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first thing: yell at them all for the freakin drive
second thing: being a whiny baby🤣🤣
You dreamt with Luke?? 😭😭
Both flattered and envious, damn
I think Luke would just be eager to go home and push for the drive even though he's still drowsy from the migraine, and then end up throwing up halfway through.... 👀
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
"Last one in the water is a sack of shit!" Leo squealed, sprinting down the deck and slipping at the last second, falling into the lake none too gracefully, limbs spread out in a funny way.
Jonah let out a dramatic, "LEO!" While Vince chuckled loudly, whole body arching back as he grabbed his left pec, cheeks flushed. Max snorted at their antics, even more so when Leo emerged from the water spluttering, a piece of algae stuck to his hair.
"What are you waiting for?!"
As if he was just waiting for his cue, Vince patted Max's back and then ran down the deck, jumping and hugging his knees, cannonballing nearly on top of Leo's head.
"Is it cold?!" Max asked, eyeing the lake. It looked pacific and today was a really, really warm day, but he was the skittish kind, he couldn't help it.
"Nope," Leo swam closer, splashing water Jonah's way and causing the other man to let out a yell.
"Leo, my phone!"
"Let go of that and get in the water!"
Vince emerged, shaking his head like a dog and sending water droplets everywhere. He swam to the edge of the deck, throwing his arms on the wood and smiling at Max, "c'mon in, it's great."
God, Max bit down a dreamy sigh at the vision.
Lately he felt like he was slowly, key word here, falling out of love with Vince. He seemed more annoying than usual, which Max knew he wasn't really, but the flaws he had originally noticed before crushing hard on the guy were visible once more. Which wasn't to say he had turned blind overnight and his whole body didn't react to Vin still, but there was a hint of annoyance now that wasn't there at first.
Annoyed at Vince and Wendy for the shit show they had made of his life in the past months, but in a surface level. Something he hadn't felt at first, but now he did. Leo said it was a good thing, Max didn't care either way. It wasn't like his feelings had been a decisive factor lately.
Cold water hit him straight on the face, snapping the blonde out of his thoughts and he glared at Vince, whose cheeks were flushed as he pointed at Leo briskly, "wasn't me!"
"Wasn't me!" Leo cried out, although he was giggling too much. Max wasn't sure who to believe, so he opted for raising both middle fingers.
"You guys suck," he scoffed, walking back to the shore to ditch his flip flops and his T-shirt.
Atwood was hanging back like some sort of ghoul, arms crossed and sunglasses, which made him look even more douchey than usual. Max rolled his eyes at the guy, turning his back at him and running down the deck, yelling, "INCOMING!"
He did a pirouette mid air and then dunked in the water. They hadn't been lying, the water wasn't really cold, the perfect temperature. Leo wolf whistled when he emerged, cheekily saying, "that was a ten out of ten, baby!"
"Baby?" Vince whispered in his ear, causing Max to get covered in goosebumps and splash water his way. Fuck this guy, really.
Jonah sat on the edge of the deck, putting his feet in the water, but not getting in, not even as Leo swam between his legs and puppy eyed him, "c'mooon, Jon!"
"No, it's gonna fuck up my hair," Jonah said, while Leo did his best imitation of those wet eyed seals. Max tried not to laugh, just as Vince poked his ribs and raised a finger to his lips, in a stay quiet gesture.
He disappeared underwater, a shadow swimming to where Leo was still trying to convince Jonah to join them. Max watched, pressing his lips not to laugh as Vince swam under the deck and then just his hands poked out, wrapping around Jonah's calves in an iron grip.
"what- VIN-AHHH!" Jonah yelled as he was pulled from the edge of the deck and thrown straight on the water, on top of Leo who didn't move out of the way fast enough.
Max laughed, even harder as Leo emerged clutching his nose, while Jonah spluttered and cried out, "you are such a jerk, Vince Monacelli! Such a fucking je-" he got interrupted by Leo tugging the front of his soaked tanktop and kissing him.
Vince splashed water on them, "leave some room for Jesus, you two."
"Someone is envioussss," Leo sing song, hiding his face in Jonah's neck, seeming more content than Max had seen him be in ages. They were adorable, even if Max thought Jonah was a bit of a stuck up prick, it was heart warming how much he clearly fawned over Leo.
Vince rolled his eyes, gesturing to the shore, "C'mon, Luke, you're missing out! Get in the water!"
Luke shook his head, he had sat down on the shore, back resting against a tree trunk, in the only shadowy patch there was. He had a book in his hand, but Max would've bet money that he hadn't read a single page. Nevertheless, Lucas raised it as a justification for staying out of the water.
Jonah snorted, voice low as he said, "he's so jealous."
"Should we get him?" Vince swam a circle around them, face partially in the water, voice causing bubbles to appear, "I grab his legs, you get his arms?"
Leo perked up at the idea, "maybe in a bit, he's too aware right now."
"Okay," Vince's foot found Max's leg, causing the blonde to jerk, at first thinking it was a fish, but nope. He hated how weak his body was, because that alone caused heat to curl in his belly, his cheeks to burn. Max lowered himself in the water, leaving only his nose out, pointedly avoiding Vin's eyes.
Was he all healed up from the break up and now wanted Max back? He probably just wanted a booty call, but how stupid was it to fish for it within his friend group. Idiot.
He sent Vince a glare and the man smiled, pulled his foot back, hands raised in a disarming way.
"Chicken Fight?" Leo suggested and Max let out a disbelieving scoff.
"Who's gonna get André The Giant over here?" He pointed at Vince, who seemed offended at the comparison, "We can't play it in a fair way!"
"We put Jon with Vin," Leo shrugged, "Jonah sucks at it."
"Wow, real nice, baby," Jonah scoffed, making Max chuckle at their antics.
He guessed Leo had a point, Jonah was all prim and proper, no way he was a good player.
"You know what? Sure, get on top," He swam to Leo, patting his shoulders.
"Leo doesn't hear that often," Vince teased, receiving a splash of water straight to his face, by Jonah.
Max and Leo were a good team and since they had similar builds, they could switch between turns. Max was a little flabbergasted by how shredded Leo was, he had known the guy was lean, like himself, but those abs? Not a thing regular people should have, only movie actors.
Nevertheless, they didn't stand a chance against Jonah and Vin. Jon might be a diva, but he was just as strong, if not stronger, as Leo, and Vince well... The guy was clearly playing with them like he did with his baby sisters.
Probably feeling dejected and sensing that he was the only one who could level the playing field, Luke had moved closer to them and had his feet in the water. He reminded Max of how JD skittered around Leo's place when he was over.
"He's ticklish," he told Max and Leo, clearly invested in the game, as Leo spluttered and sunk his fingers on Max's calves with so much force that there would be purple bruises there in the morning, "like really ticklish."
As if Max didn't know that.
Leo apparently didn't, because he used the infirmation to try and touch Vin's armpit, for the first time in the whole game managing to have Jon wobbling on top of his shoulders as Vince jerked away to try and avoid the tickles.
"Luke! Not fair!"
"He's got a weak spot!" Leo cried out like a warrior, immediately moving forward to do it again, but forgetting to hold Max, nearly causing him to fall backwards.
Lucas watched them play another round, then apparently they weren't being sufficiently vicious for his taste, because he said, "fuck it," and got in the water.
"Jon, get on my shoulders."
"I'm not a dog, you can't just say jump and I juUMP!" Jonah squealed as Vince shrugged him off, causing him to fall back into the water, "Vin, what the fuck?!"
Max snorted, lowering himself so Leo could dismount his shoulders and they played rock paper scissors to figure out who'd get to be Vin's partner for the round.
Max won, much to his chagrin, because being on top of Vince like that, his hands curling around his thighs to properly position him... Yeah, that wasn't helping his "Fuck Vince" agenda.
"Squeeze your legs," Vince told him, "and brace yourself, Luke is the worst."
"You just say that because I win every time," Luke shrugged, causing Jonah to wobble and tug on his hair as if he was a disobedient horse.
"With Wendy against Bell? Of course you do, my gi-" Vince's mouth slammed shut mid sentence, realizing what he was saying. They all flinched, Max feeling vaguely nauseous as it dawned on him just how not over it Vince was. Max couldn't even hold it against him, this would all be so much easier if he could just hate Vin, but no... He liked the guy, he was attracted to him and to top it off, he sympathized with his plight.
"Okaaay," Leo said, awkwardly, "Uhm- players get in position! Three, two, one- FIGHT!"
Lucas lost the first one and Max, Leo and Vince watched amusedly as Jonah and him yelled at each other for a solid minute before resuming to their initial positions. They won the next one, Max falling into the water with a splash that caused his back to hurt and by the time he emerged, Leo was already climbing Vince like a tree, causing the other man to whine about having his curls tugged at.
The next round Luke and Jon lost again, causing Luke to rage quit entirely.
"Don't be such a baby, Luke!" Leo cried out, as Lucas used the deck to lift himself out of the water, "c'mon, dude, we're just playing!"
"No, I have a headache, I'm gonna lie down," Lucas lied through his teeth. Max eye rolled so much he feared it was gonna get stuck.
"Sore loser, much?"
"Fuck off, Daniels."
Max didn't pay him any mind, if anything he was glad the guy was gone, but apparently the others didn't share his satisfaction, because they only stayed in the lake for another hour before heading inside.
As soon as they were out, Max overheard Vin tell Jonah in a quiet voice, "I'll check on him."
Atwood truly was spoiled rotten, huh?
Max followed Leo into the kitchen. They should probably shower, since the sun was setting and the temperatures were dropping quickly, but his stomach was hurting from hunger.
"Okay, we got, uh-" Leo's voice came muffled from inside the fridge, "chicken and uhm... What is this... Chicken, but in cubes now... And this is... Chicken but in burger form!" He pulled back, smiling, "so what is it gonna be?"
"Chicken?" Max grinned, pushing Leo aside so he could look at their options.
He wasn't a stellar cook. When someone had a fussy stomach as bad as he did, all they needed to know was how to cook potatoes, rice and chicken. From the ingredients they had brought, he figured they could do full on burgers or maybe just rice, chicken and fries.
"So?" Leo asked, but not directed at him. Max looked up, Jonah was by the doorway, having already showered, "is he pissy or he's got an actual headache?"
Jon grimaced, "I think it's an actual headache, I'm hoping it's because we didn't eat all day."
"That wasn't very smart of us, no," Max relented, when he actually wanted to ask why they were acting as if a headache was the equivalent of bleeding out.
"He's gonna be fine," Vince entered the kitchen, circling Jonah and grabbing Max by the hips to push him away from the fridge. Apparently he had already decided he was gonna cook, "did we bring any garlic? Or onions?"
Max shrugged, he hadn't been in charge of anything. He hadn't even been sure if he was gonna come or not, torn between his desire to join and his fear of falling back under Vin's spell and his annoyance at dealing with Atwood for a whole weekend. So far so good, though.
"Do we really need that?" Leo asked, "I prioritized space, bought beer."
Vince stared at him as if Leo had just said all puppies should die, "you prioritized buying beer versus spices?"
"He's from bumfuck Oklahoma, give him a break," Jonah teased, receiving an elbow in his stomach.
"We had limited space in the car and you told me to keep the budget tight!" Leo cried out.
"So tight you didn't bring garlic?!"
"Not everything needs garlic!"
"Did you at least bring salt?!" Vince's cheeks were red now and Max was beyond enthralled. He didn't particularly care what they ate, even if it ended up sucking, he thought it would be fine. Clearly, his ex didn't share his opinions.
Leo's face turned pink, "uh... I brought juice packets for cocktails and vodka..?"
"MA QUI CAZZO!" Vince exploded, causing Max to break and start cackling.
"Why are you guys yelling?" Atwood walked in the kitchen, that was getting too cramped for all of them, glaring at them. Party pooper that he was, he instantly killed the mood.
"Leo didn't bring SALT!" Vince exclaimed, pointing angrily at Leo, who had his lips pressed not to laugh, "you had one job!"
"I brought the essentials!"
"We can head to town and get salt," Jonah intervened before the vein in Vin's forehead exploded, "and Excedrin?" He asked in a lower tone, to Atwood, who nodded.
The drama queen was leaning against the doorway, forehead touching the wooden frame and face pinched.
"I'll go with," Vince decided, "I don't trust any of you to buy food."
"I know how to buy groceries, I was making a strategic decision," Leo argued, while they all moved to the living room, Jonah already grabbing the car keys.
Although he hadn't said it out loud, Max could tell he was worried about Lucas. Over a headache, the drama.
Jonah and Vince left, leaving Max and Leo behind, as well as Atwood, who had sat down on the couch and was cradling his head as if he was dying.
"Awn, Luke," Leo lowered his voice, "is it very bad?"
"Not that bad yet," Lucas answered, his voice barely above a whisper, "Jonah is right, I probably just need to eat."
"Uhm, we can make fries..?" Leo offered. Max noticed he had started to shake, since now it was getting pretty chilly.
"No, kid," Luke pushed Leo's wet shorts, "go shower, your teeth are chattering."
"Yes, dad," Leo teased him, ruffling his hair, "I'll be right back."
Leo sprinted upstairs and Max was left alone with Atwood. Great, just great.
He looked around the room in search of his cigarettes, fishing one out and walking to the front door, opening it so he could smoke half inside, half in the porch — Jonah had threatened him with bodily harm if he smoked inside the house, even the bathroom was off limits... But he was too cold to go completely outside, fuck that.
"Can you not smoke?" Atwood bitched.
Max rolled his eyes, taking a long drag and blowing it out in a thick ring of white smoke, "nope," he poked the ring with his cig, "no wonder you act like this, they coddle you like crazy."
"They're not coddling me," Luke scoffed, moving on the couch in a weak attempt to get away from Max. If he really wanted to avoid the cigarettes, Max figured he could stop with the performance and simply go back to bed.
"What do you call them babying you then?" Max snorted, continuing to smoke. His favorite part of the lake house was, by far, how silent it was. He could hear the crickets chirping and an owl hooting far away. It relaxed every muscle in his body.
Lucas let out a long suffering sigh, shuffling on the couch. Max glanced at him, the guy was pretty pale, maybe he wasn't faking the headache to get attention. Maybe.
There were footsteps upstairs, followed by a shriek. Both their heads snapped, "Leo?!" Luke called out, before Max beat him to it. He got up, walked to the staircase and Max followed, concerned.
"Leo?!"
"I'M FINE!" Leo's voice travelled, "There was a spider in the shower!"
"How big of a spider?" Max chuckled, imaging the other man shrieking because of an itty bitty spider.
"Uh- About the size of my hand...?"
Oh, wow, that was pretty big.
"You killed it?" The nerd in him wanted to go up to check it out, but Luke was absolutely gonna snitch if Max went up to the second floor while smoking.
"Yeah, it's fine," Leo shut the bathroom door once more, ending their shouting conversation.
Max turned around to walk back outside, to pat out his cigarettes that had burned down considerably, only for his eyes to fall on Atwood... Who was shaking...?
"Atwood?"
"Urg-uck," the man clamped a hand over his mouth, then rushed to the kitchen, leaning over the sink with a loud retch. Max jumped, surprised.
"Oh, wow," he walked closer, unsure of what to do, standing awkwardly on the doorway, "are you good...?"
Was this because of the headache or something else?
