I Will Lick My Wounds, Because They Taste of You

"It's too hot" Libby moaned to Ted as she exited the bunks and made her way to the front lounge where he was chowing down on some toast.

"Well it's not like you have to go outside today. we're traveling for the first few hours"

"Well actually i promised max i'd ride with him on their bus" she said sheepishly and Ted gave her a knowing look. "What?" she asked and he just shook his head lightly.

"Nothing. You and Max just seem to be spending a lot of time together that's all"

"Well, the rest of the guys will be there too" she said defensively and Ted just nodded back, almost patronizingly. She just shook her head before stalking back to get changed.

"Right i'm off, I'll see you in a few hours" she said grabbing her bag and walking towards the bus door. Ted was giving her that same patronizing smile with is eyebrows raised. she turned to face him with a cold stare but his smile didn't waver. "What is it?"

"Nothing at all. You look lovely, by the way"

Libby looked down at the floral dress she was wearing and questioned whether she was a littler over dressed and Ted was taking the piss just to make her feel even more nervous.

"Libbs sweetie" Ted said almost cautiously and she looked up. "I was being serious. Don't fret it yeah" he said and pushed her to the door. "Now go and I'll see you soon"

Libby opened the door and came face to face with Max. He smiled brightly, and as usual Libby smiled back with just as much intensity. Max's smile was contagious.

"I was just about to knock"

"I guess i saved you the trouble" she said lightly and Max let out a small chuckle.

They both started walking towards the bus, their hands brushing every so often and they both had to resist the urge to lace their fingers together many times.

"So, you get enough sleep last night?" Max inquired and she nodded almost shyly.

"Yeah i did, thank you for taking me back to my bus"

"Don't mention it"

"So did you have a good time last night?"

"Yeah i guess" Max said shrugging. He didn't stick around that long. Soon enough they were at the bus and Max opened the door and led her into the deathly quiet space. "The boys are still asleep. Probably will be for a while too"

"Why aren't you still asleep then?" she asked as they sat side by side on the sofa.

Truth be told Max hadn't stayed that long, which was unusual for him. Max was the life and soul of any party. The boy that would walk up to absolutely anyone and strike up a conversation. That was partly the reason as to why the band we're invited to things and seen as the nice guys, cause Max enabled them to be.

But last night was different. He kept to the side, didn't mingle that much and kept to water mostly. The boys noticed but didn't say much, they we're off their trying to meet as many people as possible. There were girls at the party, but none seemed to do anything for him. Libby's face was at the forefront of his mind for the whole evening so after a few hours he went back to the bus hoping that the sooner he fell asleep the sooner he'd be able to see her.

Obviously he would never tell her that though.

"I guess i deal with hangovers better" he said with a shrug and she just smiled at him. "It would appear you're stuck with just me for a few hours, you gonna be alright with that?"

"I think i can handle it" she smirked in response. She was actually glad for the fact that it was just be the two of them. They seemed to be getting on like a house on fire and as much as she loved the other boys, her mind was constantly plagued with thoughts of Max.

"You wanna watch a movie or something?" Max asked getting up and running his fingers through his hair. Libby just nodded and he motioned to the stack of DVD's. "I will be judging you on you're choice so pick wisely" he joked before leaving and going to the kitchen.

The pressure of picking a movie suddenly intensified as she looked through the choices. Libby wasn't a huge movie watcher and even though she recognized a few titles, she had never watched them before. It seemed so important to her that Max would like whatever she chose and that made it all the more difficult.

Max seemed to be finishing with whatever he was doing but she still hadn't picked one so as soon as he reentered the room with a massive bowl of popcorn, she reached for the closest one and handed it to him. His eyebrows shot up as he placed the bowl down and took a seat next to her.

"Up?"

Libby internally cringed and just wanted to hide in the pillows. Out of all the movies she could have picked, Up was the one her hand went for.

"I, um... I haven't seen it, it's supposed to be really good..." she trailed off and Max couldn't help but smile at how cute he though she was being. There was a slight blush that seemed to have crawled over her cheeks and all he wanted to do was cup her face and run his thumbs over the pinkness of her face but he had to shake himself out of it and remember that they were friends.

Just friends.

"I haven't seen it either, so let's give it a crack" he smiled at her, and the weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. He grabbed his laptop and slotted the disk in before setting it on his lap and scooting over right beside her so their legs were touching. "Can you see alright?" he asked and she just nodded, unable to form words.

The movie started and within the first 10 minutes Max could hear small sniff's coming from beside him. He whipped his head around and looked down to see her wiping under her eyes lightly, trying not to draw attention to herself. Max quickly paused the movie and her head shot up to look at him, tears still clouding her eyes.

