He brings a guest

There was a knock at the door, and I almost screamed, half from fright, half from excitement. I heard my mom padding her way towards the door, and I screamed down the hallway "I'll get it!" With a little more of my emotions getting through than I would like.

I ran to the door, sliding on my socks as I came to a stop, grabbing the handle to keep from falling over. I could see his silhouette through the glass on the door. "Fuck. He's here. Fuckfuckfuck." I took a deep breath, checked my hair, and opened the door.

And there he was. Max. Only, not the Max I remembered. The Max I remembered, while admittedly a heartthrob in my own eyes, was, for lack of a better word, gangly. He had always been a little nerdy, and his glasses made his head look too big for his skinny neck.

If the Max I remembered was a heartthrob, Max was a sex-symbol knockout. Gone was the gangly boyman I remembered, and in his place was a hunk of rippling muscle with Max's face on top. _"Was that shirt painted on? Am I staring?" _I barely had time for my brain to crash and attempt a reboot before Max's arms swept me up in to a big hug. Those muscular arms...

"His glasses are gone... contacts?" My brain tried in vain to ground itself, instead being caught up in all the nuance of the situation. He was taller. His shirt was tight. His glasses were gone. His shirt was tight.

His smile was still there! That was comforting.

His jeans were tight.

He set me down and backed away, chuckling as I desperately tried to say anything at all.

Max's chuckle died in his throat as he took me in, quivering there and glancing up and down his body. "Holy shit Les, you look... amazing."

I snapped to attention, some distant and primal part of my brain recognizing my moment in front of me. The oldest of instincts guiding me to procreate with this gorgeous man in front of me. THAT part knew that I should probably say something. The rest of me just couldn't figure out what.

"h-haha, yeah..." I mumbled, blushing to the roots of my hair. "Thanks..." "god why am I so lame what am I doing"

"And you got your braces off? Finally!!!" He laughed, going for a high-five. I weakly raised my hand, pressing it against his much larger one. "That's not the only thing I'd like to press against your much larger -- focus, fuck, focus!"

"Now we can finally eat all the gummy worms we want! And popcorn!" He grinned down at me, his face covered with genuine excitement.

Oh.

There he is.

There's Max.

Seeing him smile at me like that, everything fell back into place. This was still him. He was still my friend. I can do this.

He stared off into space for a moment, a pensive expression on his face. "Oh! And caramel! Lots and lots of caramel!" he exclaimed, as if remembering something he forgot. "I'm gonna go grab some later for you for sure."

I found myself laughing in spite of myself. "Yeah, you should like... spend the night or something! You know, like we used to?" I hadn't run it by my mom at all, but I figured she'd probably be okay. If it wasn't obvious with the outfit I was getting away with here, she kinda liked Max and had been pushing for us to get together since way before I realized I liked him. I glanced back to where I had heard mom walking, but she had the decency to give us a little privacy.

As I glanced back, I saw the slightest flick of Max's eyes. "Holy shit, that's it -- he just checked me out!" His eyes had definitely just glanced up from my chest. I knew it. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all! "Come hang out with me in my room! You can tell me all about your CRAZY adventures at college!" I grabbed his hand and started to pull him to the stairs. "One netflix and chill coming right up" I thought smugly.

"Uh, that's actually something I wanted to talk to you about Les!" Max said. I slowed, still holding his hand as a puzzled look crossed my face. A car door slammed just outside.

"What do you mean, Max?" I asked, my heart pounding.

Max slowly pulled his hand out of mine as another figure else stepped up to the doorway. My heart sank, as all my worst nightmares came true.