Drive to Survive

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Um, okay..." Max replied hesitantly, reaching for his phone and shooting Dylan a look of confusion. 

"Oh God, Lando." She rolled her eyes, "Are you serious?"

The slightest hint of a smirk slipped onto Lando's face before he resumed his neutral glare, "Absolutely. Some things are important, Dee."

Max swiped up on his lock-screen before opening up the Instagram app. He went to the search bar then hesitated, passing the phone to Dylan and shrugging, "I don't know your username."

"Outrageous." Lando muttered, shaking his head.

The sound of typing filled the quiet room until Dylan handed the phone back to Max. He turned the screen so Lando could look and then firmly pressed on the 'Follow' button. Dylan felt her phone buzz with the notification in her back pocket.

"AND THAT'S DRIVER BINGO!" Lando cheered loudly, rushing forward and picking Dylan up off the floor, "FINALLY!" 

"Lando!" She laughed in surprise as he spun her in circles, "I'm gonna throw up!"

After a tad more protesting, she was placed down on the floor and happy to see Lando step forward and clap Max around the shoulder. She knew the tension had been especially difficult for him; he was a naturally friendly person and had always had a strong friendship with Max so it was a huge relief that she didn't have to feel responsible for that strain anymore.

There was a shuffle as Charles jumped off the bed and approached Max, also half-hugging him and grinning, "Alright mate?"

"Yeah, good to see you." Max smiled, a slight look of relief on his face.

Dylan couldn't imagine the emotional turmoil he'd been through over the last few weeks, unable to speak to his friends and feeling alienated from everyone closest to him. These were the only guys in the world who went through things similar to him and those friendships were so important. 

That just left Carlos.

She felt like holding her breath as her cousin stood up and walked over to them slowly, looking Max up and down like he was assessing him. Max shifted awkwardly but held his head up, refusing to break eye contact.

"Heard you had a good...date." Carlos cringed like it was physically difficult to get the words out of his mouth. 

"Yeah." Max agreed, smiling fondly down at Dylan for a moment, "Yeah, it was good, mate."

Carlos remained stood with his arms crossed, looking like he was having a very conflicting debate with himself inside his head. The group stayed silent with the tension until he finally nodded his head and tried on a semi-convincing smile. Max marginally relaxed, understanding that this was progress for him and Carlos. He knew he needed to prove himself and he was absolutely willing to do that. 

The fact that he wasn't stood here with a black eye showed that there was room for him and Carlos to patch up their friendship. 

"Wanna play Mario Kart?" Lando asked, breaking the silence, "Danny showed me how to hook it up to the TV through the Switch."

The boys agreed and headed over to the sofas. Max reached behind and gave Dylan's hand a subtle squeeze before joining them and helping them wire up the games console. 

"Dibs on Yoshi!" Lando called, to which Charles spluttered in disbelief.

"There is no dibs! You're not even Player 1!"

"Yeah, I am! It's my controller!"

"You have the two green lights, see? So I'm in control and I get to be Yoshi."