Max's Hoodie

Nikki had been excited for this day to come. She had been waiting for when today would finally be here. The two camp counselors, David and Gwen, had promised all the kids a fun little field day. They had planned to go swimming in the lake, have a pizza party, hiking, and to end the night off by singing songs by the warm campfire. It would have been even more fun if it wasn't pouring down rain today. Most of the kids had even caught a cold. It was understandable, though, Nikki was surprised that she wasn't the first to get sick. In fact, she hadn't gotten sick at all. She was feeling perfectly fine. But sadly Neil, Nerris, Space Kid, and a couple others caught the awful cold, which leaves Max, Ered, Nurf, and Dolph, fine yet a little lonely in the lunchroom.

Nikki looked out the window, viewing the already set-up activities they were going to do soaked in the rain. She usually liked the rain, but today was different. Most of her friends were coughing and sneezing because of this rain. Darn rain, ruining everyone's fun. Speaking of fun ruiners, she saw out the corner of her eye her best friend, Max, walking over to her by the window, his hands in the pocket of his hoodie.

"The hell you up to?" Max spoke in his usual, kinda angry tone. She turned all the way around to face him, looking at him directly before speaking.

"Looking at the stupid rain." She stomped one foot on the ground out of aggression and sadness. Max couldn't seem to read her expression well enough before she gazed at the floor.

He lifted up one eyebrow. "Well, you're not gonna make the rain magically stop by staring at it. C'mon, let's go sit at the bench by the corner." She looked over to where he was gesturing with his eyes and reluctantly dragged herself over to the wooden bench. "Jesus, you really aren't in a good mood, are you?" He emphasized the "aren't".

He sat down on one side of the bench with Nikki on the other, playing with the laces attached to his hoodie. Nikki perked up, like a dog when they see their owner with a treat in their hand. Her magenta eyes shone with curiosity, grabbing Max's attention. He gazed up to her, no longer tugging the strings on his hoodie. "What?" he asked her, deciding not to take his eyes off of her until he got an answer.

But Max wasn't getting an answer. Instead his hoodie was having a weird staring contest with the young, turquoise-haired female. Either that or she was just dozing off, which probably isn't the case. "Hey, Nik, I asked you a question." He snapped his fingers directly in front of her, finally getting her to focus on him.

"What is it?" she finally responded. Max groaned and threw his head back to her reply. What is with her today? Max thought.

"Like I said before, I asked you a question," he said, his voice slightly showing how annoyed he was getting.

"Yeah, but all you said was 'what'." So she cOULD HEAR HIM-

  "Not the fucking point," he said, rubbing his temples to calm himself down. "What I was trying to ask is why you keep looking at my hoodie. Ever since we sat down, you've just been looking at it." Well, he wasn't wrong. Nikki didn't know why she was looking at it so much either. It just seems like something warm and fuzzy you'd wear if it was cold outside, or the weather they're having right now. She's still mad about that. But anyways back to the conversation.

She shrugged lazily. "I don't know. You wear it a lot and it looks comfy. But why do you wear it when it's like 90 degrees outside? Don't you get sweaty?" Max froze, almost stunned. And no, he wasn't freaking out about the sweaty part. He knew the question would come up eventually, but he never expected Nikki to be the one asking it. She isn't really the type to care about too many things, but Max couldn't distract her with anything. He had no excuse. Shit. Welp. Would have ya got to lose, he guessed.

"I guess the reason I wear it so much is," he started, sitting up, "is because my parents picked out this hoodie for me. It was a couple years back, now that I think about it." Wow. He had it for that long? "It was too big for me back then, but I loved it. It was when they... when they actually gave a shit about me. That's why I barely ever take it off. It just brings back memories that were fun to remember." Oh fuck. Nikki looked sad. Even more sad than a few minutes ago when she was gazing through the glass of the rectangular window.

"Oh," she began. "Is that why your parents weren't here on Parent's Day?" He nodded, rolling his emerald eyes in the process. Nikki felt like she was about to cry. She guessed Max saw her eyes watering, because he changed the subject real quick.

"Oh god dammit, Nikki, don't cry. It's not like I give a shit anymore." Actually, he gave many shits, but that's not the issue.

She made eye contact with him. "Really?" Max nodded his head in reassurance. Nikki stopped crying and began to smile. Not like, "Oh! I'm so glad you're okay!" Hell no. It was mischievous.

"Soooo.."

"So?"

"So then can I wear it?" Max raised an eyebrow in confusion. First she was sad, and now she was back to her usual giddy self? He could never understand this tomboy. But still, he cared about her.

You know what? Fuck it. "Fine." Nikki squealed in delight as he began to remove the hoodie from his head. He pulled it off and handed it to her, letting her put it on herself.

She struggled at first, making Max chuckle a bit, but she got her head through the right opening, unlike the first time when she accidently tried to fit her head through one of the armholes. That attempt was left with screaming and rolling around on the floor trapped.

Her hair was a bit poofy from all the static, but she didn't mind. It was warm, like she expected. She didn't feel too chilly anymore, which probably isn't quite the case for Max, but he never said anything. Nikki liked it. No, like was an understatement. She loved it.

"Max! Do you know what this means?!" He turned to Nikki.

"No. What's it mean?"

"It means I have to steal your hoodie more often!" She jumped off the bench and dashed away from the running, angry ten year old.