Max rolled over, finally acknowledging the time. A little past ten. He rubbed his face and tried to bring himself to roll out of bed. The camera guy he had shared the room with interrupted his internal pep talk by getting up and walking to the bathroom. A good excuse for him to stay in bed just a little bit longer. Even more of a relief was when he heard the shower start.
Max rolled back onto the side he had slept on and cuddled up with his pillow. He wondered what Nev was doing right this second. Also, how he had looked when he woke up, if his hair was as messy, and most importantly; if he was thinking the same things about him.
Max knew the odds of that. He wasn't a gambling man, but he'd be willing to bet that Nev was getting up to get on with his morning without even giving him a passing thought. But maybe, just maybe, if he were lucky, Nev would give him a personal wake up call. He sometimes did that if he had been cold the day before.
Sure enough there was a little tap at the door and Nev entered with a small camera in hand. Max pulled the covers up over his shoulders and pretended to be asleep so Nev would have to come closer. Nev crept up softly as if he were going to do that anyway. There was a shift of the mattress as if he had sat down then a hand went to his shoulder and softly shook.
"Wake up sleepy head." Nev drawled out as he snaked the camera around to get Max's "just woken-up face". Max noticed this and tried to give a convincing one. Nev grabbed the top of the blanket and pulled it lower to get a better shot with the camera. While doing this he lightly ran his fingers down Max's arm and they both wondered if the other had noticed that or not. Max gave a sleepy smile and opened his eyes only to a squint.
Max rolled back into the pillow and yawned deeply. If he couldn't wake up next to Max every morning then this was certainly the next best thing. He used the wall behind the bed to push off and stretched as far as his body could possibly go then rolled onto his back. He had slept shirtless and the stretching and flipping had the blanket around his abdomen, right where Max had intended for it to end up. Well, actually it could be on the floor along with his and Nev's clothes but with this little of a barrier between him and Nev, this was not the time to think of such things.
Nev tried to tear his eyes away from Max's chest but he just couldn't seem to. God, why had he picked last night to sleep with his shirt off. He had always been envious of Max's hair free chest, probably because it was the exact opposite of what he had. A thick carpet of dark hair covering his entire chest, and unfortunately lower. But the envy was not the reason he could not look away. Max had started working out with him and his pecks were becoming more defined. Also his abs looked tighter. He was nowhere near being ripped but the way his muscles sprawled across his chest is what held his stare.
"Camera guy was asleep when I got out of the shower last night. Didn't want to wake him up with the light and didn't want to fumble through my bag more than I had to."
Nev distantly heard Max's words and had a passing thought of whether or not he had managed to find his underwear in the dark. He cleared his throat and pushed those thoughts to the back burner where he usually kept them. He hit the little red button on the camera to end that recording, not really sure of what he had recorded.
Nev hopped up before he could continue his train of thought. "So, I'm going to run down to the lobby and get us some Starbucks. What are you feelin' this morning?"
A devilish smile played at Max's lips but he controlled it and concealed it. Oh today was going to be a good day. The days that Nev spent sucking up to him made him feel like the day before wasn't that bad. But Nev only kept this up if Max could play his cards right. Max needed to act mad still. The days was just getting started after all.
He sat up on the edge of the bed with the blanket still precariously covering his groin. He had seen Nev's wandering eyes and wanted to keep him guessing as to whether or not he had more on than this. "I'll have whatever you're having" he said absently as another yawn crept up. It was a nice touch to his nonchalance even though he hadn't meant to do it.
Nev looked crestfallen that Max hadn't shown more enthusiasm about his offer. Sure he was still getting them coffee but he wanted to get Max something that he wanted, not just whatever Nev was getting.
"Well, alright." Nev fiddled with the camera in an attempt to hide how hurt he was. He turned and started towards the door. With a backwards glance he added, "but you better be up and dressed when I get back."
As the door closed Max allowed the smile to finally break. He felt only slightly bad about the way he treated Nev on days like this because honestly, he deserved it. Nev couldn't be the one with the power all the time. It felt nice to have Nev's emotions in his hands instead of the other way around. He got up and started getting dressed. A good day indeed.
Max already had the laptop set up and the webcam in the optimum position when Nev returned. He walked carefully as he had two steaming cups of coffee in his hands.
Nev held a cup out to Max in a fashion that could have been taken as a peace offering.
"White mocha caramel" Then he made eye contact. "made with soy milk."
Max took the cup with a smirk and an approving nod. Ok. This boy was really trying today. Max didn't have anything against cow milk, it's just that soy milk gave coffee that little extra something. Especially Starbucks coffee.
Max took the lid off so it could cool a bit and breathed in its aroma deeply. He exhaled with a "hmmmmm". Nev was still standing there as if the coffee had displeased Max in any way he would have ran it back down to the lobby to change or fix it. Max said thank you and then suggested they get to work.
