Roommates (Maxley)

Chapter 8

"I think I pushed too far." Max says, head down on a library desk as Bobby and PJ wave Roxanne over. "I shouldn't have kissed him."

"YOU KISSED?" PJ and Bobby yell in at the same time, in sync, making the entire library turn to stare.

"Gee thanks guys, announce it to the world."Max grumbles with his hands dragging down his face.

"So he's the guy the song was for." Roxanne looks at the picture Bobby's holding up, giggling quietly. "He's so preppy and...pale."

"Yeah, Max is a whiteboy lover." Bobby teases, laughing with PJ when Max groans. "Hey, you can like snowbunnies, I support your choice!"

"He's not a snowbunny!" Max's face is buried in his hands as Roxanne pats his back, "He's cute alright?"

"Yeah, and demonic." PJ casually turns to the next page of his book, "You've seen that crazy look he gets in his eyes at games. Don't even get me started on his ego every time he wins, I bet the last time he lost he crashed out."

"Wasn't the last time he lost the 'X Games' last year or whatever it's called? I heard he got into a fight with the other Frat's president."

"He's just overly competitive-"

"Oh, so the manic look turns you on?" Roxanne teases and for a moment Max misses when she was the shy girl he was with in highschool.

Their breakup was mutual, a month before graduation they agreed it was for the best. Of course it hurt, but they didn't want to hold each other back, especially when Roxanne had become more of a social butterfly and singer. Now she had a band and a growing fanbase, he was happy for her. Hell, he was happy to just be her friend, but of course sometimes he wished he could go back to being more.

Sometimes he wonders about what they could've been.

"It's not like that-"

"Sure it isn't, you just wrote a song about him and had it performed." She looks at him so innocently as she whispers, "Then you frenched him!"

"What, no! No tongue was used!" Max is completely flushed, "It was a regular kiss!"

"You've been poking your lips nonstop y'know, still thinking about him?" Bobby says while Max stands, "Going to find him now?"

"I am, actually, because I should probably apologize. He's been avoiding me since...y'know." Max jerks his head away when his friends burst into laughter. "Guys, this isn't funny! I'm seriously worried I crossed a boundary."

"So ask him." Roxanne suggests as if he hasn't tried already.

"He's been avoiding me all damn week, the only way I even know he's been in the dorm is when I come back to Old Bear being tucked in."

"Do you still have the other Teddy Bear? The one we won at the fair that one time?" Roxanne's eyes are soft, focused on the table as she asks. Has it really been a year since...nevermind. "I bet it still smells like cotton candy."

"Yeah, that was uh, your favorite." His smile is somber like his stance as he leans against a shelf with his hands tucked away in his pockets.

"Still is." She glances up at him but can't hold his gaze, not when she can feel the tears welling in her eyes.

"Right-" Max turns away, ignoring the odd ache in his heart. "-I should get goin' now. Maybe Brad's back in the dorm since I'm gone."

Roxanne watches him leave, the feeling a bittersweet reminder of what they are now. They had agreed to be friends, she was the one who suggested the break up in the first place. It's not that she didn't like him anymore, she just thought...she thought it was for the best. She thought that she should let him go, he wasn't the type to venture out on his own and she didn't want to be the reason he was a sitting duck so she swam into a different pond only to hate every species there. She had tried dating other people, she had had a few boyfriends and even now was talking to someone- So why did it hurt so much when he called her to ask to be in the band for a boy and not for her? Why did she envy this lover boy of his so much? She groans into her hands, PJ patting her back as Bobby gives her a knowing look. She thought she had healed, really, she thought that she'd be over him by now but she wasn't. She hadn't really realized that she still loved him until they were face to face a few nights ago, seeing each other in person for the first time in months.