e d i t

chapter twelve

Ihop
(Yn)

I hit my back against the wall and he moved closer to me, his eyes locked on mine, mine switching between his and his lips, he stopped only inches away from my face. My stomach leapt with butterflies and I was doing everything I could to just maintain eye contact. This was what I wanted.

In that moment I realized, that was what I wanted.

His eyes landed on my lips for a fleeting moment and he bit his own. (This is it-) however a flash of something became visible behind his eyes and he backed up a little bit, hands up, mumbling:

"I'm so sorry, (y/n), I'm sorry."

And before I even knew what I was doing I was taking a step towards him and I was gently grabbing him by the cheek and guiding him down to me and before I even knew what I was doing I was pressing my lips to his and closing my eyes and he was wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning down to meet me and I had one hand gently placed on his cheek, the other on his shoulder,

And the next thing I know I'm smiling into it while sneaking kisses between that and he's smiling and for some god forsaken reason I'm laughing and then I'm letting go of him and stumbling back and hitting my head right off the wall.

Crack!

My eyes went wide as pain seared through my scull and Max took a small step towards me and took my face in his hands and moved my head down so he could look overtop of my head, worry etched across his face.

But I started to laugh, again. I was laughing so hard that it was wracking through my body and I was shaking in his arms a little bit and choking on the air I didn't have in my lungs. He turned his face down to look at me,

"Why are you laughing?" He asked, confusedly, I shook my head despite the pain in it and continued to laugh, throwing my hands up to my sides I said "I'm not really sure."

"Are at least okay?" He asked,

"I'm fine," I said, still laughing. He took me by the hand and led me out into the dining room where we sat back down at the table he and Emily had eaten at, I had calmed down and was just then beginning to notice how sore my head really was.

"Ouch," I said, rubbing it.

"No shit," He was smiling though. Out of his pocket he pulled the camera, which was still on. He must have seen the anxiety on my face because he said "I'll edit that part out."

"No one will see it?"

"I'm the editor. I'll edit it out." I nodded slowly as he put the camera back on his own face.

"Okay so.." He broke into a short laugh break as he was recalling what just happened in his head. "Okay, (Y/n) and I were just walking around the back, as you saw.. and- and-" He laughed again, something akin to music to my ears. "And she fucking hit her head off the wall and it was the funniest shit I've seen all day." I too was laughing.

"Hey it wasn't my fault!" I giggled a nervous laugh, and he turned the camera back to him as he was wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes.

"Oh my gawd (y/n)" together we laughed for a while longer until he flicked off his camera and stuffed it into the pocket of his pants, as our chuckling died down, he resituated the red beanie atop his head.

"Okay but-" His face went serious and I knew what he was about to say.

"Max, don't."

"We have to talk about what-"

"Max," I said, "I'll figure this out, okay? I don't know how I feel right now." He looked at me a pit of something closely resembling sadness in his eyes, "But I'm going to figure this out."

"I don't want to come between you and him,"

"You aren't"

"I shouldn't have gotten that close to you, you already turned me down."

"Truth is, Max, I probably would have kissed you at some point-anyways."

"Are we friends?"

I paused, (Were we friends? It certainly didn't seem like it)

"I- I dunno. I'm gunna figure this out between Eli and I, Callie told me earlier that-" I stuttered, "That if I'm thinking about you while with him, I shouldn't be with him."

He seemed lost in thought,

"She's right, I think. I don't really know where to go from here, but I'll figure it out."

"We'll figure it out." He corrected.

All I did was smile. I turned my head to check the time, ignoring the slight pain in my head while doing so, to confirm that it was not almost midnight.

"When are Ross and Tim coming?" I asked,

"Oh, they aren't."

"What!!" I practically yelled of confusion,

"I made that up so I could spend more time with you."

"Similar to the wallet trick?"

"Very similar to the wallet trick,"

"Clever," I acknowledged. "You should probably get going- Eli is my ride and I should text him." He pressed his lips into a line,

"Alright."

"Look Max- I'm going to tell him, I am. I just don't know how long it'll be." He nodded in understanding and stood up. I walked him to the door and stopped him.

"One more for the road," I smiled, and pulled him down to me. At first he was reluctant, but he gave in, and soon after, he stepped outside, leaving me to text Eli and await his wrath.

Oh boy,

And as I watched for maybe the eightieth time ever, Max's dark figure walking into the night, I thought to myself.

(That was worth it.)

(Even if you have the best of intentions)

(Even if you think that you're home)

(This world is ever-changing)

(Your heart is ever-changing.)

(And well- mine was somewhere else now.)

Authors note: GUYS! 500 reads! Ohmygod I can't even believe this y'all are so great! Please continue to vote/comment/follow, all that good stuff, if you have any ideas I am still open to suggestions so you could comment them down below or pm me, but really guys, 500 reads omfgggg.

How did ya'll like the chapter? 😏 I really liked this one actually so I'm super excited for you guys to read it,

As always, goodbye lovelies :D