3 A.M.

I always thought Maxx was douche.

Don’t get me wrong; he had his good moments like any tool would. But ever since I met him at my friend’s band’s first show with him as their new drummer at the venue I worked at, any mention of him put a frown on my face. He was annoying, he was incessant, he was snide, and he had a hell of an ego.

And I still wondered why I was attracted to him, despite all of this.

It might have been his smirk. Or maybe the way he was so laid back about everything, including the time when a techie I work with accidentally knocked over his new custom snare drum when setting up the mics.

But it definitely wasn’t because of what he had done when he helped me out almost a month ago at a party.

It was a smaller party before a tour my friend’s band were to join. I can’t remember the name of the tour for the life of me, all I knew was that they were co-headlining most of the dates and Cody wanted to celebrate. He used any excuse he could get to play beer pong and sip his own personal concoction of vodka and Coke (which was, coincidentally, more vodka than Coke).

“Shit, Autumn, where’s your drink at?”

“I just got here.” I laughed as Cody draped his arm over my shoulders, giving me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. As expected, he reeked of alcohol, but his breath smelled like tomatoes.

“Did you eat pizza?” I asked, shoving his arm off my shoulders and straightening out my tank top. He staggered back a couple of steps, a huge smirk on his face.

“Yeah. How’d you know?” he asked, moving in front of me to sit on the arm of the couch in the crowded living room.

“You smell like it, kid,” I teased, taking the red Solo cup from his hand before he could take another sip.

“Hey!”

“Nah-ah-ah, Cody. My turn.” I wagged my finger under his nose, sending him a smirk before I took a swig of the muddy liquid swirling inside. It tasted bitter and watery, and when Cody saw my pursed lips and squinted eyes while I handed back his cup, he jovially laughed and graciously took it back.

“I should’ve known it’d be that shit you always mix together,” I muttered, licking my lips.

He sipped from the red cup and nodded, his hand in the pocket of his cutoffs.

“How long are you guys gonna be gone, again?”

Cody chuckled, eying me suspiciously. “What? Gonna miss Maxx while we’re gone?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, my lips pursed. “What part of ‘I don’t like him’ do you not understand?”

“Whoa, lower the guns, Autumn.” He raised his hands in front of him defensively, the smirk still on his lips. “I’m just kidding.”

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms, giving him a small smile.

“I’m gonna grab another drink. You want one?” He jumped up from the arm of the couch as a couple fell back into it, getting a bit cozier than I’d liked to see.

“Just grab me a beer. I have work in the morning, unlike some of you.”

He laughed before he turned around, heading for the kitchen. He waved his hand at me without looking back, the red cup dangling from his fingers.

I felt a swift tap on my shoulders, and when I turned around, the smile was wiped from my face.

“What do you want, Maxx?” I deadpanned, looking up at him. The drummer had about seven inches on me, and like with most guys, I had to crane my neck to look at him.

His cheeks were flushed and his chapped lips were cracked open to reveal his smiling teeth. He had on a tank top similar to mine and the same dark jeans he always wore. He gave me a nod and stuck his hand into his pocket, still grinning.

“Where’s your drink, Fall?” he prodded, the humor evident in his voice.

My lips curled into a sneer and I mustered the best glare I could send him. He knew the nickname pissed me off, which was why he always liked using it. “Cody’s getting me one. I don’t need a drink from you. For all I know, you could’ve spiked it.” He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but I cut him off. “Anyway, that’s the only way you get other girls to fuck you, so I wouldn’t expect less from you,” I quickly spat. I quickly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and ran my bottom lip over my teeth.

“Jesus. A bit bitchy tonight, aren’t we?” He lightly chuckled as I sneered at him again and easily continued. “I hate that you’re acting out all because I’ll be gone for the next month.”

“Ha!” I snorted and jabbed two fingers into his chest, taking a step towards him. “I wouldn’t care if you were dead, Danziger, and that there is the damn truth.”

He nervously chuckled, but took my fingers in his hand and lowered them from his shirt, a small smirk tugging at his lips. “I love it when you get mad and your accent comes out. It’s kind of sexy,” he quietly stated over the music blasting from the speakers across the living room. “I always kind of had a thing for Georgia peaches.”

