affair II ; jack gilinsky

twenty-nine

picking up my phone and bag for work, i answered the knock on the door to max smiling and holding a starbucks cup.

"good morning. i got you a drink" he said and handed the cup to me.

"thank you" i smiled at him, before taking a sip. "is this—".

"a grande pumpkin spice latte, decaf and with extra foam?" he recited.

i raised my brows at how he knew my usual order off the top of his head.

"i know you too well" he answered my thought and i chuckled as i shut the front door and we began walking down the hallway.

"so i was thinking that we could have lunch together today" max asked, lightly biting his lip.

"i can't" i looked back at him. "i already made lunch plans with johnson, he wants to catch up after everything".

"oh. do you think that's a good idea?".

i sipped my coffee, "why wouldn't it be?".

"i just don't want him to say anything that might upset you, you know, like after the trial" max explained.

"well, he had his reasons back then and plus, johnson isn't like that" i assured, although as we came down the last few steps in silence, i could tell that he was still worrying.

i nudged his side once we reached the bottom, "hey, stop stressing out. it's cute that you care, but i'll be fine".

max's face finally lifted into a smile as he nodded, and we went to get in the front seats of his car whilst kendall and theo sat in the back.

"hey guys" i spoke, putting on my seatbelt.

"can you believe that max wouldn't let us stop for a coffee, but he supposedly had time to get you one?" kendall complained.

max chuckled at her words, "that's because savannah deserves it".

"and we don't?" theo added.

"theo, it's okay. it's obvious that someone has his favourites" kendall told him and i playfully rolled my eyes.

"you guys are being ridiculous" i said as max pulled away from the parking spot and drove down the street.

"no, i don't think it's favourites. i think it's more of a crush" theo quickly concluded that i almost choked and spilt my coffee.

"come on, man" max spoke up at the unnecessary comment.

"what?!" theo exclaimed. "kendall agrees with me".

"i didn't say shit" she quickly defended herself, as i glanced over at max who awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

i stared out of the window for the rest of the journey, hoping that theo was just messing around and this crush of max is non-existent like he said so a month ago.

once we finally reached the work carpark, kendall and theo went ahead of us as i stayed back with max to clear things up.

"so, what theo said earlier about—".

"don't worry" he cut me off. "he was just being, well, theo".

"so, the crush—".

"it's not true, savannah. we're just really close friends, i get that" max assured me and i let out a subtle sigh of relief, before we smiled at one another and continued walking.

+

it was finally lunchtime and i met johnson at a local nandos, since he's been dying to go ever since he got here.