Breathe || Max X Reader - Camp Camp

XLII

Word Count: 1,255
Y/N's POV

Preston spent nearly a week in the hospital. During his stay, Harrison and I continued to visit him off and on. Whenever we weren't with Preston, we were at camp.
When Harrison and I were at camp, Preston never left our minds completely. Instead of sitting with Max in the mess hall for breakfast, I would sit with Harrison each morning.

"The usual slop?", Harrison greeted, eyeing my plate.
"Yeah.", I replied, poking my food. That's when Harrison would sigh and look to his left, where Preston normally sat.
Max looked over to me from across the mess hall, frowning. "What the Hell?", he mouthed. As much as I wanted to chew him out for his insensitivity, I refused. After what happened to Preston, I wasn't about to mess with Max.

Despite having Nikki and Neil with him, Max did seem a bit lonely during breakfast that week. It was only during breakfast when I wasn't with Max. During Preston's hospital stay, I didn't ignore Max at all. The thing with Max was that he just needed my attention all the time. Even during the camp activities, he wouldn't leave me alone.

I pulled back the arrow, staring at my target. David had asked me to hit a spray-painted dot on a tree in the distance. The wind had stopped, so if I missed my target, it only could've been my fault.
     Eyes on the prize. I relaxed my tensed shoulders and let out a breath. Let go. "Y/N!", Max hollered from afar. I whipped my head around and lost my balance completely. I fell to the ground as my clear safety glasses landed near David's feet. I smacked straight into a pile of dirt.
"Holy shit!", Gwen yelled. I picked my face up and wiped off as much dirt was I could. It stings. I turned around to see what had happened. My expression was that of horror.
Dolph pointed to me with disgust. "She is ein' evil woman!", he shrieked with horror. God, his accent is heavy.
I discovered that I had accidentally shot a chipmunk with my arrow. The chipmunk was pinned to a nearby tree, for all to view. "Well...", David sighed, scratching the back of his neck.
     I covered my eyes. "I'm sorry.", I announced to everybody.
     I felt a hand land on my shoulder, followed by a sickened laugh. "Sorry?", it questioned. It continued to laugh. I knew it was Max. "You just got us some real food! Alvin over there is gonna' be fuckin' delicious!"
     The hand left my shoulder. Through the gap between my fingers, I watched Max walk over to the tree with the chipmunk. Max removed the arrow from the tree and slid the chipmunk off of the arrow. He dropped the arrow to the ground and sniffed the chipmunk. "Alright, campers, that's enough for today's activity!", David announced. He shooed us all away in a hurry.
     As I walked away, still in shock, Harrison caught up to me. "Hey, it's no big deal, you know.", Harrison reassured me. He pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling. "It was Max's fault for distracting you anyway."
     I shrugged. My face felt hot. "I think I'm just gonna' go to my tent.", I sighed.

     For the next few days, it was as if everything went wrong. There couldn't be a single day at camp where things were fine. Something just had to go wrong. I spent countless nights laying awake in my tent, wondering if Preston was alright. I was at one point visited by Max.

I heard crinkling noises. I rolled over to see the opening flap of Nikki and I's tent moving. Max popped his head in. "Come here.", he whispered.
The room was practically spinning, I was so tired. I stood up and walked out of the tent. I itched my butt on the way out. I was too tired to put up with Max. "Y/N, stop scratching your ass and get out here!", he rushed. How did he even-
I felt a tug on my arm. I was dragged out of the tent. "What?", I croaked. I looked around to see a small fire to my right.
"Just come with me.", Max urged. He took my hand and lead me over to the fire. Max sat me down on a log and scooted closer to me. The fire was beautiful. It complimented the fireflies surrounding us quite well. "Can't sleep?"
"No.", I whispered. I leaned my body onto Max. "So tired..."
Max laid my head on his lap. He leaned behind the log we were sitting on and grabbed a pack of marshmallows. He put one on a stick and held it over the fire. Max ran his fingers through my oily hair. He leaned down and softly pecked my ear. I shut my eyes.
Max didn't say anything else. He just kept roasting marshmallows for himself and continued to hold me. Max removed his hoodie and placed it over me as if it were a blanket. "You can fall asleep whenever you want to, little shit.", he reminded me. I grabbed Max's free hand and settled in.

The following morning, I woke up in my tent. I immediately shot up, frantically looking around. "Max watched me scratch my butt!", I shrieked in horror.
I heard the sounds of Nikki's loud cackles. "It's okay, I itch mine too!", she taunted. Or maybe she was serious?

That was a fast morning for me. The moment I was conscious, Harrison burst into the tent, freaking out about how it was finally time to take Preston back to camp. He told me to take a few snacks for the road and to hop into the Camp Mobile. I threw on the first set of clothes that I was able to find, said my goodbyes to Nikki, and rushed out.
Which brought me to where I was now. "Look, they're wheeling him out!", Harrison gushed. We watched as a nurse pushed Preston's wheelchair over to Gwen's car. Gwen opened the side door for Preston. Harrison and I moved over while the nurse helped him get into the car.
The nurse shut the car door and left with the wheelchair. I guess they wheel out all of their patients, even if they don't need it. Or...maybe the camp couldn't afford to keep the wheelchair? I shook away my thoughts. "Guess who's back, bitches?", Preston greeted. "It's me, bitch! I'm back from the dead, fuckers!" We all erupted into laughter, except for Gwen. Gwen just groaned, as usual. Her weird little "soft spot" situation only lasted for about a day, and she was back to her constantly livid self real fast.
     "We should run through McDonald's.", Harrison suggested.
     Gwen sighed. "You're hella' lucky I'm hungry, too.", she remarked.
     Preston had his face pressed against the window, watching as we left the hospital. Harrison shyly grabbed for Preston's hand. Preston accepted. It felt awfully weird to be the third wheel.
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A/N - This chapter was very "let's just fill in the gaps" ish, and I'm aware of that. I chose to rush through the rest of Preston's hospital stay on purpose. Dragging it out for its entirety wouldn't have benefited the story at all, as nothing interesting or notable was planned to happen during it. ☁️

Comment Question of the Chapter:

Considering what's going on in the world right now, have you done anything fun or interesting this summer?