Burnout - Coralee June Page 0,70

feel capable and honest, but Max brought out a light-heartedness in me that I hadn’t experienced in a while. Life had been so sober with Mama’s treatments and the uncertainty at Lance’s house. It was nice to do something pointless and funny just for the sake of it.

“You—you got something right here,” Max taunted while wiping at his cheek. I hurried out of the booth I was sitting in and circled the table to get closer to him.

“I’m sorry, where did you say it was?” I asked with glee. He reached for the napkin as if preparing to wipe my face for me, and I went in for the kill. Pressing my lips to his cheek, I smeared the chocolate icing all over his face as laughter erupted from my chest. Flakes and crumbs littered the collar of his school uniform, and he grabbed my wrist, yanking me into the booth with him as we both roared with laughter.

It took us a moment to clean up, and I still had icing all over my shirt. Maximillian’s lips were stained from the icing, and there was a clump of chocolate stuck in his hair. We looked a mess, and I didn’t even care. It was worth it.

Once the icing was long gone, we shared a fork and took bites out of the destroyed cake. It was friendly intimacy, sharing a utensil. And the way Maximillian kept looking at me made me wonder if he thought more of this day than I did. It made me feel bad. How could I possibly explain to him that my mind was preoccupied? How could I possibly be interested in someone else when I still felt remnants of the fire that sizzled between Decker and me?

“Maximillian Hemsworth, stop looking at me with those loving eyes of yours.” I tsked. A slight blush kissed his cheeks and brushed along the tips of his ears. I didn’t mean to embarrass him, but the coy smile he was throwing as he looked at me made me pause.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Blakely Stewart. I look how I always do,” he argued. “Who’s got your heart so twisted up that you can’t even think straight?” His question shocked the hell out of me.

“I-I don’t know what you mean. Why would you say that?” I asked. Suddenly the bakery seemed to grow smaller and smaller, and it was like four walls were caged around my heart.

“I know when to quit when I’m ahead. Anytime I put my incredible moves on you, you get this sad look in your eyes. I don’t know if you know this, but I attend a school for geniuses. I can pick up on a girl that isn’t into me pretty well. There’s this thing called body language and social cues.”

I frowned despite his harmless banter. I didn’t want things to change between us, but there would never really be anything there. It was like going into space and seeing how small the world really was first hand. You never looked at earth the same way again. “I want to like you. You’re much more agreeable and better looking.”

“I bet my dick is bigger, too,” Maximillian joked.

“Probably. Wanna strip down so I can compare?”

Maximillian stood up and tugged at the button on his uniform slacks. “Don’t tempt me, Blakely Stewart.” I threw my hands up in mock surrender, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. His eyes peered into mine, that boyish smile hiding the questioning thoughts beneath. Max must have seen the terror on my face. Or maybe he realized I was too damaged, too distant to pursue anymore, because he pulled away.

“So,” he began with a smile. “How about that drink?”

19

Decker

I’d been pacing the floors for the past two hours. It wasn’t even ten o’clock, and I was acting like a caveman.

When I’d called Lance to let him know that Blakely wasn’t in class today, he seemed unconcerned. “She texted me that she was taking the day off with Maximillian. It’s our mother’s birthday, so she needed a low-key day.”

I didn’t like that I didn’t know today was her mother’s birthday. I also didn’t like that, instead of spending the day with me, she sought out Maximillian Fucking Hemsworth for comfort. If I were honest, I didn’t like a lot of things lately, especially the distance between a girl I shouldn’t be obsessing over and me.

I’d called her three times, debating on a fourth. Lance was in Louisiana and kept assuring