Luke retched again, this time managing to bring up a mouthful of thick saliva and something cloudy in it. Max wrinkled his nose, stepped closer to reassess his original diagnose of drama queen. Atwood was trembling, maybe he did have a pretty bad headache or maybe it was a bug-
"Go. Away," Luke's voice was clipped with annoyance, one shaky hand attempt to shoo Max away. The blonde snorted.
"You seem a little woozy, I'd rather you didn't split your head on my watch," he peered at Luke's face, the way his throat was bobbing as he fought the nausea, "are you gonna be sick?"
There was a vindictive hint to his voice, a mean part of him that wanted to make this worse a little bit, after Luke had acted like such a fucking asshole back in the car, crying out he wouldn't pull over. Such an asshole.
"GO'WAY!"
Max put down his cigarette on the windowsill, frustrated, "I'm trying to help!"
"Yo'huurk-" Luke gagged mid sentence, spine curling as he heaved again, this time managing to actually bring something up. Cereal? They had brought cereal?
Max wouldn't know, he had skipped breakfast entirely because he had slept until 11.
"Do you have the flu?" Max wondered out loud. Surely a headache shouldn't cause puking, not unless- His mind flashed Wendy, a year ago, throwing up on his shirt while she cradled her head, on the side of the road in Doveport. Not a headache, a migraine.
That explained why the lot of them were making such a fuss about it, "Ah, you have a migraine?" Max whispered, looking around for the light switch. Darkness helped, right?
Luke heaved again, then his knees buckled, but he didn't fall because Max wrapped his arms around his waist before he managed, "Whoa! Hey, don't faint!"
"Mmn'ell," Luke slurred and there was something in his voice that made Max look away from his search for the light switch.
Luke's face had collapsed, right side turned down, left up.
He was having a stroke.
"Lucas," Max's heart was so loud in his ears, he couldn't hear his own voice, "Shit, Lucas. Lucas, open your eyes!"
"Mmgh'ell!" Luke cried out, a hand coming up to grab at his hair, tugging on it with so much force that a couple hairs came out.
"What?! What are you saying -" what do I do?!
Luke gestured, uncoordinated, to the windowsill and it took Max an embarrassing amount of time to realize he meant the stupid cigarette. Shit, the smell.
"Oh my god- My bad, my bad, my bad," he said frantically, putting the thing off inside the sink and turning the register on for good measure.
"What's going on-" Leo froze by the doorway, taken back by the scene. Max's heart nearly leaped out of his mouth.
"Help?! I think he's having a stroke- I- I-"
"Shit, Luke," Leo whispered, concern clear on his face, "lets get you lying down..."
"Leo, call 911," Max instructed, trying to keep his cool and failing miserably. He had never seen a stroke before, but a collapsed face... He'd have to be daft to ignore that glaring red flag, "Leo!"
"It's not a stroke!" Leo snapped at him, sliding under Luke's opposite arm, "c'mon, Luke, we're gonna get you lying down..."
Slowly they made it back to the living room, depositing Luke down on the couch. The man let out a groan, pitching to the side as he heaved again and Leo rushed out to grab him a bowl, while Max planted both his hands on Luke's shoulders to keep him from falling completely.
His face was terrifying, one eye leaking tears like a faulty faucet, lips down turned and limp, the other bright, alert and pinched in pain.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck," Max chanted under his breath, making a silent prayer to the universe that Atwood didn't die on him. He was terrified, he couldn't understand why Leo wasn't completely losing it too, "Leo, he's going to die, we really need to call 911-"
"He's not having a stroke," Leo fell to his knees next to Luke, holding a plastic bowl under his mouth and curling his opposite arm around Luke's head, trying to keep it steady as the empty heaves rocked him, "migraine. He's got-"
"Migraine doesn't cause his face to fall!" Max hissed, "call Jonah at least-" he was begging and he knew it, but fuck, this guy couldn't die on him.
Leo hesitated, then nodded, "hold him, keep his head steady."
He then ran to grab his cellphone, ditched upstairs. Max moved around, taking Leo's spot and wrapping himself around Luke's head kinda like an octopus, cooing out of instinct when he heaved and whimpered.
He should ignore Leo's bullshit and call 911 himself. Even if Luke didn't die, if he had had an aneurysm, time was crucial...
"His face collapsed," Leo's voice arrived before he did, talking on the phone, "it's bad, Jon, it's really bad..."
The other man appeared in front of Max, gesturing for him to move, "okay... Just squeeze his hand? That's all?" Leo's hand wrapped around Luke's and he whispered to the fallen man, "Luke, Jon is asking you to squeeze my hand, can you do that? Please?"
Max waited, biting his lip with so much force he was drawing blood. Luke's hand tightened around Leo's, who let out a relieved sigh, "Okay, Luke, now the other one..." Again, a tight hand squeeze.
Leo sat down on the ground, boneless, "yeah, he squeezed it, it's strong," he said on the phone and judging by the clear relief on his voice, Max counted it as good news. He just wasn't sure if he trusted it.
"Ice pack?" Leo asked, on the phone, "no, we don't, but Uh- I have a bottle of vodka in the freezer... Works?"
Max was up and moving before he got an ok from Leo. He took the bottle of alcohol, wrapped it up in a dish cloth and brought it back to the mini chaos in the living room.
"Hold it to his forehead," Leo instructed.
Max obeyed and upon the cool touch, Luke whimpered and curled up even more.
"Ssstop'urtssss-"
"Sorry, man, I can't," Max said, truly apologetic. He watched Luke's face like a hawk, hoping the horrible two-face condition was gonna ease.
It took forever.
Jonah and Vince arrived and promptly took over the caretaking, a bag of groceries being shoved in Max's hands as he was sidelined.
He dumped it in the kitchen, unable to stay away from the living room, where the other two were fussing over Luke in a rhythm that informed Max this wasn't their first time doing it.
Leo got up to wash the vomit basin and his whole face was pink as if he was crying, so Max followed him.
"Leo..."
"I'm okay," his voice came out strangled and Max let out a huff. Leo dropped the bowl inside the sink, whole body shaking and a terrible whine falling from his lips.
"Hey," Max wasn't sure what he was doing, but Leo was his friend and he wanted to comfort him. He stepped closer, pulled Leo's arm and guided him into a hug, which was reciprocated immediately. Leo melted against him, crying, "I know, it was scary..."
It sounded childish said like this, but Max too was shaking, adrenaline starting to come down. Leo sniffled, hugged him tighter, "I thought he- he-"
"I know, I thought so too," Max patted his friend's back, "but Jonah said he's ok, right?"
"Right," Leo pulled back, wiping his eyes, "sorry-"
"Don't," Max squeezed his nape, looking back to the living room. Jonah and Vin seemed to have managed to knock Luke out. Jon was sitting on the coffee table, watching him, while Vince paced behind the couch like a caged tiger, biting his thumb.
Luke's face was normal now and he seemed peaceful. Max walked up to Vin, while Leo curled up on the floor, resting his head on Jonah's thigh.
"Should we move him to a bed..?" Max asked, after a long quiet minute. He noticed Vin's face was white as chalk and his eyes were bloodshot, and he reached in without thinking, taking Vin's hand in his and giving it a friendly squeeze. Vince latched onto him with an iron grip.
"Not yet," Jonah answered, sounding defeated, "I should've seen it coming, he was squinting all day and wearing the stupid sunglasses."
"Not your fault," Leo pressed a kiss to Jonah's thigh, while Max asked again "is it over now?"
"Not necessarily," Vince's voice was raspy, he cleared his throat, "last cluster I thought he'd be better after sleeping, but he was worse. Had to take him to the ER."
"Ah..." What else was he supposed to say?
They eventually disbanded. Vince took a lot of pushing and prodding to move away from Luke, but he did go cook dinner once Jonah promised he wouldn't leave the other man alone. Leo shooed Max to shower and they had a quiet dinner in the kitchen, while Vince watched Luke.
Jonah curled up on the armchair in front of the couch, eyelids heavy, but refusing to move to the bedroom no matter how many times Leo asked... And Leo didn't ask that many times. Instead he came back downstairs with a huge pile of pillows and Max quickly got what he wanted, so he ran upstairs to grab all the blankets.
They curled up on the living room floor, pushed the coffee table out of the way. Max sandwiched between Vince and Leo.
It was only when Vin snuggled up against him, much, much later that night, that Max's heart finally stopped racing. He let out a sigh, used Vin's bicep as a pillow and curled his hand around Leo's wrist, thrown over his middle. Max fell asleep watching Luke's slack face.
"Last one in the water is a sack of shit!" Leo squealed, sprinting down the deck and slipping at the last second, falling into the lake none too gracefully, limbs spread out in a funny way.
Jonah let out a dramatic, "LEO!" While Vince chuckled loudly, whole body arching back as he grabbed his left pec, cheeks flushed. Max snorted at their antics, even more so when Leo emerged from the water spluttering, a piece of algae stuck to his hair.
"What are you waiting for?!"
As if he was just waiting for his cue, Vince patted Max's back and then ran down the deck, jumping and hugging his knees, cannonballing nearly on top of Leo's head.
"Is it cold?!" Max asked, eyeing the lake. It looked pacific and today was a really, really warm day, but he was the skittish kind, he couldn't help it.
"Nope," Leo swam closer, splashing water Jonah's way and causing the other man to let out a yell.
"Leo, my phone!"
"Let go of that and get in the water!"
Vince emerged, shaking his head like a dog and sending water droplets everywhere. He swam to the edge of the deck, throwing his arms on the wood and smiling at Max, "c'mon in, it's great."
God, Max bit down a dreamy sigh at the vision.
Lately he felt like he was slowly, key word here, falling out of love with Vince. He seemed more annoying than usual, which Max knew he wasn't really, but the flaws he had originally noticed before crushing hard on the guy were visible once more. Which wasn't to say he had turned blind overnight and his whole body didn't react to Vin still, but there was a hint of annoyance now that wasn't there at first.
Annoyed at Vince and Wendy for the shit show they had made of his life in the past months, but in a surface level. Something he hadn't felt at first, but now he did. Leo said it was a good thing, Max didn't care either way. It wasn't like his feelings had been a decisive factor lately.
Cold water hit him straight on the face, snapping the blonde out of his thoughts and he glared at Vince, whose cheeks were flushed as he pointed at Leo briskly, "wasn't me!"
"Wasn't me!" Leo cried out, although he was giggling too much. Max wasn't sure who to believe, so he opted for raising both middle fingers.
"You guys suck," he scoffed, walking back to the shore to ditch his flip flops and his T-shirt.
Atwood was hanging back like some sort of ghoul, arms crossed and sunglasses, which made him look even more douchey than usual. Max rolled his eyes at the guy, turning his back at him and running down the deck, yelling, "INCOMING!"
He did a pirouette mid air and then dunked in the water. They hadn't been lying, the water wasn't really cold, the perfect temperature. Leo wolf whistled when he emerged, cheekily saying, "that was a ten out of ten, baby!"
"Baby?" Vince whispered in his ear, causing Max to get covered in goosebumps and splash water his way. Fuck this guy, really.
Jonah sat on the edge of the deck, putting his feet in the water, but not getting in, not even as Leo swam between his legs and puppy eyed him, "c'mooon, Jon!"
"No, it's gonna fuck up my hair," Jonah said, while Leo did his best imitation of those wet eyed seals. Max tried not to laugh, just as Vince poked his ribs and raised a finger to his lips, in a stay quiet gesture.
He disappeared underwater, a shadow swimming to where Leo was still trying to convince Jonah to join them. Max watched, pressing his lips not to laugh as Vince swam under the deck and then just his hands poked out, wrapping around Jonah's calves in an iron grip.
"what- VIN-AHHH!" Jonah yelled as he was pulled from the edge of the deck and thrown straight on the water, on top of Leo who didn't move out of the way fast enough.
Max laughed, even harder as Leo emerged clutching his nose, while Jonah spluttered and cried out, "you are such a jerk, Vince Monacelli! Such a fucking je-" he got interrupted by Leo tugging the front of his soaked tanktop and kissing him.
Vince splashed water on them, "leave some room for Jesus, you two."
"Someone is envioussss," Leo sing song, hiding his face in Jonah's neck, seeming more content than Max had seen him be in ages. They were adorable, even if Max thought Jonah was a bit of a stuck up prick, it was heart warming how much he clearly fawned over Leo.
Vince rolled his eyes, gesturing to the shore, "C'mon, Luke, you're missing out! Get in the water!"
Luke shook his head, he had sat down on the shore, back resting against a tree trunk, in the only shadowy patch there was. He had a book in his hand, but Max would've bet money that he hadn't read a single page. Nevertheless, Lucas raised it as a justification for staying out of the water.
Jonah snorted, voice low as he said, "he's so jealous."
"Should we get him?" Vince swam a circle around them, face partially in the water, voice causing bubbles to appear, "I grab his legs, you get his arms?"
Leo perked up at the idea, "maybe in a bit, he's too aware right now."
"Okay," Vince's foot found Max's leg, causing the blonde to jerk, at first thinking it was a fish, but nope. He hated how weak his body was, because that alone caused heat to curl in his belly, his cheeks to burn. Max lowered himself in the water, leaving only his nose out, pointedly avoiding Vin's eyes.
Was he all healed up from the break up and now wanted Max back? He probably just wanted a booty call, but how stupid was it to fish for it within his friend group. Idiot.
He sent Vince a glare and the man smiled, pulled his foot back, hands raised in a disarming way.
"Chicken Fight?" Leo suggested and Max let out a disbelieving scoff.
"Who's gonna get André The Giant over here?" He pointed at Vince, who seemed offended at the comparison, "We can't play it in a fair way!"
"We put Jon with Vin," Leo shrugged, "Jonah sucks at it."
"Wow, real nice, baby," Jonah scoffed, making Max chuckle at their antics.
He guessed Leo had a point, Jonah was all prim and proper, no way he was a good player.
"You know what? Sure, get on top," He swam to Leo, patting his shoulders.
"Leo doesn't hear that often," Vince teased, receiving a splash of water straight to his face, by Jonah.
Max and Leo were a good team and since they had similar builds, they could switch between turns. Max was a little flabbergasted by how shredded Leo was, he had known the guy was lean, like himself, but those abs? Not a thing regular people should have, only movie actors.
Nevertheless, they didn't stand a chance against Jonah and Vin. Jon might be a diva, but he was just as strong, if not stronger, as Leo, and Vince well... The guy was clearly playing with them like he did with his baby sisters.
Probably feeling dejected and sensing that he was the only one who could level the playing field, Luke had moved closer to them and had his feet in the water. He reminded Max of how JD skittered around Leo's place when he was over.
"He's ticklish," he told Max and Leo, clearly invested in the game, as Leo spluttered and sunk his fingers on Max's calves with so much force that there would be purple bruises there in the morning, "like really ticklish."
As if Max didn't know that.
Leo apparently didn't, because he used the infirmation to try and touch Vin's armpit, for the first time in the whole game managing to have Jon wobbling on top of his shoulders as Vince jerked away to try and avoid the tickles.
"Luke! Not fair!"
"He's got a weak spot!" Leo cried out like a warrior, immediately moving forward to do it again, but forgetting to hold Max, nearly causing him to fall backwards.
Lucas watched them play another round, then apparently they weren't being sufficiently vicious for his taste, because he said, "fuck it," and got in the water.
