Dirty Journalism

Max and Jackie were in Max’s dorm room. After Max rifled through his messy closet, he held up a basketball. “Come on, Jackie, live a little!”

“Last time you said those words, things didn’t end up too hot, remember?” Jackie retaliated, hands on her hips, as Max smirked evilly.

“Yeah, well, there’s no espresso vodka on the basketball court. I did yoga with you! You owe me!”

Jackie argued back. “You followed me to yoga! And we never made any sort of deal.”

“We’re making one now,” Max said firmly, holding out his hand. “We will do activities you enjoy only if we can follow them with activities I enjoy.”

Jackie eyed his hand wearily, but shook it. “Excluding sports.”

“What?” Max yelled. “Oh no, you don’t make that call! We shook before you said that.”

“Come on, Max, you know I have problems around balls.” Jackie paused a moment. “You know… sports balls.”

“Yeah, I know,” Max said with a laugh. “But I don’t care. You and I are going to play basketball right now. Here are some of my basketball shorts. They might be a little long.”

Jackie held up the shorts to her waist. They reached past her knees. “A little long? Well, I guess I’ll be humiliated playing basketball anyway. What can it hurt to dress like an idiot?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Max dribbled the ball down the JA court and shot it through the hoop. Jackie, who stood nervously on the other end, clapped appreciatively.

“Can’t I just be like your personal cheerleader or something?” she called.

Max laughed. “So I can write an article about how terrible you are?”

“Oh, I’ll be better than them! Watch this!” Jackie said, clapping her hands in rhythm and jumping around. “M-A-X-well! He throws that ball… really swell! L-E-O-pold! He really knows how to… mold?”

“Yeah. You suck.”

“I hate you.”

“Are you going to come over here or what?” Max asked.

Jackie shook her head quickly. “I am keeping at least thirty feet between me and that ball at all times.”

Max began walking toward her, ball in hand. She backed up, but was already at the end of the court. “Stop! Go away!”

Max laughed and ran the last few feet to her. Jackie was gripping the metal fence that surrounded the court, eyeing the ball nervously.

“I can’t believe you are so scared of a basketball.”

“Objects that can be thrown at my head scare me… ever since I played soccer in first grade and the goalie kicked the ball right in my face!” Jackie exclaimed.

Max held the ball under his arm and grabbed Jackie’s wrists. “You are going to get over this ridiculous fear right now!”

He led her to the hoop and placed the ball in her hands. Jackie gave him a look that quite clearly said ‘I-am-going-to-kill-you-for-making-me-do-this.’ Max laughed and took a few steps back.

“Now, Jackie,” he said, “take aim, bend your knees, and throw it in the hoop!”

Jackie stood still. “Can I throw it at your face instead?”

“No. If you want, imagine my face sticking out of the hoop! Does that help?”

Jackie shrugged. “Yeah, that kind of does.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Great. Now, take your time. Ready? Shoot!”

Jackie shut her eyes tightly and hurled the ball as hard as she could. Max watched as the ball hit the rim of the hoop with force, flew backwards, and hit Jackie in the face. She made a high-pitched “oof!” sound and fell over, clutching her head.

Max was too shocked to move. He stood with his mouth wide open for a few moments, before screaming, “Holy shit! Are you okay?”

He ran over to the figure on the ground. Jackie opened her eyes just a crack and glared at Max. “My head always ends up hurting when I’m with you,” she mumbled.

Max stifled a laugh and put his hand on the top of her head. “Yikes, there’s a huge bump. Can you see?”

Jackie blinked rapidly. “Is that your… face?” she asked slowly.

“Yeah…”

“Blurry. Looks like a moose.”

“I look like a moose?”

Jackie nodded, shutting her eyes again in pain. “Ow.”

“Let’s get you to the nurse,” Max said quickly, pulling her up. “Put an arm around my shoulders.”

They hobbled awkwardly across the school to the nurse’s office. The nurse, after staring confusedly at Jackie and Max being so close to each other, prescribed an ice pack, some sleep, and Advil.

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t have a concussion or anything,” Max said pleasantly as he helped Jackie to her room. She snorted in response.

“No thanks to you.”

“It’s not my fault you have crappy aim!”

Jackie rolled her eyes but smiled. As they entered her room, she said, “Let me go change in the bathroom, I’ll give you your shorts back. Well… I’ll give you your pants back.”

Max laughed as she grabbed some pajamas from her drawer and headed into the bathroom. While she changed, Max began looking through the DVDs by the TV.

Jackie came out. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t you have anything good to watch? No offense, but Two Weeks Notice? All four seasons of The O.C.?”

Jackie laughed. “That would be Lexi’s favorite show. And those are her and Stella’s movies anyway. Mine are under my bed, Stella and Lexi say they take up too much room.”

Max pulled a large box labeled “DVDs” out from under Jackie’s bed and grinned. “This is more like it! Oooh, The Departed, that’s my favorite movie ever. Awesome, you have The Godfather! And… what the heck? The Sopranos? Are you serious?”

Jackie shrugged, smiling. “My family’s Italian. We like mobster movies. If I really hate a person, I’ll tell them that my dad is a mob boss.”

Max nodded. “I know, you’ve told me,” he said, flashing a smile.

Jackie laughed. “Why are you looking through my movies?”

“Because I’m not leaving until I make sure you’re not suffering permanent damage from that basketball.”

“Max, you heard the nurse,” Jackie said, holding the ice pack the nurse had given her to her head. “It’s just a bump.”

“Whatever, I just want an excuse to watch this!” He excitedly held up Iron Man.

“Yes!” Jackie laughed. “If we watch that, you can stay.”

An while later, Max and Jackie were sitting next to each other on Lexi’s bed, since it was directly across from the TV. In the movie, Tony Stark was just about to escape from the cave in Afghanistan, when Max held up a pillow to his face.

“I can’t watch this part,” he mumbled.

“Why?” Jackie asked.

“That really nice guy who saves his life–Yinsen or whatever his name is. This is the part where he dies.”

Jackie looked at Max (or rather, looked at the pillow that was covering him) and smiled. “I would totally make fun of you for being a wimp, but I cry at this part every time I watch it, so I guess I can’t say anything.”

Max moved the pillow and looked at her. “You… cry? I didn’t know you could display emotions!”

Jackie gave him a look. “Oh, ha-ha. I’m not a complete bitch all the time.”

“Oh, I know. I saw you at the party,” he replied with an evil smirk.

Jackie smacked him. “I thought we said we weren’t talking about that. Pretend it never happened, remember?”

“I’m sorry, seeing you smashed was too funny to forget!”

“Shut up!” Jackie said, shoving him. “You were too!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t start acting completely out of character. And it wasn’t me who initiated any making out that might have occurred…”

Jackie bit her lip, not looking at Max. “Well. Lots of vodka. I obviously wasn’t thinking straight.”

Max’s smirk faltered. “Yeah,” he said quietly, also looking away from her. “Neither of us were.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the next chapter of Dirty Journalism…

“Leopold and Bodello? What the hell?”
-
-
“You were the one who was going to count down the days until we got back and you wouldn’t be stuck with Jackie!”
-
-
”Spill. Now.”