Dinner was great, or at least Oscar guessed that it was. The restaurant was in the lower part of the hotel, and their table was on the back patio overlooking the sunset and the beach, every bit the picturesque vacation getaway. The punk might have enjoyed it too, if he weren't so wrapped up in his own thoughts of heat.

Everything here was hot; the food, the weather, and most of all, the Gallaghers. That cold shower hadn't stood a snowball's chance in hell, and neither had Oscar. So, after they were done eating, and everyone had gone back to their rooms, he decided to pay Max a visit.

"Man, I can't do this anymore..." Oscar admitted as he pushed into Max's room without waiting for an invitation. "I mean... I can't sleep with your sister...but I can't not sleep with her either!"

Max looked like he'd had the wind sucker punched right out of him. He huffed out a breath, closed the door, and turned to face Oz. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"Okay, Max... I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm going to lay it out on the line for you. I...can't not do...what I'm not supposed to do, okay? It's just how my brain is wired, bro!" Oscar was pacing, raking his fingers through his long bangs until he paused to face max. "Like, I don't even like her that way, but because I know I'm not supposed to—I can't share a room with her! What if she catches feelings for me?"

"She's not gonna catch feelings for you!" Max snapped, feeling stupid even as he said it. Oz was extremely likable. He wasn't a pushy snob like many of the guys who'd tried to get Elise to date them... Oz was nice to her. He was respectful. But that's how it needed to stay. "And you realize how childish that sounds right? That you have to do something because someone said you shouldn't? What do you expect me to say to that?"

"I'm serious! It's like a curse or something!" Oscar bristled. "Look, can I—can I just spend the night in here, with you?"

Max sighed, then, without any warning, he pulled the punk to him by his black, sleeveless muscle shirt. "If that's-" Their lips crashed, melding into a brief, but super heated kiss before Max sucked in a breath, adding, "Really what I have to do-" Another rough kiss followed. "To make you behave yourself..." Max growled, before he'd claimed Oz's lips again. His fingers were in Oscar's dark, still slightly damp hair, that smelled like coconut sunscreen and hotel shampoo.

"Mmmf!—Mhmm!" The punk's response was smothered between their lips but no less enthusiastic as he tugged on Max's rusty red locks. The next moment, Oscar was pushing Max back and pinning him against the nearest wall.

To say that Max was disappointed by the direction that their exchange had gone, would be a complete fucking lie. Had they solved Oz's problem? Not exactly. Was there still probably going to be an issue with the whole Elise-thing after he and Oz finished screwing each others' brains out? Maybe... But at the moment, Max couldn't care less.

This was all he wanted. All he really wanted, anyway. Oz to himself. He wanted the punk's attention, and his twisted little mind, and his incredibly hot body, which was currently grinding deliciously against Max's, and-

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Son of a bitch... Why?! Why couldn't they have a single fucking moment anymore?

Max reluctantly pulled his lips away from Oz's skin, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"...Marcus?" A female voice called from the other side of the door. "You in there?"

Oscar didn't look amused either, he wore a frown that was somewhere between mild irritation and a pathetic pout as he wiped his arm across his face and then slicked back his hair. He could wait a minute. Hell, he'd waited two weeks while his stitches healed, a plane ride and a three-course meal to finally have Max to himself, what was another few minutes while he told this bitch to get lost?

But he didn't...

Max opened the door, but not all the way. "Hey," he greeted quickly, leaning on the frame.

"Hey! Sorry it took me a bit to get over here. Can...Can I come in, or were we going out to the beach or...?"

"Uh-yeah. Yeah, come in," Max said, glancing at Oscar as the busty blonde strutted into the room. "Crazy that we happened to be on vay-cay here at the same time again, right? Oh!" she jumped when she saw Oscar. Then she quickly looked at Max, then back at Oscar. "Hi..."

"Brooke, this is Oz. He's a really close friend of mine."

"Hi, Oz!" Her teeth were way too white, and her hair was too perfect to not have been styled meticulously to look "effortlessly" wavy. Her outfit was...stupid. Jeans that looked like they'd been cut into super short shorts, but she was wearing the rest of the legs below her knees like a pair of leg warmers that even the 70's wouldn't want back, and a skimpy little top that looked like she was about two good bounces away from a nip slip.

Oscar wanted to pick up where Max had failed and tell her to get lost, but refrained only because for some reason Max was inviting her inside. But with their moment ruined, the punk was running out of reasons to stay himself.

"Hey, yeah great to meet you—Marc, got a minute?" Oscar wondered as he exited into the hall. "What the fuck?"

"I forgot I invited her over, okay?" Max whispered once he was in the hall with Oz. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, wait...are you fucking serious? I can't mess around with Elise, but you get to boink legally blonde bimbo?" Oscar hissed back in an equally hushed voice.

"Are you seriously comparing the two?!" Max was straining to keep his voice low and quiet. "Brooke means literally nothing to me. She's just here so that I don't have to explain to my mother and Ange why I suddenly don't seem into girls anymore."

"Elise doesn't mean anything to me either!" Oscar paused a moment before pinching his brows together. "I mean, she's my friend, but not like—You know what I mean!"

