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Mike laughs, leaning against the refrigerator to hold himself up. “I can’t believe you would dye his cat pink, you freak.” He’s always known Max to be petty, but not petty enough to dye her ex-boyfriend Jake’s cat with Kool-Aid. “He deserved it, though,” he says, calming down.
“My mom made me this vindictive bitch,” Max says. “And I kind of hated her for it back then. But I get it now.” She offers a hand for him to take, and he does, dropping next to her on the raggedy bean bag. “Don’t tell our friends about it, though.”
Mike considers for a second why she wouldn’t want them to know. All of them are known to bend the law. Their judgment is the least of her concerns. But that’s not for him to dwell upon. “You can trust me, Maxine.”
She smiles then, leaning her head on his shoulder, and it makes Mike’s heart ache a little. They’ve always had a rocky relationship. Mike spent a better part of his life making sure her life was miserable. Well, not literally, but in stupid ways like when they were kids; he gave her such a hard time about whether or not she should join the party. As a teenager, he was plagued with jealousy over the fact that Lucas didn’t have eyes for anyone except her. Though nothing has changed. At twenty four, Lucas still has eyes only for her. But this time, Mike gets why.
“You know there’s two times I felt the most connected to you out of everyone,” Mike says, interrupting the quiet. He almost hates himself for it when Max takes her head off his shoulder and looks at him through piercing blue eyes. It’s too much; he has to look away.
“What are they?”
“When I was driving us back from the airport after we dropped Lucas off. You asked me then something stupid about his girlfriend. But I saw sadness in your eyes. And I knew you were angry, or upset, or both. That was the first time you opened up to me, inadvertently.” He leans and hugs his knees against his chest.
Max has an impish glint in her eyes. “The first was when I was at my lowest? You really live up to your reputation, Wheeler.”
He shakes his head. “It mattered that you trusted me. I said to you that Lucas could never get over you. I didn’t know it was true.” She punches him in the arm before he continues, “Lucky for me, it is.”
“What’s the second then?”
“Now,” he simply responds.
“Is this an intervention?” she asks. “Are you trying to bullshit your way through by being sentimental so I’ll open up about him to you?”
Mike sighs. “The answer depends on whether you want to or not.”
One thing about Max that hasn’t changed is her stubbornness. She’ll separate grains of salt from sand in the ocean before admitting what she really wants.
“I can’t have him,” she says, shaking her head. “You know that I can’t, Michael, please.”
“All I know, Max,” he exhales, “is that if you live your whole life waiting for the other shoe to drop, then it already has.”
He leaves then, closing the door on his way out. He has faith that his friend will make the right decision someday. But tonight is for being there for her in silence. He hopes that is enough.