The Dramas Of Apartment 5B

Touche

We arrived back later that night, around twelve. Everyone was in the kitchen waiting silently, I guess one of the many words to describe it would be, awkward. "Look, let's just forget about it, forget about everything" I said to everyone, "Max are you sure?" Finn said worried. "You guys still convinced you can beat us in a game of pool?" I said changing the subject, no one said anything and Carter glanced from Finn to me, "we did beat you once" he said grabbing a stick, everyone followed along. Maybe it would take longer than I hoped for things to go back to normal. We played the game of pool and it didn't mean anything, I didn't feel right here anymore, I made a mistake, I should never have come back. Lisa looked across at me, "you okay?" she asked, I bit my lip and shrugged, "no" I stated, everybody stopped turning their attention to me. The silence was nearly deafening. "Max, I thought you said-" Jason began, "you thought I said I was okay, I said that because that's what you expected me to say" I laughed helplessly, "Max, I don't expect anything from you" Jason said quietly. "Max, were not forcing you to stay here, you take your time" Carter said slowly. I wish they would stop, stop treating me like I could break any second, I hated that.

"I just want things to go back to normal, like how we were at the start" I sighed, "like when you and Jason got together?" Natalie asked, clueless. I turned to Jason, "you didn't tell them?" I said, "I didn't think it was my place" he stated, "I also hoped it wasn't real" he said under his breath. "Tell us what?" Lara asked, "Jason and I broke up" I said, Carter nodded, "we kind of expected that" he said. "Doesn't stop me from loving you" Jason said looking straight in my eyes, "Jason, don't" I began, "don't what? Max, I don't care who hears it or who knows it. I am in love with you" he said his voice raising and then dropping, "you're too protective of me, Jason" I sighed, "of course I am, I'm protective of the people I love" he said emphasizing the word love. "I can't do this right now" I said walking to my room.

There was a knock on my door, "please Jason I just need to figure things out" I said, the door opened, it was Finn. "Not Jason" he smiled, "right" I said sitting up in my bed. He sat next to me, "you okay?" he asked, "I don't know, everything just feels" "forced?" he said completing my sentence, "yeah" I agreed, "that's not a bad thing, it means we're working for us to stay together, you know" he said his voice sort of cracking, "what?" I asked. He shrugged looking down, "you know I care about you, and you're a good person" he said finally forcing himself to look at me, "thanks, Finn" I laughed. We sat there for a minute, not saying anything. "Okay, I'm going to go" he said clapping his hands for no reason, I laughed, "Finn, I care about you too" I said, he smiled, "where did the old Max go?" he laughed standing at the door, "if you tell anyone I said that I'll rip your throat out" I said, "and there she is" he laughed walking out.

The next day I finally got to set early, for once Mr. Samuels, my boss, seemed in a good mood. He even let me look over the script before I handed them out, lucky me. "Hey solider" Shawn said to me at lunch, "hi" I mumbled, "didn't get your beauty sleep?" he joked, "not exactly" I sighed inspecting the ugly sandwich in my hand, Shawn wrinkled up his face, "that looks nice" he said relaxing again, "you're funny" I said sarcastically, he sat next to me, "thanks Princess" he laughed. I stood up to get some coffee, "perfect, coffee machines broken" I sighed banging my hand on the grumbling machine, bad idea. The coffee machine exploded on me, and I mean literally exploded. Shawn chocked on his water and began to laugh loudly, I gave him a look and his face went serious, he cleared his throat and stood up, "sorry, not funny" he said, I laughed, "yeah, it kind of is" his face turned confused, "hold on isn't that burning you?" he asked, "no I'm actually resistant to heat" I said sarcastically, "really, that's cool" he nodded handing me some paper towels, "the coffee's cold" I said, "yeah, I guessed" he laughed, "I have a spare shirt" he said looking in his bag and handing me a gray tee shirt, "right, because you just happen to have a shirt in your bag in case your co worker spills coffee on themselves" I said, "no I have it for the gym tonight, not everything's about you" he scowled, "now go get change" he said pushing me into the bathroom, "thanks for the shirt!" I called.

