The entryway to Nina's apartment led directly into a very tight corner, which forced Max to tilt the three large boxes between them at an awkward angle. Nina and the boxes entered the apartment first. She barely made it through the door. There was very little space left for Max to scoot in behind her. With some effort, Max contorted his big body to slide along the edge of Nina's door frame. The shifting weight nearly made Nina trip and fall, but, luckily, Max's old football reflexes kicked in. He readjusted his stance and managed to absorb the teetering weight, helping them regain their balance.

"Sorry, I can be such a klutz," Nina muttered.

He assured her, "No worries, it's all good—"

His eyebrows shot up in alarm as she proceeded to stumble into the kitchen counter.

Nina winced. "Ouch!"

He gasped, "You okay there?"

She chuckled in seeming embarrassment. "I'm fine, no worries."

"You really can't be left unsupervised, huh?"

Nina stuck her tongue out at him. "Be nice. Or no pizza for you."

Max grinned. "Yes, ma'am."

With the three hefty boxes in tow, they shuffled through the kitchen into the living room. Max couldn't help stealing a quick glimpse around Nina's place. Again, she surprised him. She had moved in nearly two months ago. Yet, her space was barely filled with anything. It looked nothing like the stylish shit he recalled from his female housemates' rooms back at the Wilder Ones mansion. There was no Pinterest-inspired décor. No dangling fairy lights. No felt letter boards displaying motivational quotes. Nina owned basic necessities. Table. Chairs. Couch. TV. Nothing more. Every piece of furniture also looked a bit used and very aesthetically unpleasing together. The mismatched vibes reminded Max of his childhood home in Temecula. Due to tight budget constraints, his mom had purchased everything they owned from garage sales and Craigslist.

Max couldn't help wondering if Nina had done the same?

Did she grow up poor?

Like him?

His pretty neighbor's scarcity of stuff only seemed compounded by the fact that she lived in a larger model than his studio. It was a two-bed and two-bath apartment. Yet, Max had never seen another person enter or exit her place. Curiosity continued to tug at him.

Did she have a roommate?

Or a... boyfriend?

He nodded towards the second bedroom. "Does someone else live here?"

"Oh, yeah. My roommate is moving in next month," Nina replied offhandedly. "She wanted to wait until her current lease expired."

Max swallowed a pleased smile. Nina said roommate. Not boyfriend.

He followed her down another hallway. They tilted the boxes once again at the door and maneuvered their way into her bedroom. Max glanced around. All he saw was a full mattress propped up on a cheap metal frame and a medium-sized IKEA dresser. No posters on the wall. Not even a houseplant in sight. There was, however, a small picture frame sitting on top of her dresser. A picture of an older Asian couple stared back at Max. The woman had a stern, scary expression on her face, but the man was all smiles. Max concluded that these people had to be important to Nina. After all, she didn't seem to have anything personal on display in her entire apartment. Except for this photo.

Max helped Nina set all the boxes down. She groaned in relief and sank to the carpet. He plopped down beside her.

She asked, "You hungry, Max? I'm starving."

"I mean," he replied, "I could eat."

"Is pepperoni with jalapeños, okay? Did you want any other toppings?"

Nina didn't wait for Max to respond. She was already pulling out her phone to order pizza.

Max bit back another smile. "Pepperoni with jalapeños is fine."

After Nina placed their order, she set her phone aside. She started unboxing the bedframe from its packaging. Max jumped in to help her. Nina pulled out the instructions and organized all the parts accordingly. Max focused on assembling the larger, heavier pieces. Nina held them steady as he screwed everything in place. Much like the morning they had spent together on the basketball court, Nina became utterly engrossed in the task before them.

Her concentration reminded Max of how he felt when he first started his YouTube channel. Back then, he could lose himself for hours, editing, filming, and brainstorming ideas for new content. He hadn't felt that same spark of creativity in years.

Right then, Max decided to follow Nina's example. He turned off the buzzing thoughts inside his head and simply focused on work with Nina to finish her bedframe. It felt nice to get back into this headspace. This zen-like zone with a clear, simple objective and no distractions. In contrast to his checked-out, half-assed existence since running away from the Wilder Ones mansion, it felt oddly fulfilling to put his whole ass into a task again. Even a task as mundane as assembling someone else's furniture.

Together, they plodded along in companionable silence, speaking only when necessary. Max didn't mind it, Nina's company was very enjoyable even when they weren't talking, but an unexpected sense of urgency began to simmer in him as well. The minutes kept slipping away, and Max didn't want to waste this golden opportunity to get to know Nina better.

Max decided to ask Nina about the picture. "Hey, Nina?"

"What's up?"

"The photo. On your dresser. Are they, um... your parents?"

"Huh?" Nina glanced up in surprise. Sadness flickered across her face. "Oh... no. That's my 爺爺奶奶."

Max repeated the foreign-sounding words with clumsy pronunciation, "Yéye? Nǎinai?"

Nina blushed sheepishly. "Sorry, I slip into Chinglish sometimes when I talk about my family."

