Never Surrender

Sam asked Max to drive the rental into town rather than taking the old truck out into the snow. Kennedy sat in the back and jabbered the men's ears off as Sam instructed Max on how to get where they were going.

In a town this size, everything was close. So in just minutes, Max was pulling into a packed parking lot. He was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of white bulb lights that hung over the parking lot, spanning from one side to the other.

Kennedy peered out of the front windshield. "Those have always been my favorite," she confessed, pushing the leftovers onto the seat next to her so she could unbuckle.

"They're beautiful," her father commented, doing the same once Max parked. Around them, families were getting out of their cars and making their way into the huge building, chatting across the parking lot and over cars with people they'd known their entire lives. "What do you say we head inside?" Sam asked, looking between his daughter and her friend.

"Yeah." Kennedy nodded and handed him the two bowls. "We'll be in, in just a minute, alright?"

Sam smiled reassuringly and got out of the car. Max and Kennedy both stepped out, but didn't follow the older man towards the front door. When he was a distance away, Max grabbed Kennedy's fingers and turned her to face him.

"What's wrong?"

Kennedy shook her head. "Nothing," she murmured as she stepped forward and leaned her head against his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his thin waist and held on tightly. "You're just being so good to me. So responsible."

"It's you, Ken," he replied softly, "I'm not the same person as when I'm with the guys. You're you. I can't be the crazy kid when you're around."

Kennedy didn't ask what he meant. She just pressed a kiss against his upper chest, his sweatshirt between her mouth and his skin. Kennedy lightly wiped the trace of red lipstick off the fabric.

Max gently cupped the back of her neck with one hand and looked her in the eyes. The white bulb lights were reflected in her dark orbs and he faltered for a moment, pushing thoughts of her colored lips out of his mind. "Lets go in," he encouraged, "I'm sure your dad is already telling everyone that you're out here."

Kennedy smiled slightly and dipped her head in a simple nod, allowing Max's fingers to grasp her own. Together, they walked under the cute white lights to the thick double doors that were propped open. Through the entry, the room omitted a light as white as the ones above them. Silhouettes ghosted past the doorway as Max and Kennedy grew closer, her hand squeezing his.

When they walked in, people were too preoccupied with their conversations to pay them much mind. All around the room, people smiled and chatted happily with others they'd known as long as they could remember. The faces were all familiar to Kennedy, she could probably name them all in just minutes.

"Do you see my dad?" she asked Max as they stood just out of the doorway.

Max shook his head, peering around the room for the man.

They didn't notice a woman walk up behind them with her eyebrows raised and a sly smile on her lips. "Well now, What a surprise. Who do we have here?" she asked, catching their attention.

Kennedy and Max both looked to their left. A robust woman stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. Kennedy smiled and stepped across the doorway towards her, taking Max with her. "Mrs. Beverton," Kennedy greeted, looking over the woman in front of her, "Long time no see."

"Shouldn't I be saying that about you, Ms. Santos?" the woman asked, giving Kennedy a look.

Kennedy chuckled and pulled Max into the conversation. "Max, this is my sophomore English teacher, Mrs. Beverton. Mrs. Beverton, this is my best friend from out West, Max."

The teacher reached out and grabbed Kennedy's arm comfortingly. "Please, Kennedy, I haven't been your teacher in years. You can call me Elena now." She held her hand out to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Max."

"That makes me feel old," Kennedy responded as they shook hands and finished exchanging pleasantries.

"You're getting up there, aren't you?" Elena questioned, unable to remember exactly how old her previous student was. "It's been years since you graduated."

"Just eight," Kennedy retorted, glaring at the floor.

The teacher smiled, remembering Kennedy's personality from years ago. "So, Ms. Kennedy Santos, what have you been doing out there in California? Your dad told me a while back that you run a business?"

"I manage a little designer shop," she replied, picturing the little girly thing that she'd somehow come to love.

"That sounds glamourous," her prior teacher admitted, sounding impressed by what the girl had done for herself. "So, do you have a big old house out there for yourself?"