"Jon, get on my shoulders."
"I'm not a dog, you can't just say jump and I juUMP!" Jonah squealed as Vince shrugged him off, causing him to fall back into the water, "Vin, what the fuck?!"
Max snorted, lowering himself so Leo could dismount his shoulders and they played rock paper scissors to figure out who'd get to be Vin's partner for the round.
Max won, much to his chagrin, because being on top of Vince like that, his hands curling around his thighs to properly position him... Yeah, that wasn't helping his "Fuck Vince" agenda.
"Squeeze your legs," Vince told him, "and brace yourself, Luke is the worst."
"You just say that because I win every time," Luke shrugged, causing Jonah to wobble and tug on his hair as if he was a disobedient horse.
"With Wendy against Bell? Of course you do, my gi-" Vince's mouth slammed shut mid sentence, realizing what he was saying. They all flinched, Max feeling vaguely nauseous as it dawned on him just how not over it Vince was. Max couldn't even hold it against him, this would all be so much easier if he could just hate Vin, but no... He liked the guy, he was attracted to him and to top it off, he sympathized with his plight.
"Okaaay," Leo said, awkwardly, "Uhm- players get in position! Three, two, one- FIGHT!"
Lucas lost the first one and Max, Leo and Vince watched amusedly as Jonah and him yelled at each other for a solid minute before resuming to their initial positions. They won the next one, Max falling into the water with a splash that caused his back to hurt and by the time he emerged, Leo was already climbing Vince like a tree, causing the other man to whine about having his curls tugged at.
The next round Luke and Jon lost again, causing Luke to rage quit entirely.
"Don't be such a baby, Luke!" Leo cried out, as Lucas used the deck to lift himself out of the water, "c'mon, dude, we're just playing!"
"No, I have a headache, I'm gonna lie down," Lucas lied through his teeth. Max eye rolled so much he feared it was gonna get stuck.
"Sore loser, much?"
"Fuck off, Daniels."
Max didn't pay him any mind, if anything he was glad the guy was gone, but apparently the others didn't share his satisfaction, because they only stayed in the lake for another hour before heading inside.
As soon as they were out, Max overheard Vin tell Jonah in a quiet voice, "I'll check on him."
Atwood truly was spoiled rotten, huh?
Max followed Leo into the kitchen. They should probably shower, since the sun was setting and the temperatures were dropping quickly, but his stomach was hurting from hunger.
"Okay, we got, uh-" Leo's voice came muffled from inside the fridge, "chicken and uhm... What is this... Chicken, but in cubes now... And this is... Chicken but in burger form!" He pulled back, smiling, "so what is it gonna be?"
"Chicken?" Max grinned, pushing Leo aside so he could look at their options.
He wasn't a stellar cook. When someone had a fussy stomach as bad as he did, all they needed to know was how to cook potatoes, rice and chicken. From the ingredients they had brought, he figured they could do full on burgers or maybe just rice, chicken and fries.
"So?" Leo asked, but not directed at him. Max looked up, Jonah was by the doorway, having already showered, "is he pissy or he's got an actual headache?"
Jon grimaced, "I think it's an actual headache, I'm hoping it's because we didn't eat all day."
"That wasn't very smart of us, no," Max relented, when he actually wanted to ask why they were acting as if a headache was the equivalent of bleeding out.
"He's gonna be fine," Vince entered the kitchen, circling Jonah and grabbing Max by the hips to push him away from the fridge. Apparently he had already decided he was gonna cook, "did we bring any garlic? Or onions?"
Max shrugged, he hadn't been in charge of anything. He hadn't even been sure if he was gonna come or not, torn between his desire to join and his fear of falling back under Vin's spell and his annoyance at dealing with Atwood for a whole weekend. So far so good, though.
"Do we really need that?" Leo asked, "I prioritized space, bought beer."
Vince stared at him as if Leo had just said all puppies should die, "you prioritized buying beer versus spices?"
"He's from bumfuck Oklahoma, give him a break," Jonah teased, receiving an elbow in his stomach.
"We had limited space in the car and you told me to keep the budget tight!" Leo cried out.
"So tight you didn't bring garlic?!"
"Not everything needs garlic!"
"Did you at least bring salt?!" Vince's cheeks were red now and Max was beyond enthralled. He didn't particularly care what they ate, even if it ended up sucking, he thought it would be fine. Clearly, his ex didn't share his opinions.
Leo's face turned pink, "uh... I brought juice packets for cocktails and vodka..?"
"MA QUI CAZZO!" Vince exploded, causing Max to break and start cackling.
"Why are you guys yelling?" Atwood walked in the kitchen, that was getting too cramped for all of them, glaring at them. Party pooper that he was, he instantly killed the mood.
"Leo didn't bring SALT!" Vince exclaimed, pointing angrily at Leo, who had his lips pressed not to laugh, "you had one job!"
"I brought the essentials!"
"We can head to town and get salt," Jonah intervened before the vein in Vin's forehead exploded, "and Excedrin?" He asked in a lower tone, to Atwood, who nodded.
The drama queen was leaning against the doorway, forehead touching the wooden frame and face pinched.
"I'll go with," Vince decided, "I don't trust any of you to buy food."
"I know how to buy groceries, I was making a strategic decision," Leo argued, while they all moved to the living room, Jonah already grabbing the car keys.
Although he hadn't said it out loud, Max could tell he was worried about Lucas. Over a headache, the drama.
Jonah and Vince left, leaving Max and Leo behind, as well as Atwood, who had sat down on the couch and was cradling his head as if he was dying.
"Awn, Luke," Leo lowered his voice, "is it very bad?"
"Not that bad yet," Lucas answered, his voice barely above a whisper, "Jonah is right, I probably just need to eat."
"Uhm, we can make fries..?" Leo offered. Max noticed he had started to shake, since now it was getting pretty chilly.
"No, kid," Luke pushed Leo's wet shorts, "go shower, your teeth are chattering."
"Yes, dad," Leo teased him, ruffling his hair, "I'll be right back."
Leo sprinted upstairs and Max was left alone with Atwood. Great, just great.
He looked around the room in search of his cigarettes, fishing one out and walking to the front door, opening it so he could smoke half inside, half in the porch — Jonah had threatened him with bodily harm if he smoked inside the house, even the bathroom was off limits... But he was too cold to go completely outside, fuck that.
"Can you not smoke?" Atwood bitched.
Max rolled his eyes, taking a long drag and blowing it out in a thick ring of white smoke, "nope," he poked the ring with his cig, "no wonder you act like this, they coddle you like crazy."
"They're not coddling me," Luke scoffed, moving on the couch in a weak attempt to get away from Max. If he really wanted to avoid the cigarettes, Max figured he could stop with the performance and simply go back to bed.
"What do you call them babying you then?" Max snorted, continuing to smoke. His favorite part of the lake house was, by far, how silent it was. He could hear the crickets chirping and an owl hooting far away. It relaxed every muscle in his body.
Lucas let out a long suffering sigh, shuffling on the couch. Max glanced at him, the guy was pretty pale, maybe he wasn't faking the headache to get attention. Maybe.
There were footsteps upstairs, followed by a shriek. Both their heads snapped, "Leo?!" Luke called out, before Max beat him to it. He got up, walked to the staircase and Max followed, concerned.
"Leo?!"
"I'M FINE!" Leo's voice travelled, "There was a spider in the shower!"
"How big of a spider?" Max chuckled, imaging the other man shrieking because of an itty bitty spider.
"Uh- About the size of my hand...?"
Oh, wow, that was pretty big.
"You killed it?" The nerd in him wanted to go up to check it out, but Luke was absolutely gonna snitch if Max went up to the second floor while smoking.
"Yeah, it's fine," Leo shut the bathroom door once more, ending their shouting conversation.
Max turned around to walk back outside, to pat out his cigarettes that had burned down considerably, only for his eyes to fall on Atwood... Who was shaking...?
"Atwood?"
"Urg-uck," the man clamped a hand over his mouth, then rushed to the kitchen, leaning over the sink with a loud retch. Max jumped, surprised.
"Oh, wow," he walked closer, unsure of what to do, standing awkwardly on the doorway, "are you good...?"
Was this because of the headache or something else?
Luke retched again, this time managing to bring up a mouthful of thick saliva and something cloudy in it. Max wrinkled his nose, stepped closer to reassess his original diagnose of drama queen. Atwood was trembling, maybe he did have a pretty bad headache or maybe it was a bug-
"Go. Away," Luke's voice was clipped with annoyance, one shaky hand attempt to shoo Max away. The blonde snorted.
"You seem a little woozy, I'd rather you didn't split your head on my watch," he peered at Luke's face, the way his throat was bobbing as he fought the nausea, "are you gonna be sick?"
There was a vindictive hint to his voice, a mean part of him that wanted to make this worse a little bit, after Luke had acted like such a fucking asshole back in the car, crying out he wouldn't pull over. Such an asshole.
"GO'WAY!"
Max put down his cigarette on the windowsill, frustrated, "I'm trying to help!"
"Yo'huurk-" Luke gagged mid sentence, spine curling as he heaved again, this time managing to actually bring something up. Cereal? They had brought cereal?
Max wouldn't know, he had skipped breakfast entirely because he had slept until 11.
"Do you have the flu?" Max wondered out loud. Surely a headache shouldn't cause puking, not unless- His mind flashed Wendy, a year ago, throwing up on his shirt while she cradled her head, on the side of the road in Doveport. Not a headache, a migraine.
That explained why the lot of them were making such a fuss about it, "Ah, you have a migraine?" Max whispered, looking around for the light switch. Darkness helped, right?
Luke heaved again, then his knees buckled, but he didn't fall because Max wrapped his arms around his waist before he managed, "Whoa! Hey, don't faint!"
"Mmn'ell," Luke slurred and there was something in his voice that made Max look away from his search for the light switch.
Luke's face had collapsed, right side turned down, left up.
He was having a stroke.
"Lucas," Max's heart was so loud in his ears, he couldn't hear his own voice, "Shit, Lucas. Lucas, open your eyes!"
"Mmgh'ell!" Luke cried out, a hand coming up to grab at his hair, tugging on it with so much force that a couple hairs came out.
"What?! What are you saying -" what do I do?!
Luke gestured, uncoordinated, to the windowsill and it took Max an embarrassing amount of time to realize he meant the stupid cigarette. Shit, the smell.
"Oh my god- My bad, my bad, my bad," he said frantically, putting the thing off inside the sink and turning the register on for good measure.
"What's going on-" Leo froze by the doorway, taken back by the scene. Max's heart nearly leaped out of his mouth.
"Help?! I think he's having a stroke- I- I-"
"Shit, Luke," Leo whispered, concern clear on his face, "lets get you lying down..."
"Leo, call 911," Max instructed, trying to keep his cool and failing miserably. He had never seen a stroke before, but a collapsed face... He'd have to be daft to ignore that glaring red flag, "Leo!"
"It's not a stroke!" Leo snapped at him, sliding under Luke's opposite arm, "c'mon, Luke, we're gonna get you lying down..."
Slowly they made it back to the living room, depositing Luke down on the couch. The man let out a groan, pitching to the side as he heaved again and Leo rushed out to grab him a bowl, while Max planted both his hands on Luke's shoulders to keep him from falling completely.
His face was terrifying, one eye leaking tears like a faulty faucet, lips down turned and limp, the other bright, alert and pinched in pain.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck," Max chanted under his breath, making a silent prayer to the universe that Atwood didn't die on him. He was terrified, he couldn't understand why Leo wasn't completely losing it too, "Leo, he's going to die, we really need to call 911-"
"He's not having a stroke," Leo fell to his knees next to Luke, holding a plastic bowl under his mouth and curling his opposite arm around Luke's head, trying to keep it steady as the empty heaves rocked him, "migraine. He's got-"
"Migraine doesn't cause his face to fall!" Max hissed, "call Jonah at least-" he was begging and he knew it, but fuck, this guy couldn't die on him.
Leo hesitated, then nodded, "hold him, keep his head steady."
He then ran to grab his cellphone, ditched upstairs. Max moved around, taking Leo's spot and wrapping himself around Luke's head kinda like an octopus, cooing out of instinct when he heaved and whimpered.
He should ignore Leo's bullshit and call 911 himself. Even if Luke didn't die, if he had had an aneurysm, time was crucial...
"His face collapsed," Leo's voice arrived before he did, talking on the phone, "it's bad, Jon, it's really bad..."
The other man appeared in front of Max, gesturing for him to move, "okay... Just squeeze his hand? That's all?" Leo's hand wrapped around Luke's and he whispered to the fallen man, "Luke, Jon is asking you to squeeze my hand, can you do that? Please?"
Max waited, biting his lip with so much force he was drawing blood. Luke's hand tightened around Leo's, who let out a relieved sigh, "Okay, Luke, now the other one..." Again, a tight hand squeeze.
Leo sat down on the ground, boneless, "yeah, he squeezed it, it's strong," he said on the phone and judging by the clear relief on his voice, Max counted it as good news. He just wasn't sure if he trusted it.
"Ice pack?" Leo asked, on the phone, "no, we don't, but Uh- I have a bottle of vodka in the freezer... Works?"
Max was up and moving before he got an ok from Leo. He took the bottle of alcohol, wrapped it up in a dish cloth and brought it back to the mini chaos in the living room.
"Hold it to his forehead," Leo instructed.
Max obeyed and upon the cool touch, Luke whimpered and curled up even more.
"Ssstop'urtssss-"
"Sorry, man, I can't," Max said, truly apologetic. He watched Luke's face like a hawk, hoping the horrible two-face condition was gonna ease.
It took forever.
Jonah and Vince arrived and promptly took over the caretaking, a bag of groceries being shoved in Max's hands as he was sidelined.
He dumped it in the kitchen, unable to stay away from the living room, where the other two were fussing over Luke in a rhythm that informed Max this wasn't their first time doing it.
Leo got up to wash the vomit basin and his whole face was pink as if he was crying, so Max followed him.
"Leo..."
"I'm okay," his voice came out strangled and Max let out a huff. Leo dropped the bowl inside the sink, whole body shaking and a terrible whine falling from his lips.
"Hey," Max wasn't sure what he was doing, but Leo was his friend and he wanted to comfort him. He stepped closer, pulled Leo's arm and guided him into a hug, which was reciprocated immediately. Leo melted against him, crying, "I know, it was scary..."
It sounded childish said like this, but Max too was shaking, adrenaline starting to come down. Leo sniffled, hugged him tighter, "I thought he- he-"
"I know, I thought so too," Max patted his friend's back, "but Jonah said he's ok, right?"
"Right," Leo pulled back, wiping his eyes, "sorry-"
"Don't," Max squeezed his nape, looking back to the living room. Jonah and Vin seemed to have managed to knock Luke out. Jon was sitting on the coffee table, watching him, while Vince paced behind the couch like a caged tiger, biting his thumb.
Luke's face was normal now and he seemed peaceful. Max walked up to Vin, while Leo curled up on the floor, resting his head on Jonah's thigh.
"Should we move him to a bed..?" Max asked, after a long quiet minute. He noticed Vin's face was white as chalk and his eyes were bloodshot, and he reached in without thinking, taking Vin's hand in his and giving it a friendly squeeze. Vince latched onto him with an iron grip.
"Not yet," Jonah answered, sounding defeated, "I should've seen it coming, he was squinting all day and wearing the stupid sunglasses."
