Max Bradley

“Oh. You made it sound like someone invited you then bailed. I’ve seen Get Out but I’ve never seen Candyman so I’m in. A double bill, right? How much is it?” 

“That’s for me to know and you never to know. Nothing insane though, don’t worry about it. I told Thalia I was asking you to go with me— she says hi by the way. Also told me to tell you ‘Ama mucho, dolerá. Estarás bien..’” Dipping a hand into front pocket to pull a piece of paper out to hand her, he’d translated in case she didn’t know Spanish. “Also says her hairs shit since, can’t find anyone like you in New York.” 

it was a running joke among his friends that jaden did in fact own makeup . the majority of it was probably expired , crusted and fossilised at the bottom of it’s respective bottle , but it was still usable , right ?? “ i can see what i can do , “ he responded , wondering how his high school emo phase could translate from heavy black eyeliner to special effects makeup when it came to painting max as unwell . “ i’ve never been sent a bed selfie that hasn’t been sexy but , hey , maybe you can bring the art form back ?? or is that going a bit too far . sometimes when you’re calling in for a sick day it’s the subtlety that’s key . just put on a sick voice , say you’re not feeling too well , and bam , you’re off the hook . “ 

“Really? Never?” Truly asking then, because he’d gotten one or two that made him question what exactly he was supposed to find sexy. Though, one was from his girlfriend and at that comfortable place in the relationship he’d never have the heart to tell her otherwise. Maybe he was thinking far too literal here, “You might be right...” he contemplated his options, Jaden’s suggestion making the most sense obviously, “I’m conflicted. Our owners very visual. Entirely hands on. I’ll keep you posted. Closer to date, I’m leaning towards the make up though. Get that ready.” 

–

Had she not have been as merry as she had of been then Maggie would have likely tried to hide her expression but as it was she was left mouth hung wide open, shock and some form of wander on her face as she listened intently to every word that Max had to offer. The scariest thing she had ever been through was when she had been dared to go and run through a graveyard after she and her friends had spent the night watching horror films and she was scared some sort of clown was going to appear and end her short 14 years that it had been at the time. “I….two houses down.” Maggie let out a breathe as she sat back, taking a large gulp of her drink. “How often to do you end up jumping out of you skin at the wind now?” 

“Oh geez, now. Not at all. I think I’ve desensitized myself so much that I’m well aware now that that was a one in a million instance.” Max told her, taking another sip of his beer before thinking a little bit more on her question, “Buuut I’ve never had to really watch over anyone anymore, not like that at least. I don’t have kids. I don’t have nieces or nephews. It’s become a bit of a story for times like these if anything. So I guess, moral of the story. Stick to you gut. Stick to your buddies gut. Maybe invest in some protection.” 

“August?” Her whole face wrinkled and scrunched, incredulous tone still hanging around when she continued, “That’s nuts. Like, I swear I’ve been seeing that promo poster everywhere for ages now – y’know, the one with the honeyed-up hook, all drippy? Woulda thought it’d have dropped already.” But, then again, Nancy’s sense of time had long ago been obliterated. The mention of I Know What You Did Last Summer made her snort a little, shaking her head while her gaze found Max on the bench. “How long before that one gets the reboot treatment, too?”

Deciding to settle in as well, she hopped up onto a nearby machine that wasn’t running, reaching over to drag her recently purchased laundry bag closer – somehow using a massive black trash bag to lug around her dirty clothes outside of Oasis was just too uncouth, even for Nancy. “Ah, alright, alright,” she hummed in reply, snagging a pack of Big Red out of her lump of belongings. “Your big planned act of rebellion is to fake sick and play hooky… just to go to the movies? On a Saturday. Whoo-ee.” A teasing grin took over as she stuffed a stick of gum in her mouth before holding out the pack in offer. “Is your super sweet sixteen coming up soon, too, Max?”

“Honey-ed up hook? No. No I have not seen it. But I want it?” Didn’t need to see it to know he’d want it, all rolled up nice and tight and never to put anywhere ever with actual worry about damage should he end up moving again, but the idea was there. “Actually it’s getting a tv show.” He let out a snort as well, laughing that truly it was pretty ridiculous the amount of reboots there were and that he undoubtedly would be following to (re) boot. “Scream who? Er, Scream reboot of a reboot and a tv reboot too....” 

Sweet sixteen too, Max laughed and laughed good. “Some of us choose calm. Peace.” Laughing again, Max made a motion with his hands like it was representation of quiet. “When you hit my age, you’ll see.” Though, all teasing aside she had him there. Ten fold. “And I’ll have you know, my super sweet sixteen was awesome. No MTV level but we got some hard lemonade. Oh yeah. Climbed a tree. Fell. Wild child.” He told her, taking that stick of gum she handed over. “What would you do? Play hooky, what’s your big act of rebellion? If you tell me Globos...” 

