The Dramas Of Apartment 5B

New Year, Same People, More Drama

It was the eight thirty on the thirty first of December and we were getting ready for a New Years party that Carter's girlfriend Quinn and her roommate were throwing. "Leaving in ten kids!" Finn called, "yeah, I'm ready" I called, "same" Carter said. We took our separate cars and arrived at Quinn's apartment two hours later. "Hey guys, glad you could come" Quinn said opening the door. Carter kissed her on the cheek and she pulled him away. "What do you say you and I do a little mingling" I winked at Lisa, "I'll get us some drinks" Jason said, Finn followed him. "So it's going well then?" Lara asked glancing at Jason, "yeah, I think so" I said, "also, I don't want to say I told you so, but, I told you so" Lisa said, "whatever" I laughed. "Hey Lisa, I want you to met Matt, I've been telling him about you" Quinn said bringing Carter and another guy back to us, "you have?" Carter and Lisa said at the same time, I raised an eyebrow at her, she ignored me. "Matt, Lisa, Lisa, Matt" Quinn introduced quickly, Lisa shook his hand, "pleasure" she said, "all mine" he smiled. Matt was tall with broad shoulders, coffee colored hair and brown eyes. He looked similar to Carter, just a little bit. "You two run along" Quinn instructed pushing them away, Lisa threw me a confused look and I shrugged and mouthed, "I'll find out" "can I talk to you Quinn?" I asked pulling Quinn away, Carter gave me a warning look, "calm down, old man" I said. "What's up?" I said, "what do you mean?" she said in a high pitched voice, "why are you so set on getting Matt with Lisa?" I asked, she looked at me for a second then sighed, "Carter keeps talking about Lisa and everything they do together" she said. "And you're worried that you'll lose him" I said confused, "no, well yes, I just don't know if I can be with him" she said, I was taken aback, "Quinn, Carter really likes you" I said not knowing what to say, "I know" she said and then she walked off.

It was now ten thirty and somehow even more people had arrived. "What did you do!" Carter said storming up to me, "woah, calm down" I said, "Quinn just broke up with me" he said, "Carter, I'm sorry" I said, "what did you say!" he demanded, "hey, calm down man" Jason said stepping between us, "nothing! I didn't say anything, she was worried about you and Lisa getting too close, I defended you" I said raising my voice, he put his hands on his head, "well nothings happened between us" he said giving Lisa a weary glance, she was standing with Matt, smiling. "Look Carter, I'm sorry but I promise, I had nothing to do with this" I said calmly, "yeah, I know, I'm sorry" he sighed. "Okay, look do you want me to talk to Lisa" I said, "no, no please she can't know about this" Carter said grabbing my arm, he looked from me to Jason and we nodded. Lisa walked up to us, "scored a date" she winked, "nice" I laughed glancing at Carter who was avoiding eye contact, "what's going on?" she asked, "ah, nothing" Carter said, "hey, hey, hey. I know that nothing, I've said that nothing, it's not nothing" Lisa laughed, "no, it's nothing" I said pulling Lisa away.

"Hey, Finny got your teddy bear to kiss at midnight?" I said walking up to Finn, "yeah, you got your wannabe football player?" he said, "hey, try aim the insults at Max okay, I have no part in this on going fight" Jason said, "it's not a fight" Finn laughed, "yeah, if it was Finny boy here wouldn't be able to handle me" I said, Finn scowled at me. "Finn can I talk to you?" Lara asked, "sure" he said as Lara pulled him away I called, "don't lose that teddy bear" he laughed at me, "who said I'd be needing it" he called, "probably drunk"  I shrugged.

It was now eleven fifty nine, "sixty seconds" I said to everyone, "yay, a new year" Natalie said, I couldn't tell if  she was being sarcastic or not. "Thirty, twenty nine, twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty six!" someone began counting down, I looked over at Carter, he was leaning against the wall staring across at Lisa and Matt. I went over to him, "tell her" I said, "tell her what?" he asked, "you already know" I said, he shook his head. "Ten, nine, eight, seven!" they chanted, "I'm going to need to steal her away" Jason said grabbing my hand. "Five, four!" "excited?" he asked, "for a new year, time doesn't really matter does it?" I said, "I love it when you talk time to me" he joked, "three, two!" "you're hilarious" I said leaning in to kiss him. "One!"  "Happy new year!" everyone shouted. "Happy new year, Maximum" Jason said, "Happy new year, Jason Anderson" I smiled. Something caught my eye, Matt and Lisa, kissing. I looked across at Carter he was slouching in his chair. I walked up to him, "you know-" he cut me off,  "don't, it's fine" he walked away into another room, "I got it" Jason said walking after him. Lara and Finn came up to me, "where have you two love birds been?" I joked, "no where" Lara shrugged, I raised an eyebrow at her, I knew she was lying, "found that teddy bear?" I asked Finn, "no, told you I wouldn't need it" he laughed, "Impressive, Finny boy" I said slapping him on the back. Little did I know.

I sat next to Lisa, Matt had gone home. "So, he's nice?" I asked, "yeah, seriously, go Quinn for picking a guy who I actually like" she laughed, "does he remind you of anyone?" I asked, "no" she said slowly, I nodded, "why, should it?" she asked confused, "no" I said quickly, "Max, what's going on?" she asked, "nothing, I just, be careful, I don't want this Matt guy hurting you" I said, "yeah, I will" she smiled walking off. "Wow" Jason said appearing behind me, "what do you want" I laughed, "you know Max" he began, "yes Jason" I played along. "I've spent a lot of my life observing people" Jason stated, "guess that's something else we have in common" I laughed. "Do you want to know what I've observed about you?" he looked at me expecting me to say something, when I didn't he continued. "I've observed that you are the nicest person I have ever meet" he said, What  I thought. "Jason, I'm not a nice person" I said, "then why do you do anything for the people you love, why do you go out of your way to protect them, why do you put on a tough face for them?" he asked, I frowned, "exactly" he said. 

It's now the first of January, the seven of us had escaped from the loud party into a lone room. "Well, it's been an eventful year" Finn said, "can't disagree" I laughed lightly. "So, want to go home? or continue to camp out in this random girls bedroom?" Jason laughed, "bedroom" Lisa joked standing up, she went over to Carter pulling him up, I went to say something to Lisa, he looked at me and shook his head. We drove home, Jason leaned over and pointed out the window, "that's the star" he said quietly, I smiled, "it wasn't Carters idea was it?" I said, he grinned and said "you'll never know." The car ride was nearly silent, not an awkward silence, a silence that we felt comfortable enough to be silent around each other. I can't explain it. "New year" Finn said dramatically, "same people" Lara smiled. "More drama" I said and everyone laughed. Cliche? I think so.