Terrible Ideas

Chapter Five

 "Wait, can we go over that again?" Meg asked, squinting at him and Max squirmed a little.

"Eva convinced me to text Kevin back."

"So you did?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck's sake, Max," Meg sighed looking annoyed. Brook just sat there, caught somewhere between amusement and exasperation. "I thought we were being good people?"

"Did you miss the part where he went to Eva's work to ask about me?" Max asked sheepishly. "I thought that was really sweet."

"Of course you did," Meg snapped.

"I think it's sweet, too," Brook offered.

"Seriously, Brook?"

"I felt like I should contribute."

"Can you contribute something that makes me not want to strangle Max?" Meg asked, and Max sighed now. They were sitting in Brook's backyard around the unlit firepit.

"I'm sorry, guys," Max said, looking at his hands. "It was a bad idea, I know that. But it was late and I was sad and I'd spent the last three or more hours having a heart to heart with Eva. I wasn't thinking right."

"But you're not upset about it?" Meg asked, and Max shrugged minutely.

"I'm kind of happy," Max said hesitantly, avoiding their eyes. "I really missed talking to him."

"But what are you going to do when he wants to meet up again? You're okay with lying to him now?" Meg asked, and Max gave her a pained, conflicted look.

"I don't know." Max looked frustrated. "I just want this so bad and I don't know what to do but I don't know if I can just let it go."

They were all silent and Max's jaw worked. Because Meg was right. He was an idiot. He should have just left it. Kevin would have gotten the idea eventually. He should have let it go.

"Okay, here's the deal," Meg started now. "I think that if you like Kevin this much you should just tell him the truth and save some of this heart ache. Because this may or may not work out but then we could get it out of the way before things get worse."

"Right," Max's throat worked, and he nodded slowly. Brook looked between them carefully.

"But I am your friend," Meg told him. "And if this is something you're going to do, then I'll help you any way I can. Even if I think you're the dumbest human being alive."

"Seriously?" Max blinked at her and Brook grinned.

"You obviously know I'm in, too," Brook said. "This is all kind of exciting. And I do have a really good feeling about it."

"Brook," Meg sighed, turning a scolding look on the blond.

"Thank you," Max murmured and they both looked at him. He cleared his throat at the bit of emotion that had caught there. "I really appreciate you guys and how much you're willing to help me."

"Don't get emotional on me," Meg said but there was no bite to her words. "Your sister is supposed to be the dramatic one."

"Let's be honest." Max pursed his lips with self deprecating humour. "I totally have her beat in the dramatics lately."

Max was expecting Kevin to ask him out again, but he was still a little surprised when it happened. A short, are you busy this week? 

Max took his time answering.

Max: Depends. What did you have in mind?

"Is that Brook or Meg?" Chris asked. They were in Chris' room slumped on his bed and Chris was loading up the new game he'd wanted to show Max all week. "You're going to love it. It's called The Forest. Horror survival. It's my shit," Chris had said.