Max laughed, but it wasn't at all the amused kind of laugh. It was the short, exasperated kind of laugh that someone only does when they're clearly frustrated. And Max was definitely frustrated. "Then why is keeping your hands off her a problem?! Or are you the one fucking catching feelings for her?!"

"Oh my god! We wouldn't even be having this fucking argument if you'd just tell them I'm your boyfriend!"

"Will you please just keep your damn voice down?" Max hissed. "Look, if you don't want to deal with the stupid cover thing, it's fine. Okay? It's fine. I'll get you your own room."

Oscar's expression dropped and his shoulders sagged like he'd been deflated. "Yeah...fine," he said, crossing his arms. "Have fun with your not girlfriend..." he seethed before turning and leaving down the hall.

"Oz," Max called, but when Oscar kept skulking away, he just sighed and watched him go. There was no reasoning with the punk right now. Max could feel it... It hurt, but the only thing he could really do was give Oz his space.

There was a soft click before the door to Elise and Oscar's room slowly creaked open, the light from the hall cutting through the darkness and making Elise winch slightly when she tried to open her eyes. The next moment the door shut, plunging the room back into darkness.

"Oscar?" she murmured, rubbing her eyes as they strained to adjust to the dark again. She could hear him rummaging through something, and when he didn't respond right away, she turned on the lamp next to the bed. "Oscar? ...Everything okay?"

Oscar had his bag on the bed and a fist full of clothes already half stuffed into it when he paused and sighed.

"Yeah... Yeah, I told your Mom we broke up... I'm going back to Kingsport."

She sat all the way up, her lips turned downward into a pout and her brows creased in concern. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself, instead, crawling to the end of the bed where Oscar was, and wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug.

"I'm so sorry..." she said quietly, barely above a whisper. She didn't say for what...but she had a strong idea of why Oz was doing this... "Are you sure you're gonna be safe in Kingsport? You...have somewhere safe to go?"

"Yeah, oh yeah," the punk lied before gently pulling away to continue packing. "I know a lot of people on the west side, it's not even a problem," he assured, as he closed his bag and headed to the door. "Maybe I'll see ya around," he said hopefully, though he knew that he wouldn't.

"Definitely," she said, nodding, forcing a small smile despite her big dark glassy eyes betraying exactly what she felt.

Max stared at the strand of skunky smoke lazily rolling towards the ceiling. Brooke was babbling about something as she rubbed his chest. She was lounging against him on the bed, and he'd stopped wondering a while ago how long she was gonna rub that same spot hoping to coax him into returning the physical attention.

He really didn't care what she was saying. His mind was still on Oz, and the look he'd given him before storming off...

A heavy, metallic, 'ka-chink' startled both of them, and it took Max a second to realize it had been the keycard lock on the door.

"Um, hi?" Brooke said, sitting up upon seeing Elise, who tossed the keycard she'd used onto the top of the sleek dresser.

"Get out," Elise snapped, crossing her arms.

Brooke huffed. "Um, she's not your girlfriend, is she?"

"Elise, not now," Max groaned. "We'll talk later."

But, instead of listening to him, his sister snatched Brooke's strappy heels off the floor and stormed back towards the door.

"Elise!"

"Hey! What the fuck?" Brooke gasped, jumping up and trotting over only quick enough to see Elise yank open the door and throw the heels out of the room hard enough to leave a small dent in the painted drywall opposite Max's room. "What the hell, bitch?"

"Get. Out," Elise seethed.

Despite her having nothing to do with their family business, Elise must've learned something from Max along the way, because he saw the taller girl give his little sister a wide berth as she left, giving him one final, confused look over her shoulder before Elise closed the door on her heels.

"What the hell, Ellie?"

"Do you know where Oz is?" she asked, advancing on him, but he got the distinct impression from her tone that she did know...

He sighed and threw up his hands. "Enlighten me."

"He's on his way back to Kingsport."

"What?"

"Yeah! He told mom we broke up, and he asked to go home, and this is all your fucking fault, Marc!" Her voice broke on her last few words, and something happened that Max absolutely hated. More than anything... His sister was crying...

"El...I'm sorry..." he mumbled, putting out his blunt and taking a seat on the end of the bed.

"It's just... I know how you two feel about each other, and it's just..." she sniffled and sucked in a breath. "It's so stupid. I can't believe you're okay with just letting him go."

"I'm not letting him go, I'm jus-"

"People dream of finding their person, Marc," she cut him off. "Some go their whole lives and never find them! And you found yours, but you're being too much of a fucking, bull-headed coward to hold on to him!"

"Ellie..."

"And that's not the brother I've looked up to all my life. My brother's not a coward."

Max's next inhale hurt... His whole chest ached in a way that was entirely too similar to when he'd thought Oz was dead... Gone forever... Was he? Gone from his life? Was that it?

He got up, and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her arms with his, and to his relief, she hugged him back. He hadn't realized at all just how much he'd needed that until she had. The truth was sitting right on the end of his tongue...just behind his teeth...

That Elise was and wasn't wrong... He wasn't a coward...

...But he was afraid.

TT ~   TT   I hate it. I hate it. I hate it...but do you think this might be the wake-up call Max needed?

Shout out to TheLiterateRee ! Thanks so much for your support!!