I ripped my finger from his grasp and turned around, just in time to see Cody come back, a beer hanging loosely from his fingers and his red cup attached to his lips. “Here ya go, Breen. A nice Bud to start off the night.” He dragged his eyes to Maxx and nodded, taking another sip of his refilled cup of liver poison. “Hey, dude. Piss off Autumn while I was gone?”

“No, but I was really close to getting her to make out with me,” he smirked, lifting up the untouched cup in his other hand. “Gotta hand it to her, she knows how I get the ladies.”

“Ew,” I scoffed and back-handed his stomach, making him let out a muffled oof. “You’re such a jerk-off, you know that, right?”

“Actually—”

“Don’t answer that,” I interrupted, brushing past Cody as he winced at my comeback, a laugh tugging at his lips.

The rest of the night was okay. I was able to hang out with a couple of friends and watch as Cody got completely wasted and beat at beer pong by Maxx and his partner. It was an easy night, at least until some guy that I had never seen before started hitting on me.

“You work at a music venue? That’s so tight!” he said, attempting to smoothly scoot closer to me on the couch. Sweat stains peeked from under the armpits of his black v-neck and he smelled like weed. It took most of my strength not to barf at the stench.

“Yeah,” I agreed, trying to bite back my sarcasm. I took a sip of my Bud and glanced around the room, trying to spot Cody in hopes he would somehow get the telepathic message I had been sending him for the past five minutes pleading him to come and save my ass from the pervert a foot too close to me on the faux leather couch.

“So, are you, like… single or whatever?” he asked, taking a sip of his Smirnoff.

“Actually…”

“Hey, Autumn,” Maxx said as he slid in beside me, setting his hand on my thigh. “I was wondering where you had headed off to.”

I turned to look at Maxx, an annoyed expression squishing my eyebrows together. “Just to grab another drink, sweetie,” I replied, brushing his hand off my thigh and into his own lap.

He just shrugged and wrapped an arm around my waist, looking over to the guy that had been chatting me up. He looked like an opossum in the headlights, his eyes wide and his eyebrows arched high.

“You guys, uh… You guys are… What?” He swallowed a lump in his throat and gestured between us. “But I thought you guys hated each other. It’s, like, common knowledge or something.”

“Well, that’s sorta a rumor,” Maxx said close to my ear, his thumb on my waist moving up and down.

“Yup!” I hastily agreed a moment too soon after Maxx nudged my knee with his.

The douche in front of us wouldn’t back out and took another sip from his bottle as his smile grew. “Prove it,” he said, nodding towards us.

“What?” Maxx asked before I could, sounding almost as taken aback as I was.

“Prove it.” He smirked and scooted further up the cushion, easing into the back of the couch and taking another sip of his cheap alcohol.

“Oh, that’s not ne—”

My words were caught in my mouth as Maxx tucked my chin towards him, pressing his lips against mine as his grip on my waist became tighter. He set his palm on my cheek, smiling against my lips as I kissed back, my hand finding a bit of his tank top to clutch between my fingers.

In my mind, I was cursing myself, but in the back of my head, hidden under a mental note to do my laundry when I got home and a couple of algebra equations I’d never forget from high school, was the same thought that had bothered me since I had first met Maxx: that this was what I wanted. I knew I had wanted this since the beginning, but I was always too chicken shit to do anything about it.

When I snatched my hand from behind his neck after another couple of smaller kisses, I put on a scowl and pushed his arm from my waist. Moments before, I had already felt the guy that was hitting on me get up from the couch, leaving Maxx and me to our detour from the usual Road of Hatred.

“That… That was…”I swallowed a lump in my throat and bowed my head, an embarrassing blush tinting my cheeks.

“Get the fuck away from me,” Maxx suddenly growled lowly and slowly, his eyes shut tightly as he clamped his teeth over his bottom lip. He shot up from couch and brushed past me without another word.

I blinked a couple of times, completely shocked at his reaction, and looked over my shoulder as Maxx headed straight to the kitchen, where I could see Cody mixing another drink, completely oblivious to the fact that two of his friends had just taken a total 180 in their relationship.

If I can be honest here, I always thought Maxx was good-looking. I guess that just neither of us took the time to get to know each other past the snide comment he made about my beat-up shoes and the low-blow remark I shot back about his glasses. From there, it was just a snowball rolling down a hill—we couldn’t stray from the routine we’d established the first day we met. Nasty comments and rude comebacks were how we communicated.

