Saving Max

Chapter 12

WARNING: this chapter contains things that might be triggering to people who are suffering from Anorexia. If you don't feel comfortable reading this, please skip that part of the chapter! It will start when you see a line of stars cross the screen, and skip until the end of the chapter.

"Can you pass me the milk, Josh?" my dad asks politely, reaching down the table, his hands flailing dramatically, causing me to let out a small laugh at his antics. Caden laughs with me, his eyes bright as they lock on my own.

It's been awhile since I've seen him this happy, and I just can't seem to get enough of it. I just want to keep this image of him in my mind and cherish it forever, never letting it go.

Josh hands over the milk quickly, his own small laugh coming to an end as he does so. "You're so weird. No wonder Bella turned out the way she did." Josh mumbles, sending me a sly smile.

I scoff, leaning over the table to smack him upside the head, my lips turning downwards in to a frown. "You're a jerk." 

"Am not." he defends, one of his signature smirks lighting up his face as he continues to eat his meal.

I decide not to fight him, not wanting to seem childish, even though every bone in my body wants to bicker with him.  It's all about control, something which I've lacked my entire life.

Caden stabs at his lasagna, his eyes meeting mine meeting mine once again from across the table. It feels like neither of us have looked away rom the other this entire meal, which I'm sure is leading to a lot of suspicion around the table. I guess it's a good thing I don't care, then.

"Mrs. Turner, this meal was amazing." Caden says sincerely, offering my mom a grateful smile. "It's been awhile since Max and I have had a good home cooked meal."

My mom smiles back a him while I send a glare, my arm coming to cross over my chest. "I cooked last night, though."  I remind him, a small bite to my words.

"I know that, Bella. " he grins cheekily at me as the rest of the table erupts in laughter. "In case you've chosen to forget, the burgers were bunt to a crisp when you took them out of the oven." I give him a stern look as his eyes gleam with mischief.  He knows it's his fault that we had to eat blackened meat last night, not mine, the little stinker .

I narrow my eyes at him, pushing my plate away from me a little bit. "That wasn't my fault. You were the one distracting me. "

The burgers would have turned out just fine if Caden hadn't found out that I was ticklish through our small talk in the kitchen, trying to find out useless things about each other. He attacked me, and I could barely breath for five minutes. He wrestled me on to the couch and tickled my sides as he loomed above me, laughing I gasped for breath. After he finally stopped his torture it took me two minutes to calm down and another three to hit him over the head with a pillow enough times to where I felt satisfied with my retaliation.

And by that time the burgers were well past done, an we ended up eating a mix of beef and hard black crisp for dinner. Let's just say it wasn't one of my shining moments in the kitchen. I don't have many good kitchen turn outs, but they can happen every once in a blue moon, I suppose.

Caden laughs, leaning back in his chair as his eyes squeeze shut, the sight bringing a smile to my face, even though I'm still slightly angry at him for he incident. He's so carefree now a days, and I absolutely love it. "I didn't think a pillow could hurt that much." he comments, wagging a finger in my face. I try to bite it, but he pulls it away just in time, my teeth only clamping down on air.

"Are we missing something here?" my dad asks, looking between the two of us with accusing eyes. My dad has always been a little over protective of me when it came to guys, but by the looks of it, he seems to be warming up to Caden just fine, which really makes me happy.