“I dunno, I‘ve never been like, a proper cinephile or whatever,” Emma shrugged. Now music and albums — a different realm. “You know what? You got a point, you do feel her presence. Like even when he’s at that hotel or on the bus you’re just like ‘oh my god, if his mom were to see this…’” Emma had seen Almost Famous at least half a dozen times, but it never, ever got old. At its core, it spoke to her deeply as a music fan and appreciator. “I don’t know about that. I don’t feel the hurt. Just the happy. Everyone went on to do what they wanted, right? Penny goes off to Morocco, Stillwater still on tour, and you just know William gets a job at Rolling Stone or Creem or some killer magazine like that right out of high school. Ahh man, those were different times.” She yawned and stretched, her denim jacket raising with her arms and fancying herself Penny Lane in the moment, dancing about that empty venue with the sunlight streaking in.

“Guess I mean it more in a nostalgic kind of way— a lot went down...” He started again, following Emma out the double doors. “Broken hearts...” Max said, biting at his fingernail he almost instantly quit once he realized he was doing it (Time to schedule a manicure at Prismatic), “Y-you’re right though, everyone gets a happy ending but we witnessed their pasts. Their hurts. I don’t know about you but those are absolutely going to leave some scars. So, in that sense I just think it’s a little sad.” He let himself think on a couple of the scenes that hit a little too close to home maybe, scenes he loved. Adored even. “Oh my God! Can you imagine?! At fifteen, going on the road with Stillwater or anyone! When they go through the hotel with the Zeppelin fan just in awe...can you imagine just popping your head in to see Sonny and Cher just...jamming? No way today. Emily Rugburn would be impossible to find.”

x

“Oh all that it has to offer? So I’ll get the seat that either has popcorns crushed on it or an old chewing gum? That would be something” Dante chuckled again. “Thank you though,” she nudged him, “I do love my horror flicks, and if that’s what I get for an occasional tool or mower lending I might start thinking of making a business out of it.” smile still on her face as she nodded as if contemplating the idea. She did love helping out her neighbors, gave her a reason to talk to them and come out of her shell a little.

“So how are we doing this? Buying snacks there or should I bring a massive overcoat stashed with snacks?” the blonde moved to technicalities, as usual she like to work out even the smallest detail of an event.

“Smart move. Let me know if the whole PR thing gets tiring, I’ll start telling all the neighbors. Lawn and all the Etc. Nancy Botwin of Redcliff. If she pushed sugar and herbal teas...” Musing with a hands up as if the name shined in bright lights. “Can’t imagine that though, you’ve probably got it pretty entertaining as is. We get quite a few recognizable faces at the restaurant, can be quite the scene.” He told her, mostly it wasn’t but there were the few instances. So, he could only imagine what it was she went through on the day to day. 

“Mm, massive overcoat. If you’ve got one of those big purses people used to use all the time, I used to cart in whole take out containers in those things.” He joked, though it was true. But this wasn’t small town California anymore, “No, we’ll get whatever you want there. I’m  a sucker for whatever they decide to rotate out usually. Even at 10 bucks a box.” 

.

“You forgot about Pongo?” Veda asked, scowling at her brother. 101 Dalmatians was one of Veda’s all-time favourite movies, one of the many she played until the tape broke as a child. 

“Hey, come on,” Veda argued, closing and locking the door behind herself. “I am a full fledged adult. I have a job. I pay rent. I can take perfectly good care of a dog. I would be a great dog-sitter.” She turned around, trying hard to suppress a smile. Veda was many things, but a caretaker was not one of them. Max obviously knew that. So did she. “Fuck you,” she said, right after. “Poor Pongo probably got sent to some kinda doggy-jail because of your selfish ass. He got Cruella’d,” she joked. 

As they walked down the poorly lit hall, Veda shoved her keys in her bag. “Where are we going?” she asked, passing Max a few strides to go and press the elevator button. “Tell me it’s not one of those molecular biology places again,” she bemoaned, using phrases she only knew thanks to his job. “I don’t care how cool it is, I drink my alcohol. Give me a beer in a fucking bottle. It’s worked just fine for over a century.” 

“Cruella’d? Ouch Vades, ouch.” He said, that same sentiment of Veda’s rolling right off his tongue, hand to heart as if it really, truly hurt.  “Actually, besides knowing I’d have a killer dog-sitter on my hands, Dalmatian's are generally insanely dumb a bit aggressive. They’re inbred. So I did us all a favor. WLB can remain being your sole subpar focus.” 

