Blue Funk (boyxboy)

VIII

Once I knocked I felt my stomach drop as the door opened. It was just Max's mom who smiled widely and ushered me in. "Wynter! It's been awhile." She said, "Max is upstairs." I nodded and walked towards the stairs. I passed Maggie doing her homework, she glanced at me and smiled. I continued upstairs and then got to Max's room and knocked on the door.

Max answered the door and then his eyes widened. "Max, please listen to me." I said. He tried to close the door but I got in the way and stepped into the room. "I hate this." I said.

"What do you mean?" He said. He wouldn't look at me though.

"We haven't talked in a month God damn it. I hate it. I hate it so much, more than you could ever imagine. Maybe I shouldn't have told you how I felt because it ruined our friendship but you always told me everyone had the right to know the truth." I said. I didn't take my eyes of him once, his back was turned to me. "Now you won't even look at me but we used to be best friends... Max..."

"Wynter, I've missed you too. So much has happened." He said. His voice almost sounded shaky.

"Max, what's been going on?" I asked. "Why won't you look at me?"

"Wynter I heard about your mom." He said. "I'm sorry I didn't know I would've invited you to come stay with us-"

"Max. Let me see your face." I said. Max took at deep shaky breath and then turned around to face me. That's when I saw something I didn't notice before. A big black eye.

"It looks worse than it is honest." He said softly. I felt guilt growing in the pit of my stomach.

"Who did this?" I asked softly looking at him.

"I got- it doesn't matter really does it? God Wynter I don't know what I'm doing." He said hugging me. I just hugged him back and let him cry. It ft so weird that we hadn't talked for a month but we were so quickly friends again. I rubbed his back softly and tried to comfort him, but I didn't know what to say.

"Make me a promise Max." I said after he had calmed down. "Promise me we will never go a month without talking again."

"I promise. Oh God Wynter this has been the worst month of my life. I feel so stupid for not accepting you for who you are and your feelings, you're my best friend after all, forgive me?" He said smiling softly at me.

That smile and those words made my heart flutter. "Of course I forgive you. If you let me live with you." I said.

"Consider that done." He said grinning. "I'm sorry that your mom did that." He said.

"It's fine, I've just been living in a house without electricity, heating or water for a month. Isabel has been my savior though, I even got a job at her restaurant." I said to Max.

"That's good." He smiled, "I also noticed how you became friends with Summer. She's a nice girl isn't she?" Asked Max.

I nodded, "She is." I agreed. I walked over to Max's bed and sat down on it then I laid down. "Your house is so warm."

He laughed and I felt him sit next to me. "I know." A moment of silence past between us. "You know... I cried myself to sleep every night this month because I though I had lost my best friend."

"Really?" I asked, but I didn't have to wait for answer. I sat up, "...Max I..." I didn't know what to say to him.

He looked over and smiled at me. "You mean a lot to me." He said laughing softly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." I said laughing softly.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked turning slightly away from me. I couldn't help but look at his black eye.

"You just did." I said laughing softly as I crossed my legs on his bed.

"Okay smart-ass, I'm asking you something else." He said laughing. I nodded and waited for his question. "Why do you have a crush on me? Like what do you like about me?"

I thought about that for a minute. "I don't have an exact answer because to be honest there isn't a real reason why I do. There's just something about you. Your personality, your humor or the way you smile. Something about you catches my attention and draws me to you. I know what I like when I see it, I just can't explain it."

"Oh." He said. He laid down and started at the ceiling. Had I said something wrong? I was only telling the truth. "We need to get you moved in." He said.

＊＊＊

The next week I was moved in to Max's house and I said goodbye to my old house. I hope my mom wouldn't come home and look for me because I didn't think I could deal with that. I still worked at Isabel's restaurant and I still talked to summer at lunch but now I talked to Max too. At lunch I'd sit by summer and Max on the table in the corner and Summer would tell us about her latest drawing and Max would tell us about Maggie's shenanigans and it all worked out.

Max's black eye healed and every night when I went back to his house after work we would watch documentaries. I would say that my life was getting back on track, although I did notice a few things happening with Max's family. Maggie had been so quiet the past week, so had Max's mom and I don't think max had said one word to his dad this whole time.

Every Friday Maggie would be gone so Max and I would be home alone. It's not like we did anything different though, we'd still watch tv and just sit around all day. I liked it because my life had a schedule to it, it seemed calm and peaceful. Everyday was basically the same, and I was okay.