***Max’s POV***

                “…and now things between us are too awkward for my liking,” I said, finishing up my 2 hour description of all my troubles, especially the ones with Noah. “Shit. I feel terrible I just made you listen to all of that Nason,” I said guiltily. Why should I dump my problems on someone else like that? It was mean of me, to say the least.

                But Nason just shook his head. “Don’t bottle that kind of stuff up Maxi. I’m always here to listen, even if I can’t really help much. I say you should try to fix things with Noah before worrying about the Pierce and Andre problem.” I nodded in agreement.

                As for my parents…well, there was nothing Nason could suggest and I didn’t blame him. That was a hard issue.

                “Wait!” Nason cried eagerly. I stared at him curiously. “When my parents were fighting really bad when I was little, they stopped because I got hit by car! It brought them together to take care of me and they stopped fighting because they said they realized how precious family was.”

                I stared at him wide eyed. “You got hit by a car?!” He nodded and sheepishly smiled. “I ran into the road chasing a ball when I was 6. I didn’t get seriously injured or anything though! I had a concussion, broken ankle, broken collar bone, and broken arm. But it hurt because I was so little so I kept screaming and crying.” He laughed.

                He looked at me and stopped laughing. “But don’t you go and get hit by a car! I’m just saying, maybe if you fake being sick or an injury or something they’ll stop fighting for a little. It might blow over or it might not work. Every couple is different.” He shrugged.

                I smiled a little. “It could work. I’ll have to think about it though. I hate tricking my parents or lying to them, even if it’s meant to help them.” Nason offered me a smile. “Understandable. So how do you plan to fix things with Noah? I’ll help you if you need me to.”

                I nodded. “Yea, I might need your help. Just in case things get super awkward.” Great. Now I felt like I was using poor Nason. Why was I such a bad person?

                Nason stood up and cracked his back. We had been sitting in his bedroom the whole time eating chips like the fatass teens we were. Nason smiled and I stood up and cracked my back as well. “Let’s go downstairs and see if my mom made dinner yet. I’m starving!”

                I nodded in hungry agreement and we made our way down to Nason’s kitchen. “Mom! Is dinner ready yet? Max and I are starving!”

                Nason’s mom, Mrs. Brown, was probably the nicest woman I had ever met before. It was easy to tell why Nason was so nice. Mrs. Brown had kind eyes with a hint of deep sadness lurking in them. I saw the same sadness hidden in Mr. Brown’s eyes sometimes. I even noticed it in Nason’s eyes every now and again. It made me wonder, but I felt it would be too rude to ask.

                Mrs. Brown offered us her always kind smile. “I was just about to put dinner on the table Nason. Would you boys mind setting it for me?” “No problem mom!” Nason said happily and handed me the plates while he grabbed the silverware and glasses.

                We set the table and his parents put out the food. We sat down and ate, talking casually. After we ate, Nason and I left the house and made our way to the ice cream place with some money from his parents.

                “Oh god Nason,” I whispered and nodded at one of the tables. Noah and Owen were sitting with ice cream and talking.

                “Do you want to leave?” he asked in concern. I took a deep breath and shook my head. “No. No, I need to face them eventually. And I really want to fix everything with my best friend. Just…stay with me?” He took my hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Of course Maxi,” he said and kissed me.

                We made our way over to them and I waved. “Hi guys!” They seemed shocked for a minute before smiling at me easily. “Hey Maxi!” Noah said brightly. “Hi Max,” Owen greeted with a slight nod.

                “Hi Nason!” Noah said, seeming to just notice him. “Hello Noah! Hello Owen!” Nason said politely, giving a friendly little wave. Owen just nodded at him. “Get ice cream and come join us,” he said, looking only at me as he spoke.

                Nason and I did that. We grabbed some ice cream and sat down with Noah and Owen. “So how are you two?” Owen asked. Nason and I shrugged. “Good,” we said at the same time and laughed a little.

                “Maxi we need to have a movie night soon! And of course Nason is invited,” Noah said, smiling happily at us. “But that means you’d have to invite Andre. That stupid dick would go after you and Max and fuck everything up,” Owen grumbled. Jesus he was in a bad mood today.

                “What would we watch? We’ve already watched Star Wars, Final Destination, Ghost movies, Austin Powers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Disney movies, and a shitload of other random movies,” I said. I was quickly feeling more comfortable around Noah, especially with Nason still holding my hand, reminding me that he was here if things got awkward.

                “Children of the Corn! There’s, like, 6 sequels to that movie. Plus the 2009 remake of the 1984 version. My dad worships Stephen King and that movie. And I know you’re a huge Stephen King fan, so we could watch those movies!”

                Back to being thoughtful Noah. Sometimes it was hard to imagine him being a man whore. But it was who he was. The clueless man whore. My best friend. I relaxed even more. I missed hanging out with Noah. His clueless sense of humor. His thoughtfulness.

                “Yea, we could do that,” I said, cracking an honest smile. Nason squeezed my hand and smiled at me encouragingly.

                “Yea let’s do that and just invite Andre over to start some fucking trouble. Wonderful idea! Oh and let’s make it better: invite Max’s new boyfriend along with Andre so that Andre really has a chance to fuck everyone up all it once! Good idea guys,” Owen grumbled in anger and annoyance.

                I frowned deeply at him. “Owen, what’s wrong?” I asked in concern. “Who gives a flying fuck!” he snapped and got up. He whipped his ice cream at the ground and began to storm off. I jumped up and ran after him.

                “Owen! What happened?” I asked. He was scaring me. He slumped against a tree and began to shake. “My mom flipped out on me for slapping the brat. She said I deserved to die out on the streets. I knew her dick of a husband changed her but I didn’t think it was this bad. So she and Will kicked me out. I called my dad but he’s away for one of his business trips. I’ve been staying with Noah and mom refuses to let me back in the house. On top of that, now Pierce has ditched me for Andre. I fucking hate him! Andre’s threatening Pierce to make him do all this! I just know it!”

                He was shaking so bad. Owen never cried. He just shook when he wanted to. “My dad’s all freaked out now cause he can’t get back until next week. He’s been trying to call my mom because he hates the thought of me out of the house for so long. Bitch won’t answer the phone though.”

                He sank down to the ground and wrapped his arms around his legs. “I hate Will. I hate him so fucking much. He ruined my mom. She used to actually care about me. Now she doesn’t give two shits. If it weren’t for my dad, I’d go fucking crazy.”

                I sat next to him, unsure of what to say. Owen never talked about his family problems. He hated to. He would rather keep them to himself.

                He sighed and leaned back a little. “Sorry to blow up like that Max. I just couldn’t keep it inside anymore. Don’t worry about comforting me or whatever. I just needed to get it off my chest to feel better.” He smiled weakly at me.

                We walked back over to Noah and Nason. They were talking casually and eating their ice cream. We sat down and Noah shot Owen a concerned look. Owen ignored it and drummed his fingers on the table instead.

                “So…movie night?” Noah asked with a small smile. We all nodded. “Yea. Yea, I think it’ll be interesting,” Owen said, shooting Noah a knowing look.