Perfectly Dysfunctional

After a few minutes of sitting in silence in Nathan’s lap I pulled away, wiped my eyes and sprinted to the bathroom, convincing him that all I needed was a minute. When I got out he was kneeling where my phone had been thrown against the wall but I told him to pile it all up in the drawer and I’d get it when we got back. We then made our way to Max’s room and I knocked on the door gently, hopping from foot to foot as I waited for him to answer the door. A few minutes later the door swung open to reveal Max standing with an amused smile on his face – probably due to the person on the other end of the phone that was pressed to his ear. When he saw Nathan and I standing there his eyes widened and he quickly – but in total Max style – politely ended the phone conversation.

“Uh, come in...” he said and moved aside.

“I’ll wait out here,” Nathan said and backed up against the wall opposite Max’s door. As he flopped to the floor he flashed a dorky grin towards us and I smiled a little before stepping into Max’s room. I glanced around at the clothes strewn across the floor and I smirked.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I laughed as I turned to face him.

He scratched the back of his neck nervously and laughed, “Yeah, I... got a little carried away, I guess.”

“You’ve been in here all of half an hour.” I laughed harder then stood quietly for a moment as a layer of awkwardness fell over the room. In efforts to stop it getting too awkward I spoke up, “Look, Max, I’m so sorry for earlier. I’m embarrassed about it; you didn’t deserve it, and now I know you were only trying to do the right thing and protect me from this guy or whatever... So, thank you.”

“Hey it’s no problem...” he paused, “So I’m guessing Nath told you, then.”

“Yeah...” I was now the one to pause and I scratched the back of my neck nervously like he had when I first came in.

“I think I take it more to heart than any of the other boys cos I’ve always felt it… I don’t know, my ‘duty’, kinda, to look after him,” he blurted out, avoiding my gaze slightly as he did so. Part of me wondered why he was telling me this, but a part of me thought that he hadn’t told anyone this before. “He was so young when we started Jenny – he still is – and when he told me about this Dave guy I just… I really felt the need to try and protect him. I try to not let it show that much – it can’t be cool to have someone be so protective over you – but I think he’s pretty much figured it out now. He doesn’t ever say anything about it though. He’s a good kid,” he smiled slightly and a smile tugged at my own lips as I watched Max pour a little of his heart out. I got the feeling he never spoke about stuff like this often, at least not to the people that mattered, so I let him speak. I watched as a fond smile took over Max’s face.

“He is. I definitely wouldn’t be here, have anywhere to stay or maybe even alive without him,” I said gently, smiling as I did so. There was a moment of silence as I watched him. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

“A lot more than I think even he knows,” he answered immediately, looking up at me. “He’s like a little brother to me. I can’t stand seeing him so worked up or worried or sad or angry about anything like he’s been recently.”

I frowned, “You think he’s been feeling that way a lot?”

Max shrugged, “He was worried about Nareesha before, and then that night when you got shot, I’ve never seen him so frantic.” I remembered back to that night, when he was acting so calm in order to keep me calm but I could still feel his heartbeat. He must have lost it when I blacked out, then, because he was nothing but calm whilst I was conscious. “And then when you first came on tour he worried about you for a while but very recently it’s been getting better. I don’t want it to go backwards again now because of all this.” He looked up at me, “Somehow I don’t think it will though. He cares about you.” He smiled.

I smiled too, “Yeah, he’s been so kind, you all have.”

Max’s smile widened at that point and I swear he rolled his eyes. “So how do you feel about it all?”

“I guess you could say it’s a bit freaky, yeah?” I laughed.

“C’m’ere,” he said and opened his huge arms as he took a step towards me. I hesitated before throwing myself into his arms and wrapping myself around him. “How’s your shoulder?” he mumbled into my head.

“It's better; I hardly feel it anymore to be honest, although it got pretty painful yesterday.” I said, “How’s your head?”

“Good, good; I can see straight and I’m not concussed, so that’s a start.” We both laughed then fell silent again but I still felt a little awkward, "Jenny, I forgive you, stop acting like you’re scared of me,” he chuckled.

“Well no wonder.” He laughed at me and pushed my elbows away from him making me laugh as I moved towards the door. No awkwardness anymore, I must say.

“I’m taking that as a compliment!” he called after me as I opened the door and I laughed.

“Goodbye, Max! Hello you,” I said to Nathan who was still sitting on the floor.

“So I take it that it’s all good then?”

"It is,” I flashed a similar dorky grin to the one he gave me and walked off down the corridor, leaving him to scramble after me. He caught up and linked his arm through mine as we headed back to our room. I couldn’t help but think over some of the stuff that Max had said, about how bad Nathan had been feeling – he masked it all pretty well. Just like me.

“So, I never got a real apology,” he acted hurt.

“Keep this up and you won’t be getting one at all,” I joked and he bumped his hip into mine. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

“You know I forgive you.” He grinned.

“So why did you put me through even more awkwardness?” I whined as he pulled the key card out and opened the door for us.

“Put up or shut up,” he walked backwards and smirked at me and I smirked back. He turned back around, threw the key card to the table and flopped backwards on the bed, leaning over and opening the drawer where the broken pieces of my phone were lying. “You wanna try and fix this?” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows as he sat up again.

“Wheesht you,” I laughed and sat cross-legged opposite him, with the pieces of my phone in between us.