You Were Worth The Fight

Through It All

Tom POV

I looked across the van to where Max was sitting and I couldn't help but remember how he reacted to what I told him two nights ago. It was clear he had something on his mind. Why couldn't he tell me? He hadn't talked to me in two days. He was avoiding me, I was sure of it. I was he friend, why didn't he just tell me? Whatever it was, I had to get it out of him.

That day was a photo-shoot day, with 15 scheduled for the entire day. We were on our way to our sixth one, but we were already dead tired. Somehow, even though we were standing right next to each other for most of the photo-shoots, Max still hadn't talked to me. It was getting just plain stupid, so I planned on talking to him once we got to the studio.

As we got off the van, I tried getting to him, but he rushed inside the minute his feet touched the ground. I tried running in after him, but Jay stuck his arm out to stop him. "Don't. I know what you're thinking, but forcing him isn't going to get you answers."

"But he's my friend. If he has problems, I should help him!"

"Maybe he doesn't want you to know, but if you insist, go ahead. You might not like how it's going to turn out."

I pushed past him and walked into building. I was about to call him when I was suddenly being whisked away to a dressing room. There was no chance for me to get out, so I could only hope that there would be a break in the shoot so I could talk to him and finally figure out what's been happening.

XXXXXXXXXX

The photographer finally finished with my shots after what seemed like a really long half-hour. All that time, I kept on thinking about Max, and it didn't help that he was standing across the room at the snack table right in front of me.

I walked right up to the table, standing next to him, and instantaneously, he started moving away.

"Max," I called him. "What the hell?! You've been avoiding me since you left the van two days ago. If you have a problem, just tell me. I can help you."

After two long days of staying silent, he finally talks to me... by shouting at me. "What if I don't want your help?!"

"Mate, I'm just trying to help out a friend. You have something on your mind, it's troubling you. I don't want to see you like that!"

Fists clenched, he turned and walked up to me. "What is it with you and trying to help me out? Why do you want to force it out of me?!"

"Look, I was just trying to help. I'm sorry if it irritates you."

Max scoffed. "You are so stupid, you know that. You have no problems of your own, so now you trying to find other people's problems to be solve."

My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed. "What did you call me?"

"I called you stupid, because you are." Max started walking away.

By then, the people around in the studio had stopped what they were doing and were looking at us. From the corner of my eye, I could see Siva making his way to us. "Guys... calm down."

I brushed past him, putting my hand on Max's shoulder stopping him. "You..."

The moment my hand made contact with his shoulder, he turned around and pushed me. I stumbled backwards. Shocked, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. All I knew was that he was not going to leave just like that.

I shoved him back. We started pushing and shoving, back and forth, with the rest of the boys trying to break us apart. Things went from bad to worse when I shoved Max to hard.

He fell backwards onto the snack table. Unfortunately, he had a hand on my sleeve, which meant that I went down with him. The table broke, glass shattering, food splattered all over the place. Before I could hit the floor, I bumped my head on the corner of the table, falling to the ground with a loud throbbing in my head and covered with food.