His mom's advice stayed with Max long after she left the apartment.

Show her that you can be strong when she is weak.

Without question, Nina had been his rock over the past few months.

The strength of her love felt like the ocean. At times calm, at times fierce. She never failed to remain still and steady in the face of his chaos and warrior-like when he needed a storm to chase away his demons.

From the day she stood up for him at Axel's barbecue to the moments she held him in her arms as he fell to pieces after the haunted house, Nina had always been there when Max needed her most.

Max realized, then, that—for much too long—he had probably been unreliable, too immature and clueless, to be Nina's equal. He had never shouldered any of her burdens. Even now, she was still the voice of reason whenever Max dipped into his occasional blips of depression.

For better or worse, it seemed to be in Nina's nature to love others with her whole heart. To be kind. To be strong. Strong for her grandpa, strong for her grandma, strong for Ethan—that bastard—and now she was being strong for him.

It wasn't fair to expect Nina to always be the hero.

This entire week was her moment of well-deserved weakness, Max concluded, which meant it was his turn to show his strength.

Nina said she needed this time to herself. To think. To fall apart. To put herself back together again.

Max would wait. Whenever she was willing to let him in, he was more than willing to become her ocean, her rock, her safe place. Max already knew that she loved him, and Nina knew that he loved her. Max trusted her to come to him once she felt ready.

For now, he wanted to focus on getting his life in order so that Nina wouldn't have to worry about him. She already had enough on her plate with her new job, her grandma's disapproval of their relationship, and all the craziness that would come with dating a YouTuber like him.

On Thursday, Max started studying for the GED.

On Friday, he edited his new video and uploaded it onto his channel.

On Saturday, he changed up his birthday plans.

Max asked his friends to come over to the apartment for a small house party. Instead of the evening of drunkenness and debauchery that they had originally planned. If Max couldn't dance and grind on Nina, then he had no interest in going out or going clubbing.

Chase and the guys came over with their girlfriends. Everyone knew better than to bring up Nina's name or inquire after her absence. They laughed. They drank. They ordered pizza and cake. They played beer pong and mafia and King's Cup.

By the end of night, Max was surprised at how much fun he had with his friends. His birthday celebrations ended around 3:00 am. Max was so cross-eyed drunk at this point that he couldn't even find his bed. He passed out shamelessly on the couch.

The next morning, Max awoke to the unmistakable, rattling sound of someone trying to open the front door. He sat up and blinked groggily.

What the fuck?

The door swung open. It closed with a click. Light footsteps padded towards the living room. Max's eyes nearly flew out of his sockets when he saw Nina standing in front of him. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

Was he half-asleep or still dreaming?

A slow smile spread across Max's face as he gazed at her in wonderment. "What are you doing here, baby? I thought you weren't coming this weekend. I thought... you canceled your ticket?"

Nina looked tired and worn down, but, the moment their gazes met, her warm brown eyes shone as brightly and invitingly as the California sun.

"I used the credits to buy another one. I-I... missed you... too much... to stay away," she mumbled hesitantly. "I'm so sorry for being so distant this week."

Nina's admission made Max's heart sing with joy. Max stretched out his arms to Nina and commanded thickly, "You have nothing to apologize for! Now, get your ass over here, and show your birthday boy some love!"

He didn't have to prompt her twice. Immediately, Nina abandoned her luggage and hurled herself into his arms. Nina straddled his lap. Max clung to her as tightly as she clung to him. Max buried his face into her hair, her neck, and breathed in her familiar vanilla-berry sweetness. His hands traveled down her slim waist, settling possessively over the curves of her ass.

"God, I missed you so much," he murmured to her. "I can't believe that you're actually here. You have no idea how fucking happy I am right now!"

Gently, Nina cradled Max's face between her hands. She smiled and whispered back, "Not as happy as me."

Then, Nina leaned over to kiss Max, again and again, over and over, until he felt lightheaded with elation. With a blissed-out groan, Max pulled her closer to deepen their kiss. By the time they pulled away, Max was sporting a massive hard-on. However, his head was also pounding with a really bad hangover.

Max winced in discomfort even while he leered at Nina's boobs with unmasked interest. "God, mami, the things I'd do to you if I wasn't so hungover right now..."

She teased, "Did my birthday boy have a little too much fun last night?"

He chuckled sheepishly. "Something like that, I guess. I would've had even more fun if you were there, though."

"I know, I'm so sorry for missing your party, but I'm here now," she apologized again. "I took some time off from work over the next two days so we can spend some quality time together. I plan to spoil the crap out of you."

Max pecked her on the nose and grinned broadly. "Sounds good to me. And I'm gonna hold you to it, mami. As a newly minted twenty-six-year-old man, I expect to be pampered like a motherfucking king!"

She smiled enigmatically. "I actually booked a surprise getaway for us."

Max's eyebrows rose with excitement. "No way! Is that why you kept asking if I had anything important going on over the next two days?"

Nina winked and nodded. "Yep! I got us an Airbnb in Joshua Tree. This house looks fucking amazing, by the way. There's a see-through bubble attached to the property that we can actually sleep in and stargaze in!"

"I hope you didn't spend too much money on this place, though. It sounds kinda expensive."

"It's fine, Max," Nina insisted, "I've been setting aside money for a splurge like this, and I wanted to spend it on your birthday."

Max's heart filled with gratitude. No one had ever done anything this nice for him before. "Thank you, mami."

"You're welcome, baby."

She pulled out her phone to show Max some photos of the Airbnb. They swiped through the photos like two excited kids getting ready to go to Disneyland for the first time.

The property was located in the middle of a serene desert landscape. It appeared to be surrounded by nothing but sand and cactus and craggy, sandy mountains for miles and miles. The Airbnb itself came with the option to stay in a charming ranch-style house or the transparent, oversized, sci-fi-looking sphere that sat right beside the house. Max saw a queen bed inside the bubble along with a fully-loaded outdoor bathroom.

Max was very impressed and very touched. Nina hadn't been joking around when she said that she planned to spoil him for his birthday.

He whistled. "Damn, mami, you really outdid yourself with this place!"

She blushed. "I really wanted to do something special for you. I hope you'll like it."

Max kissed her once more. "I already love it because you went through the trouble to set this up for me. It's gonna be so fucking romantic. Thank you so much for doing this, baby."

She kissed him back. "You're welcome, baby. You deserve it for being the best boyfriend in the whole world. Thank you for giving me time to sort things out in my head."

Max studied Nina with a wary expression. "So... have you finished sorting everything out in that head of yours?"

Nina didn't answer him right away. Instead, she started detangling herself from Max. "Why don't we talk about it on the drive over to Joshua Tree? We need to start packing our overnight bags, dude! Check-in time for our Airbnb is around 5:00 pm."

She rose from the couch. With a slight grimace, Max watched Nina sort through her luggage. He already missed the weight and feel of Nina on his body. After feeling disconnected from her for so many days, her sudden reappearance in their apartment felt like a sucker-punch to the heart—in the very best way possible, of course—but the surprise was still sending shockwaves through his system. He was scared that she might suddenly disappear on him or something.

Tentatively, Max couldn't help asking, "Can you, at least, tell me what made you decide to fly back this weekend?"

Nina paused. "You know, this is something that I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"What is it?" he asked nervously.

Nina coughed. "Well, you'll never guess who called me earlier this week..."

Max's forehead puckered with worry. "Please just put me out of my misery and tell me already. Who called you?"

She smirked. "Lexi."