Friction

Chapter 39

Over the next two weeks, Max threw himself into preparations for his new channel launch. He was aiming to post his first few videos by the second week of November. Instantly, his days went from being aimless to hectic within a blink of an eye. Max fell into an endless cycle of filming, editing, and continuously tweaking his content to make each new episode even better than its predecessor. Max reached out to potential sponsors and collaborators, and his skin grew about an inch thicker after all the rejection he experienced from their end. Some of the contacts responded—however, most didn't reply—and even fewer expressed any actual interest in working with him without the Wilder brothers.

All of them seemed wary about his damaged reputation from Lexi's breakup video, which was probably compounded now by the fact that his childhood best friend's channel had grown quite popular among females aged 18 to 25. To date, the bitch boasted close to a million subs for her lifestyle channel. Lexi drew upon her unusual childhood upbringing to separate herself from other gurus who might have been prettier, more fashionable, or funnier than her. Lexi presented herself as an earthy, organic, boho-loving DIY goddess who provided fans with soothing, wholesome tutorials on "How to Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden" and "How to Crochet a Swimsuit Cover-Up."

Max quickly realized that he needed to start hustling that much harder in order to overcome all the forces working against him. Every night, Max worked until he was red-eyed and foggy-brained, staying up well past midnight, only to crawl out of bed around six or seven the next morning for a quick workout before continuing the grind.

Right before his mom's birthday, Max filmed himself baking a cake for the first time in his life and then delivered the lopsided, slightly burnt disaster to his mom on her birthday.

She was beyond shocked to see him at her front door. "¿Qué haces aquí, mijo?"

What are you doing here, my son?

Max smiled awkwardly as he held out the ugly chocolate creation like a peace offering. "Feliz cumpleaños, mamá."

Happy birthday, mom.

His mom's mouth dropped even more in surprise. "¿Es que para mí?"

Is that for me?

"Sí."

Yes.

Once she let him in the house, he set the cake onto her kitchen table. Not surprisingly, his mom started to criticize everything about it.

She had something to say about the presentation, "Este es el pastel más feo que he visto en mi vida."

This is the ugliest cake I have ever seen in my life.

She didn't like the taste of it, either. "¡Demasiado dulce! Sabe a caries."

Too sweet! Tastes like cavities.

Despite her negativity, Max couldn't help noticing that his mom had helped herself to four large servings of the cake and ate every single bite. Afterward, she beamed from ear to ear in the selfies they took together. It was the happiest Max had seen his mom in quite some time. He hung out with her for about an hour.

She nagged about his health. "Why do you have such dark circles under your eyes, mijo? Are you going out too much at night? You better not be running around with those Axel boys from sundown to sunrise!"

Max felt a twinge of annoyance. "Relax, mama, I'm not even friends with them anymore. And their last name is Wilder. Axel is his first name."

His mom waved her hand as though it was inconsequential. She proceeded to interrogate him about his dating life, "Are you using protection with las chicas?"

For some reason, the image of Nina flickered before him. Max blushed. "Mama, that's enough!"

"Te lo digo por tu bien."

I'm telling you for you own good.

Eventually, his mom moved on to drill him about his future. "When are you going back to school? You need to get your GED. YouTube won't pay the bills forever. You're going to be homeless once you get too old to be on camera."

Max got even more annoyed. He started to get snippy with her, "I know what I'm doing, mama. Stop telling me how to live my life. I'm not a little kid anymore!"

As he rose to leave, his mom suddenly asked, "So... who is she, mijo?"

Again, Nina flashed across his mind. He coughed. "What... do you mean?"

"I'm not blind, I know my own son," his mom clucked. "There's something different about you. I think someone has changed you."

How did his mom know?

Had she been spying on him and Nina?

Max kept his answer purposely vague. "I have a new roommate, if that's what you're trying to get at..."

"Roommate, you say?" His mom snorted. Clearly, she wasn't convinced. "Well, I hope she is a good girl."

"Her name is Nina," Max found himself admitting at last. "And, don't worry, mama, she is a good girl. She's the best person I know. We're, um, just friends, though."

"You should bring her around next time. I want to meet her, mijo."

"Yeah, maybe, I'll have to see... if... things get more serious between us," Max replied hesitantly. He leaned down to drop a kiss on his mom's cheek. "Anyway, I hope you have a happy birthday, mama. Enjoy your cake. I gotta head out now."