For Rylie

Chapter 31

Of course it then started bucketing down. I'd love to say that it didn't make a difference and that we were too into the moment to notice, but it was nearly freaking hailing. 

I squealed, jumping away from Max then laughed. "Come on!" I yelled at him, getting a hold of his hand and running into the backyard to stand under the shelter on the porch, where the rest of the group was standing. 

"Oh my God you're soaked!" Leah exclaimed when she saw us run onto the deck, both Max and I were laughing. 

She was right though. My hair was dripping down my back and my dress was clinging to me, while I was fairly sure my heels were wrecked. 

"It was so worth it," Max smiled down at me, the dorky smile that made my heart melt. 

"Wait, what?" Tessa shrieked, cuddling into Seth for warmth probably. "Did something happen?"

An idea popped into my head then. "Oh my God! How many times do we have to tell you that nothing is going on between us?"

The group laughed and walked inside, leaving Max and I standing under the cover on the porch. 

"Before you say anything," I looked up at Max with a real smile lighting my face. "Everyone's saying I'm unobservant so I want to see exactly how observant they are!"

Max let out a chuckle, shaking the water out of his hair. "You are so strange," he pinched my nose then turned to walk inside. 

I was going to get my bag from the living room but Max took my hand and led me to his room. He silently went to his wadrobe and pulled out a pair of black sweats and the same, blue t-shirt he was wearing on Wednesday when he told me all about his father. 

The one with a pun about homonyms. 

He threw them to me. "Here. And there's a towel in the bathroom."

"What? You don't want me to get changed in here?" I teased, a smirk twisting my lips up at the corners. 

 Max's face was seriously adorable as he blushed. "Yeah. I mean, I uh... No. Uh."

"Awh you're so cute!" I tried to pinch his cheeks but he batted my hand away. 

"Just go get into something warm or you'll get a cold."

I smiled involuntarily and walked into Max's bathroom, sliding out of my dress and putting on the over sized t-shirt and sweats, that I had to roll up at the hips ten times. 

I dried my hair as best I could with the towel but it was still damp. 

Looking in the mirror I frowned. I looked an absolute mess. My hair was in damp tangles down my back and the massive clothes floated on me. 

Sighing, I walked back out to Max's bedroom to see Max standing with his back to me. His shirtless back, I might add. 

I saw a spiral of black on his shoulder blade that I now recognized as a tattoo. It was a japanese kanji character that I couldn't quite recognize. 

He was getting a shirt out of his drawer and when he turned to me, he smirked. 

Yeah, okay.

Just.

Wow. 

"Will you put a shirt on?" I asked, biting my lip while trying not to look at his chest. 

"Unbelieveably distracted by my body?" He asked me, his smirk getting wider as he gestured to his abs. 

Yes...

"No."

"Don't worry. You can tell me. We're on the same page anyway."