And the entire month since the party, I had been thinking about that kiss. I was obsessing over it so much that one of my best friends that I worked with—Jess, the guy who dropped Maxx’s custom snare that one time—complained about me spacing out all the time. He joked that I was so distracted about it that he actually had to “start doing some work around here,” instead of letting me handle most of the setup for shows. But even Jess, a guy, a guy with plenty of girl experience, couldn’t explain Maxx’s sudden outburst that night. And it was driving me crazy.

Which was why it was three in the morning, still raining outside and very humid, and I was sitting on the couch in the apartment Jess and I shared, my essay for my communications class sitting unfinished on my laptop as I stared at the same spot on the wall.

It was so quiet, at first I barely heard it. The second time, it didn’t register in my brain until it became louder and more frequent, more annoying.

I got up from the couch and straightened the track shorts I had pulled on that afternoon after class, pushing up the sleeves of my Henley. It was cold in the apartment—Jess always kept it that way since we didn’t pay for electric or utilities—and a shiver raked my body as I slowly walked up to the front door.

I peered into the peephole, standing on my toes so I could just catch a glimpse of whoever was knocking at my door at this time of night. All I could see as I hopped up was a red hoodie and glasses, nothing more in the hallway light. I was so exhausted, so stressed out, that the delusional idea of a murderer at my front step clouded my thoughts. I reached for the umbrella Jess had left lying on the floor, the knocks on the door growing louder. I undid the chain and turned the deadbolt and pulled the door open, the umbrella clutched tightly in my hand, ready to face the crazy asshole that had decided a visit at this time of night (or this early in the morning) was appropriate.

“Maxx?”

“Hey, Autumn,” he greeted, his fist still in the air where the door had been. I didn’t say anything, but kept the umbrella clutched tightly in my hand. “Can… I come in?” he asked.

He was sopping wet. His hoodie was drenched, now more maroon than red, and the white t-shirt under it was wet as well. His glasses had numerous drops on them and his hair was starting to get wet under his hood. He bit his lip, his eyebrows shooting up in a pleading expression, until I nodded and stepped aside, letting him trudge into the apartment.

“Thanks,” he muttered as I closed the door behind him. “Why are you holding an umbrella?” he asked, the laugh evident in his voice. He pointed at it, chuckling lightly. “Did you think I was some sort of serial killer or something?”

“No,” I shot back, dropping it down by the door again.

He laughed quietly and nodded, running a hand through his damp hair. Turning around, he unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off, a few drops of rain cascading onto the carpet. I was right about his white v-neck: it was soaked through around his shoulders and down his back. When he turned around with an embarrassed smile, I could see his chest through his shirt, and I turned my eyes to the ground as I brushed past him and into the kitchen.

Maxx followed, the wet hoodie still clutched in his hand. I grabbed a dishtowel and pointed to a vinyl-covered chair at the small plastic table, and he sat down, his sneakers squeaking across the linoleum.

“Why are you here, exactly?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but I waved my hand.

“No, actually, why did you think that coming here at three in the morning would be a good idea? Some of us have to wake up early,” I challenged, throwing the towel into his lap.

He smiled and ruffled his hair with the dishcloth, making it stick up at the ends. He took off his glasses and wiped them off, too, and I could see the dark lines under his eyes before he set them back on his head.

And to think the first thing I said to him was how his glasses made him look like some sort of an asshole-dork hybrid.

“We just got back,” he said, rubbing his neck with the towel, “and I had to see you,” he easily replied.

“And this couldn’t wait until morning?” I offered, taking the seat across from him.

“Like you were asleep, Fall. Your laptop’s on.”

I silently cursed under my breath, tugging at the hem of my shorts.

He heaved a sigh and set his hoodie and the towel onto the table, rubbing at the back of his neck. He stood up from the chair and sat on the table right in front of me, his proverbial dark jeans, now practically black, making a small puddle on the table.

“I-I want to ask you one thing, though,” he said quietly, his voice wavering as he played with his blistered fingers.

“It’s called a phone, Danziger. Or texting.”

He opened his mouth, but shut it, and a small blush crept up his neck. He jumped off the table and veered around quickly, standing right in front of me. “You know, you don’t always have to be such a frigid bitch all the time, Autumn.”

My jaw fell into my lap and I shot up from my chair, the legs squeaking against the linoleum floor. I poked his chest with my finger, mustering up the best glare I could slap him with. “Where do get off calling me a frigid bitch, Maxx? You’re such an asshole. I don’t know how the rest of the band puts up with you.”

