Chapter Text
Not even the warmth in the small rustic fireplace could dull the ice cold rejection still cutting into his heart.
He'd come all the way to England to forget about work and responsibilities and his now ex-girlfriend who complained about both, but sitting here in the silence now only amplified his woes that had developed in the last 72 hours.
____
Max had spent the last 10 minutes sitting on his living room floor, staring out the windows to the empty driveway where her car used to be. He'd been nursing a bottle of rum he got for his birthday, already halfway through with the large swigs he had been taking. He felt like he should be crying, his chest was squeezing and twisting and his eyelids stung, but only a dull ache that kept his eyes dry persisted.
His six year realtionship had just gone down the drain one week before Christmas. He'd thought Kelly and him were going strong. She was his first partner; they had a lovely house together, in the middle of The Netherlands, and three cats. Too much to give up on just like that, but that didn't stop her.
It hurt all the more that she chose this day to break up with him, the same one that he was going to reveal the romantic Christmas getaway he'd been planning for them this year. Two days, that's all he could manage with the tight holiday schedule for his job, but Kelly had said it wasn't good enough.
"I wait all year to spend time with you! Just two weeks together away would be fine, but nooo, only two days! It's not on Max, not on."
That's what she yelled into his face, before walking out the door for the last time.
Two days of relaxing in a cosy chalet in the snowy mountains, skiing and lounging by the fireplace, over before it even began.
The need for a distraction became overwhelming then, and with shaky hands Max picked up his phone thrown on the ground earlier and called up the one number that could keep his mind off his current predicament.
"Daniel, have you got any updates on the meeting yesterday with the partnership meeting with Mr Alonso?"
"Hello to you too Max. I'm doing great today, thanks for asking!"
"Can't you be serious for one second? So, updates on the meeting?"
"Whoa there buddy, why do you sound like that? You're snapping at me, you never talk to me like that. What happened?" He knew he was snapping at his friend and he felt bad, but he knew if he wasn't practically yelling, Daniel would hear how his voice quivers.
Max felt his phone shake with the tremors in his hand. "Nothing... The cats just scratched up my leather couch again. No big deal, I can buy a new one. Anyway-"
"That's crazy because I don't believe you. You love those bastards too much to actually be upset about it, so spill the beans. What happened?"
Max squeezed his eyes shut, it was too hard to lie to Daniel sometimes.
"Okay okay, Kelly just broke up with me."
The line goes silent, like the quiet after a bombshell goes off. Not even Daniel knew how to sooth the burn.
"Shit man, it's been going so well, thought you guys were endgame. Are you alright?"
Max paused for a second. Kelly and him were meant to be endgame, he was even thinking of proposing to her. He had the ring, smooth and silver, embedded with a little blue crystal, always tucked into the pocket of his coat. The corner of his heart that Kelly had filled felt like it had been ripped out, and it made his chest ache so terribly. He's sure Daniel can hear it all with his shaky exhale.
"No, I'm not alright. What do I do?"
"Burying your head back in your spreadsheets is not the way to go, mate. You need to go on a proper holiday, a week or two at least. Somewhere far away from here, whole new pond with a lot of new fish." Daniel laughed loudly into the phone speaker."I'm sure you'll come back forgetting all about this."
It was tempting, truly tempting. Two weeks away from the Netherlands, from his ex, his responsibilities, his stress. He can't even remember the last time he'd had a holiday, doesn't think he has since he was a young kid. But then he heard the ping of his workphone from the kitchen and it all comes crashing back down to earth.
"What?... No Daniel, I can't, I just can't. Not with the new year so close. I need to be here just in case-" Max begins but is quickly cut off by an exasperated Daniel.
"No no, you're going on this holiday buddy, I'm clearing your schedule as we speak." He hears the clacking of a keyboard through the speaker and knows his rebuttal was useless."You don't need to worry about it, y'know? I've got it all handled."
The line goes silent for a bit, before Daniel speaks up again.