Kennedy chuckled and met Max's foggy green eyes. "Actually, I just moved out of my place. I got tired of having roommates, so Max let me move in with him while I try and find a place for myself back in Vegas."

"That's so generous of you," Mrs. Beverton said to Max, seeming pleased.

Max shook his head and wrapped his arm over Kennedy's shoulder. "Not really. Ken has been my best friend for years, so I love having her around. It actually keeps me from hiding out in my music room for days on end."

"Did you two meet right after Kennedy got out to the West coast?" the teacher questioned, looking between the two. She had always been a very open minded person, teaching teenagers had made it so, but looking at Kennedy with the long-haired man in front of her, she could see the drastic changes that had occurred in her after she left Tiverton.

"About two years after," Kennedy explained, blushing slightly when she realized she was going to have to tell her former teacher how she and Max became so close. "Are you sure you want to hear this story?" she asked, hoping Elena would change her mind.

Suspecting something, Elena playfully narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yes," she stated, "Now more than ever."

Kennedy sighed and spilled quickly, leaving out the sad details. "I managed to sneak into this popular bar - venue - thing in Vegas but the bartender wouldn't serve me so Max bought my drinks for me."

Max grinned his lopsided smile and nodded eagerly at the story. "I didn't know she was underage, at the time," he defended, childishly glaring at Kennedy, "She just kept drinking what I gave her until she managed to get us both kicked out."

Kennedy smiled proudly. "Made him miss his band's entire set, too," she explained, elbowing Max in the side when he pinched her arm.

"So I'm stuck with this twenty year old stranger who can hardly walk straight and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with her. She wouldn't tell me where she lived and just kept rambling nonsense."

Kennedy quieted, resigning just to nodding as Max skipped past the sad bits of their meeting.

"I ended up just taking her back to my place and dumping her on the couch. When my band found me they were so mad that I bailed on them for a girl," Max explained, smiling fondly at the memory, "My singer threatened to kick me out of the band and the house right then and there."

Kennedy's teacher listened with reserved interest, wondering how a brilliant small town girl from Tiverton, Rhode Island managed to end up on the couch of a band in the middle of Las Vegas at the age of twenty. She bit back her comments as Max and Kennedy shared their story.

"That's when I woke up and told them all to shut up," Kennedy recalled, leaning into Max's side. "I wasn't quite that polite, but they certainly stopped talking. When I woke up in the morning, Max was attempting to make me breakfast and Craig was sitting on the coffee table staring at me."

"That's quite a story," Elena said, shaking her head in disbelief, although a smile graced her lips, "I can't imagine waking up on a stranger's couch with another stranger watching me sleep."

"They weren't stranger's for long," Kennedy admitted, "They accepted me right away. I ended up staying on their couch for a couple weeks. Then Craig moved out to be closer to his daughter and I moved into his room temporarily."

Elena gently touched Kennedy's arm as she spoke. "It seems like you've had quite the adventure out there," she murmured, unsurprised that Kennedy Santos got as far away from Tiverton as she could. The entire town knew of the Santos tragedy and for Kennedy and her father, there was no escaping it here. Elena Beverton rubbed the girl's arm. "It was great to see you again, Kennedy. I was really hoping that I'd get to see you one last time at your graduation."

Kennedy wrapped her arm around Max's waist and nodded at the memories. "My plane ticket was scheduled for that day," she explained, "It was the cheapest one I could get."

Elena nodded understandingly, knowing that it was more than just the price. It was the chance to get out as soon as possible, to get away from what had happened. "I'm just glad to see that you're doing as well as your father told us," she spoke, "I should get back to Mr. Beverton before he thinks I've left. It was good to see you again, Kennedy."

Kennedy nodded, her smile controlled and her eyes guarded. "You too," she replied.

Before she walked away, Elena Beverton told Kennedy she hoped to see her again before she left. Kennedy nodded politely and said she would try, but both women knew that Kennedy was here for her father only.

"She seems nice," Max murmured into Kennedy's ear as she led him away from their spot.

"She always was," Kennedy responded, "She was the grief discussion leader at my school after my brother died."

