The Bus Stop

18: Unrequited

  A/N: Song attached is - Here with me, by Susie Suh and Robot Koch

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  It had been a whole week since I had spoken to Max.  He apparently was too busy hanging out with his new girlfriend to make any time for his supposed best friend.  When he was at home he would be studying with her, at school he would sit with her friends and on the weekends he would hang at her place.  I wanted to talk to him about the bro code, although that was rather irrelevant considering I was a girl, so instead I had just been giving him the silent treatment.  It was the childish thing to do but I was running out of ideas, boys were clueless.

  "Don't feel too bad, he hasn't been talking to me much either," Luke said as we began our walk to our math class—the one class I actually had with this boy. "He just got a new girlfriend and all he wants to do is hang out with her, he'll come around when he notices he hasn't been spending enough time with his friends."

  I marginally nodded, for I wasn't sure I held the patience to wait for Max Elliot to 'come around.'  The boy was as ignorant as Nash was with science, I didn't stand a chance of making it any longer.  I was learning to accept that Max was dating Piper but I wasn't ready to lose my best friend in the process. 

  It wasn't just the fact that he was dating someone else either, it was the absent of him that made me feel so empty. For seven years I had spent at least every second day with this boy and now that his attention wasn't focused on me, I felt really lonely.  With Josh training for soccer at the park all of the time, Mom and dad out as per usual, Max dating Piper and my lack of friends, I had never felt so hopelessly, alone.  Loneliness does something strange to people—it shuts you down and wipes out all of your rational thinking. Loneliness makes a person weak.

  "I miss him," I admitted to the blond boy, my voice sounding much more vulnerable than I was comfortable with.

Luke must of sensed my deeper feelings too because he slung an arm around my shoulder and offered me a reassuring smile.  "I do too, but we mustn't stand around waiting for our friend, instead we should head off to math before we miss the bell."

  I nodded, pulling away from Luke and continuing the walk to E8.  Considering we had reached the point in time of it being mid February, senior year was drawing to a close.  Within under six months the entire grade twelves would be leaving this small school and travelling to new places.  It would be strange and unnerving at first—to not see my classmates every week—but just like most things, you become accustomed to change eventually.

"Do you guys have soccer practise today?" I questioned as we approached our classroom, taking the two seats towards the middle row of desks. I usually knew the soccer schedules but lately it had been changing as the boys were getting ready to play against their rival team next month.

"Yeah, hopefully Max remembers."

I frowned, "he forgot last time?"

Luke turned around in his seat to face me, glancing out the window briefly before focusing his eyes back on mine. "Lately, he has forgotten almost all of our practises. Coach said if he does it one more time, he's off the team."

"And you think he'll do that that?"

Luke nodded, "maybe."

I sighed, for I didn't understand why Max couldn't find the balance between Piper and his old life. Except Max Elliot didn't have the confidence—nor the time—to go up to a girl—I have never heard him speak of—and ask her out. With that being said, it wouldn't of been him to initiate their relationship, but Piper. And I wanted to know why, why she sparked a sudden interest in the beauty that was Max Elliot.