Saving Max

Chapter 27

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that I've been worrying about all week. I talked my mom into letting Caden, Derek, and Max come over a few days ago and have been dreading it ever since. It was one thing to talk about it with Caden at the pizza place last week, but after I set it up with my mom, I started to get second thoughts. Thanksgiving hasn't ben pleasant since Izzy died, and I think my nerves and hesitation are just the fact that I don't want Caden and Max to see this side of my family. I don't want their opinion of me to change.

I can finally see why Caden didn't want me to find out about his past. Why there's parts of it that I still don't know. He doesn't want my view of him to change. Just like I don't want his to change of me.

Both of us are currently squeezed into the bathroom at the house; me trying to put on mascara while Caden is concentrating on attempting to tie his tie. We keep bumping into each other, messing us both up, our patience with each other running thin.

"Why can't you do that in your room?" I grumble, bumping him out of my way slightly with my hip, getting closer to the mirror as I start to apply mascara to my other eye.

"Because I cant do it unless I can see it, and this is the only mirror in the house." Caden sighs, continuing to struggle with his tie behind me.

I stop what I'm doing, placing both of my hands on the counter as I stare at him through the mirror. "Why don't you just use the front camera on your phone?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at him quizzingly.

"Why don't you?" he counters back, taking note of my scowl in the mirror with a small smile, his dimple becoming visible on his face. He knows that dimple are my weakness. Especially his.

Damn him.

I stick out my tongue childishly at him, plucking my mascara back up off the counter and continuing to get myself ready. "I was here first, sir. Therefore, I should get to use the mirror."

"Bella, we seriously walked in here together." Caden deadpans, huffing out an agitated breath as he fails with his tie for probably the tenth time already. "And I broke my phone yesterday, remember?"

Ah, yes. Yesterday afternoon Caden and I were getting ready for bed, both of us getting into our pajamas after we had just said goodnight to Max. When we were about to lay down, Caden picked up his jeans that he put down in his spot and threw them across the room, accidently throwing them against the dresser. We both heard the crack instantly. Caden, being the genius that he is, had left his phone in his jeans pocket. I didn't think the damage would be too bad, but his phone was completely shattered. You can still turn it on, but you can't even make out what's on the screen anymore. On top of that, there are a few sharp shards that you can't pull out, and I'm afraid that he's going to end up cutting himself, so I told him that he couldn't use it anymore.

After we pay the bills this weekend we're going to go buy him a new phone from the cellphone store in the mall.

"Oh. Yeah..." I trail off, a little smile forming on my face as I remember last night. It's not very funny, but I've learned to laugh at situations like these. It sucks, but moping about it won't do any good. What else can you really do except laugh?

We both go silent as I finish up with my make-up, smiling at how it turned out before turning my attention to Caden. His eyes are still focused on his reflection, trying to fix the mess he's created with his tie. I don't have the heart to tell hm he's already messed up again, so I just take his hands in mine, pushing them gently to the side. I retie it wordlessly, my eyes soft as they meet his once I finish.

Caden offers me a half smile, his hand warm as it presses into my side, pulling me to him for a quick kiss. "Thank you." he murmurs, pulling away ever so slightly to look at me with his sparkling eyes. "You ready for tonight?"