Later that night, Max called Nina on FaceTime. As always, he smiled the moment her face appeared on his screen. He couldn't help it. She filled his heart with happiness every damn time they spoke.

"Hey, mami. You lookin' fine tonight."

Nina laughed and groaned at the same time, "That's very sweet of you, Max, but I've only slept about fourteen hours in the past three days. It has been insane at the office this week, and I'm so freaking exhausted. I know I look like shit."

Max hadn't failed to notice the mild acne on Nina's chin or the dark circles under her eyes, but, to him, she looked beautiful no matter what.

He gave her a sad smile. "I wish I could hold you right now. Give you a foot rub or something to help you relax."

Nina whimpered wistfully, "Oh, my God! A foot rub would be amazing right now. I wish I could just crawl through the screen and be with you right now."

Max stared at her longingly through the screen. A few days ago, they made plans for Nina to fly back to LA so the two of them could celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday together.

"I'm already counting down the days to my birthday. I wish we could just fast forward through the next three weeks."

She grimaced and nodded. "Me, too, Max. Me, too. I can't wait to see you!"

He grumbled, "Long-distance fucking sucks."

"I know. I feel the same way," Nina agreed with a sigh. "Anyway, what have you been up to today?"

Max hesitated.

He had originally called to talk to Nina about Lexi. Max wanted his girlfriend's advice on how to approach their meetup. Nina was always really good at helping him untangle all the messy shit inside his head. Yet, now that Max had Nina on the phone with him, he was suddenly worried.

Would Nina get mad at him for meeting up with Lexi while she was a thousand miles away?

If their positions were switched, Max knew that he probably wouldn't be okay with Nina hanging out, one-on-one, with some guy from her past—like Ethan, that bastard—while he was stuck in LA.

After another pause, Max decided to lay everything out on the table. If Nina had an issue with it, then he would cancel on Lexi.

"So, um... something interesting happened to me... today," he mentioned haltingly.

"Oh?"

"Lexi... kinda texted me. It was really random and unexpected."

Nina's eyebrows rose with interest. "What did she want from you?"

"She wanted to catch up," Max answered. "And she wanted to meet up with me."

"Do you wanna see her?"

"I... already replied... and told her that we could meet up."

Nina fell silent for a second.

Anxiously, Max spoke up in a rush, "I can cancel if you don't want me to go. It's not a big deal."

"No, Max, that's not what I'm concerned about at all. I trust you," Nina explained quietly. "I'm just worried that Lexi might try to mess with you again, you know? I don't want to see you get hurt or dragged back into a toxic situation."

Max's eyes widened as relief sank into him. Nina wasn't upset. She was simply trying to look out for him, and her sweetness and selflessness made him love his girlfriend even more.

"Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from. I don't want to deal with any more drama from her, either."

She bit her lip with uncertainty. "Do you think Lexi's intentions might be genuine?"

"I don't know. I've never been really good at reading her moods or communicating with her," Max admitted.

"Huh," Nina grunted as a pensive expression settled over her face.

Max frowned. "That's kind of why I called you, actually. I was hoping to get your take on how I should approach Lexi? I mean, I've been wanting to clear the air with her for a while now."

Surprise sparked in Nina's brown eyes. "Oh, wow. Really? I didn't realize it still bothered you."

"Yeah, I didn't realize it either until recently, but the way things ended between us kinda weighs on me. As kids, Lexi and I used to be best friends. She was the only one who stuck by me while I went through hell at school. We even dated for a little bit in high school, and I treated her like crap. Even after everything she did to me—you know, with the fake breakup video and all—I feel like I owe her an apology. Or something. This is probably gonna sound really weird, but Lexi used to be the closest thing I ever had to a sister, you know?"

Nina gave a thoughtful pause before speaking up. She asked Max, "Have you thought about why you wanna fix things with Lexi? Is it to clear your conscience? Do you want to become friends again? What's driving you to do this?"

Guilt spiked in him. Max thought of the nice, wholesome Lexi that he once knew—and how she had changed so drastically after he chose fame and attention on a stupid social media app over her. He knew firsthand that she had always been super sensitive about her appearance, especially about her weight. Yet, he let other girls who were little more than online strangers at the time come between them, girls who were perfect-looking IG models.

His behavior back then had probably messed with Lexi's self-esteem on levels that he would never be able to fully apologize for—

Max recognized right then that he was the one who had fucked up their ten years of friendship by being a stupid, selfish prick.

With a heavy heart, Max confessed to Nina, "I guess... I've always felt responsible for pushing Lexi away. I know I hurt her. I think she might have even developed some sort of eating disorder because of me? I don't know. I hope not. But I feel like shit over what I did to her."

She remarked softly, "Everything you just shared with me is so fucking sad... but it's also kinda amazing."

Max felt confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Nina explained, "you've grown so much. The fact that you're man enough now to own up to your mistakes with Lexi speaks volumes. I think... if you can convey these feelings to Lexi... then you just might be able to heal a tiny part of the damage you did to her. Or maybe she'll be a salty, petty person about it, but, as long as you say your peace, you've done your part."

