There's a Playground

Max’s pov

The last week and a half had been hell to deal with. Having to sit there, watching Craig and Wednesday together was going to make me go insane. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if I did go insane watching him be all over her. It made my wonder if she liked him as much as he apparently liked her. Because she seemed to just roll with the punches while he made all the moves…

Lucky ass bastard…

I hadn’t really talked to her since last Friday, either because of it. Well…not because I didn’t want to talk to her, but because I was getting back into the drugs a little more than usual with Ronnie. And that was mainly because of the fact that I was so pissed off all the fucking time, drugs were the only things that kept me, relatively, calm.

It was Saturday, though. Once again. Ronnie and I threw a party last night and I had just woken up from sleeping off a damn good high. It hit me about a half hour later from waking up, after sitting at my kitchen table staring at a bowl of Cheerios for twenty minutes, that I wasn’t really hungry. Alright, so that wasn’t all that hit me. It also occurred to me that tonight was Homecoming. And Craig was probably going to end up asking my best friend if she’d be his girlfriend. Wonderful…

I yawned and stretched, grabbing my untouched bowl of cereal and tossing it in the sink. I’d poured the wasted food into the disposal before damned near dropping it in the other portion of the sink. Another yawn escaped my lips and I felt that gnawing hunger for more pot. Another high won’t hurt, right? I walked back to my room, kicking open the door. Ronnie was passed out heavily and draped across a half-naked girl on my bed.

Yeah, last night I’d had to sleep on my fucking floor thanks to those two ass holes…

“Ronnie. Wake your ass up,” I instructed, bending to grab a random pillow off of my floor. Ronnie didn’t move, so I took aim and tossed it at him. I missed. Lovely.

“Ronnie, the house is on fire,” I told him. Nope…apparently, my voice was too void of emotion, or volume, to wake the bastard up. So I picked my way across my messy floor to stand by my bed.

Oh gross. That slut was getting her slutty drool all over my pillow and my male best friend’s hair. “Ronnie! The house is on fire! Wake the fuck up!” I shouted, leaning towards him and then jerking back as the boy flailed and sat up. I could tell by just looking at him that he was still high. The slut groaned and started whining when Ronnie started freaking out. I just laughed.

“Max! You mother fucking asshole! What the fuck are you thinking?! You don’t go shouting there’s a fucking fire and your house is burning down! What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Ronnie shouted back at me once he had finished disentangling himself from Miss Slut and had finally noticed that I was practically rolling on the floor laughing. Literally.

Miss Slut kept on complaining, her voice an annoying high pitched sound that made me want to slap her.

“Got any more weed?” I asked a few minutes later once I’d calmed down. Ronnie still looked like he was about to kick my ass for that one. He frowned and grumbled something that had something to do with me. I almost wish that I could have heard what he said, but my friend seemed to be in the mood for muttering. He shook his head. Fuck.

“Nah man. Our week’s stash got used last night.”

“No fucking way. We didn’t smoke that much!”

“Yeah we did. And besides, everyone else had some, too.”

“Fuck!”

“I know… I think I’ve got some glass left if you want it.” I was tempted. Oh so tempted to walk down that path today. But no, I couldn’t. Ronnie and I, despite everything and the fact that Wednesday would be there dancing with Craig, were going to be going to Homecoming tonight. Ronnie had this epic plan of getting Skye. Which, honestly, wasn’t all that epic, but whatever.

I shook my head in denial before my eyes drifted down to Miss Slut. She was curling into Ronnie again and mumbling to herself about going back to sleep.

“I’m good, man. I just want some pot…” I muttered before watching Ronnie grumble himself back to bed.

Rolling my eyes, I walked out of my room and back out into the living room. Great. Now I had to find something to do… Sighing, I went back into the kitchen and shoved around in every nook and cranny for some form of alcohol. No luck.

Shit.

Now what?

Grumbling, I grabbed a random pack of smokes from the table and walked outside, sighing and opening them up.

“Max!” A familiar voice sounded from next door and I looked over to see Wendy sitting on her porch again. I smiled at her, waving slightly before running a hand through my hair. I pulled out a cigarette as she walked over to me, smiling up at me. “Have fun last night?”

I nodded at her question, smirking as I patted around my pockets for my lighter. “Yeah. You should have come over. Tons of fun.” At that, she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I’m good. I don’t do well with parties…”

“And yet you’re going to Homecoming?”