His nose crinkled momentarily, but his gaze softened and he pushed my finger away from his wet t-shirt. “I may be an asshole, but at least people like me,” he seethed, taking a step closer. I could feel the heat radiating from his body, and it made me feel uncomfortable. I tried to take a step back, but forgot my chair was there. I nearly fell backwards over it, but Maxx reached out and grabbed my wrist. He steadied me before I tore my arm away, and I dropped my gaze to the floor between us.

“Fuck, Autumn. You won’t quit, will you?” he practically yelled, his voice cracking near the end.

“Won’t quit what?” My head shot up and I yelled back just as loud, not caring if Jess had to wake up and split us apart before I punched him in the face. “Why are you so pissy? What did I do, Maxx? Tell me, what did I do?”

“You don’t get it, do you, Fall?”

“Dammit, Maxx, stop calling me—”

My words were caught in his throat as he closed the space between us, pressing his lips firmly against mine. A small whimper left my throat as he kissed me again, his blistered hands finding my cheeks and cupping them, his thumbs brushing over my temples.

“Because you never told me you felt the same way I did,” he said, his voice low. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and instead moved his rough hands from my cheeks, taking a small step back.

Still reeling from the kiss, I wrapped my arms around my middle as he raked a hand through his damp hair, making it stick up straight again. After he pushed his askew glasses back up his nose, he looked straight at me. My eyes wavered and he reached out, but he hesitated, and instead let his arm fall back to his side.

“I’m mad because we spent all this time in a rut, and the only thing that could’ve made it… I don’t know, made us change is if you had at least made me think for a second that you didn’t hate every minute you were around me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I really tried to get you to like me, y’know? But you always made it so, so… difficult.”

Of course I had always made it difficult. I never wanted to admit to liking Maxx, and the only way I could keep it that way was if I acted like I unconditionally hated him. I took a deep breath in attempt to calm my racing heart, but it didn’t work at all. I inwardly cringed from what I was about to say, but swallowed my pride and spit it out.

“But… but I don’t hate you, Maxx.”

“I know.”

I started, my brow furrowing as he reached for my hand. “What do you mean, you ‘know’?” I asked, shying away from his touch.

He heaved a sigh and bit his lip, a blush crawling up his neck. “When I kissed you at the party, I just…” He groaned, raking his hand through his hair once again. “God, I just knew, Autumn.” He reached for my hand again, and this time I didn’t shy away as his thumb brushed over my knuckles. “I guess I just sort of got mad that you never told me, and then there you were, just… just kissing me like it was nothing,” he mumbled, taking his hand back. “And I just… I just want to be able to be around you, y’know? But we’re always arguing and shit, and I just… I never meant any of it, and I was just sick of all the arguing, y’know?” He licked his lips and let out a shaky breath. “Jesus, Autumn, I’ve liked you since the beginning. You’ve really had me running in circles since then.” He sighed deeply, a blush tinting his cheeks more crimson than they already were.

I shook my head, a small smile creeping its way onto my lips by his sudden monologue. “Okay.” I chuckled, the sound easily coming from my throat. “Since we’re suddenly deciding to be honest like we’re in Oprah’s book club or whatever, I guess I’ll have to add to that.” I uncrossed my arms from my middle and started fumbling with my fingers nervously, trying to stare at the fridge over Maxx’s shoulder rather than him. From the corner of my eye, I saw him peer down at me and rush a hand through his hair, another blush creeping up his neck. I guess he never expected to inadvertently tell me of this crush he’d hidden so well since we met. But then again, I didn’t see this coming either.

“I’ve sorta… How do I say this without sounding like we’re in a Spanish soap opera or whatever?” I inwardly groaned, barely noticing Maxx take a small step closer. “I never meant what I said about you... ever. And, um, your… Your hatred for my shoes never really, y’know, put me off.” I could feel his hands ghosting my waist, and I looked from the refrigerator behind him to his small smile as he stepped closer.

“Yeah?” he encouraged, his hands finding their place on my hips, the same smirk on his face.

I bit my lip and nodded, looking down at our feet and adverting his gaze. The whole feeling like a shy schoolgirl thing was overrated, but I couldn’t help it.

“Good, ‘cause I never hated those shoes anyway,” he whispered. And when he ducked down and kissed me again, the laugh I let out was muffled between us as I easily kissed him back.