Bathroom (Max x Bradley) - Maxley

CHAPTER 10

"What?" I asked confused, about why he was looking at me like that. He just shook his head, turning away from me and gesturing towards another room. "Come- come and sit on the sofa. You need a lot of water, so your blood cells can regenerate themselves. I'll also get you some apple juice for the needed sugar." He just gestured towards the living room area, turning on his heel and disappearing into the kitchen. I had nothing better to do, so I sat down, my head still spinning a little. Because of the pain or the shirt you are wearing? The voice in my head said. None of your business.

After a while, Bradley returned with two glasses, one filled with apple juice and the other one filled with water, while also balancing some pills. He gave me the pills, telling me those were pain medications. I gulped them down, taking a big sip of the water. He watched me carefully, looking at my hands.

"What?" "They are bruised. I should bandage them," he said while already standing up and returning to the kitchen. He bandaged my hands just like he told me he would, not saying any words at all.

We shared the silence, while I drank my drinks, his eyes always studying me. I couldn't stand the silence anymore, so I broke it. "You are really good at this whole taking-care-of-someone thing. You also seem to know quite a lot about the human body. Are you planning on becoming a doctor or something?" He smiled, nodding a little. "Yes, I would love to be a doctor one day, but..." he said, his smile disappearing. I didn't want to rush him, so I just waited until he spoke again. After a long pause, he did. "But my parents want me to be a professional athlete."

I could see the pained expression, the same one that haunted me for several nights. I wanted to help him, cheer him up somehow, but I couldn't think about anything. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I must say you took really good care of me, Miss Nurse. So I would say fuck your parents and continue doing what makes you happy because you are quite good at it, I'm not going to lie," I say, my face getting a little red at how cheesy that sounded.

Bradley just left. "Oh, freshman. You don't know anything." I don't know what that was supposed to mean, but it was hot. I must definitely meet up with Mocha later this week, and tell her everything.

We left it at that, the silence comforting.

"So... What happened to you? Who did you fight with?" broke Bradley the silence. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was one of his minions, so I just shrugged, lying. "Oh, some dude who thought I was making out with his girl. Nothing too deep." I just hoped he wouldn't see through the lie.

Either he didn't or he ignored the obvious lie, because he just nodded, taking out his phone. He started scrolling on it. I just looked at him, observing every one of his features. The slightly too big eyes, the bushy eyebrows, the flat chest and long legs, his thin lips. Perfect.

After some time, I got up, ready to head back home. I didn't want to leave him, ever, but I didn't want to stay longer than needed, giving the wrong signal.

"Well, I feel better, so I should go now. Thank you for helping me, Bradley. I really appreciate it," I said, taking my bloody shirt in my hands ready to change back into it. "Oh, no, no need. Just take this shirt. Hopefully, you will give it back to me at some point, but you don't need to. Just... Keep it," Bradley insisted, fumbling with his words.

I smile at his words, thanking him once again, and going home. The whole way I was smiling like an idiot, wanting this feeling to last forever. I got home and checked my phone. No new messages. I smelled Bradley's shirt. It smelled like him. All I wanted to do was burrow myself into the smell. But that would be too gay.

And so, I just did my homework, wrote Mocha we needed to meet up, and tried washing my tank top, getting more mad at the big fuck for ruining it.

Mocha confirmed the set time and place of the meetup, to be more specific, at a nearby cafe at lunchtime, one o'clock. Before then, me and the guys had one of our last skateboard practices before the big tournament.

The time came, I changed the shirt, and I went to the skate park. Mocha and I decided that she would stay there during the practice and then afterward we would go to the cafe together. As I got there, Bobby was already there, not paying any attention to me, just his phone. Only when I sat next to him, he looked up.

He froze. "Maxman, what happened to you, bro? Who did you piss off?" he wanted to know, not even bothering to say hello. Right then, Mocha and PJ arrived. Mocha was the first one of them two to notice me, and as she did, she gasped and ran to me, PJ following closely behind her, noticing my bruises as well.

"Max, what happened?" PJ asked, color leaving his face, noticing the bruises on my nose. "Nothing, just a big guy from the Gammas-" "You mean Tank?" interrupted me, Bobby, listening closely. "I mean, that's one way to put it. He looked like a tank-" "No, his name is Tank." "... Wait, really? Well, yes it was him. Anyway, this... Tank just came up to me and without me doing anything to him or saying anything, he just punched me straight into my nose... And we fought because of that. Then he got a call and disappeared."

"This stupid Brad," began Bobby with too much anger. "Bradley," I corrected under my breath, remembering that one time I called him that and he almost got a stroke. "... ordering for his minions to beat you up, just so he could win the tournament. What a jerk. The next time I see him, I will personally-" continued Bobby, not hearing my pathetic correction. I interrupted him again. "It wasn't him."

Silence filled the space between us. "What?" "It wasn't Bradley's fault. He didn't send Tank." Bobby raised his eyebrows, looking at me, still angry. We had a short eye-staring contest, which we won because I was afraid that if I looked any longer at him, I would tell him the whole truth, and I was not ready for that yet.

"I know you were hit in the head, from what it looks like multiple times, but why are you defending him? I know you try to see the best in people and so on and so on, but this is Brad you're talking about. Until we have proof it wasn't him, we say it was him," ended the discussion Bobby, PJ nodding in agreement. I gave up and started skating. The others joined me, but the whole practice was in silence.

After the practice, PJ and Bobby went their separate ways, PJ was a little suspicious about why I was spending so much time with his girlfriend lately, but said girlfriend took care of him, leaving us space to go to the cafe.

We weren't even seated, and Mocha already started asking questions, like there was no tomorrow. I refused to answer a single one until we sat down. But as we sat down, all hell broke loose. "What happened? Why did you want to meet up? How do you know it wasn't Bradley behind it? How is it looking between the two of you? How-" Mocha started, not knowing when to stop.

I held my hands up, as a signal for her to stop. "The story about Tank is true. But afterward, I couldn't find any bandages, so I went to the school nurse. Of course, she wasn't there, so I wanted to call one of you, but I realized I left my phone at the dorm, so I just sat there, exhausted. Then Bradley walked up and helped me. He took me to his house and helped me there. He even put me up on the countertop," I said, turning red. But I continued.

"When he cleaned me up, he gave me his shirt. And then I left," I finished the story. "I am guessing, he's not getting his shirt back, is he?" Mocha said, with a knowing look. I just nodded, turning even more red.

"Wow, I never knew he was a strong guy. He looks like the only thing he is lifting are his books." We talked for some time, talking shit about Bradley and just yapping with each other.

After some time, we parted ways. She went to make sure PJ wasn't all too jealous, and I went to skate a little more, just for practice. I skated for hours. Up and down the ramp, a lot of tricks, even skating on my hands. I tried the trick from the Qualifications again, failing.

As I was about to do the routine one last time, my nose started bleeding again. So I held it, not quite knowing what to do now. And so I went to the only place I could think of, hoping there wouldn't be a big party. To my luck, the house seemed quiet. I knocked, waiting for an answer. I was about to give up and leave, when the door opened, revealing my new favorite person on earth.

"What?" asked Bradley, half-naked, with water dripping from his hair.