The shirt was too big so I tied a knot in it to keep it from falling over my shorts. "Looks good on you" he said when I went back out, "it's a tee shirt" I shrugged sitting down. "Still, looks good on you" he laughed, "okay,thanks" I said. Mr. Samuels walked in, "where are the coffee's?" he demanded, "well, I kind of, by mistake" I began. Shawn stood up clearing his throat, "I broke it, I can go get coffee's for everyone" Shawn said, "yeah, well get to it, my mouth requires coffee" Mr.Samuels yelled snapping his fingers. Shawn nodded walking out the room. "Shawn, hey wait up" I called, he turned around, "why did you do that?" I asked, he stopped for a second scanning my face as though waiting for me to figure it out, "I think you know" he said quietly before running off.

I stayed late at set that night.Printing out scripts for tomorrow, "still here?" Shawn asked walking towards the printer, "could say the same to you" I laughed. He nodded, "hey, are you okay? you've been acting kind of, off" he asked, "yeah, I'm fine" I shrugged, he laughed lightly and leaned against the wall in front of me, "okay, maybe I don't know much about girls, but I know when they say they're fine, they aren't fine" he said, I laughed again, "maybe, maybe not" I said, he shook his head, "sit, tell me what's going on" he demanded. I looked at him for as second about to say something about not telling me what to do, I pushed the thought away and obediently sat down. "Talk" he demanded again, "you're not good at this" I said, he smiled, "we'll see." I sighed, "I broke up with Jason" I stated, he didn't say anything for a while, just watched me, "why?" he asked, and so I told him, about the bet, everything. His face didn't show any reaction. "I'm sorry" he said once I had finally finished, he pulled me into a hug. "It's okay" I said awkwardly, "I'm going to go home" I said pulling away, "goodnight" he said.

It was ten o'clock when I got back home, the guys weren't home, Friday night is now 'beer night' for them apparently, some new tradition the started a few weeks ago. "Hey, how was set?" Lisa asked walking into the kitchen, "good" I shrugged opening the door to the empty fridge, "that Shawn guy still in love with you?" Natalie joked, "you know he isn't that nearly kiss thing was just a miss understating, he didn't know that I have a boyfriend" I stated, "had" Lara corrected entering the kitchen, "right, thanks for rubbing it in" I said, "yeah you did break up with him though, not the other way around" Natalie stated, "doesn't mean I'm not in love with him anymore" I said grabbing the last milk carton out of the fridge and turning around. Everyone's faces were shocked, "what" I said confused, "you said you loved him" Lara said, "that's something I never thought I'd hear come out of Maxy's mouth" Lisa said quietly, I threw her a nasty look. "Hold on if you love him what's the problem?" Lara asked, "are you serious?" Natalie said to Lara, "the problem is, is that he made a bet to have sex with her!" Lisa said angrily, "yeah, do you know how unfeminist that is" Natalie said, "not a word, Nat" I said taking a chug of milk, "you're disgusting" she said, "what, it's milk, calm down" I said loudly swallowing the milk, "yeah, she's not drinking breast milk" Lisa said, we all looked at her, "too far?" she asked, "yes" we all said simultaneously, "touche" she shrugged. "Anyway, I just need a break, okay seriously, I still don't know if I'm overreacting" I said throwing the empty carton in the bin, "you are not!" Lisa retorted, "if that happened to me I would stab them in the eye!" she said standing up and slamming her hands on the bench, I sighed, "again, too far, Lis" "sorry" she said sitting back down. "I don't think you are" Natalie said more calmly, I turned to Lara, "well, you can never really know how drunk he was, if he can remember it, probably not too drunk, but do really want all this to end because of a bet?"