"Why did you pause it?" she asked quietly, her voice breaking at first. Max just put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her further into his side.

"Just wanted to make sure you're alright, love"

Libby couldn't fight the smile so she just looked back down and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm fine it was just unexpected that's all. Pixar aren't usually this mean"

Max just let out a small laugh before pressing play again. They spent the remainder of the movie with Max's arm around her, his fingers lightly tracing patterns on the top of her exposed arm and Libby's head rested on his shoulder, trying to focus on what was going on in front of her and not what Max was doing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

"Well that was an emotional rollercoster" Max said and the credits began to ascend on the screen. "You okay now, little one?"

"I'm not that much shorter then you" she pouted and Max had to stop himself from leaning down and lightly biting her protruding lip. "And i'm fine. That was the best movie I've seen in like so long"

"Yeah it was cute"

"I wanna find my own Carl one day" she mumbled and Max subconsciously brought her closer to him.

"You mean you wanna meet a grumpy old man?" he joked and she hit his chest playfully.

"No silly. I mean i want to find someone who loves me as much as Carl loved Ellie. I mean they were perfect for each other"

"Maybe i'll have to have you pick out movies for us more often" Max said softly. What she'd said may had seemed trivial to some, but for him it felt like she was sharing a privet part of herself with him and in that moment he could think of nothing better than being the Carl to her Ellie.

Libby looked up at him with a smile, happy that he'd referred to them as us. Max looked back down at her and only now was it apparent that their faces were only inches apart. Libby could feel his warm breath fanning over her face and she subconsciously lifted herself so they could get closer. Their foreheads were center meters apart when they suddenly heard Josh moan unearthly loud followed by a thud to the floor, signalling that he was awake.

They broke apart slowly, Max's face looking more pissed off than Libby had ever seen. She herself felt a wave of disappointment travel through her.

"Awww don't you two look adorable" Josh said sleepily behind them, as he traveled through to the kitchen. "whatcha doing?"

"We just finished watching a movie" Max replied shortly and just when they though Josh was going back to his bunk, he sat in the chair opposite them.

"I'm just going to the loo" Libby said and quickly exited the lounge where the tension was growing thicker with each passing second.

"What was going on there then mate?" Josh asked, noticing Max's stone like expression.

"Nothing thanks to you"

"What the hell did i do?"

"It doesn't even matter now"

"You like her, yeah" Josh said more than asked. Max just nodded, feeling weird that now he'd finally admitted it to someone. Josh stood up and ran his fingers through his messy hair, trying to think straight so he could say the right thing to the older boy. "Tell her then mate. Since when does Max Helyer have a problem talking to the ladies"

"Since she's not just some lady okay?" Max let his head drop a little before continuing, afraid that Josh would laugh at what he was saying. "She makes me nervous. I've never felt like this about a girl so quickly before"

"Well there's definitely something going on there mate, i can see that much. Just go for it"

"That's easy for you to say"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been with Hanna since you two were like 11, you don't even remember what it's like to feel like this. To look at someone and feel scared shitless that they'll just laugh in your face if you tell them whats really going on in your mind. On the outside i'm sure we look completely wrong for each other but i know i can make her happy, i can feel it"

Josh didn't say anything to this. Truth was he knew exactly he felt and he'd let her get away. He didn't want Max living with the same regrets he had.

"Dude you may think i don't know how you feel, but i do. I really do. I just don't want you to push this away and always wonder "what if" so if i was you, i would just go for it"

Libby waked back into the lounge, the boys just staring at each other in silence.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah" Josh said, his eyes never leaving Max's. "I'm going back to bed" he huffed and disappeared.

Libby saw the look on Max's face and decided to not ask what went down. instead she just took her seat next him, just in time for the bus to jump forward suddenly, throwing Max to the side and Libby somehow managed to end up in his lap.

"Oops" she laughed and they sat up straight again until the bus jumped again and Libby's bag fell on the floor spilling everything out of it. They both crouched down picking up her stuff to put back when Max caught hold of her book. He turned it over to read the blurb when one singular phrase caught his eye.



He let out a small laugh and Libby's head whipped up, afraid of what he might have found. When she saw it was just her book she smiled.

"What's so funny?"

He didn't answer, he just handed her back the book, pointing the but he'd read. She felt a blush rise up and stuffed the book back into her bag before looking back at max.

"So how long do you think it's gonna take for you to fall in love with me Libbs?"

"You wish" she scoffed

"It's only a matter of time, love" he shot back with a smile.

The only problem was it wasn't how long it was going to take for her to fall in love with him, it was how long it would take for him to find out she already was.