"Not your fault," Leo pressed a kiss to Jonah's thigh, while Max asked again "is it over now?"
"Not necessarily," Vince's voice was raspy, he cleared his throat, "last cluster I thought he'd be better after sleeping, but he was worse. Had to take him to the ER."
"Ah..." What else was he supposed to say?
They eventually disbanded. Vince took a lot of pushing and prodding to move away from Luke, but he did go cook dinner once Jonah promised he wouldn't leave the other man alone. Leo shooed Max to shower and they had a quiet dinner in the kitchen, while Vince watched Luke.
Jonah curled up on the armchair in front of the couch, eyelids heavy, but refusing to move to the bedroom no matter how many times Leo asked... And Leo didn't ask that many times. Instead he came back downstairs with a huge pile of pillows and Max quickly got what he wanted, so he ran upstairs to grab all the blankets.
They curled up on the living room floor, pushed the coffee table out of the way. Max sandwiched between Vince and Leo.
It was only when Vin snuggled up against him, much, much later that night, that Max's heart finally stopped racing. He let out a sigh, used Vin's bicep as a pillow and curled his hand around Leo's wrist, thrown over his middle. Max fell asleep watching Luke's slack face.
"Last one in the water is a sack of shit!" Leo squealed, sprinting down the deck and slipping at the last second, falling into the lake none too gracefully, limbs spread out in a funny way.
Jonah let out a dramatic, "LEO!" While Vince chuckled loudly, whole body arching back as he grabbed his left pec, cheeks flushed. Max snorted at their antics, even more so when Leo emerged from the water spluttering, a piece of algae stuck to his hair.
"What are you waiting for?!"
As if he was just waiting for his cue, Vince patted Max's back and then ran down the deck, jumping and hugging his knees, cannonballing nearly on top of Leo's head.
"Is it cold?!" Max asked, eyeing the lake. It looked pacific and today was a really, really warm day, but he was the skittish kind, he couldn't help it.
"Nope," Leo swam closer, splashing water Jonah's way and causing the other man to let out a yell.
"Leo, my phone!"
"Let go of that and get in the water!"
Vince emerged, shaking his head like a dog and sending water droplets everywhere. He swam to the edge of the deck, throwing his arms on the wood and smiling at Max, "c'mon in, it's great."
God, Max bit down a dreamy sigh at the vision.
Lately he felt like he was slowly, key word here, falling out of love with Vince. He seemed more annoying than usual, which Max knew he wasn't really, but the flaws he had originally noticed before crushing hard on the guy were visible once more. Which wasn't to say he had turned blind overnight and his whole body didn't react to Vin still, but there was a hint of annoyance now that wasn't there at first.
Annoyed at Vince and Wendy for the shit show they had made of his life in the past months, but in a surface level. Something he hadn't felt at first, but now he did. Leo said it was a good thing, Max didn't care either way. It wasn't like his feelings had been a decisive factor lately.
Cold water hit him straight on the face, snapping the blonde out of his thoughts and he glared at Vince, whose cheeks were flushed as he pointed at Leo briskly, "wasn't me!"
"Wasn't me!" Leo cried out, although he was giggling too much. Max wasn't sure who to believe, so he opted for raising both middle fingers.
"You guys suck," he scoffed, walking back to the shore to ditch his flip flops and his T-shirt.
Atwood was hanging back like some sort of ghoul, arms crossed and sunglasses, which made him look even more douchey than usual. Max rolled his eyes at the guy, turning his back at him and running down the deck, yelling, "INCOMING!"
He did a pirouette mid air and then dunked in the water. They hadn't been lying, the water wasn't really cold, the perfect temperature. Leo wolf whistled when he emerged, cheekily saying, "that was a ten out of ten, baby!"
"Baby?" Vince whispered in his ear, causing Max to get covered in goosebumps and splash water his way. Fuck this guy, really.
Jonah sat on the edge of the deck, putting his feet in the water, but not getting in, not even as Leo swam between his legs and puppy eyed him, "c'mooon, Jon!"
"No, it's gonna fuck up my hair," Jonah said, while Leo did his best imitation of those wet eyed seals. Max tried not to laugh, just as Vince poked his ribs and raised a finger to his lips, in a stay quiet gesture.
He disappeared underwater, a shadow swimming to where Leo was still trying to convince Jonah to join them. Max watched, pressing his lips not to laugh as Vince swam under the deck and then just his hands poked out, wrapping around Jonah's calves in an iron grip.
"what- VIN-AHHH!" Jonah yelled as he was pulled from the edge of the deck and thrown straight on the water, on top of Leo who didn't move out of the way fast enough.
Max laughed, even harder as Leo emerged clutching his nose, while Jonah spluttered and cried out, "you are such a jerk, Vince Monacelli! Such a fucking je-" he got interrupted by Leo tugging the front of his soaked tanktop and kissing him.
Vince splashed water on them, "leave some room for Jesus, you two."
"Someone is envioussss," Leo sing song, hiding his face in Jonah's neck, seeming more content than Max had seen him be in ages. They were adorable, even if Max thought Jonah was a bit of a stuck up prick, it was heart warming how much he clearly fawned over Leo.
Vince rolled his eyes, gesturing to the shore, "C'mon, Luke, you're missing out! Get in the water!"
Luke shook his head, he had sat down on the shore, back resting against a tree trunk, in the only shadowy patch there was. He had a book in his hand, but Max would've bet money that he hadn't read a single page. Nevertheless, Lucas raised it as a justification for staying out of the water.
Jonah snorted, voice low as he said, "he's so jealous."
"Should we get him?" Vince swam a circle around them, face partially in the water, voice causing bubbles to appear, "I grab his legs, you get his arms?"
Leo perked up at the idea, "maybe in a bit, he's too aware right now."
"Okay," Vince's foot found Max's leg, causing the blonde to jerk, at first thinking it was a fish, but nope. He hated how weak his body was, because that alone caused heat to curl in his belly, his cheeks to burn. Max lowered himself in the water, leaving only his nose out, pointedly avoiding Vin's eyes.
Was he all healed up from the break up and now wanted Max back? He probably just wanted a booty call, but how stupid was it to fish for it within his friend group. Idiot.
He sent Vince a glare and the man smiled, pulled his foot back, hands raised in a disarming way.
"Chicken Fight?" Leo suggested and Max let out a disbelieving scoff.
"Who's gonna get André The Giant over here?" He pointed at Vince, who seemed offended at the comparison, "We can't play it in a fair way!"
"We put Jon with Vin," Leo shrugged, "Jonah sucks at it."
"Wow, real nice, baby," Jonah scoffed, making Max chuckle at their antics.
He guessed Leo had a point, Jonah was all prim and proper, no way he was a good player.
"You know what? Sure, get on top," He swam to Leo, patting his shoulders.
"Leo doesn't hear that often," Vince teased, receiving a splash of water straight to his face, by Jonah.
Max and Leo were a good team and since they had similar builds, they could switch between turns. Max was a little flabbergasted by how shredded Leo was, he had known the guy was lean, like himself, but those abs? Not a thing regular people should have, only movie actors.
Nevertheless, they didn't stand a chance against Jonah and Vin. Jon might be a diva, but he was just as strong, if not stronger, as Leo, and Vince well... The guy was clearly playing with them like he did with his baby sisters.
Probably feeling dejected and sensing that he was the only one who could level the playing field, Luke had moved closer to them and had his feet in the water. He reminded Max of how JD skittered around Leo's place when he was over.
"He's ticklish," he told Max and Leo, clearly invested in the game, as Leo spluttered and sunk his fingers on Max's calves with so much force that there would be purple bruises there in the morning, "like really ticklish."
As if Max didn't know that.
Leo apparently didn't, because he used the infirmation to try and touch Vin's armpit, for the first time in the whole game managing to have Jon wobbling on top of his shoulders as Vince jerked away to try and avoid the tickles.
"Luke! Not fair!"
"He's got a weak spot!" Leo cried out like a warrior, immediately moving forward to do it again, but forgetting to hold Max, nearly causing him to fall backwards.
Lucas watched them play another round, then apparently they weren't being sufficiently vicious for his taste, because he said, "fuck it," and got in the water.
"Jon, get on my shoulders."
"I'm not a dog, you can't just say jump and I juUMP!" Jonah squealed as Vince shrugged him off, causing him to fall back into the water, "Vin, what the fuck?!"
Max snorted, lowering himself so Leo could dismount his shoulders and they played rock paper scissors to figure out who'd get to be Vin's partner for the round.
Max won, much to his chagrin, because being on top of Vince like that, his hands curling around his thighs to properly position him... Yeah, that wasn't helping his "Fuck Vince" agenda.
"Squeeze your legs," Vince told him, "and brace yourself, Luke is the worst."
"You just say that because I win every time," Luke shrugged, causing Jonah to wobble and tug on his hair as if he was a disobedient horse.
"With Wendy against Bell? Of course you do, my gi-" Vince's mouth slammed shut mid sentence, realizing what he was saying. They all flinched, Max feeling vaguely nauseous as it dawned on him just how not over it Vince was. Max couldn't even hold it against him, this would all be so much easier if he could just hate Vin, but no... He liked the guy, he was attracted to him and to top it off, he sympathized with his plight.
"Okaaay," Leo said, awkwardly, "Uhm- players get in position! Three, two, one- FIGHT!"
Lucas lost the first one and Max, Leo and Vince watched amusedly as Jonah and him yelled at each other for a solid minute before resuming to their initial positions. They won the next one, Max falling into the water with a splash that caused his back to hurt and by the time he emerged, Leo was already climbing Vince like a tree, causing the other man to whine about having his curls tugged at.
The next round Luke and Jon lost again, causing Luke to rage quit entirely.
"Don't be such a baby, Luke!" Leo cried out, as Lucas used the deck to lift himself out of the water, "c'mon, dude, we're just playing!"
"No, I have a headache, I'm gonna lie down," Lucas lied through his teeth. Max eye rolled so much he feared it was gonna get stuck.
"Sore loser, much?"
"Fuck off, Daniels."
Max didn't pay him any mind, if anything he was glad the guy was gone, but apparently the others didn't share his satisfaction, because they only stayed in the lake for another hour before heading inside.
As soon as they were out, Max overheard Vin tell Jonah in a quiet voice, "I'll check on him."
Atwood truly was spoiled rotten, huh?
Max followed Leo into the kitchen. They should probably shower, since the sun was setting and the temperatures were dropping quickly, but his stomach was hurting from hunger.
"Okay, we got, uh-" Leo's voice came muffled from inside the fridge, "chicken and uhm... What is this... Chicken, but in cubes now... And this is... Chicken but in burger form!" He pulled back, smiling, "so what is it gonna be?"
"Chicken?" Max grinned, pushing Leo aside so he could look at their options.
He wasn't a stellar cook. When someone had a fussy stomach as bad as he did, all they needed to know was how to cook potatoes, rice and chicken. From the ingredients they had brought, he figured they could do full on burgers or maybe just rice, chicken and fries.
"So?" Leo asked, but not directed at him. Max looked up, Jonah was by the doorway, having already showered, "is he pissy or he's got an actual headache?"
Jon grimaced, "I think it's an actual headache, I'm hoping it's because we didn't eat all day."
"That wasn't very smart of us, no," Max relented, when he actually wanted to ask why they were acting as if a headache was the equivalent of bleeding out.
"He's gonna be fine," Vince entered the kitchen, circling Jonah and grabbing Max by the hips to push him away from the fridge. Apparently he had already decided he was gonna cook, "did we bring any garlic? Or onions?"
Max shrugged, he hadn't been in charge of anything. He hadn't even been sure if he was gonna come or not, torn between his desire to join and his fear of falling back under Vin's spell and his annoyance at dealing with Atwood for a whole weekend. So far so good, though.
"Do we really need that?" Leo asked, "I prioritized space, bought beer."
Vince stared at him as if Leo had just said all puppies should die, "you prioritized buying beer versus spices?"
"He's from bumfuck Oklahoma, give him a break," Jonah teased, receiving an elbow in his stomach.
"We had limited space in the car and you told me to keep the budget tight!" Leo cried out.
"So tight you didn't bring garlic?!"
"Not everything needs garlic!"
"Did you at least bring salt?!" Vince's cheeks were red now and Max was beyond enthralled. He didn't particularly care what they ate, even if it ended up sucking, he thought it would be fine. Clearly, his ex didn't share his opinions.
Leo's face turned pink, "uh... I brought juice packets for cocktails and vodka..?"
"MA QUI CAZZO!" Vince exploded, causing Max to break and start cackling.
"Why are you guys yelling?" Atwood walked in the kitchen, that was getting too cramped for all of them, glaring at them. Party pooper that he was, he instantly killed the mood.
"Leo didn't bring SALT!" Vince exclaimed, pointing angrily at Leo, who had his lips pressed not to laugh, "you had one job!"
"I brought the essentials!"
"We can head to town and get salt," Jonah intervened before the vein in Vin's forehead exploded, "and Excedrin?" He asked in a lower tone, to Atwood, who nodded.
The drama queen was leaning against the doorway, forehead touching the wooden frame and face pinched.
"I'll go with," Vince decided, "I don't trust any of you to buy food."
"I know how to buy groceries, I was making a strategic decision," Leo argued, while they all moved to the living room, Jonah already grabbing the car keys.
Although he hadn't said it out loud, Max could tell he was worried about Lucas. Over a headache, the drama.
Jonah and Vince left, leaving Max and Leo behind, as well as Atwood, who had sat down on the couch and was cradling his head as if he was dying.
"Awn, Luke," Leo lowered his voice, "is it very bad?"
"Not that bad yet," Lucas answered, his voice barely above a whisper, "Jonah is right, I probably just need to eat."
"Uhm, we can make fries..?" Leo offered. Max noticed he had started to shake, since now it was getting pretty chilly.
"No, kid," Luke pushed Leo's wet shorts, "go shower, your teeth are chattering."
"Yes, dad," Leo teased him, ruffling his hair, "I'll be right back."
Leo sprinted upstairs and Max was left alone with Atwood. Great, just great.
He looked around the room in search of his cigarettes, fishing one out and walking to the front door, opening it so he could smoke half inside, half in the porch — Jonah had threatened him with bodily harm if he smoked inside the house, even the bathroom was off limits... But he was too cold to go completely outside, fuck that.
"Can you not smoke?" Atwood bitched.
Max rolled his eyes, taking a long drag and blowing it out in a thick ring of white smoke, "nope," he poked the ring with his cig, "no wonder you act like this, they coddle you like crazy."
"They're not coddling me," Luke scoffed, moving on the couch in a weak attempt to get away from Max. If he really wanted to avoid the cigarettes, Max figured he could stop with the performance and simply go back to bed.
"What do you call them babying you then?" Max snorted, continuing to smoke. His favorite part of the lake house was, by far, how silent it was. He could hear the crickets chirping and an owl hooting far away. It relaxed every muscle in his body.
Lucas let out a long suffering sigh, shuffling on the couch. Max glanced at him, the guy was pretty pale, maybe he wasn't faking the headache to get attention. Maybe.
There were footsteps upstairs, followed by a shriek. Both their heads snapped, "Leo?!" Luke called out, before Max beat him to it. He got up, walked to the staircase and Max followed, concerned.
"Leo?!"
