Unexplained Feelings *Most Likely on Permanent Hiatus*

R.I.P. Ryan Dunn ~ Forever an Inspiration

Chapter 4

Max lied back on the red-violet chaise lounge in the cave. The stick on stars decorating the cavern’s ceiling were glowing lightly and light, from the hundreds of candles lit, flickered across the room. He let his body sink into the fluff of the chaise.

It had been surprisingly peaceful at Bam’s house for the last week and a half. All of his friends were either visiting family, out of town, or too busy with work. Max had been given the past week and a half off from the salon because Maggie felt sorry for him. Unfortunately he was going to have to go back tomorrow. It had been a great break.

Max allowed himself to stop thinking about having to go to work tomorrow and made himself listen to the music playing in the cave. Love in Cold Blood by H.I.M. came on and he took a moment to listen to the lyrics, mouthing the words as the song progressed. Something that he probably never would’ve thought of sober clicked in his brain as he listened to the lyrics.

Darling, take me home to the castle made of skulls and bones, sing me a song to remind me where I belong, in your arms, my love, in cold blood, rang in his head and he tried to decipher what he was listening too.

“Bam,” he called over to the Ice Bar where the curly-haired, brunette was pouring Dunn, but Dunn was nowhere to be found, and himself a drink. Bam looked up in acknowledgement. “Can you sing?”

“I guess. I’m not great at it, but I can if you need me too.” Max nodded. That was good enough for him. Ville was obviously singing to Bam, he decided. Of course, he probably wouldn’t remember this tomorrow, he was that wasted. I’m gonna have such a killer hangover tomorrow. He giggled at his thoughts. I’ll just have to kill it off with more alcohol! This raised another question. “BamBam… how am I going to get to work tomorrow?”

“You can drive the Hummer… the red one, ‘cause the blue’s getting its breaks fixed.”

“But it’s all dirty… How am I supposed to see?”

“We should wash it!” Bam exclaimed jumping up from his spot on the ground.

“Yeah! Car washes are fun!” Max exclaimed, following Bam out of the cave.

Dunn observed the two as they walked out into the forty degree weather, barefoot and shirtless. Those drunken idiots, he thought, but he didn’t stop them because then he would be considered a bad friend and Dunn, contrary to popular belief, was a very good friend.

--

Max woke up, freezing cold, to someone shaking him and a killer hangover, just as he had predicted last night, only he didn’t remember last night. He pushed at the large hands and, while they did stop shaking him, they didn’t let him curl back up and go back to sleep.

“Max, you need to get up. You have work in an hour.” Dunn’s voice spoke in his ear. Oh yeah, work… That thing that you don’t really want to do when you have a hangover… Shit.

Max groaned, but let Dunn pull his body up into a sitting position. Max was sore all over. “What the fuck did I do last night?” He started to ask, but Ryan cut him off, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Don’t fucking wake up, Bam!” He whisper-exclaimed, pulling Max out of Bam’s room and into the hallway.

“What was I doing in Bam’s bedroom?” Max asked after Dunn had shut the door behind them.

“Well, you guys decided to wash the car when it was forty-degrees outside, without shoes or shirts and after you had, actually, really thoroughly cleaned the car, you guys came in and were cold as shit, so Bam suggested that you guys sleep in the same bed to warm up.” Dunn shrugged. “This kind of shit happens all the fucking time.”

“I can tell from your nonchalant attitude. Can you make me some coffee while I take a shower?”

“Sure.” They parted ways, Dunn going down the stairs and Max walking to his room.

--

Somehow, Max wasn’t exactly sure how, but he made it to work on time. It was his first time being out of Castle Bam in a week and he just wanted to go back and hide in the cave again, that or go skiing, but there wasn’t any snow on the ground, and Max was pretty sure that people don’t ski in West Chester, and he didn’t have enough money to fly or drive somewhere where he could actually ski. He would be stuck there for a little bit longer.

