Savior [Completed]

Savior: [Nine]

Nine - Max

 “Hey, you made it!”

His smile was infectious. The little, inexplicable nervousness I’d been feeling just moments before approaching my friends had disappeared, and now I found myself unable to stop smiling.

“Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”

Jake shrugged carelessly. “Well, after the first half hour we were starting to think maybe you just like our company through a screen.”

After the first half hour? I frowned. “Half hour…what? You told me six-thirty! But oh, by the way, hi everyone!”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Come sit.”

“You guys had to wait for me to say hi first?” I asked jokingly, taking the spot that had clearly been reserved for me. “And Jake. It’s six thirty – I’m on time.”

He’d stood up to greet me; now he sat back down. “Nuh uh,” he shook his head, “I told you about six. And not show up if it was after six thirty.”

My forehead creased. Before I’d say something though, he waved his hand dismissively, to tell me it didn’t really matter.

“Although I have to ask,” he said, “I tried calling you but your phone was switched off. How come?”

The answer, in my mind, brought a slight tinge to my face, I think. I hadn’t really updated the guys on the most recent happenings, and though I don’t know why it was, the whole thing I had ongoing with antidepressants and stuff made me a bit uncomfortable.

I guess I just hadn’t come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. With everything out in the open I was obviously happier, but my biochemistry was still messed up and it’s not like I’d come to terms, exactly, with everything anyway. Thinking of him was still upsetting, and it still made me nervous to imagine….

 “Is something wrong?”

You’ve always been a little more perceptive than others, haven’t you, Tony? Everyone’s gaze’s intensified on me, and I shook my head quickly.

“No, it’s just…before I can answer that, there’s actually a bit of a long story that I ought to update you with.”

“And do you want to? Or it’s cool?”

I smiled at Ray as a show of appreciation. “It’s not exactly a secret, but it’s a bit weird to bring it up like it’s this big story and stuff.”

Jake’s eye roll was deliberately exaggerated. “Please,” he said, “everything about you is a big story,” he paused momentarily, “like, seriously. Not in a bad way, but is there anything that counts as ‘average’ for you?”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, not really meaning it, “and I’m hungry. We’re meant to be here for coffee and food, aren’t we?”

“We already ordered,” Ken informed with a somewhat sheepish smile, “but come on. Let’s go get you something.”

He was sitting between me and the aisle and so obviously had to stand up for me to walk to the counter, but I was a little surprised when he started to walk with me.

“You’re surprised,” he noted.

He’d asserted it and knew it, so I didn’t confirm it. Instead, “I guess it’s a little different from…well, you know what I mean. But it’s nice.”

“I get it,” he sighed, “and I guess that after we’ve been so out of touch, it’s going to be a little weird becoming friends again, huh? That’s assuming we ever go back to what we were.”