❛ GHOSTIN' ❜ - 𝖼𝗆𝖻 ✓

041; was that your mom

third person.

despite the married couple being away for the night in celebrations of astrid's birthday, whilst she was in the shower max was sat on the edge of the bed with his gaze on the ground, his phone in his hand.

his screen read out two notifications he had missed from his mom while he had been driving, a missed call followed by a voicemail that he was yet to listen to, and was slightly scared to.

but with the shower turning off and astrid due to exit the bathroom at any minute, he sighed and clicked on the voicemail anyway, allowing it to play out across the hotel room while he continued to stare at his phone screen.

"hey max, it's mom. i heard about the news of julie and just wanted to check in and make sure you're okay. if you or your sister need me at any time i'm only a call away, love you."

"great," max mumbled to himself, shaking his head while searching through his contacts for his sister's number.

"was that your mom?" astrid asked, drying her hair with a towel as max looked at her.

"it was a voicemail."

"oh." astrid slowly nodded, watching him turn back to his phone as she slowly frowned, "are you still up for dinner tonight?"

"yeah..." he hesitantly said, still staring at his phone as he let out a sigh, "yeah i just need to call mollie and ask if mom has turned up at all."

"it's okay if you don't want to go." astrid told him.

max looked up from his phone as he glanced to her behind his shoulder, a slight frown on his face before he stood up and turned to properly face the girl, noticing the concerned look on her face.

"no i do i just- give me twenty minutes and we can go." max shrugged, throwing his phone onto the bed as he turned to his suitcase.

"max." she said.

"i'll call mollie after we have our dinner." he shook his head, "where are we going for dinner?"

"..you booked it." she looked up at him with her head titled.

"where did i book it?" he whispered to himself, scratching the back of his neck as his wife let out a sigh.

"it doesn't matter, we won't go." astrid told him.

"but it's your birthday."

"and you've already treated me to lunch and many clothes, we can skip dinner."

"now i feel like you've had a terrible birthday." max said as he shrugged, "i wrote it down somewhere."

"you seem too stressed, don't worry about dinner," she shook her head and gave him a small smile, placing the towel down and grabbing one of his many hoodies.

as he watched her sit on their bed and grab the book she had bought along with them both, he glanced back to the ground with his button up shirt in his hand still, beginning to refold it.

looking up from the book in her hands, astrid stared at the boy walking around the room unsure of what to do with himself as his plans were cancelled, max stood in the middle of their room while moving his head around, looking for something to do.