Never Surrender

Kennedy didn't have to thank Max for coming and getting her, but she did anyways, just like she did every time he came to her rescue. "Thanks, Maxie," she said softly, reaching out to touch his arm as he drove.

He looked at her and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Kenny," he murmured, "I missed you anyways. It's been too long."

Kennedy nodded her head. "You're right. I've been a crappy friend lately."

Max shrugged and offered her a smile. "It's cool. Best friends can act like dicks sometimes and get away with it." He laughed as she smacked his shoulder. He pulled into his driveway a few minutes later and shut the car off, secretly ecstatic that she was here with him now. "Lets go," he encouraged, "I'm going to bed"

Kennedy rolled her eyes and unclicked her seatbelt. "You got up at noon, Maxwell," she muttered at him.

"And I'm tired, Kennedy," he stated, pushing himself out of the car, leaving her there for a split second as she grabbed her bag from the back.

Max's house wasn't huge but it wasn't small, either. There were two bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a large screened in porch off the back of the house that Kennedy loved to curl up in when the chill from the early morning was lingering and the sun was starting to peak over the horizon and chase the chill away.

Kennedy threw her bag onto his couch and sighed loudly. Max was standing in front of her, and at the sound, he turned around and smiled softly.

"You'll be alright," he promised, "This one doesn't mean anything either." He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

She leaned against him with her head against his chest as he held her up. "I think I really liked him," she murmured, not daring to look at Max's expression.

He'd always disapproved of the men that she decided to date, or even spend her time with. It seemed that, to Max, no one was ever good enough for Kennedy Santos. Sometimes he felt like her big brother, and that was a feeling that she missed dearly. Max looked out for her like no one else did, he was her knight in shinning armor and he was always there for her when her prince turned out to be nothing more than a frog playing make-believe.

Max ran his fingers through the ends of her hair and shrugged his shoulders in reply. Kennedy always thought that she 'really liked' the guy of the month, but by the time she was onto the next one, she quickly forgot about the last.

Kennedy grasped Max's shirt at the sides of his lanky body and pulled back to look up into his moss colored eyes. "Do you want to take a nap?" she asked softly, studying slender face and downturned expression.

He stood still for a moment with his slender arms wrapped around her, then he nodded in reply.

She took his hand and pulled him through his house and to the bedroom. He had two rooms, but the second was filled with Max's instruments and junk that he couldn't bare to throw away. Old posters covered the room, not leaving behind a lick of visible wall.

Together Kennedy and Max walked into his messy bedroom and Kennedy climbed into his bed, slipping out of her shoes and tossing them back to the floor. Max took his contacts out and set the case on the nightstand, pulled his shirt over his head and stepped out of his shoes before he crawled into bed and pulled the blankets up from the end of the bed to cover them up.

Kennedy grabbed Max's favorite pillow and shoved it under her head. Max chuckled and shook his head at her. They ended up with her head on his chest and his pillow back under his.

It was late when Kennedy woke up, sprawled across Max's chest. She sat up silently and looked down at him. His hair was a mess, like always, and she could tell that he had woken up once already because his jeans were gone and he was only wearing boxers and his inverted cross necklace.

Kennedy rested her hand on his chest. "Max, wake up," she said boldly, pushing on him, "Wake up, Maxwell."

Max shoved her hand off of him and reached to pull his blanket up over him. "Go away, Kenny."

She shook her head and yanked the blanket off of him. "Wake up," she demanded, leaning over him, "I'm really hungry."

Max groaned and rolled over on his stomach. "Then go make a sandwich," he grumbled.

Kennedy growled and pushed against his bare back. "Max, come on," she begged, "You know there's nothing in your fridge and you don't let me drive your car."

"You can eat in the morning, fat-ass," he replied, wincing when she smacked his back hard, causing it to sting and leave a print on his skin.

"Maxwell Scott," she warned, "Get up and take me to get some food."

Max groaned frustratedly and rolled over. "What!?" he asked loudly, sitting up, still half-asleep, "What do you want Kennedy Winonah?"

She glared at the use of her middle name and folded her arms over her chest. "I just want to get something to eat," she muttered, staring him down, "I haven't eaten all day."

Max sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, "Get your ass ready and we'll go to McDonalds." He rolled his eyes as she rushed forward to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Thanks, Maxie," she cheered happily, pulling away so she could get her shoes and a hoodie from his messy closet.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied sarcastically. He clambered out of his bed shuffled back into his jeans. Kennedy tossed him the same shirt he wore earlier and he slipped it on as she yanked on her shoes and tied her messy hair up into a large bun.

"Let me put your hair up," she demanded, staring at his unruly mop of black and red strands that fell down over his shoulders.

"No, thanks," Max replied sarcastically as he slipped his glasses onto his face instead of putting his contacts back in, "I'm good."

Kennedy crossed her arms. "Oh come on, Maxie, you can't go out in public like that." She walked towards him and touched the tips of his silky hair.

"It's fine," Max leveled, shaking his head and pulling his hair out of her finger tips, "Come on, lets go." He checked for his wallet and then took her hand before she could press the issue and try to wrangle his hair into a hair-tye.

Kennedy was just happy that he got his ass out of bed so she dropped the issue and let him pull her out of the house towards his car. They climbed in and Kennedy cranked the heat as soon as it was started.

"God," Max groaned, "Why are you always so cold, Kenny?" He reached out and turned the heat down to the second level, unable to withstand the amount of heat that was blowing straight at him.

Kennedy glared and reached to turn it up another notch. "I just am," she muttered, "It's cold out tonight, Maxie."