Max missed the moment she shot ahead of him that very tiny competitive edge kicked in and he almost attempted to get to the button first. Mostly maybe to annoy her but damn it, opportunity missed. “Molecular biology place, pfft. You loved that. Gave you so many ideas for you know, your future date nights. She’ll be so impressed with the knowledge you took away.” Stepping onto the elevator, he made sure to get to press that button. “So I’m not going to tell you. We’re gonna get there and you’re gonna just...see. But I do think we should stop for a shot along the way. Yeah. Necessary.” 

Nathan nodded, just hoping that he could somehow aid in making the other man feel a little more relaxed about the situation at the very least. Whether it would work or not remained to be seen, but he was trying. “Always helps,” he found himself responding casually. “Good to meet you, Max.” His response was sincere, he’d never said no to meeting new people, no matter what the circumstances were. “I was heading back to my studio actually,” he told the other man with a shrug. “Not invasive at all. What about you?”

Max stepped back, his hands he noticed after having touched the other man’s were getting a little clammy. Wiping them off on his pants, Max decided best to separate himself from the buttons and took a seat against the back of the elevator, “Studio? What’d you do at your studio?” He asked Nathan, grateful he’d taken him up on the distractions, “I was— am—unless now it closes before we...supposed to pick up some edibles at Peachtree for the roommate on my way home. We were gonna play some Dragon Age. Here’s hoping he’s started without me.” 

“Yeah, my job doesn’t allow for last-minute plans,” He says as a way of apology, “Only ill-timed emergencies.” He added with a disheartened chuckle, recalling all the times he had been settling down for a meal with the rest of the firehouse before the station’s alarm had rung, springing them all into action and abandoning their meal. It came hand-in-hand with their job, a necessary evil in the pursuit of saving lives, a feat with which Beau had made peace for the most part.

( Except on the occasion that Joey had rustled up her homemade Peach cobbler. )

 “Next time?” He propositioned, “I’ve just installed a projector at my new place. If you’re looking for a horror night then we can do all of The Conjuring movies or Halloween?”

Waving a hand off in his direction, nothing Beau could control. It’s what you got asking a Firefighter to miraculously have free time. At the end of the day he knew it wasn’t likely. 

“A projector?” the very thought sending chills all the way down to the beating heart of his movie buff’s core. His own walls not exactly favorable for dimensions of a projector, or at least the few he’d looked into in the past. “Either, I’m in. Whenever you can.” He told Beau, already mentally preparing for what to bring to accent and survive such a marathon. Junk basically. Before taking note of wording, “New place?” 

-

Anna could tell her dismissal annoyed Max - she may have met him more through his girlfriend, but she had known him long enough she could see it in his expression, a slight smile crossing her face as he launched into a defense. Even if it was something she couldn’t get behind, she always enjoyed when someone got passionate about something. “Jump scares and teens in a cabin aren’t the scariest parts to me,” Anna replied, echoing the words. “It’s the real stuff that’s unsettling,” she continued. “It’s like….what’s the word? When something is weirdly too human like?” she said, a wrinkle appearing in between her eyebrows as she tried to remember the phrase. “Oh! The Uncanny Valley. The more humanlike something becomes, the eerier it is.” She paused, shrugging up her shoulders, a slightly self-deprecating laugh leaving her lips. “You know. Self-care, and not in the buzz word sense. Meditation. Yoga. Vitamin D - with sunscreen on, of course. Water - you know hydration is very important. Listening to what my body needs, whether that is….rest, or exercise, or spending time alone with my thoughts, or a good distraction. Though I tend to find distractions typically are unhealthy. You have to face everything at some point.” 

“The Uncanny Valley...” he paused, thinking on that bit for a moment. Not wrong, in fact she was entirely in the right lane. A bit of a self-slap for once again assuming he spoke the be all end all, especially on the subject. “That’s yeah, unsettling. But don’t you think that’s necessary? Especially in entertainment. Otherwise we rely solely on school books, the news, or our grandparents to tell us but to have it right in your face. It’s a tool really...” And with that, he stopped himself again, hands held up again because he was going to go into some sort of tangent when it was null and void. Anna wasn’t dumb, far from. “Uh huh...no, yeah. That sounds all very, uh, healthy. Don’t suppose you’d be into a round of Ultimate Frisbee in place of your thoughts...or something...” he asked, trying to level, make an effort in her direction of physical activity at least. “So what’s a good distraction then? If they’re unhealthy seems a little contradictory.”