Oscar (bxb)

2.

Maxie waited till that night to come out of his room. The place looked a lot better and Chloe had finally replied to his texts. She'd ended up elsewhere and clearly Oscar and whoever else had been allowed to crash in the spare bed. He hadn't been around his cousin much in the past year or so but the girl he'd known was not who she was now. Maybe the same would happen to him.

He came downstairs. Most of the mess was gone and there was room to breathe. It seemed everyone was hanging out in the living room and from what he could pick up from the stairs, they were talking about last night.

"I'm never going out before a morning shift ever again," a girl's voice could be heard.

"Please, yes you are," a feminine male voice replied.

Maxie lingered in the doorway. His eyes landed upon his cousin Chloe who even in her comfortable clothes appeared stunning. She had long blonde hair that looked impeccable and clear, pristine skin, even without makeup. He wished that he'd ended up on her side of the family as he'd gotten landed with strawberry waves and freckles. "Hi everyone."

"Oh guys," Chloe announced, gesturing towards Maxie. This caught everyone's attention. "This is our new house mate. Max, this is Daisy, Emmett and Olivia."

Daisy smiled knowingly in return. Emmett was the boy with slicked back black hair and an overall groomed appearance. Olivia had shoulder length brown hair and sharper features. Great, he thought, I'm living with walking talking perfection. That's gonna' do a number on my confidence.

Everyone said hi and appeared friendly, although he wasn't sure if it was curiosity in their eyes or whether they were judging him.

He sat down next to Chloe on the couch and was immediately offered a bottle of wine.

He took it without hesitation.

"Where were you living before? Dorms?"

After his swig of the bottle, he nodded his head. "Yeah. Well, not here. I transferred University, actually."

This earned him some questionable looks.

"Two months in? Didn't you like it?"

Yikes. "It just wasn't for me."

Daisy interjected, "so what are you studying now?"

"Counseling," he replied.

"Oh great," Emmett said with a smirk. "We're in definite need of some of that."

"Maybe after I sort out some of my own crap first," he replied with a shy smile.

"Like what?"

Well, that was... blunt. Olivia's hard stare was intimidating. She seems... nice.

"Oh just... regular uni stuff, you know?"

"Okay are you coming out with us tonight or?" Chloe asked immediately, turning to him.

"You guys are going out? Again? Its Sunday..."

The group shared amused looks.

"Its the weekend?" Daisy said, confusedly.

"Not tomorrow," Maxie replied.

"Oh, are you not a going out person? Because you definitely picked the wrong house to live in," Emmett stated. There was a slight hint of judgment in there but Maxie was sure it was harmless.

"Oh he knows," Daisy confirmed with a grin. "He came in at like twelve and the place was trashed. Apparently he found Oscar in his bed too."

Maxie's face turned red, immediately. "Didn't think I'd find a guy naked in my bed on the first night," he attempted, jokingly.

The faces around him dropped. "He was naked?" Emmett leaned in, his curiosity peaked.

"Was I not supposed to say that?" Maxie asked in a weak voice.

"Oscar has a habit of doing that," Olivia commented, crossing her legs and leaning back, coolly. "I admit its fun to wake up to."

"Oscar is Liv's... something. No one in the house knows since she can't make up her mind," Chloe explained.

They're always fucking straight. Not that it mattered. Maxie didn't know the guy and he had no intention of continuing anything past their very awkward encounter. God forbid they have to talk again.

"That depends on whether he stays here or goes home," Olivia corrected before turning her eyes to Maxie again. "He's from Germany."

"We get it, he's hot and foreign," said Daisy. "Maxie, you wanna' come out with us tonight? You don't have to. It might get a little loud later when we come back."

Maxie had promised himself he would do things differently. He wouldn't hide himself in his room out of fear. He moved away for a reason. He had no one to be scared of running into. He had to make friends, that was the point. Moving forward meant meeting new people and making restarting was a chance not to make the same mistakes.

"Sure. Why not," he said, pushing the multitude of reasons not to out of his mind. No overthinking tonight either. Plus getting smashed meant he'd feel a lot more easygoing, right?

"Great, you can get ready with us," Chloe said as she stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

Everyone started to get up and Daisy gestured for him to follow. He followed her, as well as Olivia and Emmett, upstairs and into one of the larger rooms of the house.

"I don't know what to wear tonight," Daisy claimed as she headed towards the wardrobe. "No way my makeup's going as good as it did last night."

Olivia and Emmett planted themselves on the bed, a drink in each of their hands.

Oh shit. He had to actually... wear something good... He'd have to figure that one out. His confidence wasn't exactly at an all time high so it would take a lot before he felt presentable enough to go out.

"Maxie," Emmett said, "tell us more about you. Are you gay, bi, straight...?"

"Subtle," Olivia muttered.

"I'm not trying to come onto the gay- sorry, guy," Emmett replied with a snarky attitude. Probably a little buzzed by the sounds of it. "Besides he's not my type."

"I know your type. I'm dating him," Olivia sent back.

The two laughed and Maxie wasn't sure what to say. When entering an already united group, it was hard to slither in to the natural order of things. A.k.a. get in on inside jokes.

Olivia nudged Maxie with her shoe, "answer the question."

"Oh, uh. Gay."

"Single?"

He paused before murmuring an a faint, "yeah."

"Aw. We'll find you someone, then," Olivia reassured, picking up on his tone.

"That's okay. I'm not really looking for a boyfriend."

"Who said anything about a boyfriend?" Emmett's said with his cheeky attitude.

Casual sex was not something that ever really crossed his mind. Probably because sex was never casual in his mind. He was too panicky for that. He had a hard enough time taking off his shirt in front of others let alone everything else. Plus he'd had the stupid idea in his head that he'd be having sex with only one guy for the rest of his life. The only guy he'd ever been comfortable with.

He hadn't had to worry about that before.

Chloe came in with a bottle of vodka. "We broke all our shot glasses so we're just going to have to swig from the bottle."

Okay, well... welcome to University, I guess.