Bruises in Miniature Form

Jennifer’s idea seemed to be like hitting a nail on the head, although that idea had a huge snag.
There was no way I would be able to get into Max’s house, I had no key and breaking in was... well illegal.
Sighing heavily I waved goodbye to her as she drove off and turned up the steps to the house, I could hear laughter as I opened the front door and quickly found the three still waiting on the couches.
Max had one of my favourite paint brushes stuck behind his ear, rubbing at his chin as he scratched at the war paint on his cheeks.
Ronnie had tied a neck tie around his forehead and also put some war paint on his cheeks and forehead, his thumbs painted a deep purple from the cause.
Bryan was the only one who happened to have paint in his hair coating it in splotches I knew would leave a faint tinge to the color when he tried to wash it out.
When I plopped down on the couch beside Max I nicked the paintbrush away from his ear and held it gently in my fingers, silently giving it a farewell before I would have to throw it away.

“Your back kind of late” He asked breaking his conversation with his friends to direct some at me.
“Saw a movie with Je-je”
“Jay jay? Who the hell is jay jay?”
“it’s pronounced Gee-Gee like two G’s? You know the letter you skip over in the alphabet”
“I don’t skip the letter G over in the alphabet,” he rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah your underwear is up in your room now give me my CD’s”
“Isn’t that caving dear Maxy?” I teased.
He shook his head and glanced to Ronnie, “It’s not caving since Ron was the one who put them back, I had no say in the matter. If it was up to me they would be-“
“Would be what?”
“Nothing, you know what, never mind” He smiled innocently and poked my cheek, “So go make me dinner”
Poking him back I stood up to my feet, “What do you want?”
“Your actually cooking him dinner after he did all that shit this morning?” Bryan gaped, leaning forward a bit.
I shrugged a bit and glanced slyly at him, “Well I’m hungry and I might as well make something for you guys too since Max obvious can’t cook”
“I can cook” he interrupted looking put out.
“Yeah, French toast”

Waving a hand in my direction he offered me to the kitchen, following after me and informing me he was just making sure I wasn’t putting anything into his food.
Problem is Max doesn’t know what a pink bottle is or what it does, especially when the label is ripped off.
Oh well too bad, he’ll learn pretty soon you don’t trust the color pink.
Stirring the pot of chilli Rick had left over I made sure to add some extra spices, mom said his chilli was quite dull and could use quite a bit of oregano.
Ronnie and Bryan sat at the kitchen table, playing a game of paper football with a little piece of triangle paper flipping back and forth of the goal through their hands.
Max was cautiously sitting on the counter beside the stove eyeing the food I was making for him.
I smiled serenely at him and gave the pot a final stir before grabbing a few bowls from the cupboard above his head, making sure to smack him hard without warning.
He grumbled for a little bit after that but held his tongue, probably thought I wouldn’t give him food if he said anything.
Dropping the bowls in front of their new owners I took a seat beside Ronnie and blew at my own to cool it off.

“Here” Max suddenly jerked his spoon full of chilli in my direction, blue eyes filled with doubt for obvious reason.
Leaning forward I took the bit off his spoon and leaned back, pretending to swallow and hide it under my tongue.
“Show me” He ordered.
Exhaling the heat from my mouth I opened it for him to see nothing left, “Happy oh great messiah, now can we eat?” Ronnie teased.

Max smiled as if he did a job well done and began eating away at his food, I let them get a few mouthfuls in before I leaned forward and spat out the chilli in my mouth into my bowl and got up to grab a pop tart out of the fridge, unwrapping it as I went to the toaster.
I didn’t dare look back to see their faces since I knew they stopped eating after I emptied my mouth, poor foolish boys.

“Can I ask one question, Newton?” Bryan asked from the table, using a gentle voice.
“Of course” I turned back, quirking a brow as I bit back my tongue from laughing aloud.
Ronnie’s face was twisted up as if he smelt something awful, his lips puckering and about to spit out whatever contents were left.
Bryan has a plain sombre expression, his eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the bowl before him.
Max was the greatest expression of all; his pale complexion was contorted into something that looked like one of those sharpie dogs.