He sat down at his desk after getting hugs from all of the stylists, each one telling him that it was a good thing that he wasn’t with Lex anymore and, after April had asked how staying at Bam’s was, the pack of girls getting ready for prom or some special dance like that all almost attacked him to figure out what it was like staying at Bam’s house, what Bam was like, and if it was true that Bam and Missy were getting a divorce or were they just in an open marriage. The best one was the girl that asked Max out in an attempt to get to Bam. Max sighed, lying his head down on the table. It was no wonder why he liked guys, girls were impossible and they make hangovers ten times worse.

Two hours later, the prom girls were still there. It was a relatively easy day and Max was happy for that, but they would not leave him alone. Bam this and Bam that. Max was starting to hate being associated with Bam. Excited squeals and the ding of the bell as the door opened pulled Max out of his stupor. Looking up, he saw the same person he had been cursing in his head earlier.

“Well, if it isn’t the one and only Bam Margera, gracing us with his presence.” I stated sarcastically, laughing as he winced because of the bright lights when he pulled his sun glasses off.

“You better get rid of that sarcastic tone or I won’t give you what I came here to bring you.” Bam said, holding up a canteen and waving it tauntingly in Max’s face.

Max pouted and held out his hands. “I’m sorry, Bammie. Please can I have the present?”

April laughed quietly as she observed the playful attitudes of her son and Max. She had figured that they would have gotten along well, just not this well, and certainly not in the short amount of time they had known each other, but they seemed to be having fun, so she didn’t question it.

“What is it?” Max asked when Bam handed over the canteen. It was radiating heat and Max was thankful for that because the he sat right near the door and the cold air blew in from the crack in the bottom and, whenever the door was opened, he was blasted with cold air.

“My special winter hangover cure.” Max laughed at the name and took a sip out of the canteen. The liquid was deliciously warm and tasted of chocolate, coffee, and vodka.

“You’re absolutely amazing. This is amazing.”

“Don’t gush to me. I stole the recipe from Ville.” Bam stated.

At the mention of Ville, the girls in the back started to giggle and whisper amongst each other. Bam looked at Max as if asking if he had had to deal with stuff like that all day. Max nodded in response and Bam wrinkled his nose in disgust. Girls, ew.

“Anyways, Ville, Linde, and Jonne are coming to town four days from now, but Nitro Circus is also supposed to be coming over, so I was wondering if you could pick them up from the airport for me. You don’t really know them, but I’ll make you a sign or something and tell Ville to go with you when I talk to him.”

“Yeah, I’ll pick them up. I’ll take the Hummer?”

“Dude, don’t even mention that car. I can’t believe we decided to fucking wash it last night.” Max and Bam both let out laughs.

“Language, Bam!” April yelled from where she was styling one of the giggling girls’ hair. “And what’s this about you washing the Hummer last night? It was forty degrees out!”

“That’s not even the best part, Ape! We did it without shoes or shirts on!” Max giggled at the appalled look on April’s face.

“Max! I let you stay over there because I thought you would help keep them under control! I might have to take you back! What was Dunn doing during all of this?”

“You can’t have him! He’s awesome!” Bam wrapped his arms around Max and pulled him into a bear hug. “Besides you wouldn’t exactly see eye-to-eye, Ape. This kid’s really crazy; he just hides it from you guys at work. And Dunn, if I remember correctly, but I was so wasted I don’t know if I actually remember correctly, tucked our drunken asses into bed.” Max nodded remembering this as well.

“He woke me up this morning too. He seems to be becoming quite the maternal figure. Just don’t tell him I told you that.” He was still being held against Bam. He wasn’t really arguing because Bam was really warm, but still, it was a little tight.

“Told who what?” Dunn asked walking into the salon. He sighed seeing Bam squeezing the life out of poor Max. “Bam, let go of Max before he dies from lack of oxygen.”

“Oh,” he let go of Max. “Sorry Maxxie!”

“It’s okay, BamBam.” Max took another sip of his hangover cure. “Don’t you guys have to go build a spaceship?”

“Yeah, we were just getting the ship itself.” Dunn nodded his head towards the outside of the salon. Max laughed when he saw an old, beat up, white van that didn’t look like it would run anymore, sitting on a trailer behind the blue hummer. “We also had to pick up the other Hummer.”

“You guys walked into town?”