Max rolled his eyes. "It's not cold, you're just crazy, Kenny."

Kennedy narrowed her eyes. "I resent that."

Max laughed and drove her to the McDonalds that was near the strip. Max would never move too far from downtown because he had an affliction with the lights and the excitement of City of Sin. They pulled into the twenty-four hour McDonalds and Kennedy grinned widely. She was a skinny girl, but she could put away a lot of food when she thought she was starving.

"Hurry up, Maxie," Kennedy called, "Lock the doors and come on." She was half way across the parking lot, holding her hand out for him to grasp. He quickened his pace when a car came around the drive-thru and threatened to run her over in the dark. He hurried across the parking lot and took her hand, letting her yank him into the lit building.

A man took his food from the counter and stepped aside as Max and Kennedy entered the building hand in hand. "Hello, what can I get you?" the young woman at the cash register questioned, looking over the duo in front of her.

"Can I get a small fry and the caesar salad?" Kennedy asked, squeezing Max's fingers as the woman typed it into the machine on the counter.

Max rolled his eyes at her excitement and spoke, "Can I get a double cheeseburger and a small fry?" He turned to Kennedy and then shook his head at himself. "Also, we need two medium sodas."

The woman handed them their cups and Max grabbed them. Kennedy waited by the counter for their food as he went to the pop machine and filled them both with ice. He got Coke for himself and root-beer for Kennedy, since it was her favorite and she rarely drank anything else besides that and Gatorade.

"Maxie, can we sit in the playground room?" Kennedy questioned as she walked up behind him with two bags of food in her hands.

"It's closed, Kenny," he replied, glancing at the darkened room, "There's no way they'll let you in there at two in the morning."

Kennedy groaned. "You're Max fuckin' Green," she stated, trying to boost his ego and rile him up, "There has to be some way that you can get us in there."

Max chuckled at her persistence. "No way, Kennedy. There's no good reason that you need to eat in the playground, now come on." He kicked her leg gently and forced her to follow him to the back of the restaurant. They sat at a booth and dished out the food. Max unwrapped his burger and took a huge bite and Kennedy crinkled her nose at him.

"Shut up and eat, Kennedy," he demanded, meeting her gaze across the table.

Her jaw dropped and she stabbed her fork into her lettuce. "I didn't say anything," she defended.

He took another large bite and spoke with his mouth full. "You were thinking it." He swallowed and took a hurried sip from his soda.

"I was not," Kennedy rebutted, glaring into his eyes.

Max chuckled and tossed a fry at her. Kennedy batted it away and tossed another one towards him, managing to hit the edge of his glasses. They threw a couple more pieces back at each other before Kennedy dove into her salad, taking huge bites and ignoring Max as he gave her looks.

"Maxwell Scott!" Kennedy shouted as a glob of ketchup landed on her neck, touching the collar of her shirt.

Max smirked and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Whoops," he murmured, sparing glances to meet her gaze with a smirk on his lips.

"Whoops?" Kennedy said loudly, holding still so that it wouldn't smear against her skin and stain the collar of her shirt even more.

"It was an accident," Max offered, glancing back at a couple younger than them who sat a few chairs away. They were looking at him and Kennedy since the she was enraged, still talking incredibly loudly at the bassist who caused a small stain at the top of her shirt, threatening to glob against Max's hoodie, although he wasn't worried about it.

"Max! Wipe it off!" she demanded loudly.

Max rolled his eyes. "You're so helpless," he said sarcastically, getting up and moving to her side of the booth. She scooted over so that he could sit next to her. Max reached for a napkin and wiped the condiment off of her neck. "There," he muttered flatly, "All clean."

"Now I smell like ketchup," she muttered unhappily, "Finish eating so I can go home and take a shower."

Max groaned. "You're so difficult, Kennedy."

The younger man from the couple behind them chuckled and said, "They're all like that, man. Once you start dating they throw all their shy tendencies out the window."

Max and Kennedy looked over their shoulders at the two of them. The woman smacked her boyfriend's arm and rolled her eyes at his words. "We're not that difficult, but you men just don't understand how to read us."

Max chuckled and nodded his head in reply, speaking before Kennedy would correct him about their lack of a relationship. "They're never easy," he agreed with the guy, "But Kenny and I are just friends."

The girl leaned her elbow on the table and looked over Max and Kennedy. "Oh, we're sorry. We just assumed..." she trailed off.

Kennedy shrugged and smiled at the girl. "It's alright. We've been best friends for years so we've gotten that quite a few times," she told her truthfully. Where ever they went people always assumed that they were together in that way. In an odd way, it only made them closer and better friends.

"Wanna get out of here?" Max asked a few minutes later, balling up his wrappers and tossing them across the table at her.

Kennedy dropped them into her empty salad bowl and nodded. "Yeah." She yawned. "I'm really tired again."

"You're like a baby," Max muttered, "Feed you and you go right back to sleep." He gathered up their trash and took it to the trash can. When he came back to the table Kennedy reached for his hand and he pulled her up, not letting go of her hand even when they were headed back to the car.

For a split second Kennedy wondered why Max was so quick to tell them that they weren't together. She'd never thought about Max and her being in a relationship, but she was surprised that it hurt her to realize that Max never thought about it either.

They drove across the street and Max ran into the gas station to get a couple of Gatorades for Kennedy's stay with him, since that was her usual beverage. When he climbed back into the car, he frowned at Kennedy's sleeping face. She really was like a newborn baby and Max loved that he was the one who had to take care of her.