Just Fine (RE-EDITING)

Chapter Ten

It was a nudge that woke him up. Alvin felt the layers of his dream slowly disappearing into one mass of blank whiteness from just a nudge. He grumbled under his breath and sighed a bit when he cracked a slit to catch a glimpse of blurriness. He felt relaxed and somehow comfortable, as if he had slept for more than a year. It felt great.

A smile etched on his lips as he yawned shallowly before he felt warmness clouding through his body. He liked it, he decided in his blurry mind and snuggled closer to the source of warmth.

He tucked his arms near his chest and buried his face into the warmth, not really registering what he was doing. Something else threaded through his hair and he just gently hummed out in response. He liked the sensation of being stroked like this, it made him feel sleepier. He closed his eyes for a moment as he let his brain to reset back to reality.

Seconds ticked on as he did nothing but lay next to the warmth and had his hair patted.

Then, reality crashed into his brain like heavy, cackling bricks.

Alvin's eyes snapped open wide and he immediately noticed that the source of warmth was none other than Max. Panic bubbled through his mind as he quickly sat up and looked at the snowboarder, who took away his hand from Alvin's hair and smiled up to him.

Alvin looked away from Max and around the room, wondering how in the world did he ended up sleeping with Max on his bed. The last thing he recalled before he fell asleep was watching a movie.

Alvin felt his cheeks reddening slightly when he recalled that he was sleeping next to Max. His eyes were still blurry to focus on an image when he realized that his glasses were missing. Things didn't add up. He ended up sleeping against Max, another blush, but how in the world did they ended up sleeping like that? On the bed and sleeping next to each other so close that Alvin had thought that he was sleeping next to some hot blanket.

Max noticed the young Ackerman's dilemma and just smiled. With that, he slowly sat up and looked at the desk near the bed. He took the glasses and handed over to Alvin, who cautiously took it and wore them. The young scientist blinked for a few moments to adjust his sight before his eyes landed on Max. He recognized a look of content when he saw one and Max was wearing just that.

"What time is it?" Alvin asked, realizing that he was hungry and it definitely wasn't the morning. Max looked away from him and to his wrist watch before sighing.

"Almost dinnertime," Max said as he looked back at the young scientist. He smiled widely as he ran his fingers through his messed up bed-hair. Alvin just stared at him for a few seconds before his cheeks heated up once more. His heart thundered against his chest and for once, Alvin didn't feel all that confident around Max anymore. The young scientist looked away from the snowboarder to his bed sheets, sighing loudly as his brain began to muddle up.

Feelings were definitely not his area of expertise.

Ask him any question regarding Science and he could answer it immediately, maybe even explain it to you how he got the answer.

But when it came to feelings, Alvin was as lost as he could get.

Especially now, that said feelings were revolving around the one and only Max Asher.

Awkward silence brewed in between them and Alvin wanted nothing more than just get up and get lost. He really didn't want to be in a room with Max in it any longer. It didn't make him feel very good either. Max raised his eyebrows at the younger Ackerman before he broke into a grin. "You don't look too good, bro."

Alvin glared at Max before he sighed loudly. "Why were we sleeping together?" he asked, not even sure as to why Max's eyes twinkled at that question. Alvin ran that sentence through his head a few times but he didn't get anything amusing about it. He just shrugged the question off as something that only Max could find it amusing.

"You slept against me," Max started. "So, I pushed you to the bed so you can sleep better, but I ended up getting pulled into this whole nap thing," Max said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Alvin just stared at Max approximately three seconds before he sighed loudly, his cheeks were still blazing from the incident. "This is so weird," Alvin muttered under his breath. Before he could comprehend on what Max was doing, he felt a strong arm around his shoulder and tugging him close to the snowboarder's chest.

"That was the best naptime ever, bro," Max said happily as Alvin sighed out. Pushing the hands off his shoulders, Alvin moved out of the bed. He needed some space from Max before things got even more complicated. Alvin was starting to doubt this again. They were dating, officially, in Max's books and somehow, even though Alvin knew that this was all just some experiment, he couldn't help but to feel liked he was loved.

A short shudder went through his spine as he froze mid-way moving to the bedroom door. Loved? Alvin furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Max, who was just watching him for a moment before smiling widely.

Loved?

Alvin felt his heart fluttering at that before he quickly opened the room door and dashed out. He didn't know why he was feeling this way. Had he always been feeling like this whenever Max came around? He wasn't so sure. But now, everything seemed so apparently obvious and the young scientist felt a bit dumb for not noticing these slight changes in him whenever Max was near.

He didn't know where he was going but he was sure, he needed to get away from Max for a few hours. And that was how he ended up in Abby's room, sitting on her bed and sighing loudly to himself. Abby just looked at him from her study desk and shrugged, just assuming that this was one of those younger brother antics. Silence grossed in between them before Alvin bit his bottom lip.

"Okay, that's it," Abby said as she turned around to meet his eyes. "What's up, Alvin?"

Alvin looked at her before he looked away, his cheeks were reddening once more when he recalled of Max. "Nothing," he lied. Abby frowned at him before she sighed.

"Alvin, I can't help you if I don't know what you're feeling, alright?" she said as Alvin pondered in his mind. Was this a good idea? Letting Abby know about this?

Alvin could think a thousand reasons as to why this would be such a terrible idea but then again, Abby had never really disapproved of him before. They had never kept secrets from each other and they always helped each other in the best ways they knew how.

So, this wasn't an exception too, right?

Alvin took in a deep breath before he looked at her and smiled nervously. "Well, uh," he started. "It's nothing really important," Alvin said slowly as Abby hummed out, asking him to continue. Alvin rubbed the back of his neck nervously a few seconds before he straightened up and looked at her in the eyes. "It's Max."

"Oh," she started before she cracked a smile. "Right." Alvin raised an eyebrow at her before he slumped onto her bed on his back, sighing loudly.

"So, did you guys get into a fight?"

"No," Alvin said after a moment of silence. "Not really. Just," he said. He then propped onto his elbows and looked at her, "I think..." he bit his bottom lip. "I think I'm dating Max."