelt when Bobby was driving. "P. J, buddy, what do you meaaannn? We gotta focus on the x-games! Not girls." Bobby replied. He tapped his finger on the wheel as he progressed the car forward. Lost in thought. "Although, I wouldn't be opposed if there were a few hot chicks cheering us on at the qualifying rounds in a few weeks-"

"Guys." Max said, thankfully stopping whatever was about to come out of Bobbys mouth. It probably was no good anyways. Max pointed toward a huge white three-story house with a wraparound porch scattered with people. "Guys is that-"

"The Gamma House." All three said in breathless unison. This. This is what Max knew he was meant to do. Ever since he was 10 years old and had seen the Gamma's trophy in his dad's local newspaper, he was meant to join the Gammas. The greatest X-Games competitors in the nation. Every year they always won the games by a land slide. Max knew his strengths, and they lied within that house. He planned to do so well at the qualifying rounds this year that they would beg Max and his friends to be the first Freshmen to join the Gammas. There were boys playing Volleyball outside. None of them with shirts on. Maxs face felt hot, and he tried to pat it out like a small fire. It was too hot in the car. Max rolled down his window and was about to whistle at some chick splayed out on the front steps of the house when he saw him. Bradly Uppercrust III. Maxs face lit up with heat. He hated Bradley so much all of his insides did a 360. Bradley thought he was so great. Max had personally never met him but had heard enough about him to form an opinion. And no, it wasn't too early to do so. Anyone with such an ego deserved to be judged that way. Bradley was the reason it was so hard to be a part of the Gammas. He was picky about who was let into the Gammas. It was almost impossible to enter the Fraternity as a Sophomore. And it was forbidden to get initiated as a freshman. Until Max. Max took a cold hard look at Bradley. His toned tan body, his shagged brown hair that almost covered his ears, his smile that was as big as the house itself. He could see his cocky blue eyes full of pride from the passenger seat of the car. Max's heart dropped to the bottom if his feet. He was 90% sure he had just locked eyes with Bradley. And he's pretty sure Bradly noticed.

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Girls were praising his name the moment he stepped out the house. He swore someone stuck out a paper for him to sign. Bradley loved the attention. Maybe it's because he was used to it as a senior, or maybe it's because he never got any at home. None the less it was refreshing. He had gone the whole summer in a huge, stale, empty house with no one to talk to. Bradley never cared for girls much. Just the attention. And he would take it where he could get it. Bradley realized he was gay in the 7th grade, but never told anyone due to his innate fear of judgement in addition to his parents being the most homophobic people alive. So, he pretended to be into girls. Everyone seemed to buy it so far. And he was not about to ruin his status by making everyone think that he was into every person he had lived with for the past three years. "Please, ladies please. There's only one of me and so many of you." He said, batting his eyelashes. He even cupped a girls face in his hand to better sell his performance. Bradley put on his best "Miss America" smile and walked down the steps out to the yard. His frat brothers decided to play some Volleyball to bring attention to the Gammas. This was something they did every year. Braley was always afraid to play volleyball because they never wore shirts, and he was afraid he'd give himself up. Thats the thing with Bradley. He couldn't blush like a normal person and blame it on the sun. His whole face would turn red. His face, ears, and neck would turn beat red like he was having an attack, and he would have to step away. But every year Bradley managed to get buy fine enough. He needed as many devoted fans as possible. Without them, Bradley was sure he would be nothing. 

As he crossed the yard and to the Volleyball net, he clapped his hands to get the attention of everyone around him. As if he didn't already have it. "Alright everyone now let's remember this is just a friendly game of volleyball." He kept his huge smile and added a bit of confidence in his voice. This is something he got good at pretending to be. Confident. "No beating on each other like last time. We can't be scaring the Freshmen away" Bradley gave his best chuckle. He stepped to his position as a hitter in the front of the group and focused. Shouting commenced as his team began supporting their side and trash talking the other. Spectators called Bradley's name in support. The Gammas seemed to love playing Volleyball, so Bradley put up with it. If he unfocused even a little Bradley would see all his shirtless teammates. He heard the ball smacked and watched as it crossed to the other side. This is it. He thought. Bradley backed up to smack the ball across the net and win his side their first point of the match. One, two, three! The ball was back to his side. Someone in the back called for the ball and hit it straight to their setter. Perfect, just as it should be. "Got it!" He shouted. And over it went straight into a dead spot. They have earned their first point. Bradley's hands shot up into the air as his team came to congratulate him. That's when a car drove by catching Bradley's attention. Not just any car, but the most beat up BMW Van he had ever seen. It was dented and rusted and ugly. Probably the ugliest thing he had ever seen. How could a person with such a car afford to be here? Bradley looked the van up and down when he spotted him. The most beautiful boy he had ever seen. He had a black shag mullet and looked painfully bored. Or was he angry? Bradley would be angry if he had to be seen in such a monstrosity as well. As he glanced at the boy, he swore they locked eyes. But only for a moment.