Thoughts of Nina circled around and around Max's mind over the next few days. Inside his own apartment, like some kind of obsessed creeper, he found himself listening for the sounds of her leaving or returning to her place. It was hard to catch her, though.

Nina moved like a ghost. Or a ninja. Max was sure of it. A part of him wondered if the girl might be avoiding him on purpose. Not that he was trying to bump into her intentionally or anything. At least, that was what Max told himself every time he wandered into their shared hallway whenever he heard the echo of footsteps that might belong to Nina.

Max knew he was probably spending too much time thinking about his pretty neighbor. It was kind of pathetic, really. He needed to get his ass back onto IG and YouTube and figure out how the hell he was going to revive his career. Up until recently, Max had fallen into such a deep psychological pit of fuckery that he could barely function. For months, he wielded no motivation, no ambition, no willpower to crawl his way out of the darkness. In the last few days, however, something inside of him seemed to click—on.

Max felt the stirrings of several emotions that had eluded him for far too long: Idleness, restlessness, and, dare he say it, boredom. Max was bored as fuck, and he wanted to do something about it.

The next morning, he grabbed his board and drove down Pacific Coast Highway to Sunset Point, his favorite surf spot. He spent the day alone on the waves with only his board and his thoughts. He thought about Lexi. He thought about Axel and Avon. He thought about his friends back at the Wilder Ones mansion. He thought about all the fucked up shit he had gotten himself into over the years. The girls, the drugs, the alcohol, the partying...

Hours flew by.

Max left the beach without any clear-cut answers on how to get his shit in order, but the sand, sun, and sea had made him feel lighter than he had in quite some time.

Later that afternoon, as he was pulling back into the apartment parking structure, Max noticed a white Civic driving behind him. It was Nina. Much to his delight, she parked right after him and got out of her car at exactly the same time.

She smiled and waved. "Hey, Max."

Max tried to play it cool. He forced himself not to smile and tilted his chin at her. "'Sup, girl."

The moment the word left his mouth, Max cringed inwardly. He never said shit like that. He hoped Nina would let it slide.

Luckily, she didn't seem to notice. Nina was too busy removing three hefty brown boxes from her tiny Civic. One of them was almost as tall as her and a few feet wider. Nina strained to lift the weight and bulk of the largest package. She was barely paying any attention to Max.

Max stood awkwardly to the side. He wanted to offer his help, but he was afraid to be rejected again. He started rummaging around his truck, pretending to occupy himself with some nonexistent task.

"Hey! Max?" Nina called out suddenly.

Max jumped slightly and glanced over.

Her face was pink from exertion. She smiled sheepishly. "You heading up?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Would you mind helping me?"

Max couldn't hold back his grin. He thought she'd never ask, but he feigned reluctance, "Only if you ask nicely."

Her eyes widened dramatically. "Please?"

He coughed.

Damn, this chick was pretty fucking cute with those big brown Bambi eyes.

Readily, he agreed, "Okay, why don't I hold onto one end? You take the other end, and then we can pile the other two boxes on top of the big one."

Nina nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."

Max and Nina worked together to rearrange the boxes. Max took care to hold his side at a lower angle to shoulder most of the load. Nina took notice.

As they shuffled towards the elevator, her eyes flicked over to him in gratitude. "Thanks, Max. I owe you one."

Max could only grunt in response. The boxes were heavier than he expected, and he was fucking tired and sore from surfing all day after months of no exercise. He didn't want Nina to think he was weak, though, so he gritted his teeth and soldiered on.

Five minutes later, they made it to the third floor. Max helped Nina prop the boxes against the wall as she fished out keys to unlock her front door.

In a curious voice, Max asked, "So... what are you hiding in these boxes?"

"Ashes," Nina answered with a somber expression, "of every single person who has ever wronged me."

Max's eyes widened. He didn't know how to respond. "Uh..."

"Don't worry, I'm only kidding," Nina said with a wink. "It's a new bed frame. One of those sets that you buy in pieces and assemble at home."

"Ah," Max laughed clumsily.

For such an innocent-looking girl, Nina had a pretty dark sense of humor. He hadn't been expecting it. It made him want to linger around her even more.

Not so stealthily, Max tried to give her a reason to make him stay, "Did you want some help putting it together? It's not like I have anything better to do tonight."

Nina paused before answering, "I mean, I feel I'd be stupid to say 'no' because this shit looks like it's gonna be complicated..."

She paused again, biting her lower lip. "No offense, Max, but I gotta ask—last time, it was a free skateboarding lesson. Now, you're offering to assemble furniture on a Saturday night. Why are you being so nice to me?"

Max shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. "What do you mean? We're neighbors. I'm just being... neighborly."

"Is that what you're doing?" Nina questioned wryly.

He nodded. Then, he smirked at her. "Why? Did you think I wanted your number or something?"

Nina grunted as though she was on to him. "Hmm."

Max's smirk froze on his face.

What was up with this chick?

In the past, most girls would have recognized him by now and fallen all over themselves to get close to him. He frowned. Whatever. It was her loss.

Before Max could say something snarky to put Miss High and Mighty in her place, Nina gazed up at him with her large Bambi brown eyes and apologized, "I'm sorry, Max. I shouldn't have assumed anything. You're trying to be a nice guy. I get it. I'd actually love some help putting this sucker together."

He arched an eyebrow in her direction. "You sure about that?"

She nodded and offered, "How about this? To show my appreciation, dinner will be on me. You can't say 'no' to free pizza, right?"

This coaxed a smile from Max. "Guess not. How did you know free pizza was my kryptonite?"