Nev took his seat in the office chair next to Max thinking that that was the best he was going to get of a thank you. Max was either still mad at him or was toying with him, either way he would go along with it because he felt like he deserved it. He wished so badly that he could openly have feeling for Max, but he had been suppressing it for so long now that it seemed second nature. Also, he didn't want to lose his friend. He had lost him once after Nev dropped out of college.
The pressure had become too much for Nev. He was failing most of his classes anyway and then that night at the frat house changed everything. He had been pretending for so long that he was strictly straight. He tried to drown out his thoughts and desire of Max in any girl that would give him the time of day, which in the Greek system, was plenty. That still hadn't changed his feelings for Max. That night had scared him so much because all of his suppressed thoughts had been brought to a boil so quickly.
Soon thereafter, Nev had dropped out of college to pursue other interests. Other interests that turned out to be nothing more than staying at home all day on the internet. He moved in with his brother and became a recluse. He tried to avoid talking to people because all they really had to talk to him about was, "so what are you doing now?" "do you have a job yet?" " I'm here if you need someone to talk to." And though all of this seemed concerned and helpful coming from their perspective, it had only made him feel worse, especially the last one. Most definitely he avoided talking to Max.
He already thought of Max enough. The constant attempts to get in touch with him only made him feel worse. He couldn't face Max. At first for the fear that the freedom he had now would send him into a tailspin. He thought the words "I Love You, while they had been together that night and he still felt that wholeheartedly. God only knew what he would do if they had the freedom to be themselves. Later what kept him from talking to Max was the fact that his life had gone nowhere since he dropped out. Max had gone on to graduate and was probably doing something great. A lot more than Nev had accomplished which was an online relationship of 3 years.
When his brother suggested they do their final film project on him and his online relationship, Nev was hesitant. Finally agreeing to do the film was the one decision that had changed all their lives forever and had even brought Nev and Max back together. After his public failure of online dating had been displayed to the world Nev retreated even futher into his reclusive shell. When Nev finally worked up the nerve to get back on the internet, his first stop was Facebook. No more dating sites for him. He was exasperated at the amount of messages and notifications he had. His phone had been going so wild lately that when it died, he simply didn't recharge it. He clicked the little red icon just to make it go away but it took him to the messages page. One in particular stood out to him. Max had messaged him. He had given up trying to contact him for a while. He had no doubt watched his public humiliation. Nev wanted to open a vein in a hot bath. Instead he open that one message from Max. It simply said "Hey".
Nev was on the verge of ignoring it like he had all the others Max had tried to send before that, but he just sat there staring at the tiny icon of his profile picture. Nev was more alone now than he had ever been. He craved the old friendship that he used to have with Max and even felt himself tearing up at the thought of how much fun they used to have together. Just then, the little green dot appeared next to his icon picture and a new message appeared.
Hey!(: You aren't still ignoring me are you?
Nev's heart skipped a few beats. It was hard to ignore a message when the person was right there on the other end of the computer. It almost felt like they were in the same room having an actual conversation. Somehow his fingers found their way to the keyboard but he had no idea what to say. Instead he put his number. The first time they talked in years wasn't going to be over the internet.
Nev raced to his phone to put it on the charger and get it turned on. He hoped to hell he hadn't missed the call. He berated himself about not having his phone charged when it started to vibrate in his hand. He hadn't missed it.
He slid the green phone to the right to answer the call and cleared his throat so his voice didn't crack. "Hello?"
"Nev?" A hesitant voice was on the other end but it was most definitely Max.
It was so good to hear his old friend's voice that a sharp gasp caught in his throat. His voice came out soft because if it were any louder it would have broken. He was on the verge of tears as it was.
"Yeah, it's me." His hand went to his throat. He was sitting on the floor because his mind had only been focused on getting the phone on the charger and not optimum seating. But instead of moving, he remained on the floor, put his back to the bed, and pulled his knees up. He rested his chin there while the two of them talked. They talked for hours about everything under the sun. They even talked about the documentary his brother had made about Nev's online dating escapades, but at that point in their conversation, he didn't seem bothered or embarrassed by it at all. He was talking about it with his best friend, and it was as if they hadn't been apart for more than a few hours.
Things had really started falling into place for Nev after that. His brother called with the news that MTV wanted to make their documentary into a tv show and the rest seemed so rushed that it was even a jumbled mess in Nev's head. One thing he knew for sure was that he could not go forward with this show without Max in his life and before he knew it he had asked Max to be his partner in it. Nev's brother wasn't too happy about it, but then took a very cushy job of assisting in producing the show, so his distaste for bringing in a new face was quieted.
