drive (mithzan short story)

chapter seven.

Max's POV

Before I knew what I was doing, I was backing away from her. I had wanted to kiss her, yes, but not like that, not seemingly fueled by anger, even if I was just kidding around. I didn't want her to have to be in constant fear of my anger. I knew she would be in constant fear of my anger.

"I am so so sorry, Lilah" I said, she was staring at me intently, watching me walk away, watching me tell her that "I didn't mean to." I wanted to kiss her, I really did, but I never thought she's actually let me. "I just- I don't know what came over me, I just, I'm so sorry."

It was a mistake,

It was a mistake.

She deserved better than Derrick and even though I would never, in a million years, hit her, she was too kind for me. She was too calm for me. She was too gentle for me. I was afraid that I'd say or do something to scare her, something that would remind her of Derrick, and then what? She'd be gone. I apologized, I wanted her in my life, I wanted her to stay in my life.

And for the second time that day, she hugged me. Only this time, she was the one holding me together.

In that moment, Tim came in. Great. The last thing I needed was for him to catch the two of us hugging, Lilah told him the news of which he already knew, and he headed off to his own room.

"Just forget I did anything." I mumbled, running my hand through my hair and dropping my arm at my side. She pressed her lips together and looked at the floor for a second before flicking her eyes back up to meet mine.

"I can do that." she nodded once, and made her way to the front door.

"Guess I'll see you around." She said, before adding "Hopefully.", I smiled at that, reciting the lines of how we first met, it was like she was telling me she was ready for a do-over. I leaned over the banister and smiled,

"Hopefully."

She slid on her shoes and opened the door before giving me one last look and leaving.

u g h.

"Alright!" Tim shouted from down the hall shortly after he heard the sound of a shutting door, soon enough he emerged from his room. "what did you do." He asked,

"Nothing." I said, jumping over the back of the couch and sitting down.

"Max."

"Tim,"

"What did you do to Lilax." He said again.

"Fuck off."

"You're killing my OTP." I turned around and flipped him the bird, "Fine, I'll leave you to sulk by yourself." He started walking off towards the hallway.

"I kissed her." I muttered, and I saw Tim stop mid-stride. He turned around and made his way to the couch, all the while saying "OOOh, dit donc!"

"What the fuck does that mean."

"It means do tell," He replied.

"I kissed her and it was a mistake and I told her to forget it." I said, hanging my head and looking at my feet.

"Why was it a mistake?" He asked, I glared at him.

"I just.. I don't want to ruin her life. I don't want her to have to put up with my anger, she's already dealt with her fair share of assholes." Tim looked at me, Really looked at me in such a way that I had to look at him confused.

"What."

"I don't think that's your call to make, dude." He said, before standing up and walking to the kitchen. "I really think that's up to her."

"Tim?" I asked, as he left the room.

"Yea?"

"Ross better not hear about this." I said, "Or I swear to fucking god."

"I make promises to no one." said Tim.

Lilah's POV

I wanted to kiss him I did, I don't know what he was going on about afterwards, but I had wanted to. He told me he didn't want me to be afraid of him, but I wasn't, I couldn't be, I knew he wasn't like Derrick, not in the slightest was he like Derrick.
But he had asked me to forget that it happened,
He had really asked me.
And so as much as I wanted to remember, I threw on a smile. I casted my feelings aside, if it's what he wanted, it's what he wanted.

- - -

I put on a pair of light blue jeans and a black pullover after washing my hair in the shower. I blow-dried it quickly and off I walked in the direction of my car, I took a deep breath in and turned the keys, igniting my Jeep, and drove all the way to the Sky Media Offices.

I headed to the door, where Adam was waiting for me upon my arrival.

"Hey, Lilah?" He asked.

"Y-Yea, that's me." I replied. He beckoned me to follow him and we both entered the building together. We walked through a couple rooms with people I didn't know at computers I've never seen before, and eventually we got to Adam's office. It was filled with plushies and figurines and such. "Cool," I said,

"yea, the fan base is cray-zey." He replied, There were two chairs facing eachother, he pointed at the one facing the window of his office and said "Have a seat" Before sitting down in the other one.
"So, this isn't actually an interview, its more of a let's-have-a-talk-before-I-hire-you kinda thing." he said, laughing.

"Oh, sure." I said.

"Tim tells me you're an author?"

"I sure am, an aspiring one if anything."

"could I read one of your works?" He asked, shoot.

"Well, I didn't bring anything with me but... I think I have a couple short stories on wattpad." I said,

"Okay, I'll tell Ross about that later so I can use his account. Uhhmmm, yea that's pretty much all I needed to ask you." He laughed, and I too gave a little laugh, no matter how quirky and awkward it sounded. "About the job we are offering. I dunno if you've seen any of our videos, but sometimes we make little gaming mini series' and ads and skits, and we need script writers for those things."

"Sounds right up my alley." I said,

"Yeah?"

"Yeah,"

"Well there might be times when we aren't planning anything needing a skit so is there anything else you're good at that could be beneficial to my company?" Adam said, Just then, Tim walked by, he took a second to glance in at me before walking by. He did sort of a double take and took a few steps backwards so he could see me again. He flashed me a thumbs up and kept on going.

"I'm uh- pretty organized, and good with time management. My dad used to tell people 'If Lilah didn't plan everything to the last second, she'd probably die.'" I laughed a little, and Adam too, laughed a little.

"Well it seems to me like you've got the job!" Adam replied, "You can come in next Monday to start!"

I gave a little yelp of excitement and stood up, Adam opened his arms for a celebratory hug, of which I graciously accepted.

As I began reaching for the door knob he said "And Lilah?"

"Yeah?"

"Max put in a good word for you so, I'd thank him."

"I sure will!"

"His office is the third door to the left, alright, see you!"