If heart ache was a physical pain, I could face it.

Part Twenty Nine

Tom’s POV

Suddenly and with urgency the door slams open, and in the split second it takes me to look up at it, I panic, thinking it’s a Doctor coming in, after all they would only enter the room with such force if there were an emergency.  But when I lift my eyes to the door it’s not a Doctor my eyes meet... It’s Max.  What the fuck is he doing here?

“Stay away from her.” I stay threateningly, standing up and positioning myself between him and Anne. I clench my fists together, trying to keep calm.

“Tom move out the way.” He demands. But if he really thought I’d move he’s just showing his stupidity again.

“No.” I reply standing my ground. I wish he’d just fuck off and leave me and my girl alone. I can feel our time together slipping away, and he’s making me waste it! He takes two more steps towards me until there’s barely an inch between our bodies, but I’m not going to back down. He’s not getting any closer to my girl.

“Move.” He says again, slower this time, his eyes never leaving mine. And this time I consider it. Anne’s lying here because we stressed her out by arguing, maybe she can hear us now and we could just make it worse. But then I remember the way he feels about her, and there’s no way I’m letting him near her when she can’t tell him to back off.

“Max, just turn around and leave.” Just as I say it he tries to take a step around me, and before I even realise what I’m doing, I’m shoving him up against the wall. “Stay away from Anne!” I practically growl at him. “She chose me not you. Stop trying to worm your way back into her life, you’re just make her feel guilty, and she doesn’t need that right now!”

“What’s the matter Tom? Feeling insecure?” He sneers at me. And I so nearly knock the look of his face but change my mind at the last minuet and hit the wall instead. Causing me to wince instead. I’m not going to let him make me lose my temper completely. Not here anyway.

“Insecure? Don’t be stupid.” Maybe just a little bit... “But this is all your fault! If you hadn’t stressed her out she wouldn’t be here!”  

“My fault?!” He shouts back. “This is your fault! You started it earlier with that stupid kiss! Don’t deny it, we both know you did it to wind me up. Well yeah it did, and you got the retaliation you wanted, and guess what. Now you’re girlfriends paying the price.” I drop my hands away from him as his words hit a nerve, and echo my earlier thoughts. I said then that this was my fault and now he’s backing it up. The tears start falling again as a sob escapes my lips. I drop to my knees as they give way once more. Guilt really does consume you.  Before I know it, I can barely breathe as I give in copletley to the tears. I do deserve to feel like this after all.

“Tom? Tom?” I suddenly hear Max calling to me. But even if I wanted to I wouldn’t be able to reply to him.

Max’s POV

Shit.

“Tom?” I try again, but once more he doesn’t reply. I’m not surprised I doubt he can even talk right now. I drop down to my knees in front of him as the tears start falling down my checks too, placing my hands on his shoulders wishing he’d just look at me so he can see how sincere my next words are going to be. He hurt me. He ripped my heart out, but it wasn’t just him it was Anne too. Just like it isn’t just his fault now, but mine too. And what me and Tom had before all this mess was great, times like this makes you appreciate things like that, and hopefully if I just swallow my pride now, we can get some of that friendship back, just like I might be able to with Charly...

“Tom, that was a low blow.” I start. “I’m really am sorry, this wasn’t just your fault, it was mine too. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that.” Oh god. “Tom just breathe, before you pass out, if you think I’m going to kiss you you’ve got another thing coming. Tom snorts at me and I relax slightly as he calms down a little bit.

“Max, you kiss me, I’m going to throw up in your mouth.” He says in between breaths and I let out a shaky laugh. Maybe this is going to be easier that I thought.

“I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, I was angry.” He’s shaking his head at me before I’m even half way through the sentence.

“Don’t be stupid, I said it was your fault first.” He says, now that he’s calmed down he can finally talk properly again, even if he is still crying. “Anyway I’m going to get a drink, I’ll see you in a bit.” And with that he stands up and begins heading for the door.

“Wait a minuet.” I say confused, and he turns to face me once more. “After all that, you’re just going to leave me with her?”

“Yeah.” He smiles through his tears. “I’d say we understand each other now and are past this silly feud. We both just needed to let off a little steam instead of me just standing there and taking a hit to the face.” He laughs and after a slight pause I join in. This really could be the start of something new. “But Max.”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“I swear to God if you try anything, I’ll kill you.”

“Go and get your drink, idiot.” I say causing us both to laugh again. "And get that hand looked at, you proabably broke it, you hit like a girl."

"I do not." He calls as the door swings shut behind him.

Maybe we can both gain something out of this afterall, I just really hope we haven’t gained our friendship back at the expense of Anne...