Max nodded softly and pointed towards the back of the room near a huge table of food. "There's your dad," he said.

Kennedy's gaze moved to where Max was pointing and she squinted a tad bit. "Holy shit," she whispered, trying to get a better look at the woman her father was talking to, "I think that's Sophie."

Max looked at her face. "Your high school friend?"

Kennedy nodded. "Sophia Depton. I'd knew her since preschool."

Max slipped his hand in to hers and tried to pull her in that direction. When she refused, Max whined. "Come on," he begged, "When else are you going to be able to see these people again? Once we leave are you going to wait another year? Are you even coming back next year?"

"Max," she growled as he dragged her across the floor, "Stop, right now."

Their muted argument caught the attention of some of the people around them. They inconspicuously watched the strange couple as the man tried to pull the woman across the room. They all knew the girl instantly, but for most, it was as if seeing a ghost. They'd all assumed that the Kennedy they knew was gone with her brother.

Their eyes trailed over the man. His hair was incredibly long and tattoos showed on his hands and neck, just visible beyond his sleeves and collar. It would come to no surprise to them that he was a musician from Las Vegas.

Kennedy tried to pull her wrist from Max's grasp, but the bassist refused to let go. "Max, please stop," Kennedy begged, shaking her head at the short man, "Please, Max. I don't want to talk to Sophie."

Seeing the distraught look in her eyes, Max stopped pulling her towards her father and instead pulled her against his body. She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and buried her face in his neck, memories that she'd desperately tried to suppress flying through her mind. "I'm sorry, Ken," Max whispered before he pressed a kiss against her temple, "I'm sorry."

Kennedy shook her head against him. "It's not your fault," she murmured, "I thought I could handle seeing her again, but I don't know if I can."

Max wanted to ask why the tall, slender woman almost brought tears to her eyes, but he couldn't imagine an answer that didn't have to do with her brother and that was something he didn't want to dredge up.

Kennedy let go of Max and composed herself. "Okay," she murmured before taking a deep breath, "You're right. I should just go talk to her."

Max comfortingly linked his index finger with hers. "You sure? I'll be right here the whole time."

Kennedy linked all their fingers and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure my dad already told her that I'm here, so I can't avoid her." She smoothed down her dress with her free hand and planted a smile on her lips.

"Alright," Max replied a bit skeptically. They walked side by side over to her father and the girl she grew up with. When they got close both of them turned to see who was coming and the woman's eyes widened.

She pushed her brown curls over her shoulders. "Kennedy, is that you?" she asked, surprise on her face.

Kennedy nodded and smiled. "Hey, Sophie," she replied, stopping in front of her with Max by her side, "How have you been?" Sam Santos patted Max's shoulder before he walked away, giving the old friends some time to catch up.

Sophie let out a surprised breath and shook her head at the girl, amazement on her features. "Sam told me you were here, but it's so weird seeing you standing right next to me."

"Yeah," Kennedy agreed, "It's a little surreal."

Sophie nodded and reached forward to pull her once best friend into a hug. "I'm so glad you're back," she said as they hugged, "It's so great to see you again."

Kennedy rubbed the woman's back and agreed with what she was saying. "It seems like you're the same person," she said as they pulled apart, "Personality wise anyways."

"Oh yeah." Sophie nodded. "But oh gosh, you haven't even met West. So much has changed, I can't even imagine," she rambled quickly, looking around the room for who she was speaking of. "He's hear somewhere. He just took Wren to the potty." She looked back to the two in front of her. "While we're waiting for them, who's this?"

Kennedy squeezed Max's hand when Sophie motioned to him. "Oh, Sophie, this is Max," she introduced, "Max, this is Sophie."

"The childhood best friend," Max spook as he shook the brunette's hand, "Ken told me all about you this morning."

Sophie smiled and glanced at their connected hands. "So, are you two together?" she asked.

"No," Kennedy replied as Max pushed his lips together, "He's my best friend."

"Oh, I see," Sophie replied, a bit surprised by her words, "Well, it's nice that you came with Kennedy out here. I'm sure it's been a bit of a shock being back."

