Sorry, Not Sorry

- 33

"Oh, Xavier. I'm soooo sorry." She says. 

"You think I'd believe for one second that you're sorry for this?" I hiss, looking down at the food trailed on my shirt. Delilah rushes over, grabbing my arm, Katherine also comes over. The two girls bring me over to the bathroom, also pulling me away from Nicole. 

"What is her problem." Delilah hisses as she scrubs at my shirt. 

"I told Max. I told him that woman is bad news, he didn't believe me." Katherine sighs, grabbing a cloth from the drawer. 

"It's not his fault." I say, still frowning. 

"No, of course not. It's all hers. What's her deal with you, anyway?" 

"No clue. She's got beef with me from years ago, or something." 

"You guys knew each other?" 

"We, uh... Knew of each other." I shrug, looking down at the shirt. "This is ruined." I sigh, "you guys go eat your dinner, I'll figure out something with this."

"Xavier?" Max asks, standing at the door. 

"Oh, Hey." I say, turning to face him.  

"Yeah, I'm hungry. Good luck with the shirt." Delilah says, squeezing my shoulder then sneaking past Max at the door. Katherine follows quickly after her.

"Do you need a new shirt?" He asks, leaning on the doorframe. 

"I guess I'll just have to cope with this one..." I sigh.

"I think Kitty has one of mine in her laundry somewhere." Max says, "I can go get it for you?"  

I bite the inside of my cheek. "You don't have to..." I mutter, "Don't you want to be..." I wave my hand in the direction  of the party. "This shirts still manageable." 

"Mm." He sighs, resting his head on the doorframe. "No. Here's good."

"Fine then. Where's Kitty's laundry?" I ask, going to walk past him. He puts a hand on my chest, stopping me from going past. 

"Sorry." He says, dropping it back to his side. "I was zoned out." He says, turning to follow me down the hallway. "That door right there." Max says, pointing into the laundry. I open the door, standing with my hands on my hips as I watch Max grab the white shirt off the counter. "There we go." He says, passing the folded shirt to me. "But first..." He glances out the door then closes it gently. "I'm sorry about all of this." He says, "I thought she'd be able to control herself for one night but she clearly can't." I can tell he's upset. "I'm sorry, but I'm still hesitant to break up with her... I really believe she can be good... for me! She makes me happy, and... I don't know. I've seen her be kind, just... why only when we're alone? I'm sorry." He sighs. "I still want to be with her."

"It's okay..." I sigh, smiling tensely, "You clearly love her, and why would I expect you to leave her because of me?" He freezes slightly as I say 'love her', but quickly picks himself back up, and I ignore it.

"No, It's not okay-"

I frown. "Max, stop." I say, noticing the small tears in his eyes. "It's not your fault." I step closer, wrapping him in a hug. He seems shocked at first but he wraps his arms around me too. "You should be the one hugging me right now." I joke, "your girlfriend hates me." 

"Yeah, you're right." He hugs me tighter. 

"Dude, chill out." I say, letting go, but he's still clinging on. "Come on, I'm hungry. Also, you're shirt's going to be wet now." 

He finally lets go. "Okay, I'll leave you to get changed." He sniffs, leaving the room. 

I swap the shirts, quickly heading out to the kitchen to get more food and sit at the table, next to Max."