"I'M FINE!" Leo's voice travelled, "There was a spider in the shower!"
"How big of a spider?" Max chuckled, imaging the other man shrieking because of an itty bitty spider.
"Uh- About the size of my hand...?"
Oh, wow, that was pretty big.
"You killed it?" The nerd in him wanted to go up to check it out, but Luke was absolutely gonna snitch if Max went up to the second floor while smoking.
"Yeah, it's fine," Leo shut the bathroom door once more, ending their shouting conversation.
Max turned around to walk back outside, to pat out his cigarettes that had burned down considerably, only for his eyes to fall on Atwood... Who was shaking...?
"Atwood?"
"Urg-uck," the man clamped a hand over his mouth, then rushed to the kitchen, leaning over the sink with a loud retch. Max jumped, surprised.
"Oh, wow," he walked closer, unsure of what to do, standing awkwardly on the doorway, "are you good...?"
Was this because of the headache or something else?
Luke retched again, this time managing to bring up a mouthful of thick saliva and something cloudy in it. Max wrinkled his nose, stepped closer to reassess his original diagnose of drama queen. Atwood was trembling, maybe he did have a pretty bad headache or maybe it was a bug-
"Go. Away," Luke's voice was clipped with annoyance, one shaky hand attempt to shoo Max away. The blonde snorted.
"You seem a little woozy, I'd rather you didn't split your head on my watch," he peered at Luke's face, the way his throat was bobbing as he fought the nausea, "are you gonna be sick?"
There was a vindictive hint to his voice, a mean part of him that wanted to make this worse a little bit, after Luke had acted like such a fucking asshole back in the car, crying out he wouldn't pull over. Such an asshole.
"GO'WAY!"
Max put down his cigarette on the windowsill, frustrated, "I'm trying to help!"
"Yo'huurk-" Luke gagged mid sentence, spine curling as he heaved again, this time managing to actually bring something up. Cereal? They had brought cereal?
Max wouldn't know, he had skipped breakfast entirely because he had slept until 11.
"Do you have the flu?" Max wondered out loud. Surely a headache shouldn't cause puking, not unless- His mind flashed Wendy, a year ago, throwing up on his shirt while she cradled her head, on the side of the road in Doveport. Not a headache, a migraine.
That explained why the lot of them were making such a fuss about it, "Ah, you have a migraine?" Max whispered, looking around for the light switch. Darkness helped, right?
Luke heaved again, then his knees buckled, but he didn't fall because Max wrapped his arms around his waist before he managed, "Whoa! Hey, don't faint!"
"Mmn'ell," Luke slurred and there was something in his voice that made Max look away from his search for the light switch.
Luke's face had collapsed, right side turned down, left up.
He was having a stroke.
"Lucas," Max's heart was so loud in his ears, he couldn't hear his own voice, "Shit, Lucas. Lucas, open your eyes!"
"Mmgh'ell!" Luke cried out, a hand coming up to grab at his hair, tugging on it with so much force that a couple hairs came out.
"What?! What are you saying -" what do I do?!
Luke gestured, uncoordinated, to the windowsill and it took Max an embarrassing amount of time to realize he meant the stupid cigarette. Shit, the smell.
"Oh my god- My bad, my bad, my bad," he said frantically, putting the thing off inside the sink and turning the register on for good measure.
"What's going on-" Leo froze by the doorway, taken back by the scene. Max's heart nearly leaped out of his mouth.
"Help?! I think he's having a stroke- I- I-"
"Shit, Luke," Leo whispered, concern clear on his face, "lets get you lying down..."
"Leo, call 911," Max instructed, trying to keep his cool and failing miserably. He had never seen a stroke before, but a collapsed face... He'd have to be daft to ignore that glaring red flag, "Leo!"
"It's not a stroke!" Leo snapped at him, sliding under Luke's opposite arm, "c'mon, Luke, we're gonna get you lying down..."
Slowly they made it back to the living room, depositing Luke down on the couch. The man let out a groan, pitching to the side as he heaved again and Leo rushed out to grab him a bowl, while Max planted both his hands on Luke's shoulders to keep him from falling completely.
His face was terrifying, one eye leaking tears like a faulty faucet, lips down turned and limp, the other bright, alert and pinched in pain.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck," Max chanted under his breath, making a silent prayer to the universe that Atwood didn't die on him. He was terrified, he couldn't understand why Leo wasn't completely losing it too, "Leo, he's going to die, we really need to call 911-"
"He's not having a stroke," Leo fell to his knees next to Luke, holding a plastic bowl under his mouth and curling his opposite arm around Luke's head, trying to keep it steady as the empty heaves rocked him, "migraine. He's got-"
"Migraine doesn't cause his face to fall!" Max hissed, "call Jonah at least-" he was begging and he knew it, but fuck, this guy couldn't die on him.
Leo hesitated, then nodded, "hold him, keep his head steady."
He then ran to grab his cellphone, ditched upstairs. Max moved around, taking Leo's spot and wrapping himself around Luke's head kinda like an octopus, cooing out of instinct when he heaved and whimpered.
He should ignore Leo's bullshit and call 911 himself. Even if Luke didn't die, if he had had an aneurysm, time was crucial...
"His face collapsed," Leo's voice arrived before he did, talking on the phone, "it's bad, Jon, it's really bad..."
The other man appeared in front of Max, gesturing for him to move, "okay... Just squeeze his hand? That's all?" Leo's hand wrapped around Luke's and he whispered to the fallen man, "Luke, Jon is asking you to squeeze my hand, can you do that? Please?"
Max waited, biting his lip with so much force he was drawing blood. Luke's hand tightened around Leo's, who let out a relieved sigh, "Okay, Luke, now the other one..." Again, a tight hand squeeze.
Leo sat down on the ground, boneless, "yeah, he squeezed it, it's strong," he said on the phone and judging by the clear relief on his voice, Max counted it as good news. He just wasn't sure if he trusted it.
"Ice pack?" Leo asked, on the phone, "no, we don't, but Uh- I have a bottle of vodka in the freezer... Works?"
Max was up and moving before he got an ok from Leo. He took the bottle of alcohol, wrapped it up in a dish cloth and brought it back to the mini chaos in the living room.
"Hold it to his forehead," Leo instructed.
Max obeyed and upon the cool touch, Luke whimpered and curled up even more.
"Ssstop'urtssss-"
"Sorry, man, I can't," Max said, truly apologetic. He watched Luke's face like a hawk, hoping the horrible two-face condition was gonna ease.
It took forever.
Jonah and Vince arrived and promptly took over the caretaking, a bag of groceries being shoved in Max's hands as he was sidelined.
He dumped it in the kitchen, unable to stay away from the living room, where the other two were fussing over Luke in a rhythm that informed Max this wasn't their first time doing it.
Leo got up to wash the vomit basin and his whole face was pink as if he was crying, so Max followed him.
"Leo..."
"I'm okay," his voice came out strangled and Max let out a huff. Leo dropped the bowl inside the sink, whole body shaking and a terrible whine falling from his lips.
"Hey," Max wasn't sure what he was doing, but Leo was his friend and he wanted to comfort him. He stepped closer, pulled Leo's arm and guided him into a hug, which was reciprocated immediately. Leo melted against him, crying, "I know, it was scary..."
It sounded childish said like this, but Max too was shaking, adrenaline starting to come down. Leo sniffled, hugged him tighter, "I thought he- he-"
"I know, I thought so too," Max patted his friend's back, "but Jonah said he's ok, right?"
"Right," Leo pulled back, wiping his eyes, "sorry-"
"Don't," Max squeezed his nape, looking back to the living room. Jonah and Vin seemed to have managed to knock Luke out. Jon was sitting on the coffee table, watching him, while Vince paced behind the couch like a caged tiger, biting his thumb.
Luke's face was normal now and he seemed peaceful. Max walked up to Vin, while Leo curled up on the floor, resting his head on Jonah's thigh.
"Should we move him to a bed..?" Max asked, after a long quiet minute. He noticed Vin's face was white as chalk and his eyes were bloodshot, and he reached in without thinking, taking Vin's hand in his and giving it a friendly squeeze. Vince latched onto him with an iron grip.
"Not yet," Jonah answered, sounding defeated, "I should've seen it coming, he was squinting all day and wearing the stupid sunglasses."
"Not your fault," Leo pressed a kiss to Jonah's thigh, while Max asked again "is it over now?"
"Not necessarily," Vince's voice was raspy, he cleared his throat, "last cluster I thought he'd be better after sleeping, but he was worse. Had to take him to the ER."
"Ah..." What else was he supposed to say?
They eventually disbanded. Vince took a lot of pushing and prodding to move away from Luke, but he did go cook dinner once Jonah promised he wouldn't leave the other man alone. Leo shooed Max to shower and they had a quiet dinner in the kitchen, while Vince watched Luke.
Jonah curled up on the armchair in front of the couch, eyelids heavy, but refusing to move to the bedroom no matter how many times Leo asked... And Leo didn't ask that many times. Instead he came back downstairs with a huge pile of pillows and Max quickly got what he wanted, so he ran upstairs to grab all the blankets.
They curled up on the living room floor, pushed the coffee table out of the way. Max sandwiched between Vince and Leo.
It was only when Vin snuggled up against him, much, much later that night, that Max's heart finally stopped racing. He let out a sigh, used Vin's bicep as a pillow and curled his hand around Leo's wrist, thrown over his middle. Max fell asleep watching Luke's slack face.
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Bella stirred on the bed, blanket wrapped around her lower half, letting out a heavy sigh. She had been looking forward to spending some time with her mother and it was going great, but for as much grief as she had given Luke for being clingy, here she was, missing him.
She hadn't slept alone in a long while, it was weird, to say the least. Besides, this whole house was a new place, there wasn't even the familiar aspect of being back to their little trailer park home. Not that she was complaining, not at all, it was just weird.
Marisa had never been a night owl — something that amused Bella to no end how she kept surrounding herself with these early birds type people — so she had already gone to bed and the house was dead silent now.
Bella had promised herself she wouldn't pester Luke during the weekend, not after she had been the one to push for some time apart. It was only fair he got to have fun... However she really wanted to hear his voice now.
Pouting, Bella turned on the bed and fished her phone from the nightstand. Vaguely she thought she really needed more friends of her own, so right now she could be texting one of them, since all the people she considered her friends were in the cabin trip. Terrible. At least Marilyn seemed to want to befriend her, their lunch together after the talk with Wendy had been productive, and the other woman had been texting her semi constantly now, but they were still stiff and awkward texts. Besides, right now she didn't want anyone else, but Lucas.
Bella: Are u up?
Luke's contact was offline and she clicked on the little ball housing his picture in order to enlarge it. She frequently changed his contact picture and the most recent one was him in the shelter, during one of the communal Sunday luncheons. He had been helping in the kitchen, so he had an apron on and a stupid hair net and still Bella thought he looked painfully handsome. Truly ridiculous that he still made her heart skip a beat when looking goofy as hell.
Her phone buzzed and she quickly clicked out of the picture.
Luke: barely standing
She chewed on her bottom lip, bummed.
Bella: I'm gonna let you sleep then. Love you.
Not a second after she clicked send, the phone switched to video call. Bella perked up, picking it up.
Luke was lying on his side, part of his face concealed by a pillow being on the way, and the room he was in was dark. Still, she could see just enough.
"Oh hi-"
"I didn't say I didn't wanna talk," Luke scoffed, rolling his eyes, "hi baby, how are you?"
"Better now," Bella smiled, propping the phone against the other pillow on the bed, so they were now facing each other, in similar positions, "you look like hell, Luke."
"You look beautiful," he teased, squirming to get a better view of her, "is that my shirt? You packed my t-shirt instead of actual pajamas?"
"These are my actual pajamas, excuse you," Bella rolled her eyes, tugging on her shirt, that had Call Your Senators, Not Your Ex written across the front in a curvy font. She still remembered clearly seeing him in that shirt for the first time, in campus.
"Looks better on you than on me."
"Aren't you a smooth talker," Bella opened a smile, poking the camera, "why do you look like shit? Didn't you and Vince take turns driving?"
"No, me and-" Luke yawned, snuggling down, "and Leo, Vince was too hungover."
"Oh yikes, I didn't know that was a thing that could happen."
"Yeah," Luke snorted, "then Leo got carsick, then Daniels puked lunch because he's a little bitch, then Vince puked because he thought being super hangover for four hour long-" another yawn, "-trip was smart, then Jonah puked all over himself and the car, because fuck me I guess."
Bella's eyebrows were so high in her face, she was sure they disappeared in her hairline, "you're joking, right? All of them got sick?!"
"Yep," Luke rubbed at his eye, cranky, "and the drive that was meant to be four hours ended up turning into six, because we had to wait one hour before getting them all back in the car and then I had to pull over twice more for Leo and Daniels... Just a fucking mess."
Bella let out an incredulous chuckle, "are you sure it wasn't some sort of bug? What are the odds they'd all get sick, Lu?"
"I think if it was a bug, then it would be less likely for them to get sick at the same time, no?" She could hear by the sound of his voice that he was in a foul mood, "whatever, at least they're all slee-Eeping," he yawned again and Bella smiled.
"So are you, Luke," she reached for the phone, "goodnight, I-"
"No, don't hang up," Luke cut her off, "I'm not sleepy. Tell me how was your day? Better than mine, I hope?"
Bella rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. His eyelids were heavy and she guessed he had about five more minutes in him, so she humored him, lowering her voice on purpose, "it was fun. We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science with tia Nicole and the twins. Apparently the museum is hiring and none of my relatives have a fucking clue of what my job actually is, because they were harping on me to join. The position was more like you than me," she chuckled at the fact her mom couldn't hear the word "scientist" without immediately thinking of her, when Bella was actually a backend developer. A word combo she was pretty sure her mother would never learn, no matter how hard she tried.
"They are trying to get you to move to Burque, uh?" Luke mumbled, eyes already closed. Bella studied his profile, considered not even answering him so she wouldn't wake him up when he was about a second away from sleeping. Luke opened his eyes, annoyed, "I'm not asleep."
God, he must've been an annoying little kid, she thought, biting down a smile. Her mind provided her with a fresh image of 5 years old Luke battling sleep and getting grumpy about it, "they just miss me, that's all... What are you guys doing tomorrow?"
"I'm sleeping in, I don't care what the others are doing," Luke huffed and she laughed.
"You haven't slept in a day in your life, captain. Not unless you're sick," she squinted at him, "you are terribly pale..."
"Just an annoying headache," he dismissed her quickly, "from the tension, nothing sleep can't fix... Max and Vince are being awfully cozy."
"Good," Bella shrugged, "they both deserve a break, it's been a rough six months."
"Hmmm," Luke had his eyes closed again and she waited, in silence. A huff, "not'sleep..." he breathed out, still with his eyes closed. Bella let out an amused sigh through her nose.
"I think we're going to town tomorrow for some shopping," Bella whispered, "I'll use the black Atwood card and I'm super nervous about it."
"Why?" He sounded slightly more awake now, "it's your-" yawn, "-your card..."
"I have this paranoid sensation the bank is gonna block it because I never use it and the people in the store will laugh and it's gonna be awful for all the involved," Bella confessed. Luke frowned.
"None of that is gonna happen," he promised, "if the bank does call, throw the surname on them. It ought to serve for something."