"A big shock," Kennedy agreed.

Sophie grinned as a blonde man walked over and wrapped his free arm around her waist. With his other arm, he held a brunette little boy. Kennedy's eyes widened when she realized exactly who he was.

"Shit, Sophie, you had a kid?" she asked, meeting the brunette's eyes. "When did this happen?"

Sophie smiled at her friend's surprise and pulled the small boy from his father's arms. "Kennedy, this is West, and this," she touched her son's cheek, "Is our little man, Wren. He's three." Sophie introduced Kennedy and Max to her husband.

"It's nice to meet you," West said, "I've heard a lot about you over the years."

Kennedy nodded, sparing glances at the shy child. "It's good to meet you too," she responded, shaking her head in disbelief, "I'm just so surprised."

Sophie knew why her once-friend was so surprised by her life developments. A young version of Sophie spent years wishing that Konnor Santos would fall in love with her. She and Kennedy spent countless days playfully planning their wedding. They both wanted nothing more than to be sisters and Konnor was the young unrequited love of Sophie's life.

She gently shrugged her shoulders and met Kennedy's dark eyes. "We've all got to move on sometime," she spoke softly, taking West's hand in her own.

Kennedy smiled wobbly and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

From the conversation, Max could deduct that Kennedy's changed mood had something to do with Konnor. It wasn't hard to tell that Sophie and him had once been synonymous in Kennedy's mind.

"Deacon is here somewhere," Sophie said, looking among the crowds for him, "He and Will have been together for a couple years now."

"Will who?" Kennedy asked, unaware that Deacon was ever into males. "Deacon was dating Olivia Fenton when we graduated."

The little family in front of them smiled. Sophie shook her head. "Willhemina Anron," she clarified, "She went to school with us."

"I remember her," Kennedy replied, somewhat relieved that Deacon hadn't changed so drastically in the time she'd been gone.

Sophie ended up flagging down the third to their high school trio. Deacon was just as surprised to see Kennedy back in town. He politely shook Max's hand and easily hid how he felt about who Kennedy had become in the last eight years. Their conversation was a series of polite smiles and small talk.

It seemed that not everyone would be able to accept Kennedy back in town. They all wanted to pretend that she was the precious girl she was growing up, but standing here in front of them, they could easily see that she was a lot more ruined than any of them had foreseen. They'd assumed she'd healed by now, learned to live with the pain of her past, but their eyes caught every little tremor and every nervous glance to the strange man she had in tow.

It was obvious that she was far from healed.

Kennedy and Max stayed close to her father for the rest of the night and let people come up to them instead. Late in the night Max stood behind Kennedy and wrapped his arms around her neck. "So, any exes around here that I should kick the shit out of?" he asked, laughing as she tried to elbow him in the stomach.

"Shut up, Max."

He chuckled. "Are you telling me that in all the years you lived here, there wasn't single guy who broke your heart?" Compared to her recent track record, it was hard for him to believe that Kennedy hadn't been the same way in high school. Max wondered if she was similar in anyway to the girl he knew now.

"He didn't break my heart," Kennedy confessed, her eyes scanning the crowd for the face she once adored, "It just ended."

"Is he here?" Max asked, interested in the type of guy Kennedy was once interested in. "Can I meet him?"

"No, you can not," Kennedy replied, turning around in his arms to glare at him.

Max laughed and then pouted out his bottom lip. "Why not?" he questioned, "I just want to meet the first guy who ever caught your eye."

Kennedy shook her head at the long haired man and pulled out of his grasp. He quickly stepped after her and grabbed her hand. Kennedy smiled over her shoulder at him and led him through the crowds of people standing and sitting around the large room.

Her dad smiled at them and turned his attention back to his own friends. Sophie and her family stood not too far away, chatting with a few other people Kennedy remembered from school. Kennedy couldn't see Deacon and his girlfriend as she slipped through the people.

"Where are we going?" Max questioned, trying to stop her from pulling him along.

