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Two childhood friends are in denial regarding their "platonic" relationship. |
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Elephant in the Room "I said I don't want to do this-" "Do what?" "You know what I'm talking about, Max. I just can't do this right now-" she uttered with great reluctance and a swipe at her wet hair. "Yeah, we are, Van. We're settling this right now!" He declared, catching her arm by the elbow and spun her back around to face him. "We're gonna get pneumonia out here! We'll talk later!" Max realized faintly that they were standing near the side of the road in the middle of a downpour...ten forty-five at night in downtown Chicago. The neon signs reflected brightly among the scattered pools of water in the street. Pockets of people hoofed it on the sidewalks. Cars made themselves scarce tonight. Usually they teemed at the club nestled in the corner. He, his sister- her best friend- and a few mutual friends always tried to hit this club with Savannah as a farewell gesture every chance she made her sporadic visits to their hometown. Despite their best efforts, the gang always ended up grasping for straws... until tonight. Van's date had connections and somehow wrangled them the best locale in the club. They all came with dates, which wasn't really outside the norm. This time, however, was different. It bothered him to see her with someone, was what it all boiled down to. During the last two weeks, he had had more of a chance to hang out with her than his kid sister, Mackenzie had. Memories of early childhood and adolescence seeped into his mind. Of how he'd put a grasshopper in her vanilla milkshake during her thirteenth birthday party at his parents house. Or that other time, the whole block had hosted some snowman building contest and he promptly stole the carrot nose along with that corncob pipe from her snowman. Almost immediately, he ran like the blazes-with her hot on his heels... Snapping back to the present and looking at her now (madder than hell with him at the moment), it struck him that she really was...all grown up. "Max, I am not that little girl you used as a torture hobby anymore! Why did you punch that guy? We were dancing, that was it. I only need one dad- and that slot's already filled, thank you very much! " "Look," he began earnestly, placing his hands on both her shoulders. "I'll admit I was a bit cocky back there-" "You mean, arrogant?" She interjected crisply, arms folded and gazed up at him. "Listen; that guy had absolutely no right treating you like that. I mean, Alan was one of my college buddies and all...but by no small margins were we all that tight, either. I just realized why. I wasn't gonna just stand by and let him get away with that. I just couldn't...do that." He offered this last with a slight shrug. A sliver of understanding crept slowly across her face and for a moment, she could not assemble a single sentence. And that just didn't happen to her. Unsteadiness evident in her voice, she shouted over the rain. "You know, you left out of there pretty quick. I think Jasmine's still in there, probably wanting to know why she's in there alone and you out here with me." After a brief pause, Max gazed at her evenly and finally answered. "I think that in of itself is more of an explanation than anything else." Unable to hide her surprise, she shot him an incredulous look. |
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