MaxNeil: Lake Lilac Summer Social

"Heyyyyyy Neeeeiiilllll..."

Neil cringed uncomfortably when his name was called. He slowly turned to Tabii, an uncomfortable smile forced on his lips.

"Hi Tabii..."

"With two i's."

"Yeah, whatever."

Neil faced back to his friends, fully intending to return to their conversation. Instead, Tabii (with two i's) grabbed onto his arm and attempted to drag him away. His struggling did little to release her vice-like grip.

"Hey, back off of him."

Tabii slowly pivoted around menacingly to the speaker. Her eye twitched slightly, and if looks could kill, the person who spoke would be motionless on the floor.

Max, however, was unphased. He gave her an equally threateningly glare, refusing to back down.

"Let him go," he growled, getting closer to the two. He passed his punch off to Nikki so that his hands were free.

Tabii let out a hiss worthy of Nikki's approval. Max only narrowed his eyes more and stepped even closer.

He grabbed Neil's arm, gently but firm, (unnatural for Max, Neil observed) and pulled the nerd away from the girl.

Tabii got ready to strike, but was interrupted by Erin as she came by and held the blonde by the shoulder.

"Oh my god, Tabii, are you still obsessed over that boy? He's not worth it."

"He's right here, dipshit," Max commented, but he seemed to be ignored.

"Let's just go help Sasha, OK?"

Tabii grumbled but complied. Max and Neil were left alone, Max finally letting go of his arm. Neil found himself missing the contact, but was too busy processing everything to really care at the moment.

Max defended me.

He got me away from her.

He stood up for me.

Now that I think about it, he's done this a lot...

"Hey nerd, you OK?"

Max was looking up at him with the greenest eyes focused on his face. He looked concerned-though it was hard to spot-and Neil found his face start to burn up.

He cares about me?

"I- I'm- uh, I- you-"

Max grinned at him, laughing slightly, "guess that means you're fine, then."

Neil felt butterflies in his stomach. With a quick check of his emotions, he managed to make a hypothesis. He had a crush.

Wait.

I have a crush on Max?

Neil swiftly turned away, trying to hide his blush with his cup.

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David had let Nikki announce the winners because she had volunteered to count the ballots.

"After counting the ballots, I, Nikki, have found, that the winners are totally-definitely-not-fake-legitimately..."

Max looked achieved. He guessed that the raven-haired boy and Nikki had planned something and tweaked the votes. He wouldn't be surprised.

"...Max and Neil!"

Neil's face immediately burned up. He started stuttering helplessly, unable to keep a handle on his emotions. The feelings he tried desperately to hold back and ignore all night came back ten-fold and he didn't know how to handle it.

Max stood, facing Neil. He suddenly bowed a little, a single hand behind his back, and the other reached out to the science geek.

"May I have this dance?"

Max was smirking successfully. Neil felt like he could do nothing other than take the invitation, and so he did.

Neil was quickly pulled towards Max, forced to follow his movements. It wasn't harsh-no-more like he was leading him. Max was an impressingly good dancer, that Neil couldn't deny.

"Someone has a crush," Max chuckled out through their dancing. Neil was thankful that everyone else starting dancing too so that he could avoid the embarrassment.

"I- wh- huh?"

Max laughed again, joyful and relaxed. Something Max wasn't. He felt privileged to be able to hear it.

"Are you kidding me? You're so obvious. You look away every time I face you, you've been avoiding me, and you're blushing right now. Just like earlier."

Neil tensed slightly. He didn't know that Max noticed.

"Oh... um... yeah, sorry about that. I- uh, I get if you don't feel the same."

Max turned quickly, taking Neil down into a dip. It was shocking considering how short the emerald-eyed boy was.

"Of course I do, 'ya dork."