Becoming His

After fidgeting and moving around for what feels like hours, I give up and decide to go seek out Kendall. I’m a little disappointed she hasn’t appeared tonight. I turn on my bedside lamp and my phone buzzes nearly instantaneously, notifying me of a text. My alarm clock verifies it’s already after two so I know it’s Max before I grab it.

Max: U ok?

Me: :) Just miss you.

Max: I cnt sleep either. Come unlock the door.

I flip the covers off and silently make my way to the front door without responding. As it swings open, I’m engulfed by Max’s arms as he buries his face in my hair and takes a few deep breaths. I know in my logical mind that this is silly. We’ve only been apart a couple of hours and I’ll be seeing him in a few more. This dependency is ridiculous, but my heart pushes logic away, and I wrap myself around Max and absorb his warmth.

He silently leads me back to my room in a pair of baggy sweatpants that hang low on his hips in a tantalizing fashion, along with a tight white V-neck T-shirt that stretches across his back muscles. Pulling my back to his chest, he brings my sheet over us, followed by a blanket, with a sense of familiarity that it doesn’t seem he should have since he’s only slept here once before.

“Where are your keys, babe?” he whispers, ru

“In my purse on my desk,” I answer, suddenly feeling exhausted with the comforting weight and warmth of Max. “I love you, Max.”

“I love you too,” he says softly. “So much it hurts.” I feel the heat of his lips press against my neck and let out a deep breath as I fall further into him.

The next morning I wake up feeling a silent panic radiating through me, not because I fear being caught with Max in my bed again, but because my leg moves easily without having to unlock from Max’s grip. My body lurches up and I look around my empty room, and let out a deep sigh when I confirm what I already know: Max is next door.

Kyle and Mindi are the first to arrive as my dad and I cook breakfast. Dad goes out to help get the girls organized as Kyle takes a short reprieve, likely from Mindi.

“Hey!” I cry, throwing a kitchen towel at him.

Kyle’s face turns up in an i

I simply shake my head in response. Kyle’s a bottomless pit. You have to watch food as well as drinks in his presence. I turn the griddle pan on to heat up for the pancakes, looking out the window to see where Mindi and Dad have gone. They’re in the driveway talking with our neighbors, the Fields, as they go on their morning walk with their poodle Grizzly.

“So, I overheard something last weekend.” I turn at Kyle’s apprehensive tone, and see his long body leaning against the kitchen counter, his ankles and arms both crossed.

I eye him curiously. “Who did you overhear?” I ask, grabbing a large mixing bowl and turning to the fridge for some ingredients.

“I heard you tell Max that you love him.”

I set the ingredients down and turn to look at Kyle, knowing that there’s more.

“I have to say, it scares me a little. You’re really serious about him, aren’t you?”

I feel an edge of awkwardness between Kyle and me; not because I doubt my feelings for Max, it’s more that Kyle knows my reluctance to use words like love without meaning them. In many ways Kyle probably knows me too well.

“I do,” I answer. Kyle’s soft blue eyes stare intently at mine. It’s a similar one to the one that I receive from Max, like they’re reading my very soul. “So stop telling him you’ll punch him for coming around,” I tease in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Kyle snickers and bounces his leg a few times to an imaginary beat that only he hears, displaying a nervous habit that he’s always had. “Good, I’m glad he remembers that!” he says, pushing off the counter.

“Really though, I’m glad that you found someone that makes you so happy. You’re different with him. You seem happier, less consumed with trying to make everyone else happy.”

My mind begins churning with his words.

“Hey,” Kyle says, grabbing my hand, “that’s not a bad thing. I’m glad to see that you’re happy. We all are. He brings out a side of you that I just don’t see very often. You seem more carefree, braver. It’s good, I just…” he takes a deep breath “…I don’t know, I’m just being stupid. You’re my little sister and one of my best friends. It’s just weird. I’ve never seen you very serious with a guy. With Max it’s different. You look at him different, you act different with him, and I just feel like a sentimental asswipe.”

I wrap my arms around Kyle’s waist in a hug. “I love you too,” I say, burying my face in his shoulder.

“I love you too, Ace,” he says, constricting his arms tighter around my back. “I will kill him if he hurts you.” I nod into his shirt, smiling into the cotton.

Overly stuffed and feeling drugged from our food coma, Je

Kendall glances over my shoulder and grins. “That’s who teaches Philosophy? No wonder there was a waiting list! I want him to teach me a thing or two.”

“Let me see,” Je

I toss her my phone and she stares at the screen for a couple of moments, looking thoughtful before her lips creep up in a smile.

“How are you going to set me up with your teacher?”

I smile in victory and give a small shrug. I really haven’t thought that far ahead yet, honestly I’m not even sure that he’s single. I briefly consider how to pose a question to find out without making it look like I’m interested in him, because that would make things really awkward.

“I’m not sure yet, but I have to go. It’s nearly midnight, which means it’s Max’s birthday!”

“What are you going to do?” Kendall asks with a wry smile.

“Go see him.” My sisters both laugh and shoot jokes to my back as I leave.

When I quietly open Max’s bedroom door I see his silhouette illuminated from the dim moonlight pouring through the open window by his bed that looks out to my room. He’s sprawled out on his stomach, his bare shoulders slightly rising with each of his heavy breaths.

I silently cross the room to his bed and lean over Max’s broad frame and softly press my lips between his shoulders, creating a trail of kisses ending with a soft bite to his shoulder.

“Mmmm, Ace.” He moans as his hand snakes out and grasps my thigh while I place a hand on the bed and gingerly climb up and straddle his lower back. His eyes remain closed as I lean closer to him, ru

“Happy Birthday, Max,” I whisper against his ear.

A smile forms on his lips and his hand squeezes my thigh. “You’re the best birthday present I could’ve imagined,” he says softly, his voice deep from sleep.

I kiss along his neck, absorbing the heat of his skin that radiates his spicy, sweet scent. He gives a soft groan in response, his muscles clenching, notifying me that I have his full attention.