Friction

Chapter 36

Late that evening, Max and Nina fell asleep beside each other on the couch. But, when Max awoke the following morning, he was alone again. As he emerged from his state of grogginess, he heard Nina shuffling around her room. He guessed that she had probably snuck away at some point during the night. As Max stretched and yawned, he noticed that a fleece blanket was tucked snugly around his body. It was Nina's blanket. The corners of his mouth tugged into a smile. Nina must have draped it around him before she left.

He checked his phone and saw that it was still early in the morning. Around 6:30 am. When Nina re-emerged in the common area, her makeup looked office ready, and she wore a conservative black turtleneck sweater that was tucked neatly into a high-waisted knee-length white pencil skirt.

Max's gaze swept appreciatively over her. There wasn't anything particularly special or overtly sexual about her outfit that morning, but he liked looking at her for the hell of it. She seemed much happier today, too. He felt relieved to see Nina acting more like her usual self again.

At that moment, Max realized that keeping his feelings on lockdown was going to be way harder than anticipated. Still, he was determined to keep things friendly between them.

"Heading to work?" he asked.

"You know it. Another day, another dollar," she said with a sigh. "Sometimes, I envy you, Max!"

Max eyed her with amusement. "Why would you envy a dumbass like me?"

"Because you're actually not a dumbass! You have it all figured out. You don't have to answer to anyone. You're your own boss."

"Agree to disagree."

Nina seemed curious. "How come?"

He shrugged. "I'm not my own boss at all. My fans basically own me, but I haven't posted anything over the past few months."

Nina winced for his sake. "Shit, I can totally see how that can be stressful."

Max sighed. "Right? I'm stuck on whether or not I should respond to Lexi's video. I know my fans want to hear my side of the story, but I dunno what to say to them."

"Do you really wanna give Lexi more attention, though?"

Max hesitated. He had never really spoken about this to anyone before, even though it was something that constantly lurked in the back of his mind. "I feel like people are expecting me to say something, and they won't let me move on until I do."

"You didn't really answer my question."

He gave her a sheepish look. "I mean, if it were up to me, then—fuck, no! I just wanna forget about Lexi and live my fucking life."

A thoughtful look crossed Nina's face. "Haven't you been working on a new channel? Some kind of podcast where you interview other influencers?"

"Yeah, I was trying to put something together along those lines, but I'd been banking on Axel and Avon to help me. They have all the connections in the industry, and Axel has always helped me handle the business side of my bigger contracts."

Nina seemed to sense his doubts. "What's holding you back?"

His voice grew quiet. "I'm not sure if I can do it on my own."

Nina frowned. "But you have me now. If you have any questions about contracts and financial shit, then I can help you."

Max's eyes grew wide. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

She smiled and nodded. "Of course. Don't look so worried, Max—it's not that complicated. Once I walk you through a few of them, you should be able to handle the rest on your own."

The moment Nina helped Max overcome one concern, however, another worry popped up in his head. "I've always wondered, though, whether my fans followed me because I was part of the Wilder Ones channel. Or if they actually liked me. For me."

"Well, you'll never know until you branch out on your own, right?" Nina quipped. "Besides, why do you need those two idiots? I always found your videos to be way more entertaining than theirs."

Max swallowed. "You watched my videos?"

"Not all of them but definitely more than a few," she said with a wink. "I actually liked the ones where you were just talking to the camera and vlogging about your daily life. They were funny and simple and... honest. It was like listening to a friend chat about his day. I really think you should consider the podcast idea again. You certainly have the personality for it."

Nina's confidence in him was wonderful to hear, but he still felt skeptical. "But our stupidest videos always got the most views. You know, the ones with me skateboarding off of the roof into swimming pools. Or the prank where Avery and I turned a housemate's bedroom into a giant ball pit. That's the kind of content viewers wanna see. I dunno if any of my old fans would click just to watch me talk about random shit."

"Don't talk about random shit, then. Talk about stuff that matters to you. You're not seventeen anymore and neither is your audience. Give them a chance to grow with you."

Max blinked. "Huh. I never thought about it like that before."

"And who says you can't do pranks and challenges anymore? I'm sure you can find a way to incorporate them into your podcast."

"That's true."

Nina grabbed her keys and headed towards the door. "Anyway, I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late, but you shouldn't doubt yourself, okay? You're fucking amazing."

"Thanks," Max murmured. "See ya, loser."

Nian grinned. "Bye, loser."

As the door clicked shut, Max was left alone again with his own thoughts, except, this time, thinking about his YouTube channel no longer drained him as it once did. In fact, for the first time since Lexi posted the breakup video, he felt energized at the thought of planning and filming and editing something he had never done before.

Max immediately pulled out his laptop and Canon PowerShot G7 camera and got to work.