“’Course not, we traded Dunn’s piece of shit car for the ship.” Dunn glared at Bam.

“Oh… Nice. I wish you the best of luck in building this ship. I’ll see you guys at Castle Bam in a couple of hours.” Max waved them off.

“Bye Max!” Bam exclaimed, him and Dunn both waving good-bye even though Dunn was dragging Bam out of the salon.

--

“April, why are you making me go grocery shopping with you?” Max asked as April made him push the cart through the fruit section. He came to a stop at the apples and grabbed some of the fiery red ones.

“Because, I know you boys aren’t eating anything in that house, probably just drinking yourselves silly.” Max didn’t try to deny it. It was true, although, sometimes Dunn would make them sandwiches. She looked at the cart. “Max. We’ve walked through this whole store and all you want is apples?” She stared at the apples. They were the only thing in the whole cart.

“Should I want something else?” He asked. He hadn’t had a parental figure in over four years. Once he was done with high school, he had left with his friend Colby to ski all over the world. That’s what they did. They became ski bums. All of their money went into them skiing - getting them places to spend the night, lift tickets, or when the snow was gone, getting them to a place where there was snow. Occasionally, they would splurge on concerts, like Helldone, but they never spent money on food. Not unless they had too.

“Yes, honey, you should want more. You can’t live on alcohol and apples.” Ape had obviously never been to Finland.

“Ape, why don’t you just get some food? I promise I’ll eat it if you choose it. I just don’t eat any seafood.”

“Okay.” She stole the cart from him and walked around the grocery store. Max watched as she slowly filled the cart all the way to the top. He grimaced at all the food. He didn’t dislike it or anything, but no one was going to eat it at Castle Bam. It was just a waste.

“Ready to go?” April asked as getting to the checkout line. Max nodded, eager to get out of the store, away from April, and back to Castle Bam.

Unfortunately for Max, it took forever to checkout all of April’s food and the bagger seemed incompetent, probably a newbie. That wouldn’t have bothered Max, but April kept correcting the bagger and making sure that he put the food in the bags correctly. He was about ready to smash his head against a wall, but just before he did, the bagger finished bagging their items. April left took their items and left in a huff, grumbling about the poor work ethic.

“Thanks, Sweethearts.” Max flashed the checkout guy and the bagger a smile. He knew that it sucked to be on that side of the checkout. Been there, done that when he needed money to get to Utah. He then followed April out to the parking lot.

--

Max laughed as he pulled up to Castle Bam. Dunn and Bam were trying to stick on the wings of the ship and they weren’t staying on the ship. Turning off the Hummer, he got out and walked over to them.

“Having difficulties?”

“Max! Just the person we need to see!” Dunn exclaimed abandoning his position at the end of one wing, leaving Bam holding it up alone. “Can you hold up the part that I was holding up for a second?”

“Sure.”

He and Bam watched as Dunn did something to make the wing stick and this time it did stick. They did the same to the other wing and they were soon high-fiving each other, proud of their work.

“Oh, April made me go grocery shopping with her. We now have enough food to feed a malnourished army for a year.” When they looked at him, practically saying ‘why the fuck would you go food shopping with April with their eyes, he responded with a shrug. “I didn’t know how to say no to her.”

“It’s okay, Max. We’ll just have to deal with the food.” Dunn and Bam shared wicked smiles.

“I don’t care what you do with the food, just don’t kill the apples. They were the only items that I actually wanted.” They nodded in agreement, so Max opened the trunk of the Hummer, grabbed the apples, and let the other two have fun with the rest of the food.

Soon it was scattered about the front lawn and Max had to admit that if it wasn’t such a waste of money and if it wasn’t food, he thought that it would probably look quite decorative. “I’m slightly impressed.” He told them.

“We have skills unknown to the world.” Max nodded looking at him oddly.

“Uh huh.” He could hear the skepticism in his own voice, but it only served to make Dunn and Bam laugh.

“It’ll be gone by tomorrow.” Bam shrugged. “Animals and shit.” Max nodded, logical enough. Dunn and Bam picked up the trash and followed him into Castle Bam, closing the door behind them.