Chapter 10

We pull into Mario's long circular driveway. I try to compose myself. I absolutely hate to cry in front of people. Max comes around to my side of the car and opens the door for me like Sidney does. I step out, suddenly unsure of myself. Sure it doesn't look like Brittny doesn't get to me but she really does. She was always too perfect for me when we were "friends" so I was left out a lot. I just didn't know what a real friend was then.
Max walks up to the door and knocks, motioning for me to come up beside him. I do and he pats me on the back a couple of times, waiting for the door to be answered. Natalie answers and lets us in after we've been acquainted. "Where's Sid? Do you know?" Max asks, walking in the door.
"um. He's with a friend, upstairs in his room." She says kind of uncomfortably. Max doesn't seem to care, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the staircase. He jogs up, pulling me along. We walk about halfway down the long hallway to a door that kind of blends in with the wall. Max knocks obnoxiously.
"SID!" He shouts excitedly. Sidney opens the door, looking at Max, then me.
"oh hey guys." He says, "come on in."
Max strolls in casually while I trip on my feet with my hands behind my back. Brittny's sitting on Sidney's bed, looking at me with wide eyes that say, "you actually had the nerve to come over here?" I stand uncomfortably by the door where I walked in. "Hey," I say to Sidney, waving a little. He nods back, just as uncomfortable as I am.
"So." Max says, not as casual as he was before. He starts pacing a little bit now, obviously trying to figure things out. I look at my feet, trying to avoid the burning glare from Brittny. This was a bad idea I keep repeating in my heat. This won't turn out good. My stomach begins to churn. There's an awkward silence in the room. I glance at Sidney, hoping for the best. He still stares at his lap. "What's going on!?" Max finally finishes.
Sidney continues to stare at his lap. Brittny picks at a pink painted fingernail, he blond hair bouncing when she moves her head. Sidney looks up and says, "I can explain."
"Well then do it!" Max says, waving his hand toward me.
"Caitlin." Sidney says, "you know how she is. I was going to cancel because I was mad about all this. Then, I decided you would get the wrong idea." Sidney looks pathetic.
"But what is this!?" I say, flailing my arms around trying to make a point.
Sidney looks down again. "A mess." He finally says, "She came over and Natalie answered the door." He says, "I couldn't just kick her out at that point so we came up here. She took my phone from my desk right before you called and got this harebrained idea. I swear." All the while Brittny is picking at her nails and nodding. I look down and cross my arms on my chest.
Max sighs, "Do you want to go back home Caitlin?" He asks. I nod, walking out of the room quickly. Max says something to Sidney and then follows, wrapping his arm around me, rubbing my back like he was my dad or something. I don't care anymore, I just keep walking toward the staircase. "Caitlin. Sidney wouldn't do this. He's just really stressed." Max tries to reassure me. I rest my head on his shoulder.
"But it's not fair!" I say pathetically throwing my hands up.
"I know honey," Max says, making sure I don't fall down the steps.
We walk out to his car and I climb in sadly. Max starts driving, but not towards my house. "Where are we going?" I ask him.
"Just wait." He says, "you'll see."
Next thing I know, I'm at a tasty freeze. Max gets out of the car, commanding me to stay. He comes back with a vanilla milkshake for me (my favorite. How did he know?) and a strawberry one for himself. I haven't had dinner, so I'm hungry, but I'm not in the mood to eat. "This always makes me feel better." He says with his mouth full of strawberry milkshake. I giggle, laughing at him and feeling better already.
"Thanks Max," I say smiling, happy for the moment. He reaches over and wipes a little vanilla shake from my mouth. I blush, embarrassed about getting it on my face.
"Wanna see something?" He says. I notice the beautiful sunset and think that he maybe quite possibly would take me somewhere to watch it together. I get butterflies, not like earlier with Sidney, that was more of a sickening feeling. This is good.
"Sure." I say, "why not?"
He starts the car again and drives to a park on top of a hill. He pulls a blanket out of the backseat and hops out of the car, coming around to my side again. We hold hands walking to the top of the hill where he spreads the blanket out and pulls me down next to him. "You'll like this," he points to the scene in front of us. A city scene with an amazing sunshine backdrop. I gasp happily. "Max," I start, turning to look at him, but he's already there. So close.