DELUGE! MAX MILLS

NINETEEN !

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
IF ONLY HE KNEW.

"THE PANCREAS IS pretty important," nancy said, tapping her pink, sparkly pencil against her forehead.

her and harvey were sat in his kitchen, working on their project of the human body and which part of it they deemed most important. a sickly feeling had been floating around in her stomach from the minute she entered the front door, scared max would walk in any minute.

"not really," harvey disagreed, "all it does is control glucose levels and help with digestion."

nancy sighed, "yes, but if your pancreas doesn't work properly you can have things like diabetes, therefore it's important," she explained, dropping her pencil onto the still blank piece of paper beneath her.

harvey looked at the paper also, realising how little they had gotten done in the time they'd spent together. they spent the first hour talking about nothing particular, mostly small talk. the second hour they spent laughing and bonding, finding a new sense of appreciation for each others company. now here they were in the third hour, struggling to focus on the project they had been faced with. "what about the immune system?" harvey suggested.

nancy nodded in agreement, "yes, that's good! okay," nancy picked up a green felt-tip and began writing their topic in huge letters, "give me some points."

harvey furrowed his brows as he thought, "not many people would be alive if we didn't have an immune system. it fights our diseases so, we need it to survive."

nancy nodded, writing as harvey spoke. "we need to do a part on white blood cells, they help defeat-"

the door creaked open. remembering their study sessions, nancy's eyes trickled to max as he entered the house, him appearing to be completely zoned out. she observed the way he slowly shut the door behind him and how he subconsciously gnawed on the inside of his cheek. his dark eyes were cast down onto the floor, staring.

she frowned, figuring whatever thoughts were invading his mind were clearly taking some sort of toll on him. he was usually calm and collected, cool with whatever life threw at him --at least that's what his exterior always portrayed. this new saddened look was something that hurt the red head even though she knew it shouldn't. what could have happened to leave max mills so on edge?

finally, his eyes met the pair sat at the dining room table. "hey, max," harvey said, not bothering to turn and look at his brother even for a second.

max's eyes lay fixed on nancy who flashed a small half smile before turning her eyes back down to her notes. "yeah, hi," he replied bluntly, walking away into a different room.

harvey lifted his head to look at nancy who now also appeared to be zoning out, anxiously moving her pen between her fingers. "hey, you okay?" he asked.

nancy snapped from her daze, abruptly flickering her eyes to the twin and smiling, "yeah, sorry. so the immune system-"

it was as if the universe knew seeing max made nancy feel sick to her stomach with nerves, enjoying her struggle as he entered the room once again. nancy's eyes immediately snapped to watch him as he grabbed his coat from the coat rack.

this time harvey turned to watch as well, "where are you going?"

max muttered a harsh, "fuck off," in response.