Becoming His

“Ace, we’re seriously ru

“Stop stirring!” I say, waving her away.

“Birthday. What are we going to do for your birthday?” Kendall asks, sounding more a

“I don’t know. I’m sure there’ll be a hundred parties going on that we can attend.” I pour a measuring cup of batter and watch the first pancake form.

“Wow, it smells really good in here,” Jameson says groggily as he sits at the kitchen table looking half asleep. “We have a pitcher?” he asks, eyeing the glass pitcher holding orange juice.

“Shhh, we’re discussing birthday plans,” Kendall snaps, waving her hand at him dismissively.

“That’s right. Ace, when’s your actual birthday? I know Kendall mentioned celebrating on Halloween.”

“It is Halloween,” she says.

I look at Jameson questionably. Kendall’s never a morning person, but she’s in a particularly grouchy mood this morning, especially for something that seems so trivial.

I dish up some bacon and hand Jameson a bowl filled with scrambled eggs before returning to the stove to flip pancakes.

“It’s Saturday. Saturday mornings I’m supposed to wake up and see this beautiful face,” Max says, holding my face in his hands. I smile and lean forward to kiss lips that are minty from toothpaste. He grins, standing before me wearing only a pair of black mesh shorts. “You’re in trouble.” He growls quietly, lightly biting my ear.

“We’re in trouble,” Jameson says, taking a piece of bacon, “We’re being domesticated. We have a pitcher.” He waves his hand in front of it.

Max ignores him and kisses me again.

“Can you guys wait like fifteen minutes? I’ve been hearing about these pancakes for the last couple of months.” Jameson groans.

I laugh and plate some pancakes. As I pour more batter, Max wraps his arms around me from behind and holds me tightly against his chest as I continue flipping and pouring.

“You’ve permanently ruined me of every other pancake. My mom’s going to be heartbroken,” Jameson says between mouthfuls.

“It’s the chocolate chips,” I confess.

“No, it’s the deliciousness,” Jameson mumbles, making me laugh.

“You know, we could go to the haunted house,” Kendall suggests, scrolling through her phone.

“You want to wear your naughty nurse costume through a haunted house?” I ask her dubiously.

“No, just for something to do. We could go this weekend!”

“You girls are so going to scream!” Jameson chides.

“Do you want to go?” Max asks, looking at me with uncertainty.

“About as much as I wanted to get a tattoo. Yet, I still have a tattoo.” He smiles and softly kisses my temple.

Later that morning I text Abby, extending an invite to her and Jesse. Surprisingly she accepts and we agree to all meet at seven at Antonio’s Pizza Palace. I’ve hardly seen Abby in the past couple of weeks other than the few occasions that she and I have made plans to hang out. I tried to apologize for the excitement that led to Max coming over and ransacking our apartment, and although she seems to have forgiven him, Jesse has no interest in hanging out with us, and it causes a bit of tension between us.

The haunted house is horrifying. I literally feel like it strips four years of my life away as we’re chased by a man with a chainsaw, another with a large axe, and countless other menacing characters through the scarcely lit space as spooky sounds and screams echo around us. By the end, Kendall has latched herself like a barnacle to both Jameson and Max. While I’m tightly wound around one of Jesse’s arms and Abby has a strangle hold on the other.

“Seriously. Never again,” I repeat, reluctantly releasing my hold from Jesse as we make it through the exit. I jump as a hand lands on my back and look back to see Max gri

“A little jumpy?” he teases, arching that single eyebrow with the look that melts my a

I am jumpy, to the point that it’s a bit embarrassing. I cling to Max’s side for the remainder of the evening that we spend back at the guys’, laughing and telling stories. The previous awkwardness with Jesse seems to have been left behind in the walls of the haunted house. Perhaps it’s from seeing Max in a more relaxed setting and realizing that the version he’d seen wasn’t his normal state. Or maybe it’s the fact that I was plastered to his side like drywall out of desperation for what seemed like hours, but was probably closer to twenty minutes. I don’t spend much time speculating what has changed the overall demeanor, but I’m grateful for it as I sit back and soak it in.

My birthday passes in a buzz of costumes and parties, ending at the hospital where Sava

“I can’t stop reading this!” Kendall squeals, pinching the bridge of her nose. The book drops to her chest as she falls back into the couch beside me.

I grin at her and nod. “I know, it’s like a train wreck. You can’t turn back and it keeps getting worse!”

She giggles, pumping her feet into the air.

Jameson and Max enter the room and I glance at the clock on the wall, wondering what they’re doing back so soon. They were supposed to go to the gym, and I was hoping to be gone by the time that they returned. It’s only been fifteen minutes.

Max and I are experiencing one of our first awkward stages. We’ve just returned from Arizona where we attended his older brother Billy’s wedding. The long weekend had been amazing, until the night before we left when Max made a comment about sex just being sex that sent me on the strange path I’m still trying to navigate, making me speculate things about our relationship that I haven’t before now.

“What’s with this chick crying every time they have sex? That’s not normal! Is it?” Kendall asks, looking at me confused, “Do you cry during sex? I don’t.”

“Can we not be that open with all of that, babe?” Jameson asks, obviously uncomfortable.

“Wouldn’t you rather hear what I have to say, as opposed to doing it behind closed doors? Because it’s going to happen, one way or the other.”

“You don’t just start a conversation like that about sex!” Jameson cries, and if I wasn’t in such a mood I’d probably laugh at the vulnerability he’s showing.

Jameson has become one of my favorite people. I’m beyond happy he and Kendall are dating. The first day that I’d met Jameson my initial thought was that the calm, inquisitive, and caring side he’d shown me at the track was just a façade, but it wasn’t. He is hilarious and goofy with a radiant energy, and calm and caring with a more inquisitive nature than most.

“Like you guys don’t talk about sex, please!” Kendall retorts.

“Yeah, isn’t sex just sex? Something we just do because it’s our primal instinct? We are animals,” I say.

“And with that, I think you’re done reading this book,” Jameson says, grabbing the book off of her chest and winging it across the room. “Something tells me they need to talk.” He grabs Kendall’s hand and pulls her up.

“Here’s some good advice, don’t repeat whatever it was you said before,” Kendall says, widening her eyes and nodding at him before they walk down the hall disappearing into Jameson’s room.

I intentionally avoid Max by turning my back and heading up the stairs to get my things.

“How long are you going to freeze me out?” he demands, following close on my heels.