Age

Chapter 5

Max had decided he needed to switch gears for now. He still wanted to be with Casey, but knew for now he had to show her what a good friend he was.

It was the second week of July. Casey and Max were getting closer as friends. They hung out together all the time. It was the afternoon. Casey was in her hotel room. There was a knock at the door. When she answered it Max was standing there.

"I have an hour before my next autograph signing." Max said. "Wanna go to lunch?"

"Sure."

They were at the restaurant. The check had just came. Casey went to get out her debit card.

"I'm paying." Max said.

"You always pay Max."

"And I'm paying this time."

"Ok."

Later that night Casey was at the arena. The show hadn't started yet. She was sitting at her workstation video chatting with the boys on her phone.

"Hi Casey." Max said walking over to her.

"Hi." "I'm talking to my kids.

"Is that MJF?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah it is." She looked at Max who was off camera. "Wanna say hi to my kids?"

"Yeah." He said. He got on camera.

"Drew's on the right, Daniel's on the left."

"Hi." "Your mom talks about you guys all the time."

"Wait, are you guys dating?" Drew asked.

"No Drew, we're just friends." Casey said.

"Do you still have a crush on mom?" Daniel asked.

"I'm just her friend." Max said.

"We're big fans." Drew said.

"Thank you."

After the show Max was hanging out in Casey's room. They were talking, listening to music and drinking wine. The songs were on random play.

"I'm glad I got to talk to the kids tonight." Max said. "If they want to meet me when they're back, we can do that."

"They would love that."

"I know who Drew is named after." "Is Daniel named after anyone?"

"Yeah." "Have you ever seen the movie The Karate Kid?"

"Yeah."

"I named Daniel after the main character.""It's one of my favorite movies."

"I like that movie."

A new song started. It was the beginning of Teardrops On My Guitar by Taylor Swift.

"Nope, any song but that song."!Casey said quickly reaching over and skipping it.

"You don't like it?"

"It used to be one of my favorite songs." "Thanks to my ex, not anymore." "That song used to be my situation with Drew." "I've known Drew since preschool." "We were best friends." "Around middle school I started having feelings for him, but I was too afraid to tell him." "This went on for years." "Have you ever heard of MySpace?"

"Yeah."

"It was at the peak of its popularity when Drew and I were in high school." "A few weeks into our senior year, my MySpace was hacked." "Private posts I wrote about Drew were shared with the whole school." "When he found out he told me he loved me." "We had sex that night." "I was a virgin." "We started dating and both got accepted to NYU." "Towards the end of our sophomore year I found out I was pregnant." "I was scared but Drew said everything would be ok." "Once I had the twins Drew slowly began distant." "He stayed with us for six months." "One day I woke up and he was gone." "He called two weeks later, saying he got a construction job in Vegas and wanted to break up." "I was crushed." "I loved him and I thought he loved me." "I trusted him." "I'm over him but I've never fully recovered from the heartbreak." "I can't fully give my heart to someone because last time I did, he destroyed it." "As he's gotten older he started dating younger and younger women." "When he was thirty-two he started dating a woman named Monica." "She turned eighteen a week before they met." "They're married now and have a two year old."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you Casey." He hugged her.

The next night Max was at a bar with Austin. They were playing pool.

"I think I'm making progress with Casey." Max said.

"Just make sure this is what you want."

"What do you mean?"

"If things get serious with her, you're gonna be a stepdad to teenagers."

"I know that."