After the love of his life, Lilly, falls into a coma after nearly drowning. Max loses his grip on reality and spirals out of control. Drugs, liquor, lies, and an unfair attack on an old buddy. Max himself is lost, and it seems as though nobody can save him, except, maybe one very special lifeguard, and help from friends he never knew he had.
"Max, come on. We really should go. Do you really think she'll just wake up miraculously just because you're here? It's no use man, I overheard the doctors and they don't think tha-"
"SHUT UP!"
"Don't tell me to shut up! I'm your best friend, I just don't want you getting hung up on a vegetable that will never even know that you loved her. She's gone, believe me, I'm just as upset as you, I mean me her-"
"You and her what?" Max sniffs as he straightens up and squares his shoulders with Wyatt's.
"Well you had to know, she was kind of a slut, and when we were bored we'd-" Wyatt is stopped mid sentence by Max, or more accurately, Max's fist. Wyatt hits the hospital floor with a loud thud.
"Dude! What was that for?"
"Don't ever talk about her like that again! In fact, never come back here again. If I see you here, then you had better plan on staying here for a while." Max slams himself back down into his worn out chair, it squeaks a bit from that added weight. Wyatt stands and stomps out of the hospital room.
"You were the only one that ever understood me." Max whispers in Lilly's ear. He then slumps back and falls asleep in his chair, gazing at the cluttered machinery crowded around her, all of it trying to keep her alive.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]