Textbook Romance

I woke up in the early morning to the sound of Max vomiting in the bathroom. I sighed and slipped out of my bed, my feet padding against the ground lightly as I made my way to open doorway of the tiny bathroom. Max was bent over the toilet, emptying his stomach with his hair hanging in his pale face.

“Want a glass of water?” I asked as I leaned against the door way.

Max shook his head and I sighed. I walked over to him and pulled his long faded hair away from his face, grimacing as he continued to empty his stomach into the toilet again.

Max reached back and started pushing me away. “Stop,” I told him, “I'm not going anywhere.”

“Leave,” he said with a hoarse voice, his throat probably raw.

“No,” I stated as I leaned down on my knees behind him, scooping his hair up and then tying it into a pony tail with the red hair thing that was around my wrist. “Max, just stop!” I growled, smacking his hand away from my leg as he tried to shove me out of the room weakly.

Max was shaking as he turned to look at me. “I don't want you to be in here. I thought you were leaving.”

I shook my head and sat down on the little rug that was in there. I crossed my legs and then looked up into his eyes where tears had gathered from the strain of throwing up his insides. “I changed my mind,” I told him, wringing my fingers. “I decided that I'd rather be here.”

“What for?” he asked hostilely, “What's here that you can't have at home?”

I was silent as I thought about it. There were a lot of things that I had here that I didn't have at home. My thoughts ran through all the things and finally stopped on the most important. “I was never going home. Just to ADTR's bus. But the answer to your question is 'freedom',” I told Max as he pulled his own hair back and out of his face, “Here I have freedom.”

Max looked at me seriously for a moment and then he nodded. “Okay,” he said, “You can stay.”

I chuckled and shook my head, “I wasn't really asking permission.”

Max tried to sit up a little straighter although I could tell he was having a hard time getting his muscles to listen to him. “It's okay. Permission granted,” he said weakly, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He took his hair out of the pony tail and handed my hair thing back to me.

I rolled my at his remark and then I pointed to the small counter where different colored toothbrushes were in a holder. “Which one?” I asked as I stood up.

Max smiled at me and pointed to a green one. He got to his feet and sat down on the toilet lid. He watched with a small smirk as I grabbed the brush, ran it under the faucet, and then put toothpaste on it too. When I handed it to Max he smiled crookedly. “Are you going to do this everyday?”

“No,” I said as I flicked his shoulder, “I'm just trying to be nice.”

“Uhn huh,” he said while scrubbing his teeth clean.

I patted his shoulder and pushed the bathroom door open. The clock that was in the “living room” said that it was only 7:24 in the morning. I sighed and waited for Max to finish up. When he can walking out of the bathroom, his eyes watching his feet with every step he took, I pointed back to his bunk and whispered, “Up you go.”

“I'm not a baby,” Max replied, his voice cracking.

I shrugged and pointed again. He growled and climbed up slowly. When he got to the top I watched as he collapsed onto his mattress, offering me a sarcastic smile. I turned on my heel and went to the kitchen area of the bus. I grabbed a bag of Poptarts from the cupboard and went back to the bunks, feeling my own muscles lagging.

Max watched me as I climbed back up to my bunk, just across from his. I ate my poptart, tossing one to him and watching as he smiled, then I laid down and tried to go back to sleep. I'd open my eyes to see Max's moss colored eyes trained on me. “Go to sleep,” I told him as I closed my eyes.

Max smiled, “Am I bothering you?”

“No.”

“You can pull your curtain if I'm bother you,” he replied.

“You're not bothering me, Max.”

“You sure?”

I opened my eyes again. “Yes. I'm sure.”

“Okay.”

It was only ten minutes before Max was calling my name form across the isle. “Nev,” he whispered, “Nev!”

I opened my eyes and stared at the bassist. “Unless you're going to tell me that you'll let someone play for you at the show tonight, you better go to sleep.”

Max's eyes grew a little wide and he said, “Goodnight!” quickly as he snapped his eyes closed. I sighed contently and rolled over to face away from him. I felt guilty after a couple minutes. I rolled back over and saw Max close his eyes quickly. I smiled to myself.

“What did you want?” I asked him, watching as he peaked one eye open,. When he saw that I wasn't going to yell at him, he opened the other eye.

Max licked his lips and glanced away from me. “I uh, was gonna ask if you would lay with me.” He put a pout on his lips and his eyes caught my gaze, “I'm anxious.”

I growled and rolled my eyes. I climbed out of my bunk and then up the other side nonetheless. When I got into Max's bed his arms wrapped around me tightly. I pulled the curtain shut to block out the light and turned around, resting my head on Max's chest as he buried his nose in my hair. “Goodnight, Max.” I said quietly.

“Night, Nev.”

I woke up with Max's arms wrapped around me like a vice. I was about to slide out of his bunk when I heard a familiar voice come walking down the hall. “You guys know where Ginny is?” Neil asked as he walked past the bunks and into the back room.