She paused, not wanting to point out that the Atwood surname was his mother's, not Kit's. Luke never spoke ill of his mom, all Bella knew about Veronica's flaws she had learned through Jonah or pieced together from Luke's anecdotes. It was a testament of how cranky he was that he had said that.
"Okay..." Bella fake yawned, "I think I'm going to sleep."
"Already?" He yawned too, much to her amusement, "it's too early for you..."
"We walked around a lot today," that wasn't even a lie, "have fun tomorrow and don't sulk because of Max."
"Did you know he'd be here?" Luke squinted at her, tugging on the blankets so he was tucked under them. Bella felt an urge to squish him until she left marks.
"Of course I did, I suggested it," Bell laughed when his eyes darted open, pure betrayal in them, "I just brought up the idea to Vin, that's all! It's not fair he'd stay behind all alone."
"Do you hate me?" Luke groaned dramatically, "now they're all in pairs and I'm wifeless! I feel like a fifth wheel!"
She rolled her eyes, even though she could tell he wasn't wrong in that aspect. Although Vince and Max weren't dating, the tension was there, and Jonah and Leo were insufferably adorable.
"Channel your captain abilities and suck it up, Atwood," Bella scolded him, faking a coach voice, "walk it off."
"You're terrible," he whined, "I'm going to get payback for this, you just watch."
"Sooo scary," Bella teased him, "go to sleep. Really, I can see you're squinting and your eyes are red."
"Fine!" He groaned, whole body relaxing against the mattress, "I love you, have fun tomorrow."
"You too, baby," she felt a pang at the fact she couldn't reach through the screen, "I love you too."
Bella pressed the red button and then grabbed a pillow, pressing it over her face as she let out a frustrated groan.
She woke up sticky with sweat, feeling like she was suffocating. It took a minute for Bella to realize that it wasn't a dream, but real life, and she kicked off her blankets, grumpily sitting up.
Sunlight was invading the bedroom, because she hadn't closed the curtains. Outside the birds were chirping and the sky was cerulean blue, but when Bella checked her phone it was just 7:30 AM.
"What the hell," she whispered, rubbing her eyes and stumbling out of the bedroom. There was noise coming from downstairs and when she entered the kitchen, her mother was cooking breakfast, "morning..."
"Morning, baby," Marisa smiled at her, "a little early for you, isn't it?"
"Uhm," Bella sat down by the counter, still sleepy, "it's too warm to sleep."
"Did you turn on the A/C?" Marisa asked and Bella blinked quickly, remembering the new place had A/C. For a second she had been sixteen and back home.
"I forgot you had it," she yawned, "are you making omelettes?"
"Here you go," Marisa turned around to place a thick omelette on a plate in front of Bella, "with green chile sauce, it's still your favorite, right?"
"Right," she perked up, "do I have you all for myself? You're not going to the salon today?"
"I quit working Saturdays, I'm a woman of leisure now," Marisa snorted at her own joke, killing the heat and plating her own breakfast, "I don't even know what to do with the money I used to pay for rent. So far I'm spending it all on hair products and shoes."
Bella chuckled, "you already had way too many shoes, mamma."
"A lady can never have too many shoes, Isabella," Marisa rolled her eyes at her, sounding annoyed, "I'm thinking of saving it for a trip. I'm gonna take a whole month off work. Rita is in disbelief."
Something warm lodged itself in between Bella's ribs, a feeling she couldn't name. For as long as she could remember her mother had worked six days a week, every week. Hearing that she was planning a vacation made Bella emotional, in all sorts of ways. Relief, gratitude, guilt.
"What did Rita say?" Bella asked, gulping down a forkful of omelette and swallowing against the knot in her throat.
"She said I'm too fancy for the salon now and asked if I was going to quit," Marisa's voice was sounding with smugness as she talked about her boss. As far as Bell was aware, Marisa had a turbulent relationship with Rita, considering her mother was hot headed as they came and consistently quit her job over intercalations with clients, then regretted it and had to ask to get it back. She made Bella herself seem calm and collected in comparison.
"Again?" Bella needled her, grinning, "when was the last time you quit?"
Her mother's cheeks turned pink and the older woman rolled her eyes, ducking her head to look at the food, "that's none of your business, mija."
"I'll just ask tia Nicole," she taunted and Marisa let out a long suffering sigh.
"I don't know, February. This snotty lady tried to yell at me because I refused to bleach her hair, but you should've seen it, Isa, it was like a escoba! If I had bleached it would fall right off her head!"
"And Rita sided with the client?"
"Rita doesn't know anything about hair," Marisa's words quickly became rapid fire as she went on a rant about her frenemy and Bella was enraptured, her mother was one hell of a story teller.
A social butterfly too, as they walked down the center of Albuquerque and ran into several acquaintances of hers. Marisa stopping to say hi to each and everyone of them, making sure to flaunt that this was Bella — "Little Isabella?! She's all grown up now!"
"You're worst than Luke," Bella grumbled, social battery already shot and it wasn't even lunch yet, "how can I be your daughter?"
"My little storm cloud," Marisa grinned, looping their arms together and dragging Bella inside a store.
Even inside the stores it seemed to be warm, Bella couldn't fathom how that was possible. They were blasting A/C — she remembered being a teenager and going to the mall just to get the A/C during the summer months. Summer could be brutal in New Mexico —, but it wasn't cutting it.
"I'm gonna chop off all of this stupid hair," Bella said darkly, pulling her hair up. Marisa was inspecting two different couches, since Bell had told her she needed one that was water resistant now that she had a pool, and she snorted at her daughter's theatrics.
"You don't have the face for a bob, baby girl," she said, long red nails running over the fabric of the couches, "I don't know if I like this. It's not... It has no personality."
"It has plenty personality, mamma," Bella rolled her eyes, curling the hair around itself to put it in a bun. Her nape was dampen with sweat, "it's just not fire engine red like the one you have."
"Don't these fancy stores have any red couches?" Marisa pouted, crossing her arms, "rich people don't have taste?"
Bella giggled at her mother's idea of taste, looking around in search of something that was at least maroon, "they have this leather one..." she walked closer to a couch, then suddenly stumbled as the floor seemed to be a little closer than it should've been, "whoa! Wow, I don't know what happened... Uhm, this is pretty..."
"What's wrong?" Marisa ignored her conversation about the couch, frowning at Bella, "you stumbled."
"Just lost my footing, it's nothing," Bella waved her off, "what do you think of this one?"
After they picked a couch — Marisa settled for the deep red leather, much to Bella's giddiness —, they went on to pick a new double bed for the main suite, since Marisa's was ancient and then sat down in the park for a quick break while going over their list.
"You still need, uhm-" Bella squinted at her phone screen, struggling to see with the sun shining down so strongly, even with her brightness at max, "oh, you're gonna like this, bathroom stuff for the guest room. The vanity there is falling apart."
"It's not that bad..."
"A piece of it came out on Luke's hand, mamma," Bella rolled her neck from side to side, a nagging headache starting to bloom behind her eyes, "it's been in the house for forever, it needs to be changed."
"I don't know..." Marisa was doing a damn good impression of Bella herself, looking sheepish. Bella knew why already, she didn't have to ask. The fact she was the one buying everything.
"Yes, it does," Bella said strongly, "then we're gonna pick you a new fridge and it's all for today."
"All for today," Marisa huffed, sitting on the bench and glaring at the sky. She planted a hand over her eyes, to protect them from the sun, "we should've been in the pool."
"We'll get there soon," Bella comforted her, tugging on the front of her tank top. She could feel her shoulders burning from the heat and it felt like her brain was cooking. There wasn't any shade, Albuquerque's trees were a flimsy excuse and most of them had been put down to become parking lots.
Bella couldn't believe she had previously considered moving here. Relationships aside —because she knew what had been the real catalyst behind her desire to go back home — Bella adored Maine. She loved the orange trees, the humidity, the gloomy weather in the later parts of the year. New Mexico was always so fucking sunny, she'd go insane in that place.
"Ándale," Marisa ushered her, "you're getting all pink cheeks, we need to get you out from the heat."
"I'm not getting pink cheeks," Bella scoffed, as her mother planted her hands on her back and shoved her forward, "I don't do that."
"Please," Marisa scoffed, "this might work on that chalk white husband of yours, but you're my child. My irish baby, I remember having to take you to the ER with heatstroke on second grade, I'll never forget."
"I'm not an Irish baby," Bell pouted, "I don't remember that."
"You were seven," Marisa clicked her car open, "get inside."
"The car is really counter productive, it's a furnace, mamma," Bella pointed out, stumbling when she opened the passenger door and a roll of hot air hit her. She squeezed the plastic handle of the door, blinking quickly to will the vertigo to pass.
"Open the backseat door, it'll cool quicker," Marisa bossed her, "are you nauseous?"
"I don't have heatstroke, mom," Bella argued, obeying the order and leaning her forehead against her hand, planted on the hot glass of the car window. She was a little dizzy and fucking burning, because it was 92ºF on the shade.
"You absolutely do," Marisa gestured for her to get inside, "I should've known, you woke up too early."
"What the hell?" Bella giggled, confused. She obeyed and entered the car, cringing as her back stuck to the seat and the metal of the seatbelt was so warm it caused her fingertips to burn, "what does me waking up early have to do with the heat?"
"You were a fussy baby when it was warm," Marisa said, fiddling with the A/C to put it on the max, "wouldn't sleep."
"Mamma, we lived in Burque with no A/C," Bella scoffed, "it was always burning up."
Marisa cringed, squeezed the steering wheel, "I should've moved with you."
Oh there they went, Bella thought with a frustrated groan. Down the road of should-have's and ifs. Her mother always did this, feeling impossibly guilty for how she had raised her, as if she hadn't been a nineteen year old with no support, doing her best. No amount of reassurance managed to quell Marisa's guilt and Bella had long given up on it.
She leaned her head back, then regretted it as the car seat seemed to go back. The feeling was so real, that Bella opened her eyes to check, but no, her seat hadn't moved. It was just the heat.
"Drink some water."
"We can't head home yet, we gotta stop by the stores," Bella argued, staring at the lane ahead. The heat was creating turvy lines in the horizon, cars disappearing in it, "I'm serious, mamma."
"Who's the mom here?" Marisa glared at her, "drink some water, Isabella."
"It's gross," Bella wrinkled her nose at the lukewarm water. They both had brought water bottles, but no amount of heat protection could salvage it when locked in a hot car. She should've invested in one of those Stanley bottles that survived fire, but why would she even need one of those back in Maine? When she never even left the home office?
"Puta madre, Isabella, drink the water!"
Bella whined, taking a sip of the gross lukewarm water, then immediately leaning out of her window to spit it out, "I can't, its disgusting..." she unscrewed the top of the bottle and dumped it over her head, whole body suddenly relaxing as the liquid soaked through her curls and ran into her top, "oh thank fuck..."
"Bella," Marisa chuckled, "mija, what the hell?"
"It helped," Bella grinned back, beaming as her mother only shook her head in a fond manner, not one bit concerned about the car's upholster.
"Let's head home and we can shop when it's not so bright out," Marisa offered the olive branch and Bella nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back her head.
"Okay, mamma," she felt sleepy, the car movement both making her a little queasy and lulling, "I'm gonna rest my eyes."
"Sure, you are," Marisa snorted, reaching blindly to run her knuckles against Bella's cheek, stroking it in a fond way, "get a little rest."'
Bella stirred on the bed, blanket wrapped around her lower half, letting out a heavy sigh. She had been looking forward to spending some time with her mother and it was going great, but for as much grief as she had given Luke for being clingy, here she was, missing him.
She hadn't slept alone in a long while, it was weird, to say the least. Besides, this whole house was a new place, there wasn't even the familiar aspect of being back to their little trailer park home. Not that she was complaining, not at all, it was just weird.
Marisa had never been a night owl — something that amused Bella to no end how she kept surrounding herself with these early birds type people — so she had already gone to bed and the house was dead silent now.
Bella had promised herself she wouldn't pester Luke during the weekend, not after she had been the one to push for some time apart. It was only fair he got to have fun... However she really wanted to hear his voice now.
Pouting, Bella turned on the bed and fished her phone from the nightstand. Vaguely she thought she really needed more friends of her own, so right now she could be texting one of them, since all the people she considered her friends were in the cabin trip. Terrible. At least Marilyn seemed to want to befriend her, their lunch together after the talk with Wendy had been productive, and the other woman had been texting her semi constantly now, but they were still stiff and awkward texts. Besides, right now she didn't want anyone else, but Lucas.
Bella: Are u up?
Luke's contact was offline and she clicked on the little ball housing his picture in order to enlarge it. She frequently changed his contact picture and the most recent one was him in the shelter, during one of the communal Sunday luncheons. He had been helping in the kitchen, so he had an apron on and a stupid hair net and still Bella thought he looked painfully handsome. Truly ridiculous that he still made her heart skip a beat when looking goofy as hell.
Her phone buzzed and she quickly clicked out of the picture.
Luke: barely standing
She chewed on her bottom lip, bummed.
Bella: I'm gonna let you sleep then. Love you.
Not a second after she clicked send, the phone switched to video call. Bella perked up, picking it up.
Luke was lying on his side, part of his face concealed by a pillow being on the way, and the room he was in was dark. Still, she could see just enough.
"Oh hi-"
"I didn't say I didn't wanna talk," Luke scoffed, rolling his eyes, "hi baby, how are you?"
"Better now," Bella smiled, propping the phone against the other pillow on the bed, so they were now facing each other, in similar positions, "you look like hell, Luke."
"You look beautiful," he teased, squirming to get a better view of her, "is that my shirt? You packed my t-shirt instead of actual pajamas?"
"These are my actual pajamas, excuse you," Bella rolled her eyes, tugging on her shirt, that had Call Your Senators, Not Your Ex written across the front in a curvy font. She still remembered clearly seeing him in that shirt for the first time, in campus.
"Looks better on you than on me."
"Aren't you a smooth talker," Bella opened a smile, poking the camera, "why do you look like shit? Didn't you and Vince take turns driving?"
"No, me and-" Luke yawned, snuggling down, "and Leo, Vince was too hungover."
"Oh yikes, I didn't know that was a thing that could happen."
"Yeah," Luke snorted, "then Leo got carsick, then Daniels puked lunch because he's a little bitch, then Vince puked because he thought being super hangover for four hour long-" another yawn, "-trip was smart, then Jonah puked all over himself and the car, because fuck me I guess."
Bella's eyebrows were so high in her face, she was sure they disappeared in her hairline, "you're joking, right? All of them got sick?!"
"Yep," Luke rubbed at his eye, cranky, "and the drive that was meant to be four hours ended up turning into six, because we had to wait one hour before getting them all back in the car and then I had to pull over twice more for Leo and Daniels... Just a fucking mess."
Bella let out an incredulous chuckle, "are you sure it wasn't some sort of bug? What are the odds they'd all get sick, Lu?"
"I think if it was a bug, then it would be less likely for them to get sick at the same time, no?" She could hear by the sound of his voice that he was in a foul mood, "whatever, at least they're all slee-Eeping," he yawned again and Bella smiled.
"So are you, Luke," she reached for the phone, "goodnight, I-"
"No, don't hang up," Luke cut her off, "I'm not sleepy. Tell me how was your day? Better than mine, I hope?"
