Never Surrender

Max knocked on the door of his best friend's house and then shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. Kennedy was inside, he could tell by the sound of her voice shouting from her room in the back of the house before a door slammed loudly, cutting off all sounds from inside.

One of her roommates pulled open the front door and rolled her eyes at the grungy man in front of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked, barring him from entering the house, "Are you Kennedy's babysitter or something?"

Max scoffed and pushed past her. "Try her best friend," he replied, heading through the living room. He glared at the other woman shared the house as she appeared, leaning against the door with her arms crossed.

Max continued past her and banged his fist against Kennedy's bedroom door. The wood was decorated with pictures and her and him together with quite a few of her and her newest boyfriend thrown into the collage. The pictures with Max in them were the only ones that had survived a long stay on the door, the others had been taken down and replaced with each changing man. Max knew that Kennedy would soon replace them again.

"Go the hell away, Amber!" Kennedy shouted from the other side of the door, "I said I'm done! So just leave me alone!"

Max banged his palm against the wood again to stop her before should could start on a tangent. "It's me, Kenny," he called through the wood, "Let me in before I break down the door."

Kennedy was silent and then suddenly the door was pulled open and Max stumbled to stay upright. Kennedy backed up and walked over to her bed. He stepped into the bedroom and locked the door behind him, knowing Kennedy's habit of having everything locked all the time.

"Hey, Ken," Max said softly, staring at the young woman who faced away from him, "What happened this time? Why am I here?"

Kennedy sniveled and shook her head. She tucked a fallen strand behind her ear and continued yanking her clothes from her closet shoving them into a duffel bag that rested on her bed. "Nothing," she murmured, "Don't worry about it, Maxie."

"Well, I drove four and a half hours and I don't even know why," he replied, reaching out to grab onto her wrist so he could turn her to face him. When she refused, he tugged harder.

"Max, let go!" she demanded, trying to wrench her arm free from his grasp.

But Max held on tighter and forced her around to face him. His anger rose the second he saw the large bruise on her face, covering the expanse of her right cheek bone. "What the fuck happened?" he questioned loudly, reaching out to touch the bruise.

"Nothing!" she shouted back, smacking his tattooed hand away from her face.

Max rolled his eyes. "Don't fucking tell me that you fell and hit your face on the bathroom sink." He brushed her hair out of her eyes so he could get a better look.

Kennedy frowned. She saw the raw concern on Max's face and shook her head. "Don't get angry," she stressed, "But I got into a fight with Oliver."

Max's eyes widened. "He did this to you?"

Kennedy shook her head and glanced over his shoulder towards the door. Max knew instantly that it was one of her roommates. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Why?" he asked as she buried her face in his neck, tears bubbling in her eyes. He held onto her tightly, hating that she was hurt and sad.

"She slept with Oliver," she whispered into his hair, "And I caught them this morning."

Max's grip tightened. He wanted to hurt everyone that hurt Kennedy, but he knew that she wouldn't want him to do that. She was a pacifist and a vegetarian. She couldn't bare to see any living creature hurt and that was something that Max loved about her, not that she knew anything about how he felt about her. She and him had been friends for years, and that's all ever expected from him.

So instead of barging in the living room and dragging her roommates out of the house by their hair, he rubbed her back and nodded towards the door. "Lets get out of here. We've got a long ride back home."

Kennedy wiped her face and nodded. She tossed her cell phone into the duffel bag and zipped it up. Max grabbed the blue and gray duffel bag and Kennedy's hand, slipping his fingers between hers so that he could pull her out of the house, and protect her from Amber and Daisy's hateful looks.

"I'll be back for my stuff soon," Kennedy said, stopping Max in the living room, "If anything is damaged or taken I'm holding you two personally responsible."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Whatever, go stay with him again, like you do when ever you can't handle your own problems."

"Shut up," Kennedy replied, "he's my bestfriend and he's getting me the fuck away from you."

"He's digusting, Kennedy, just look at him. We could never figure out how the two of you are friends," Amber stated, crossing her arms, "When you realize that you are better off without him, don't think you can come back here."

Kennedy shook her head. "Fuck you guys, both of you."

Daisy smirked and motioned for them to leave. She was smug, Kennedy knew it. Sleeping with Oliver was a game for her, and she had won. There were no strings attached now that she had ruined Kennedy's relationship.

Max sent a couple of swear words towards the girls and gripped Kennedy's hand tighter so he could lead her towards the front door, ignoring the expression on the girls' face as they left together, Max coming to Kennedy's rescue like he had many times before.

"Thanks, Max," Kennedy said softly as they sat in the car.

Max glanced at his bed friend and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll always be where ever you need me to be, Ken."

He didn't add that he wanted to be there all the time, that he was yearning for her to stay with him for good, this time, instead of the two weeks she splurged with him every time another loser broke her heart.