Max could relate. His Spanish skills had dwindled ever since he left home. Back then, Max's mom was the only one who spoke to him in Spanish on the regular. Nowadays, without his mom around, Max struggled to remember even the most basic vocabulary in Spanish, so he found himself using a mix of English and Spanish, or Spanglish, whenever he spoke to his mom. Much to his mom's annoyance.

Curiously, Max inquired, "What does, uh, yéyenǎinai mean?"

Wearing the same sad expression on her face, Nina explained softly, "It means... grandparents. In Mandarin."

Max's brow creased with concern. Panic fluttered in him. Max felt as though he had unwittingly hit a sensitive nerve with Nina. Mumbling, he tried to apologize, "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume that they were your parents or whatever..."

"It's okay," Nina murmured quietly. "They might as well be my parents. My grandparents were the ones who raised me."

Max began to really panic once he saw her big brown eyes grow sadder. He wanted to kick himself for killing the vibe. Everything was going fine until he opened his big stupid mouth. Clearly, he had breached a touchy subject with Nina.

Max cleared his throat and tried to cheer her up, "That's really cool. My mom was the one who raised me. My dad ditched us pretty early on. But you and I turned out awesome, anyway. Right?"

Nina cracked a small smile. "Speak for yourself, buddy. I'm pretty messed up."

With a cough, Max admitted, "Actually, I lied. I'm fucked up, too."

Nina laughed. "At least, we're not boring."

"Not at all," Max drawled. "In fact, I find you to be hella interesting."

"You do?" Nina prompted with an unreadable expression.

He smirked. "Trust me, I'd be hella interested in getting to know you better..."

Nina shot him a pointed look.

Max's smirk faded away. "What?"

"You're hitting on me."

Max blinked a few times.

What was this girl smoking?

He wasn't flirting with her at all!

Wait.

Was he flirting with her?

For a microsecond, his gaze darted from Nina's pretty, perfect brown eyes to the swells of her pretty, perfect rounded tits. His Lower Brain twitched with interest between his legs.

Max caught himself just in time.

Shit, maybe he was making moves on her.

"Uh... no, I wasn't! I was giving you a compliment," Max insisted lamely.

Nina sighed. "It's okay, I understand. I have that effect on most people. I'm fucking irresistible. I bet you're plotting a way to get into my pants right now."

Max gaped at her in disbelief.

Was Nina being serious?

His Upper Brain's interest in her died down by a fraction. Girls with big egos weren't really his jam. His Lower Brain, however, felt a little called out since the horny bastard was still twitching away with anticipation.

Nina cast him another pointed look when she noticed the grimace on his face. "Dude, I'm kidding!"

Max's mouth fell open. "Oh, gotcha."

He wanted to kick himself again. Nina's proximity to him was distracting as hell. She smelled like berries and vanilla. Her white tank top wasn't overly revealing by any means, but Max's eyes kept flicking toward the enticing V of her cleavage against his better judgment. Max knew he needed to get his head on straight. Fame and good looks had allowed Max to flirt and fuck his way through his fair share of women ever since he moved to LA. He was typically unfazed by girls, no matter how hot or attractive they might be, but this one was turning him into an open-mouthed, slack-jawed asshat.

Suddenly, Nina's voice cut into his thoughts. "I feel like I need to clear the air, Max."

Max immediately sat up straighter. Her expression looked serious.

Nina averted her gaze for a moment. "I meant to do it earlier, but I chickened out."

Frowning, Max struggled to follow the flow of their conversation. "What do you mean?"

She glanced back at him. "I wasn't kidding when I said I'm in a messed-up place right now. My grandpa passed away two years ago. A lot of stuff went down in my personal life because of it. That's why I got emotional earlier. I'm still grieving. Still dealing with my own shit. Long story short, I'm not looking for anything but friendship if that's cool with you? I didn't mean to lead you on or anything. You don't have to help me finish building this stupid bedframe. I understand if you just wanna go home."

Max's eyes grew wide at Nina's startling confession. He wasn't used to people being so upfront with him about shit. Max respected Nina for it even though her honesty caught him off guard. Disappointment soon followed. This stone-cold bitch was rejecting him before he even had a chance to ask her out. Max's ego sank, but his heart went out to Nina. If she only wanted friendship from him, then he could settle for friendship.

In lighthearted tones, he teased, "But what about my free pizza? You're not gonna be able to finish a whole pie by yourself, are you? I'd hate for it to go to waste."

Nina tilted her head to the side. The corners of her mouth quipped up. "I mean, no one's gonna stop you if you want to stay. For the free pizza."

"It's decided, then. I'm staying for the fucking pizza," Max announced readily. "Besides, you never know when a new friend might come in handy. Maybe, next time, I'll make you carry a couple hundred pounds of crap up to my apartment. Just for fun."

Nina giggled. "Sounds like a plan. So... we're cool?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, we're cool."

Surprisingly, he was okay with the idea of being "just friends" with Nina. His Lower Brain would've preferred an all-access pass. However, this minor setback was hardly the end of the world. Nina was hot, sure, but there were other fish in the sea.