How Long Will This Last? (Maxley)

When You Know, You Know

Max woke to his head smacking on the floor behind him. Bobby had opened the door he was sleeping against, and now he stared down at Max, his glasses down on his nose.
"What are you doing?" He asked.

Max jolted upright, hastily climbing to his feet, and turned around to face him. "I, uh," having just woken up, he was having a hard time coming up with an excuse. "I don't know."

"I thought you'd been sleeping at Bradley's," Bobby rolled his eyes.

"We got into a quarrel," Max said.

"A quarrel?"

"What time is it?" Max asked.

Bobby checked his wrist for a watch until he remembered he didn't wear one. "Almost three in the morning I think. I had to take a leak," he said.

"Oh. Well, did you wanna go do that, or-?"

"What do you want, Max?"

Max sighed, and looked down at his hands before saying, "I miss you guys. I know I was being all weird before, but you're my friends, man. I can't do college without you."

It was Bobby's turn to sigh. "Get in here," he said. Max couldn't have been happier to walk back into their smelly, old dorm, but he had missed the place, for the two days he had it. He had especially missed sleeping in a bed.
P.J was still awake, cramming in homework from the day before.

"I appreciate you admitting that you've been acting crazy. But I haven't been much of a friend recently either. And I'm sorry," Bobby said.

Max smiled. "I'm sorry, too."
From where he sat on his bed, P.J rolled his eyes.

Max passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. On any other day he would've been stressing about how he was going to face Bradley tomorrow, but he was just glad he got his friends back. He didn't have time to think about how soft Bradley's hair was, or how warm and welcoming Bradley's lips were, before he fell asleep.

Bradley stood there, arms crossed and looking down at Max with eyes filled with rage. Max was afraid of what he might say, but instead of saying anything, Bradley drew back his hand and slapped it across Max's face. He fell back onto the ground.
"You're disgusting!" Bradley shouted. "What made you think you could do that? Because I was nice to you?" He took a menacing few steps forward, causing Max to scramble back. He tried to speak but nothing came out.
"You ruined our friendship, Max," Bradley said with hurt in his voice. His eyes became glossy with potential tears as he turned away. "I'll never forgive you."

Max woke with a start, his breath quick and his chest heaving. He could feel sweat on his back and in his hair. Both Bobby and P.J had left to their first classes, not bothering to wake him up. Fortunately, his first class wasn't until eleven.

Living with Bradley for a week allowed Max to get an idea of his schedule, and if memory served him right, Bradley was in a class that very moment. But when he opened the door to find Bradley standing there, his fist raised as if he was going to knock, Max internally cursed himself. How come no one was ever in class when Max expected them to be?
They stared at each other, unblinking, before Max hastily swung the door closed. He wasn't ready to face Bradley. As of recently, it seemed he didn't want to openly acknowledge or deal with any problem caused by him. Which happened to be most of his problems, unfortunately.

"Max?" Bradley called through the door. "We need to talk." Max bit his lip anxiously, but he didn't say anything. "Max," Bradley coaxed again. "Open the door."
Regrettably, his pleas were very convincing.

Max pulled the door open quickly and started talking as soon as he did. "Listen, I'm sorry I kissed you yesterday. It was weird and I shouldn't have done it. I mean, I also should've asked before doing something like that. I don't know what came over me. I get it if you hate me. Like, more than you already do," Max rushed his words out, neglecting to give Bradley a chance to cut in. "You can punch me now, if you want. I get it. Actually, I think you should definitely hit me because I-" his words were interrupted by Bradley pressing his lips against Max's blabbering mouth.