"Just come with me," she encouraged, dragging him around the corner of the room to the staircase. She clumsily climbed the stairs with Max in tow. Upstairs, there were only a couple doors. Kennedy pushed through one and came out on the other side in the rarely used meeting hall.

"Are we allowed to be in here?" he asked, looking around the bench filled room.

Kennedy chuckled and raised her eyebrows at the usually rowdy man. "The Max Green is worried about getting in trouble?" she joked, dropping his hand. She walked up the isle between the long wooden benches and headed to the podium in the front of the room.

Max dropped down onto the front bench and rolled his eyes. He slung his arm over the back and watched Kennedy as she cleared her throat and pretended to make a speech.

Max watched her smooth down her dress and wet her lips. He watched the way she stepped out of her heels and set them perfectly next to one another. She grinned over the podium at Max and then continued on with her impromptu speech, waving her arms in the air dramatically.

"Maxwell Scott Green," she started again, "What would you say to the accusations that you're not as tough as you think you are?"

Max stood up and stepped up the one step so that he was the same height as her. Kennedy's eyes widened and she giggled and backed away from the bassist.

"What're you doing?" she asked, eyes wide as she teetered at the edge of the step, her heels forgotten by the podium.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing," he said simply, "Why're you backing away?"

Kennedy shrugged but stepped down onto the single stair, her eyes trained on the approaching man in front of her. "No reason," she stated, her feet hitting the lowest ground.

"Then come 'ere," he encouraged, holding his hand out to her.

"No way," she denied, shaking her head at him. She slipped in between two benches as he stepped down the stair.

"Where you going, Ken? I'm not doing anything."

Kennedy glared at him. "Like hell."

Slyly a smirk came onto Max's lips and he stepped up onto the seat of the bench and lunged for his best friend. Kennedy shrieked and raced away from him, her arm slipping out of his fingers.

She moved to the other end of the benches and peered back at him with wide eyes as he stood on the long church-like bench, staring at her with an amused look on his face.

Kennedy slowly backed up, moving closer to the door that they came through while Max carefully stepped from bench to bench, gaining on her.

"Leave me alone," she demanded, just a foot from the back wall, "I don't want to play with you."

"Aw, Ken, you're hurting my feelings," Max responded, grabbing onto the back of the bench to sturdy himself. "I always want to play with you."

"You're being a jerk," she replied, glancing towards the door subtly.

Max laughed and raised his eyebrows at her. In seconds he jumped over the back of the bench he was standing on and then quickly hurdled over the last as Kennedy screamed and tried to make a break towards the door. Max jumped to the ground and caught her in his arms. He roughly pulled her against his body and began tickling her sides, causing an uncontainable hysteria on her part.

Max backed her against the wall and tickled her while she screeched. In an attempt to break free, Kennedy dropped against his body, forcing him to catch her rather than tickle her. He wrapped his arms around her midsection as she fell limp against him. When she stood up on her own, her eyes met his and she smiled softly, ignoring the twinge that Max's own crooked grin stirred in her.

Max sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and ran his tongue over the two metal rings that protruded. Thoughts that he'd outlawed were once again in his head, and as she stood against him, smiling up at him, he wanted nothing more than to act on them. He trailed his fingers against her cheek as he pushed a strand of fallen hair out of her face.

She glanced at his dark nails and then her eyes darted back to his eyes. Before she could meet his gaze, Max brought his mouth down on hers, his hands cupping her cheeks.

Max dipped his head away, his lips just centimeters from hers as his breath ghosted over her mouth. Kennedy's eyes were wide as she stared at the eyelids of the man who had been her best friend for so many years. "M-Max?" she whispered, pressing her thumb against his hip as she nervously fiddled with the unzipped zipper of his leather jacket, "What was that?"

Max's eyes opened and he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, hating the sound of vulnerability and fear in her voice. "Nothing," he stated as he dropped his hands to his sides, "Just forget about it."

Kennedy watched, stunned, as he side-stepped around her and left out of the door they'd come in together. Her eyes found her beige heels next to the podium and stayed there while her mind ran wild and incoherent, unable to comprehend why her best friend of six years had just irrevocably changed everything between them.