Bella rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. His eyelids were heavy and she guessed he had about five more minutes in him, so she humored him, lowering her voice on purpose, "it was fun. We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science with tia Nicole and the twins. Apparently the museum is hiring and none of my relatives have a fucking clue of what my job actually is, because they were harping on me to join. The position was more like you than me," she chuckled at the fact her mom couldn't hear the word "scientist" without immediately thinking of her, when Bella was actually a backend developer. A word combo she was pretty sure her mother would never learn, no matter how hard she tried.
"They are trying to get you to move to Burque, uh?" Luke mumbled, eyes already closed. Bella studied his profile, considered not even answering him so she wouldn't wake him up when he was about a second away from sleeping. Luke opened his eyes, annoyed, "I'm not asleep."
God, he must've been an annoying little kid, she thought, biting down a smile. Her mind provided her with a fresh image of 5 years old Luke battling sleep and getting grumpy about it, "they just miss me, that's all... What are you guys doing tomorrow?"
"I'm sleeping in, I don't care what the others are doing," Luke huffed and she laughed.
"You haven't slept in a day in your life, captain. Not unless you're sick," she squinted at him, "you are terribly pale..."
"Just an annoying headache," he dismissed her quickly, "from the tension, nothing sleep can't fix... Max and Vince are being awfully cozy."
"Good," Bella shrugged, "they both deserve a break, it's been a rough six months."
"Hmmm," Luke had his eyes closed again and she waited, in silence. A huff, "not'sleep..." he breathed out, still with his eyes closed. Bella let out an amused sigh through her nose.
"I think we're going to town tomorrow for some shopping," Bella whispered, "I'll use the black Atwood card and I'm super nervous about it."
"Why?" He sounded slightly more awake now, "it's your-" yawn, "-your card..."
"I have this paranoid sensation the bank is gonna block it because I never use it and the people in the store will laugh and it's gonna be awful for all the involved," Bella confessed. Luke frowned.
"None of that is gonna happen," he promised, "if the bank does call, throw the surname on them. It ought to serve for something."
She paused, not wanting to point out that the Atwood surname was his mother's, not Kit's. Luke never spoke ill of his mom, all Bella knew about Veronica's flaws she had learned through Jonah or pieced together from Luke's anecdotes. It was a testament of how cranky he was that he had said that.
"Okay..." Bella fake yawned, "I think I'm going to sleep."
"Already?" He yawned too, much to her amusement, "it's too early for you..."
"We walked around a lot today," that wasn't even a lie, "have fun tomorrow and don't sulk because of Max."
"Did you know he'd be here?" Luke squinted at her, tugging on the blankets so he was tucked under them. Bella felt an urge to squish him until she left marks.
"Of course I did, I suggested it," Bell laughed when his eyes darted open, pure betrayal in them, "I just brought up the idea to Vin, that's all! It's not fair he'd stay behind all alone."
"Do you hate me?" Luke groaned dramatically, "now they're all in pairs and I'm wifeless! I feel like a fifth wheel!"
She rolled her eyes, even though she could tell he wasn't wrong in that aspect. Although Vince and Max weren't dating, the tension was there, and Jonah and Leo were insufferably adorable.
"Channel your captain abilities and suck it up, Atwood," Bella scolded him, faking a coach voice, "walk it off."
"You're terrible," he whined, "I'm going to get payback for this, you just watch."
"Sooo scary," Bella teased him, "go to sleep. Really, I can see you're squinting and your eyes are red."
"Fine!" He groaned, whole body relaxing against the mattress, "I love you, have fun tomorrow."
"You too, baby," she felt a pang at the fact she couldn't reach through the screen, "I love you too."
Bella pressed the red button and then grabbed a pillow, pressing it over her face as she let out a frustrated groan.
She woke up sticky with sweat, feeling like she was suffocating. It took a minute for Bella to realize that it wasn't a dream, but real life, and she kicked off her blankets, grumpily sitting up.
Sunlight was invading the bedroom, because she hadn't closed the curtains. Outside the birds were chirping and the sky was cerulean blue, but when Bella checked her phone it was just 7:30 AM.
"What the hell," she whispered, rubbing her eyes and stumbling out of the bedroom. There was noise coming from downstairs and when she entered the kitchen, her mother was cooking breakfast, "morning..."
"Morning, baby," Marisa smiled at her, "a little early for you, isn't it?"
"Uhm," Bella sat down by the counter, still sleepy, "it's too warm to sleep."
"Did you turn on the A/C?" Marisa asked and Bella blinked quickly, remembering the new place had A/C. For a second she had been sixteen and back home.
"I forgot you had it," she yawned, "are you making omelettes?"
"Here you go," Marisa turned around to place a thick omelette on a plate in front of Bella, "with green chile sauce, it's still your favorite, right?"
"Right," she perked up, "do I have you all for myself? You're not going to the salon today?"
"I quit working Saturdays, I'm a woman of leisure now," Marisa snorted at her own joke, killing the heat and plating her own breakfast, "I don't even know what to do with the money I used to pay for rent. So far I'm spending it all on hair products and shoes."
Bella chuckled, "you already had way too many shoes, mamma."
"A lady can never have too many shoes, Isabella," Marisa rolled her eyes at her, sounding annoyed, "I'm thinking of saving it for a trip. I'm gonna take a whole month off work. Rita is in disbelief."
Something warm lodged itself in between Bella's ribs, a feeling she couldn't name. For as long as she could remember her mother had worked six days a week, every week. Hearing that she was planning a vacation made Bella emotional, in all sorts of ways. Relief, gratitude, guilt.
"What did Rita say?" Bella asked, gulping down a forkful of omelette and swallowing against the knot in her throat.
"She said I'm too fancy for the salon now and asked if I was going to quit," Marisa's voice was sounding with smugness as she talked about her boss. As far as Bell was aware, Marisa had a turbulent relationship with Rita, considering her mother was hot headed as they came and consistently quit her job over intercalations with clients, then regretted it and had to ask to get it back. She made Bella herself seem calm and collected in comparison.
"Again?" Bella needled her, grinning, "when was the last time you quit?"
Her mother's cheeks turned pink and the older woman rolled her eyes, ducking her head to look at the food, "that's none of your business, mija."
"I'll just ask tia Nicole," she taunted and Marisa let out a long suffering sigh.
"I don't know, February. This snotty lady tried to yell at me because I refused to bleach her hair, but you should've seen it, Isa, it was like a escoba! If I had bleached it would fall right off her head!"
"And Rita sided with the client?"
"Rita doesn't know anything about hair," Marisa's words quickly became rapid fire as she went on a rant about her frenemy and Bella was enraptured, her mother was one hell of a story teller.
A social butterfly too, as they walked down the center of Albuquerque and ran into several acquaintances of hers. Marisa stopping to say hi to each and everyone of them, making sure to flaunt that this was Bella — "Little Isabella?! She's all grown up now!"
"You're worst than Luke," Bella grumbled, social battery already shot and it wasn't even lunch yet, "how can I be your daughter?"
"My little storm cloud," Marisa grinned, looping their arms together and dragging Bella inside a store.
Even inside the stores it seemed to be warm, Bella couldn't fathom how that was possible. They were blasting A/C — she remembered being a teenager and going to the mall just to get the A/C during the summer months. Summer could be brutal in New Mexico —, but it wasn't cutting it.
"I'm gonna chop off all of this stupid hair," Bella said darkly, pulling her hair up. Marisa was inspecting two different couches, since Bell had told her she needed one that was water resistant now that she had a pool, and she snorted at her daughter's theatrics.
"You don't have the face for a bob, baby girl," she said, long red nails running over the fabric of the couches, "I don't know if I like this. It's not... It has no personality."
"It has plenty personality, mamma," Bella rolled her eyes, curling the hair around itself to put it in a bun. Her nape was dampen with sweat, "it's just not fire engine red like the one you have."
"Don't these fancy stores have any red couches?" Marisa pouted, crossing her arms, "rich people don't have taste?"
Bella giggled at her mother's idea of taste, looking around in search of something that was at least maroon, "they have this leather one..." she walked closer to a couch, then suddenly stumbled as the floor seemed to be a little closer than it should've been, "whoa! Wow, I don't know what happened... Uhm, this is pretty..."
"What's wrong?" Marisa ignored her conversation about the couch, frowning at Bella, "you stumbled."
"Just lost my footing, it's nothing," Bella waved her off, "what do you think of this one?"
After they picked a couch — Marisa settled for the deep red leather, much to Bella's giddiness —, they went on to pick a new double bed for the main suite, since Marisa's was ancient and then sat down in the park for a quick break while going over their list.
"You still need, uhm-" Bella squinted at her phone screen, struggling to see with the sun shining down so strongly, even with her brightness at max, "oh, you're gonna like this, bathroom stuff for the guest room. The vanity there is falling apart."
"It's not that bad..."
"A piece of it came out on Luke's hand, mamma," Bella rolled her neck from side to side, a nagging headache starting to bloom behind her eyes, "it's been in the house for forever, it needs to be changed."
"I don't know..." Marisa was doing a damn good impression of Bella herself, looking sheepish. Bella knew why already, she didn't have to ask. The fact she was the one buying everything.
"Yes, it does," Bella said strongly, "then we're gonna pick you a new fridge and it's all for today."
"All for today," Marisa huffed, sitting on the bench and glaring at the sky. She planted a hand over her eyes, to protect them from the sun, "we should've been in the pool."
"We'll get there soon," Bella comforted her, tugging on the front of her tank top. She could feel her shoulders burning from the heat and it felt like her brain was cooking. There wasn't any shade, Albuquerque's trees were a flimsy excuse and most of them had been put down to become parking lots.
Bella couldn't believe she had previously considered moving here. Relationships aside —because she knew what had been the real catalyst behind her desire to go back home — Bella adored Maine. She loved the orange trees, the humidity, the gloomy weather in the later parts of the year. New Mexico was always so fucking sunny, she'd go insane in that place.
"Ándale," Marisa ushered her, "you're getting all pink cheeks, we need to get you out from the heat."
"I'm not getting pink cheeks," Bella scoffed, as her mother planted her hands on her back and shoved her forward, "I don't do that."
"Please," Marisa scoffed, "this might work on that chalk white husband of yours, but you're my child. My irish baby, I remember having to take you to the ER with heatstroke on second grade, I'll never forget."
"I'm not an Irish baby," Bell pouted, "I don't remember that."
"You were seven," Marisa clicked her car open, "get inside."
"The car is really counter productive, it's a furnace, mamma," Bella pointed out, stumbling when she opened the passenger door and a roll of hot air hit her. She squeezed the plastic handle of the door, blinking quickly to will the vertigo to pass.
"Open the backseat door, it'll cool quicker," Marisa bossed her, "are you nauseous?"
"I don't have heatstroke, mom," Bella argued, obeying the order and leaning her forehead against her hand, planted on the hot glass of the car window. She was a little dizzy and fucking burning, because it was 92ºF on the shade.
"You absolutely do," Marisa gestured for her to get inside, "I should've known, you woke up too early."
"What the hell?" Bella giggled, confused. She obeyed and entered the car, cringing as her back stuck to the seat and the metal of the seatbelt was so warm it caused her fingertips to burn, "what does me waking up early have to do with the heat?"
"You were a fussy baby when it was warm," Marisa said, fiddling with the A/C to put it on the max, "wouldn't sleep."
"Mamma, we lived in Burque with no A/C," Bella scoffed, "it was always burning up."
Marisa cringed, squeezed the steering wheel, "I should've moved with you."
Oh there they went, Bella thought with a frustrated groan. Down the road of should-have's and ifs. Her mother always did this, feeling impossibly guilty for how she had raised her, as if she hadn't been a nineteen year old with no support, doing her best. No amount of reassurance managed to quell Marisa's guilt and Bella had long given up on it.
She leaned her head back, then regretted it as the car seat seemed to go back. The feeling was so real, that Bella opened her eyes to check, but no, her seat hadn't moved. It was just the heat.
"Drink some water."
"We can't head home yet, we gotta stop by the stores," Bella argued, staring at the lane ahead. The heat was creating turvy lines in the horizon, cars disappearing in it, "I'm serious, mamma."
"Who's the mom here?" Marisa glared at her, "drink some water, Isabella."
"It's gross," Bella wrinkled her nose at the lukewarm water. They both had brought water bottles, but no amount of heat protection could salvage it when locked in a hot car. She should've invested in one of those Stanley bottles that survived fire, but why would she even need one of those back in Maine? When she never even left the home office?
"Puta madre, Isabella, drink the water!"
Bella whined, taking a sip of the gross lukewarm water, then immediately leaning out of her window to spit it out, "I can't, its disgusting..." she unscrewed the top of the bottle and dumped it over her head, whole body suddenly relaxing as the liquid soaked through her curls and ran into her top, "oh thank fuck..."
"Bella," Marisa chuckled, "mija, what the hell?"
"It helped," Bella grinned back, beaming as her mother only shook her head in a fond manner, not one bit concerned about the car's upholster.
"Let's head home and we can shop when it's not so bright out," Marisa offered the olive branch and Bella nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back her head.
"Okay, mamma," she felt sleepy, the car movement both making her a little queasy and lulling, "I'm gonna rest my eyes."
"Sure, you are," Marisa snorted, reaching blindly to run her knuckles against Bella's cheek, stroking it in a fond way, "get a little rest."'
Bella stirred on the bed, blanket wrapped around her lower half, letting out a heavy sigh. She had been looking forward to spending some time with her mother and it was going great, but for as much grief as she had given Luke for being clingy, here she was, missing him.
She hadn't slept alone in a long while, it was weird, to say the least. Besides, this whole house was a new place, there wasn't even the familiar aspect of being back to their little trailer park home. Not that she was complaining, not at all, it was just weird.
Marisa had never been a night owl — something that amused Bella to no end how she kept surrounding herself with these early birds type people — so she had already gone to bed and the house was dead silent now.
Bella had promised herself she wouldn't pester Luke during the weekend, not after she had been the one to push for some time apart. It was only fair he got to have fun... However she really wanted to hear his voice now.
Pouting, Bella turned on the bed and fished her phone from the nightstand. Vaguely she thought she really needed more friends of her own, so right now she could be texting one of them, since all the people she considered her friends were in the cabin trip. Terrible. At least Marilyn seemed to want to befriend her, their lunch together after the talk with Wendy had been productive, and the other woman had been texting her semi constantly now, but they were still stiff and awkward texts. Besides, right now she didn't want anyone else, but Lucas.
Bella: Are u up?
Luke's contact was offline and she clicked on the little ball housing his picture in order to enlarge it. She frequently changed his contact picture and the most recent one was him in the shelter, during one of the communal Sunday luncheons. He had been helping in the kitchen, so he had an apron on and a stupid hair net and still Bella thought he looked painfully handsome. Truly ridiculous that he still made her heart skip a beat when looking goofy as hell.
Her phone buzzed and she quickly clicked out of the picture.
Luke: barely standing
She chewed on her bottom lip, bummed.
Bella: I'm gonna let you sleep then. Love you.
Not a second after she clicked send, the phone switched to video call. Bella perked up, picking it up.
Luke was lying on his side, part of his face concealed by a pillow being on the way, and the room he was in was dark. Still, she could see just enough.
"Oh hi-"
"I didn't say I didn't wanna talk," Luke scoffed, rolling his eyes, "hi baby, how are you?"
