~~~
Of course the hardest part
Is letting go
But you got to or you know
You'll end up waiting by the
Phone me once in a while
Let me know you're all right
Tell you again that I'm fine
Then we'll go about our separate lives
~Eve6~Anphetamines~
~~~
Alec lay sprawled on the sofa loud music blaring from the headphones perched on his blonde head. Max padded into the room and paused for several seconds contemplating before snatching the headphones from Alec's ears.
"Jesus Christ!" Alec shouted, "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that."
"I didn't SNEAK up on you," Max replied. "I walked. I probably could have stomped and you couldn't have heard when you've got Blink 182 playing live and uncensored in the room!" Alec shot her a forced smile and grabbed his headphones from her.
"I take it you want the sofa?" he said, more a statement than a question.
"Well we're in a good mood aren't we?" Max asked impressed that Alec hadn't lashed out at her.
"Yep and you aren't going to ruin it for me," Alec replied his smile slowly becoming a smirk, "In fact I'm going to break out the hand puppet for tonight's jack off session." Max was caught completely off guard by this and could come up with no witty response. In fact she was seriously wondering whether she would be able to form a coherent sentence for at least three hours. "Oh come on Maxie!" Alec said clearly enjoying her discomfort, "I'm a 20 year old male. That's a synonym for one who beats off."
After several seconds of embarrassed sputtering Max managed to speak, "You are such a jackass. Just because I live here doesn't mean I want to be informed of your- habits!" Alec watched her smiling smugly.
"Is our little solider blushing?" he taunted. "Honestly Chipmunk I thought you'd have a higher tolerance for this kind of stuff."
Max scowled at her blonde roommate and shoved him off the sofa. He dropped gracefully to the floor, obviously having anticipated her attack. "Go!" she ordered, quickly lying on the sofa to prevent him from sitting down again, "And quit it with the retarded pet names. If you can't think of any clever or cute one's just avoid addressing me directly or use my name."
"Brownie," he suggested only to have a sofa cushion chucked at him by Max.
"Alright… Tiger," he said after several minutes of thought. Max cocked her head softly whispering the nickname as if getting acquainted with it.
"Tiger," she said, "…I like it." Alec smiled and started off for the bathroom.
"Well I'm going to go take a shower now Tiger I'll try to leave ya some hot water but I'm not making any guarantees," he called
"Max sighed and flicked on the T.V. channel surfing for a while before she became aware of a soft scratching sound. She scanned the room suspiciously and strained her ears to locate the source of the sound.
"Maaaaaaaaxiiiie," a high singsong voice shouted. She spun around and caught sight of something peeking around the corner of the bathroom door. Max walked towards the bathroom and burst out laughing when she saw what the thing was. A little hand puppet was poking around the corner of the door its crudely formed little hands waving at her wildly. Max sank to her knees choking back the giggles that were wracking her body. She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes and launched herself at the little puppet. She tackled Alec to the ground and they lay next to each other laughing. Max rested her head on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor and studied the puppet.
"Did you make this?" she asked with a grin turning to face Alec. He nodded and snatched it out of her hands.
"Just now actually," he said with a smirk. Max's smile slowly faded not quite sure how to take this bit of information.
"For me?" she asked.
"Yeah," Alec said with a smile, "You're more fun when you're laughing." He brushed a lock of hair of her face and their eye's locked. They leaned towards each other, still lying on the floor, lips nearly touching when a loud bang on the door brought them back to reality.
"God damn it!" Alec shouted leaping to his feet. Max blinked torn between the hilarity of Alec's reaction and the shock of what had almost happened. She ran to the door composing herself before flinging it open. Original Cindy stood in the doorway.
"Hey!" Max cried hugging her friend.
"Hey Boo!" O.C. replied, "Thought I'd pay my best girl a visit at her new home." She caught sight of Alec pacing behind Max breathing heavily and running his hands through his short blonde hair, "Is our little solider alright Boo?" she whispered nodding towards Alec.
"Who knows," Max sighed and led Cindy to the sofa, "Come on sit down I'll kick Alec outa here and we can talk." Alec as if having heard the comment turned and spoke, "I'm gonna go take that shower now," he said and wheeled around locking himself in the bathroom. Cindy raised an eyebrow in the direction of the bathroom as Max went over to pick something off the floor. She walked back to the sofa and said down smiling at the ugly little puppet in her hands. Cindy stared at her for several seconds before deciding to go ahead and say what she had come over to say.
"I know you and pretty boy aren't an item Boo," she informed a shocked Max.
"Wha- Wh- How?" Max sputtered.
"Look the two of you have enough UST to keep the whole city lit for months," O.C. explained but Max only looked confused.
"Unresolved Sexual Tension," she clarified smiling at the expression that got from her friends, "And generally, Boo, when two people of living together the tension has been… resolved." Max sat letting the confession sink in and in the silence the two girls heard a low mumbling.
She said
That I'm not the one that she thinks about
And
She said it stopped being fun I just bring her down
I said
Don't let your future be destroyed by my past
She said
Don't let my door hit your ass
"Is he singing?" Max asked in horror.
"Sounds like it," Cindy responded, her expression one of amusement. Their eyes locked and they both burst out laughing simultaneously.
"That's weird in an endearing sorta way," Max gasped once she had gotten herself under control. O.C. nodded and ruffled Max's hair.
"You ever do decide to hook up with him Boo you got my blessing," she said just before the water shut off. Max and O.C. scrambled back to the sofa just before Alec left the bathroom, shirtless and dripping wet, a cloud of steam rushing out behind him. He looked at O.C. and Max who were a mess of tangled limbs on the couch from their rush to avoid getting caught spying.
"I interrupt something here?" he asked, "Cause if so I'm thinking threesome." Max flicked him off and O.C. smiled, disentangling herself and heading to the door.
"I gotta jet I'll see you two later," she called and left the apartment leaving Max and Alec alone. Alec walked over to the corner of the room and swung his legs over a bar, which had been nail to the wall. He dangled there for a while before starting his nightly regimen of curl ups. Max strolled over and watched him.
"She knows," Max said simply.
"What the hell do you mean 'she knows'? How could she know anything? D'you tell her?" Alec demanded pausing in his workout to study her.
"I didn't say a thing. She just said that we didn't act resolved," Max said defensively.
"What the fuck do you mean resolved?" Alec asked becoming frustrated.
"Unresolved Sexual Tension. That's what she called it. She said we had a lot of it," Max explained. Alec nodded suddenly understanding. Max caught a glint of silver on his right index finger and she grabbed his hand examining it. Alec glared at her trying to pull his arm back but being upside down he had a definite disadvantage. Max pulled the silver ring off his finger for a closer look.
"Hey!" Alec protested but Max walked away with it and he was in no mood to go chasing after her. She studied the silver band. It was plain except for his name engraved in delicate lettering around the band. She smiled and slid it onto the chain around her neck.
"I'm keeping this!" she called. There was no response from the ring's original owner so she flounced off happily to watch T.V.