New Days [Completed]

New Days: Seventeen (I)

XVII    Max

I was confused at the point. On one hand, I knew that John was involved in some very shady business, and he probably wasn’t good news, but on the other hand…he’d never hurt me or done anything to make me feel worried for myself. Factor in my feelings for him, and you’re left with a Max who’s not sure what to do. After everything, I decided not to do anything about all my doubts, to let them lie and see if John could fix the mess he’d unknowingly created.

It worked.

“Hey, Max, how are you?” John came up behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around his waist, planting a little kiss on his earlobe as he squirmed.

“John! What are you doing? Someone could see us!” Max exclaimed, unable to hide the smile that was forming on his face.

“Mmm, don’t worry about a thing,” John embraced him again, this time from the front.

“But…”

“Nobody’s here, they’ve decided to go home and shower. Not everyone’s a clean-neat freak like you, you know.” He replied affectionately.

“Having a sense of hygiene doesn’t make me a freak,” Max grumbled in response, trying to ignore how his heart was picking up pace from the proximity of his boyfriend.

John didn’t respond. Instead, he pressed his lips gently to Max’s, and Max, who had been trying to break free, stopped struggling.

“I have been waiting all day to do that,” John whispered as he drew back, “ever since I saw you walk in through those gates looking oh, so sexy,” he kissed Max on the throat.

“Johnn!” Man, things felt so right, so good.

Things were going great. We’d started to talk again, he’d stopped being weird with the calls and secretiveness and started being the guy I’d met first. The guy I’d felt an instant attraction towards…you know. And even though we hadn’t been dating for all that long, the way we’d hit things off sort of instantly made me feel that way; like we’d been together forever and things had suddenly started going downhill. Pretty dramatic, I would say, but in my defense, things hadn’t been going the way they had been for oh-so long, and I’m not exactly adaptable…I think. I’m not sure – but everything had caught me off guard and thrown me off balance.

But I’m not going to waste my time defending how I feel. Feelings aren’t rational or explicable, they just are.

Back to the point, however. Things were going great.

It felt like we’d started dating all over again, with the secret smiles and winks thrown to each other whenever we crossed in school, the coming-early-to-spend-time, the texting, calling…everything. It was brilliant.

And then Mum and Lucy had a conversation.

*

It started out as most others they had, with Lucy running up to her and hugging her, then Mum asking her about her day, and then the topic moving to something else. Sometimes I’d be there in the dining room, with all my books set up on the table and I’d listen to what they were saying. That was what it was like on that day, so I hadn’t really anticipated that this conversation would change anything, let alone everything.

“Hey kiddo, what are you doing?” I was sitting at the dinner table slaving away at the homework we’d been given. I didn’t understand why the teachers would suddenly increase the pile-load of homework they’d normally give to an even greater pile when exams were coming…I still don’t.