“Why did you spit it out?”
Tapping on my chin I grabbed the strawberry pop tart just as it dinged up to the air, “You know I’m not entirely sure what Rick puts into that chilli but it didn’t taste so well so I spat it out, decided a pop tart would be better for now”
Ronnie seemed alright with my answer and again began eating, chewing mouthfuls as he gratefully inhaled the rest.
Max and Bryan however didn’t seem too convinced and Bryan tried again, “You didn’t feed us anything... illegal did you?”
“I don’t own anything illegal, promise I only fed you chilli and its contents”
“Yeah but what were in the contents”
I couldn’t believe how doubtful Bryan was being, I mean just because I had a triumphant smile on my face and he knew of the deal to get back at Max didn’t mean I did anything to his chilli.
“Well I know there is meat and beans, but what else Rick put in I don’t know. I only added oregano since mother is addicted to that stuff. Relax, nothing’s wrong with it”
As the words flew out of my mouth I saw Max suddenly leap up from his chair and bolt up the stairs, jumping two at a time before he reached the top and vanished around the corner.
Ronnie by that time stopped eating enough to look in my direction with a look of pure disgust, “X-lax”
“Have fun eating” I nodded in his direction and turned out the kitchen and into the living room.

By the time Rick showed up Max was lying sprawled across the couch with a hand on his stomach shoved just a little under the front of his pants with the zipper undone, his shirt looking sweaty as he groaned from the sick sweat.
Wiggling my toes that rested on the table I took another look at him beside me, patting his head apologetically as he swatted me away fiercely.
Rick took a look at us curiously as he discarded his jacket and shoes at the door, eyeing the sickle looking Max.

“What happened?”
“Now before I let Max rant on-“
“She poisoned me!” He snapped pointing a finger in my direction as if daring me to counter it.
“I made him some chilli but it didn’t seem to settle too well with him so he now thinks I poisoned him”
Rick looking extremely worried rushed to feel Max’s forehead, clicking his tongue and moving back over to pop on his shoes, “Get in the car you two, we’re going to the hospital”
Max immediately jumped to his feet in protest and I took the time to ignore the way his pants slid down from the movement, “I’ll be better in awhile, I don’t need the hospital!”
Rick shook his head and pulled on his coat, “If its food poisoning it could be pretty bad, come on Max get in the car. I’m sure Newton will hold your hand”
”I’m not holding his hand” I answered quickly, trying not to sound like I was being rude.
“Like I’d let you” he countered shooting me a positively evil dirty look that would bury me five feet under.
“Okay settle down, I’m not kidding around here get into the car”

Looking disgruntled by the fact of visiting a doctors Max unwillingly left the room to pull on his shoes before leaving out the opened front door.
As an afterthought Rick leaned out the door and shouted to him, “Stay by the car, no running away again!”
Before I had the time to ask Rick what he meant by that he took it upon himself to answer calmly to me, “Max has been afraid of the doctors for a very long time, runs half a block just to avoid them even if he’s puking all the way there”

Feeling a little bit of guilt form in the pit of my stomach I walked after Rick’s lead, staring at the ground as I knew this would only bring a large void between Max and I.
Once our seatbelts were buckled I saw just how much paler Max was looking, his whole body was stuck in a frozen position, his face staring blankly ahead although his eyes were darting about inside their sockets.
He looked almost like a wax body, sitting for all to see.
The guilt rose in my stomach and began carving inside my stomach lining, it was my fault Max was going to the hospital and facing one of his fears.
No one should be forced to face a fear no matter how great unless it is on their own terms and I had just done that to him.
Hanging my head in shame I couldn’t hold back the feeling of knowing I was a horrible person, it ate away at me and I just knew I had to fix it.
Casting a shy glance at Max I saw him still tense when an idea hit me and I swallowed my pride within a heartbeat.
Slowly and carefully as to not freak him out or have him spaz at me I reached my hand out to clasp his, entwining our fingers as I felt the sweat meet my dry hand.
His hand didn’t jerk away at the contact, nor did his head turn to look at me, he simple sat there like a stone as I looked back to the passing houses in silence.