Max stands and smiles down at you. "Stay out here until you feel more settled. Your mind must be racing with a million thoughts you must work out, so I'll leave you to it. Don't take too long, or I will devise an excuse to send Falcon out here."

You shoot him a challenging glare, saying, "You wouldn't dare!"

He says, "It's been long enough. You know the other side of the story now, and you two need to talk."

You look away, knowing he is right. You look back up at him as he reaches to open the sliding door and tell him, "Just let me have a few minutes. I'll be ok."

He walks back to you, kisses your cheek, and says, "Okay, I'll see you inside in a few minutes."

You sit there for a little bit, watching the cityscape in thought. You know Max is right—it seems he always is. You laugh softly as you get up to go back inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone had left, it was just you and Falcon, along with his best friends, heading to lounge around the living room after cleaning up. Having surprisingly found two more cake plates on the way strategically placed by Max, he hands them to you, asking, "Can you take these to the kitchen for me, Lanne?"

You answer him, "Sure," smiling. You take the last few dirty plates to the kitchen while the rest go to the living room. It was all part of his secret master plan. He had been watching you and Falcon throughout Sarah's birthday party and had made a decision.

When you enter the living room, Max grins and sips his whiskey, looking forward to his plan coming to fruition. The only place left for you to sit is next to Falcon.

Max thinks, So far, so good, as he watches you sit stiffly beside Falcon.

You are sitting on the couch side by side, with half a space between you. Falcon is nervous and fidgety, working his tongue inside his cheek. You both have your hands by your sides, and the only one to notice is Max sitting across from you, drinking quietly from his tumbler of whiskey and observing.

His fingers inch toward yours, then stop. He sneaks a glance at you, then moves his fingers closer until they touch yours. Startled, you look at him, then down at your hand, pulling it away close to your side.

The others are animatedly talking about the upcoming concert they plan on attending while Max watches the little game of finger chase and decides it must stop. He has watched you both all evening, stealing glances at each other and noticing Falcon is always finding a way to be near you. My God it's like they're teenagers again!

After witnessing the handplay once again, Max gets up. Sitting his empty tumbler down, he walks over to you and Falcon. He stands there as you both look up at him.

"That's it. Come with me." He grabs your hand and Falcon's, pulling you up. You and Falcon are both trying to speak at the same time. "Wait! What are you doing? Let go. Stop, Max, let me go."

He tightens his grip on you both and practically drags you over to the hallway closet. The others watch, not saying a word. They didn't know how he would get you two to talk, but they started glancing at each other as it dawned on them what Max's idea was. They start grinning and watch him pull you and Falcon with him.

He isn't . . . he wouldn't dare! You try to pull away.

"Max, what are you doing?" demands Falcon.

"Open the closet door, Aaron," With Max calling him by his first name, he doesn't hesitate to do as he's told.

"What? Why?" but Falcon thinks he knows why.

Max firmly tells him, "Do as I tell you, Falcon."

He opens the door, and Max shoves you both inside. You stumble in, and he quickly closes the door, and you hear a metallic sound from the knob.

Did he just lock us in!? Your eyes widen in shock.

Falcon starts hitting the door. "Open the door, Max. Let us out." He grabs the knob, trying to open the door, but it won't budge.

"This isn't funny. Please, Max, open the door," you call to him as you try to turn the knob with the same results.

Max is leaning on the door, smiling to himself, holding the knob tightly in his hands as you both try to turn the knob.

"Talk it out. You have five minutes!" He says loudly so you can hear him through the door. Then you hear his laughter fade as he walks away. The only sound you hear is each other breathing as you stand in the dark.

The others are just staring at Max, and when he reaches them, they laugh.

"I hope this works," says Parker, ever rooting for love to win.

"Me too." Chimes in Tate.

Nathan asks doubtfully, "Do you really think this will work, Max?"

Parker and Tate join Nathan in waiting for an answer from him.

Max grins and says, "Guys, I'm tired of birthday cake and chips. Let's go out to eat. I'm hungry."

Nathan frowns in confusion, "We can't just leave them locked in there like that."

Max gestures for them to come closer and whispers loud enough for them to hear. "The door doesn't lock. They can get out whenever they want."

Parker starts giggling, leaning on Tate. He firmly presses his hand over his mouth to smother his giggles.

"So, are we going to go out to eat?" asks a hungry Tate.

"Yes, we are, and to the farthest restaurant we know," says Max as he heads towards the door, grabs the suv keys from the table, and tosses them to Nathan.

The others look back at the closet door and then talk about Max's great idea.