"So... you don't think I'm crazy for wanting to reach out to Lexi?"

Nina shook her head and smiled. "No, I don't think you're crazy at all. You're trying to do the right thing, and I support you 100%! There's only one thing that's bugging me..."

"What's that?"

"I don't know if Lexi will be ready or willing to listen to you."

Max winced outwardly. "I'm stressed about it, too. Lexi can be unpredictable."

"Let's try to stay positive, though. If it was possible to achieve your idea of the most perfect outcome in this situation, then what would you want to happen after you two talk it out?"

Max stewed over this question for a moment.

"I think," he eventually answered, "I just want Lexi to know that I'm sorry. And I'd like a chance for us to let go of our grudges. I don't really wanna be friends with her again, though. I kinda feel like we're on different paths now. But it would be nice if the both of us could move forward from all this with some... closure."

Nina smiled. "Damn, Max. That's really mature of you. It's kinda hot."

He blushed and laughed. "Yeah? You think so?"

"I do, daddy... I do."

Suddenly, all thoughts of Lexi flew out the window.

His Lower Brain took over.

Max inquired in nonchalant tones, "So... did you, um... get that package I sent you?"

Nina blushed. "I did."

"You wanna... try it out for me? Make sure that it... works?"

Nina's rosy cheeks deepened in color. "Right now? Really?"

Max grinned devilishly. "Right now, mami. Right. Fucking. Now."

With a shy yet sultry smile, Nina disappeared briefly from Max's screen. She re-emerged moments later with a small pink vibrator. It was shaped like an egg. Then, she slowly, teasingly, removed her clothes, panties and all, and lay back on her bed with her thighs splayed out before Max's hungry gaze.

"Oh, fuck," he breathed desperately. "You look so hot right now, mami. I just wanna eat you right up."

"If you were here," Nina murmured brazenly, "I'd let you do whatever you wanted to me..."

Max immediately yanked off his boxers and grabbed his hard cock in a tight grip. "Let's go, mami, I wanna see you come..."

A quiet humming sound filled the room as Nina turned on the vibrator. She teased the small toy around her breasts and nipples before finally guiding it to her core. Nina moaned in bliss as she circled the pink egg around her clit. Without ever removing his gaze from Nina, Max began to pump his fist up and down his thick, hard length. Pleasure shot through him, spiraling and gathering and building inside his shaft and balls.

Together, Max and Nina teased and touched themselves to the point of no return. Their breaths grew fast and uneven as they fed off of each other's excitement. Max's eyes drifted and darted everywhere on his laptop screen. He ogled Nina's naked tits, her rosy nipples, the sweet feminine curves along her bared stomach and waist, until finally locking onto the glistening wet folds of her pussy.

These sensual snapshots of his beautiful, panting girlfriend pleasuring herself to oblivion hurtled Max toward his own climax like a runaway bullet train. A moment later, with a soft whimper and cry, Nina came with the help of her new vibe. Max grunted and groaned his release shortly after.

Breathless and glassy-eyed, Nina mumbled happily, "Holy shit, Max. I love my new toy. Like, holy shit, it works! It definitely works!"

Max laughed weakly as he dropped onto his mattress in a puddle of post-wank bliss. "Just make sure you don't end up loving that thing more than me, okay?"

"No promises, but I'll try my best..."

Max feigned indignation. "What the heck!"

Nina snickered. "I'm just kidding, Max! I swear this egg will never come between us."

He chuckled at her stupid pun. "I see what you did there, Nina. Nice one."

Nina yawned. Her eyelids began to droop like a sleepy kitten. He could tell that his girl was about to pass out.

Max didn't want to let Nina go yet, their time together always felt like it was being cut short, but he said, "Hey, go to bed. You need to rest."

She yawned again. "Yeah, I really should, I'm so tired..."

Then, in sleepy tones, Nina added, "I love you, Max. I miss you. Can't wait to see you on your birthday."

She blew him an air kiss through the screen.

He blew one back. "Love you, too, mami. More than the sun and the moon."

She giggled. "You're so cheesy."

"You make me cheesy."

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno," he muttered sheepishly. "I just miss you like crazy."

"Same, Max, same," Nina echoed somberly. "Oh—and let me know how things go with Lexi, okay?"

Max laughed humorlessly. "Don't worry, I'll let you know everything, but if you don't hear from me in a day or two, Lexi probably dumped my body somewhere in the desert."

Nina rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Don't be such a drama queen! I'm sure it'll be fine. Even if things don't go well with Lexi, you'll still be fine, okay? Does that make any sense? Sorry, my brain is fried."

"I hear ya, mami. Loud and clear."

"Good. You're amazing. Don't let anything or anyone bring you down, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't. I love you, Nina."

"I love you, Max."

They hung up, and Max went to bed that night with thoughts of two different women swirling around his head.

One still haunted him from his past.

The other filled him with love and strength in his present.

Max hoped to do right by both of them in the future.