Her Perfect Mistake // Max Mayfield

4. A Normal Sleepover

It was around 11 pm when Bella, Max and Emma arrived in the Winston's house. The ride was nothing less than awkward - Bella was refusing to speak while Emma was doing everything in her power to understand her little sister and squeeze every bit of information she can about this "episode". Max was holding Bella's hand and looking through the window, occasionally tightening her grip to show her friend that she was there for her, whenever she needed her.

Once they were in Bella's room, the blonde girl broke down crying. Just like her sister, she had thousands of questions with no answers. Why did that happen? Why couldn't she feel it coming? Why does it happen only to her and Will? Why do they happen more frequently? Why does her condition get worse? What did she do to deserve this? Bella kept crying silently when she felt Max's hands around her. Only Max could help her calm down, and it seemed like the fire-haired girl knew this, as she just stayed there, hugging her, without pressuring her to talk.

After a minute or two, Bella's sobs became less frequent and she could feel herself getting better. The only thing that mattered to her right now was Max's hands around her and how well they felt. The red head has seen her in her worst possible state, crying on the floor and gasping for air. Bella managed to let out a "I am sorry" in between her sobs as she was still calming down.

"None of this is your fault, Bella. I am here for you." She heard Max say and tighten the hug a bit "I am here for you, even if you don't want to talk about it."

"Can I take a hot shower?" Bella said, breaking the silence

"Of course you can, let me help you, B" Max nodded, willing to do anything to help her friend. Once she was done getting a towel and getting the water warm, she left Bella to undress. "Can you please stay?" Bella whispered, but Max heard it perfectly well.

"I would love to, but I think you need your privacy, B. I will be on the other side of the door if you need me." Max said, looking the blonde girl in her eyes. She looked broken, like she was fighting and she lost. The red-haired girl hated seeing her friend like that and not be able to do anything to help.

"Please" Bella pleaded, once again, catching Max off-guard as she was still in deep-though. "Look B, I will leave the door open like this" Max said, opening the door 3 inches, just enough to watch over the girl and still let her have her privacy "And I will stay here, waiting for you to get ready. When you are done you can call me and I will help you. Does that sound good, cupcake?"

"Yeah.. Thank you." Bella said, looking at the floor with empty eyes.

~~~

Meanwhile Emma was downstairs, trying to contact her dad. She was trying her best not to cry herself after seeing how her sister looked like. She felt useless, powerless when her sister needed her the most. After calling her dad more than 4 times she gave up, going to check up on her sister only to see Max staying in the hallway before the bathroom.

"Hey Max. If you want I can drive you home, you don't need to stay if you don't want to" Emma said in defeat as she looked at the ginger girl.

"I don't want to go Emma, thank you" Max forced a smile, still staying by the door as she promised. She wondered what could Bella be going through right now and how she is holding up.

Emma let out a sigh she didn't even know she was holding and started going to her sister's room. Usually she goes there only on one occasion - to wake up Bella. But this time she was looking for something, a clue, anything to help her sister. She started looking around noticing the small stuff in the blonde-haired girl's world. Her broken piggy bank, her posters, her wardrobe. How she mostly has pink clothes even though she says she hates this color. Her drawings that are on the wall and how she always takes care of her plants.