“That’s…shut up, Max. You know what I mean. I’ve always been socially awkward”

“Bull shit,” I said and smirked as she glared up at me. I finally found my lighter and pulled it around to light up.

“Okay. I don’t do well with drugs oralcohol,” she said and I frowned down at her between taking another drag off of my cancer stick. “But I won’t scold you for it. I can’t help what you do…”

“Well maybe if you weren’t always with Craig, I wouldn’t have to.” Alright, that was a bad idea. And I knew that…she frowned at me and ran a hand through her hair.

“God, Max…” The way she said my name was pretty much amazing. But the hurt in her eyes when she looked up at me was about to kill me. I sighed, frowning as I scrubbed a hand through my hair.

“God, Wendy…I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Really, Max? Why are you even jealous? There’s no need to be…”

I kept my mouth shut while she asked that.

“And despite the fact that I refuse to tell you what to do with your life, drugs aren’t any good. For you or anyone else who knows you…”

“Wendy, I…”

“I’ll see you tonight, Max. Bye.” And with that harsh good bye, she left.

What the fuck did I just do?

Sighing, I finished up that cigarette before going back inside to watch TV until someone came around to do something or Ronnie woke up.

----

Wednesday’s pov

“God, Wendy…I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Really? No fucking shit he wasn’t thinking! I couldn’t believe that he was implying I was the reason that he was doing drugs. And that hurt than anything else. The way he said my name, though, made me want to just…I don’t know. Either forgive him or slap him.

“Really, Max? Why are you even jealous? There’s no need to be…” I said, searching for answers. He just kept quiet and that annoyed me. I sighed, frustrated, as I ran a hand through my hair once again. He took another drag of his cancer stick while I opened my mouth to speak again. “And despite the fact that I refuse to tell you what to do with your life, drugs aren’t any good. For you or anyone else who knows you…”

“Wendy, I…” There was my name off his tongue again… I probably would have melted if I wasn’t so pissed off at him.

“I’ll see you tonight, Max. Bye.” With that, I spun on my heels and stormed off back to my house, frowning heavily as I grabbed my book off my porch and headed inside. My mom was sleeping on the couch again, snoring and grumbling to herself. I smirked, shaking my head and walking back to my room. Why did Max have to be such an asshole now? He was such a sweet little kid… Other than when it came to chasing me around the playground we used to hang out at with a handful of worms or throwing mud at me…

I smiled at the memories and briefly wondered if that old playground was still there. Chewing on my lip, I shook my head. Chances were that it wasn’t. Vegas had changed so much and I couldn’t even remember where the apartments we’d grown up in were anymore. Somewhere in North Las Vegas, I knew that much. Which was somewhere around the neighborhood that we lived in now. I just…had no idea where the hell they were. That would be interesting…

I turned on my speakers and hit the play button on my iPod. I smiled to myself as Paramore began playing through the system, making me follow the urge to sing along as I moved over to plop down on my bed. I dropped my book on the floor and just stared up at the ceiling. I was bored and had to find something to do with myself until it was time to get ready for Homecoming.

Like an answering prayer, my phone went off and I grabbed at it. Skye was calling me. “Hello?”

“I’m kidnapping you, Wendy. Meet Craig and me outside in like…thirty seconds.”

“Um…why?”

“Because I’m bored and we want to see a movie.”

“Um…I don’t…”

“We’re paying for you, chill out. Now get your skinny little ass out here now.”

I loved how Skye was so random… Shutting my phone, I stopped my music and ran out of my house, seeing Craig and Skye in my driveway. They were rocking out to the music blasting through his car. I smirked, shaking my head as I climbed into the back seat. Craig grinned at me through the rearview mirror as he pulled out of my driveway.

“Hey guys. What movie are we going to see?” I asked. Skye shrugged and turned to face me, grinning.

“We don’t know yet. But we needed something to do until we all had to get ready.”

“You excited about tonight, Wendy?” Craig asked and I nodded, smiling.

“Yep. You?”

“Hell yeah. Are you kidding me? I get to dance with a gorgeous young woman.” His compliment caused a blush to rush into my cheeks as I smiled at him.

“Thanks, Craig,” I told him. And I felt bad that I didn’t feel the chemistry with him that he, apparently, felt towards me. I sighed, trying my best to ignore that guilt as we drove off to the movie theatre. I also tired my best to get Max out of my thoughts…