"I know just the thing to get you on you're Christmas getaway, Max. You ever heard of HouseSwap?"
____
That's why Max was now stuck in the middle of Suffolk, in a small toasty cabin, practically snowed in. Through the little app Daniel set up on his phone, Max sets up a house swap with a guy named Alex who was super willing to swap with Max. Alex was super excited to bring his girlfriend on his own romantic holiday in Holland after seeing a picture of Max's indoor pool. And Max got it. The idea of spending Christmas in England had been super exciting for him too until he got here. Peace and quiet, no stress. Ha, yeah right.
As soon as he'd left the airport, he'd had nothing but trouble.
The two hour taxi ride to the cottage had been bumpy, meaning he couldn't get a light nap in until he arrived. Except he didn't arrive because the taxi man stopped halfway down a street, complaining he couldn't go any further with the car or he wouldn't be able to turn around. With all of his luggage, Max had to walk through the snow for thirty minutes. He'd had to ask three separate people for directions to the cottage because the signal in Suffolk was so patchy that google maps wouldn't work.
It's safe to say that when Max finally threw his bags down on the floor, he was ready to fly all the way back to Amsterdam and never leave his house again.
The cabin was... cute, just like the photos. It had everything he needed: three fireplaces, a TV, and a big squishy bed on the top floor. There was no food though, meaning Max begrudgingly had to drive into town to stock up.
Max prided himself on being a good driver, but the narrow and windy roads of the village almost gave him an aneurysm. Every car felt like it was about to swerve out in front of him.
He made it home in one piece and with enough bottles of alcohol to make the store attendant think he was hosting a Christmas Eve rager.
The evening went quietly, Daniel had confiscated his work computer and phone so even the constant buzzing of emails and notifications that kept his brain contained, was gone. This gave Max time to drink and think freely, the latter something he didn't really want to do right now.
The sour feelings he'd been holding in all day began to surface under the liquid inhibitor. He knew what he must look like right now, a sad lonely man drinking on his own on the couch, frowning enough to form wrinkles on his face. He was too young to be having a crisis over this. Everyone gets dumped, if she doesn't love you anymore, let her go. You're meant to be mature about it, move on as well, focus on yourself and make improvements. At least that's what the websites that Max had been scrolling through on his phone were saying. But instead he decided to run away from his problems, and it makes him feel ridiculous all over again.
He turns up the volume of the TV channel in the background, and goes on his phone to book a flight back to Amsterdam for two days time.
As the night stretched on, Max had been drifting off into micro-sleeps periodically for the last two hours. He looks out the window, at the dim street lights and snow topped houses, counted the windows still lit up, eyes slowly drifting closed again for the billionth time. But his slump is disturbed by the harsh ring of the doorbell.
Max's eyes snap open as it sounds again, followed by aggressive banging against the wood. Was someone getting kidnapped? Is someone trying to kidnap me?
He could feel his brows scrunch at the thought. There is no way his luck is this shit, the universe must be out to get him, first his girlfriend dumps him right as he is about to romance her for the holidays, and now when he's travelled across countries to get some peace, someone is trying to bash his door down at 12 am. A wave of anger hits him square in the chest, he was going to go give this stranger a piece of his mind.
with heavy footsteps, he jumped up off the bed and walked down the narrow stairs of the cottage. Through the frosted glass panels of the front door, Max could see the outline of a stranger. He banged on the door again while yelling something muffled by the door, the only distinctive words Max could make out were 'Alex', 'Lily', and 'anyone', slurred and repeditive.
Maybe he was a just a wandering drunk, kicked out of the bar for being a nuisance and was now walking around the neighbourhood bashing on doors to get a free ride home. What a junkie.
"Alex, let me in mate, pleaseee! I'm going to take a leak on your doormat if you don't. Don't test me 'cause I will." The stranger yells again, his british accent thickened by the booze. That was all Max need to hear before he steeled his face and swung the front door open.