"Better now," Bella smiled, propping the phone against the other pillow on the bed, so they were now facing each other, in similar positions, "you look like hell, Luke."
"You look beautiful," he teased, squirming to get a better view of her, "is that my shirt? You packed my t-shirt instead of actual pajamas?"
"These are my actual pajamas, excuse you," Bella rolled her eyes, tugging on her shirt, that had Call Your Senators, Not Your Ex written across the front in a curvy font. She still remembered clearly seeing him in that shirt for the first time, in campus.
"Looks better on you than on me."
"Aren't you a smooth talker," Bella opened a smile, poking the camera, "why do you look like shit? Didn't you and Vince take turns driving?"
"No, me and-" Luke yawned, snuggling down, "and Leo, Vince was too hungover."
"Oh yikes, I didn't know that was a thing that could happen."
"Yeah," Luke snorted, "then Leo got carsick, then Daniels puked lunch because he's a little bitch, then Vince puked because he thought being super hangover for four hour long-" another yawn, "-trip was smart, then Jonah puked all over himself and the car, because fuck me I guess."
Bella's eyebrows were so high in her face, she was sure they disappeared in her hairline, "you're joking, right? All of them got sick?!"
"Yep," Luke rubbed at his eye, cranky, "and the drive that was meant to be four hours ended up turning into six, because we had to wait one hour before getting them all back in the car and then I had to pull over twice more for Leo and Daniels... Just a fucking mess."
Bella let out an incredulous chuckle, "are you sure it wasn't some sort of bug? What are the odds they'd all get sick, Lu?"
"I think if it was a bug, then it would be less likely for them to get sick at the same time, no?" She could hear by the sound of his voice that he was in a foul mood, "whatever, at least they're all slee-Eeping," he yawned again and Bella smiled.
"So are you, Luke," she reached for the phone, "goodnight, I-"
"No, don't hang up," Luke cut her off, "I'm not sleepy. Tell me how was your day? Better than mine, I hope?"
Bella rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. His eyelids were heavy and she guessed he had about five more minutes in him, so she humored him, lowering her voice on purpose, "it was fun. We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science with tia Nicole and the twins. Apparently the museum is hiring and none of my relatives have a fucking clue of what my job actually is, because they were harping on me to join. The position was more like you than me," she chuckled at the fact her mom couldn't hear the word "scientist" without immediately thinking of her, when Bella was actually a backend developer. A word combo she was pretty sure her mother would never learn, no matter how hard she tried.
"They are trying to get you to move to Burque, uh?" Luke mumbled, eyes already closed. Bella studied his profile, considered not even answering him so she wouldn't wake him up when he was about a second away from sleeping. Luke opened his eyes, annoyed, "I'm not asleep."
God, he must've been an annoying little kid, she thought, biting down a smile. Her mind provided her with a fresh image of 5 years old Luke battling sleep and getting grumpy about it, "they just miss me, that's all... What are you guys doing tomorrow?"
"I'm sleeping in, I don't care what the others are doing," Luke huffed and she laughed.
"You haven't slept in a day in your life, captain. Not unless you're sick," she squinted at him, "you are terribly pale..."
"Just an annoying headache," he dismissed her quickly, "from the tension, nothing sleep can't fix... Max and Vince are being awfully cozy."
"Good," Bella shrugged, "they both deserve a break, it's been a rough six months."
"Hmmm," Luke had his eyes closed again and she waited, in silence. A huff, "not'sleep..." he breathed out, still with his eyes closed. Bella let out an amused sigh through her nose.
"I think we're going to town tomorrow for some shopping," Bella whispered, "I'll use the black Atwood card and I'm super nervous about it."
"Why?" He sounded slightly more awake now, "it's your-" yawn, "-your card..."
"I have this paranoid sensation the bank is gonna block it because I never use it and the people in the store will laugh and it's gonna be awful for all the involved," Bella confessed. Luke frowned.
"None of that is gonna happen," he promised, "if the bank does call, throw the surname on them. It ought to serve for something."
She paused, not wanting to point out that the Atwood surname was his mother's, not Kit's. Luke never spoke ill of his mom, all Bella knew about Veronica's flaws she had learned through Jonah or pieced together from Luke's anecdotes. It was a testament of how cranky he was that he had said that.
"Okay..." Bella fake yawned, "I think I'm going to sleep."
"Already?" He yawned too, much to her amusement, "it's too early for you..."
"We walked around a lot today," that wasn't even a lie, "have fun tomorrow and don't sulk because of Max."
"Did you know he'd be here?" Luke squinted at her, tugging on the blankets so he was tucked under them. Bella felt an urge to squish him until she left marks.
"Of course I did, I suggested it," Bell laughed when his eyes darted open, pure betrayal in them, "I just brought up the idea to Vin, that's all! It's not fair he'd stay behind all alone."
"Do you hate me?" Luke groaned dramatically, "now they're all in pairs and I'm wifeless! I feel like a fifth wheel!"
She rolled her eyes, even though she could tell he wasn't wrong in that aspect. Although Vince and Max weren't dating, the tension was there, and Jonah and Leo were insufferably adorable.
"Channel your captain abilities and suck it up, Atwood," Bella scolded him, faking a coach voice, "walk it off."
"You're terrible," he whined, "I'm going to get payback for this, you just watch."
"Sooo scary," Bella teased him, "go to sleep. Really, I can see you're squinting and your eyes are red."
"Fine!" He groaned, whole body relaxing against the mattress, "I love you, have fun tomorrow."
"You too, baby," she felt a pang at the fact she couldn't reach through the screen, "I love you too."
Bella pressed the red button and then grabbed a pillow, pressing it over her face as she let out a frustrated groan.
She woke up sticky with sweat, feeling like she was suffocating. It took a minute for Bella to realize that it wasn't a dream, but real life, and she kicked off her blankets, grumpily sitting up.
Sunlight was invading the bedroom, because she hadn't closed the curtains. Outside the birds were chirping and the sky was cerulean blue, but when Bella checked her phone it was just 7:30 AM.
"What the hell," she whispered, rubbing her eyes and stumbling out of the bedroom. There was noise coming from downstairs and when she entered the kitchen, her mother was cooking breakfast, "morning..."
"Morning, baby," Marisa smiled at her, "a little early for you, isn't it?"
"Uhm," Bella sat down by the counter, still sleepy, "it's too warm to sleep."
"Did you turn on the A/C?" Marisa asked and Bella blinked quickly, remembering the new place had A/C. For a second she had been sixteen and back home.
"I forgot you had it," she yawned, "are you making omelettes?"
"Here you go," Marisa turned around to place a thick omelette on a plate in front of Bella, "with green chile sauce, it's still your favorite, right?"
"Right," she perked up, "do I have you all for myself? You're not going to the salon today?"
"I quit working Saturdays, I'm a woman of leisure now," Marisa snorted at her own joke, killing the heat and plating her own breakfast, "I don't even know what to do with the money I used to pay for rent. So far I'm spending it all on hair products and shoes."
Bella chuckled, "you already had way too many shoes, mamma."
"A lady can never have too many shoes, Isabella," Marisa rolled her eyes at her, sounding annoyed, "I'm thinking of saving it for a trip. I'm gonna take a whole month off work. Rita is in disbelief."
Something warm lodged itself in between Bella's ribs, a feeling she couldn't name. For as long as she could remember her mother had worked six days a week, every week. Hearing that she was planning a vacation made Bella emotional, in all sorts of ways. Relief, gratitude, guilt.
"What did Rita say?" Bella asked, gulping down a forkful of omelette and swallowing against the knot in her throat.
"She said I'm too fancy for the salon now and asked if I was going to quit," Marisa's voice was sounding with smugness as she talked about her boss. As far as Bell was aware, Marisa had a turbulent relationship with Rita, considering her mother was hot headed as they came and consistently quit her job over intercalations with clients, then regretted it and had to ask to get it back. She made Bella herself seem calm and collected in comparison.
"Again?" Bella needled her, grinning, "when was the last time you quit?"
Her mother's cheeks turned pink and the older woman rolled her eyes, ducking her head to look at the food, "that's none of your business, mija."
"I'll just ask tia Nicole," she taunted and Marisa let out a long suffering sigh.
"I don't know, February. This snotty lady tried to yell at me because I refused to bleach her hair, but you should've seen it, Isa, it was like a escoba! If I had bleached it would fall right off her head!"
"And Rita sided with the client?"
"Rita doesn't know anything about hair," Marisa's words quickly became rapid fire as she went on a rant about her frenemy and Bella was enraptured, her mother was one hell of a story teller.
A social butterfly too, as they walked down the center of Albuquerque and ran into several acquaintances of hers. Marisa stopping to say hi to each and everyone of them, making sure to flaunt that this was Bella — "Little Isabella?! She's all grown up now!"
"You're worst than Luke," Bella grumbled, social battery already shot and it wasn't even lunch yet, "how can I be your daughter?"
"My little storm cloud," Marisa grinned, looping their arms together and dragging Bella inside a store.
Even inside the stores it seemed to be warm, Bella couldn't fathom how that was possible. They were blasting A/C — she remembered being a teenager and going to the mall just to get the A/C during the summer months. Summer could be brutal in New Mexico —, but it wasn't cutting it.
"I'm gonna chop off all of this stupid hair," Bella said darkly, pulling her hair up. Marisa was inspecting two different couches, since Bell had told her she needed one that was water resistant now that she had a pool, and she snorted at her daughter's theatrics.
"You don't have the face for a bob, baby girl," she said, long red nails running over the fabric of the couches, "I don't know if I like this. It's not... It has no personality."
"It has plenty personality, mamma," Bella rolled her eyes, curling the hair around itself to put it in a bun. Her nape was dampen with sweat, "it's just not fire engine red like the one you have."
"Don't these fancy stores have any red couches?" Marisa pouted, crossing her arms, "rich people don't have taste?"
Bella giggled at her mother's idea of taste, looking around in search of something that was at least maroon, "they have this leather one..." she walked closer to a couch, then suddenly stumbled as the floor seemed to be a little closer than it should've been, "whoa! Wow, I don't know what happened... Uhm, this is pretty..."
"What's wrong?" Marisa ignored her conversation about the couch, frowning at Bella, "you stumbled."
"Just lost my footing, it's nothing," Bella waved her off, "what do you think of this one?"
After they picked a couch — Marisa settled for the deep red leather, much to Bella's giddiness —, they went on to pick a new double bed for the main suite, since Marisa's was ancient and then sat down in the park for a quick break while going over their list.
"You still need, uhm-" Bella squinted at her phone screen, struggling to see with the sun shining down so strongly, even with her brightness at max, "oh, you're gonna like this, bathroom stuff for the guest room. The vanity there is falling apart."
"It's not that bad..."
"A piece of it came out on Luke's hand, mamma," Bella rolled her neck from side to side, a nagging headache starting to bloom behind her eyes, "it's been in the house for forever, it needs to be changed."
"I don't know..." Marisa was doing a damn good impression of Bella herself, looking sheepish. Bella knew why already, she didn't have to ask. The fact she was the one buying everything.
"Yes, it does," Bella said strongly, "then we're gonna pick you a new fridge and it's all for today."
"All for today," Marisa huffed, sitting on the bench and glaring at the sky. She planted a hand over her eyes, to protect them from the sun, "we should've been in the pool."
"We'll get there soon," Bella comforted her, tugging on the front of her tank top. She could feel her shoulders burning from the heat and it felt like her brain was cooking. There wasn't any shade, Albuquerque's trees were a flimsy excuse and most of them had been put down to become parking lots.
Bella couldn't believe she had previously considered moving here. Relationships aside —because she knew what had been the real catalyst behind her desire to go back home — Bella adored Maine. She loved the orange trees, the humidity, the gloomy weather in the later parts of the year. New Mexico was always so fucking sunny, she'd go insane in that place.
"Ándale," Marisa ushered her, "you're getting all pink cheeks, we need to get you out from the heat."
"I'm not getting pink cheeks," Bella scoffed, as her mother planted her hands on her back and shoved her forward, "I don't do that."
"Please," Marisa scoffed, "this might work on that chalk white husband of yours, but you're my child. My irish baby, I remember having to take you to the ER with heatstroke on second grade, I'll never forget."
"I'm not an Irish baby," Bell pouted, "I don't remember that."
"You were seven," Marisa clicked her car open, "get inside."
"The car is really counter productive, it's a furnace, mamma," Bella pointed out, stumbling when she opened the passenger door and a roll of hot air hit her. She squeezed the plastic handle of the door, blinking quickly to will the vertigo to pass.
"Open the backseat door, it'll cool quicker," Marisa bossed her, "are you nauseous?"
"I don't have heatstroke, mom," Bella argued, obeying the order and leaning her forehead against her hand, planted on the hot glass of the car window. She was a little dizzy and fucking burning, because it was 92ºF on the shade.
"You absolutely do," Marisa gestured for her to get inside, "I should've known, you woke up too early."
"What the hell?" Bella giggled, confused. She obeyed and entered the car, cringing as her back stuck to the seat and the metal of the seatbelt was so warm it caused her fingertips to burn, "what does me waking up early have to do with the heat?"
"You were a fussy baby when it was warm," Marisa said, fiddling with the A/C to put it on the max, "wouldn't sleep."
"Mamma, we lived in Burque with no A/C," Bella scoffed, "it was always burning up."
Marisa cringed, squeezed the steering wheel, "I should've moved with you."
Oh there they went, Bella thought with a frustrated groan. Down the road of should-have's and ifs. Her mother always did this, feeling impossibly guilty for how she had raised her, as if she hadn't been a nineteen year old with no support, doing her best. No amount of reassurance managed to quell Marisa's guilt and Bella had long given up on it.
She leaned her head back, then regretted it as the car seat seemed to go back. The feeling was so real, that Bella opened her eyes to check, but no, her seat hadn't moved. It was just the heat.
"Drink some water."
"We can't head home yet, we gotta stop by the stores," Bella argued, staring at the lane ahead. The heat was creating turvy lines in the horizon, cars disappearing in it, "I'm serious, mamma."
"Who's the mom here?" Marisa glared at her, "drink some water, Isabella."
"It's gross," Bella wrinkled her nose at the lukewarm water. They both had brought water bottles, but no amount of heat protection could salvage it when locked in a hot car. She should've invested in one of those Stanley bottles that survived fire, but why would she even need one of those back in Maine? When she never even left the home office?
"Puta madre, Isabella, drink the water!"
Bella whined, taking a sip of the gross lukewarm water, then immediately leaning out of her window to spit it out, "I can't, its disgusting..." she unscrewed the top of the bottle and dumped it over her head, whole body suddenly relaxing as the liquid soaked through her curls and ran into her top, "oh thank fuck..."
"Bella," Marisa chuckled, "mija, what the hell?"
"It helped," Bella grinned back, beaming as her mother only shook her head in a fond manner, not one bit concerned about the car's upholster.
"Let's head home and we can shop when it's not so bright out," Marisa offered the olive branch and Bella nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back her head.
"Okay, mamma," she felt sleepy, the car movement both making her a little queasy and lulling, "I'm gonna rest my eyes."
"Sure, you are," Marisa snorted, reaching blindly to run her knuckles against Bella's cheek, stroking it in a fond way, "get a little rest."'
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When someone's sick enough that their voice takes on that delicious deep, hoarse, gravely quality... and it completely alters the way their sneezes sound too.......ough