I couldn't hear the guys' replies but I knew that if Neil found me laying in Max's arms he definitely wouldn't be happy about it. I cursed under my breath and threw my head back, causing Max to groan when my skull made contact with his shoulder. I winced and bit my lip, not wanting to make a sound of my own.

“What's going-”

I clamped my hand over Max's mouth before he could say anything more. He gave me odd expression and I pleaded with him to shut up just with my eyes. He shrugged and laid his head back on the his pillow. That was until he too heard Neil's voice as Neil came back from the back room.

Max's jaw dropped and he pushed open the curtain a little bit so he could look out. Even though we were above Neil's head I smacked Max and yanked the curtain closed again. It screeched and I groaned.

I heard Neil chuckle. “Did Max already find himself a girl in town?”

I heard Craig chuckle nervously, “Uh, yeah.” He laughed unenthusiastically.

“That didn't take long. We're not even close to playing a show yet and he's already managed to wrangle a poor girl in.”

Max glared holes at where Neil would be standing on the other side of the curtain. I put my hand back over his mouth as he started mouthing curse words. “Stop it!” I mouthed, flicking him again.

He slammed my hand away and rolled over me so that he could duck his head out of the curtain. I squeaked as he greeted Neil. I was laying closer to the curtain so he was laying across my stomach sideways. “Yo, Neil!” he shouted out, “What are you doing on my bus, man?”

Neil laughed, “Just looking for my girlfriend! You seen her?”

Max shook his head and shrugged. His faded hair hit his shoulders and was in tangled knots as Neil cracked jokes about Max's “rough” night. I flicked Max's shoulder as he laughed and agreed.

“So, can I meet your girl or is she a secret?” Neil jokes, causing Max to laugh sarcastically.

Max looked back at me and smirked. I ran my finger across my neck signaling that I could slit his throat if he didn't knock it off. He chuckled and pushed me backward so that he slid into the spot where I was laying and I laid in his spot. His pillows smelt strongly of him, I noted. Max was bare-chested as he pulled the curtain open a little bit more and slid his shoulders out too, almost hanging halfway off of the bunk.

“She's, uh, sleeping,” Max said with a smirk as he turned back to Neil and Craig who were standing in the hallway awkwardly. I could tell that Craig had figured out where I was and now he was trying to usher Neil out of here, unlike Max, who seemed to be trying to rile everyone up.

“Sleeping, huh?” Neil smirked, “You wear her out that much?”

My jaw dropped when I heard him talk with Max like that. I thought that Neil was above trashy locker room talk.

Max shrugged, “I bet you do the same with Nev, right?”

I shoved Max as hard as I could and watched as he struggled to keep himself from falling to the floor. I wanted to curse him out and shove him to the ground in front of everyone but if I did that then my “cover” would be blown.

When Max steadied himself he reached back and smacked my leg. I hissed and smacked him back. He laughed awkwardly as he turned back to Neil. “She's a kicker,” he said.

I “hmp'd” and crossed my arms over my chest as Max finished up his conversation with Neil, one I wish I'd never heard before. Craig did eventually manage to get Neil out of the hall and when the walked away Max stuck his middle finger out to the air after them. I smacked his arm and yanked him back onto the bunk completely.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked loudly.

Max laughed as he held his hands up to block my blows. I climbed over him quickly, smacking him as his hands moved to my hips, and I jumped out of the bunk. “I see you're feeling fine today,” I growled as I got clothing out of my suitcase and grabbed my towel before I made my way to the bathroom to take a shower.

I washed myself and my hair before I got dressed and everything. There was a blow-dryer and a straightener already in the bathroom so I used them, figuring that it had to be one of the guys'. I dressed in a pair of shredded jeans and a black tanktop that had a white skull on it that was framed as if it were a picture from the past. When I was happy with myself I bounced out of the bathroom and back to the bunk area.

“Get up, Max,” I demanded, “Go take a shower.”

Max groaned and rolled over in his bunk. He ignored me as I kept calling up to him.

“Get up!” I shouted one last time, watching as he sneered at me and let himself fall out of his bunk and land on his feet. He was shirt less and looked like a jungle man as his hair hung in knots around his face. “Use my shampoo and conditioner,” I called after him, “You're hair desperately needs to be washed.”

Max flipped me off but made no snarky comments about smelling like a chick. I sighed happy and and wandered outside to have a cigarette before officially beginning my day. I didn't mind being Max's “babysitter”. I knew that if I wasn't around he'd probably do all these things anyways but I think he liked having me here to bust his chops.

I waited for Max before the two of us went inside the venue. I had to set up and Max had to go talk to the guys and find out if he'd actually be playing tonight. I decided to let him have his way with this one. I knew that once we got a little bit farther down the road that he wouldn't be able to get out of bed, if more physical symptoms were going to pop up.

Max and I wandered off slowly when he was done. Neither of us were in any hurry to actually get any work done. I told Max that I'd see him later when we reached the venue.

“What for?” he asked as I turned to walk away from him.

“I'm going to find Neil,” I said with a shrug, “I've been neglecting him.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Goodluck.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically, offering a joking smile. “I'll see you later.”

“See yah.”