Chapter 16

Author Note:
Sorry for the late update, hurricane fiona and a storm right after it messed me up a little… also, on these lasts months of the year, my job gets harder & more stressful and it’s starting to get harder to write for both of my stories (Zenkals & Just One Night) so I decided to stop the scheduled upload, meaning the weekly update. I’m gonna finished the stories, of course, but I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to post from now on. I apologize for the inconveniences.

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*William was in his room stretching after working out when his phone rang signaling a message came in. He checked and saw the message was from Max.*

*“Are you at home? If yes, can I stay the night?”*

*William stared at his phone screen for a few seconds, finding it strange. It was nighttime in the middle of the week and they had school the next day. Max knew his parents didn’t like him to stay up late on school days.*

*“Mom.” He found her in the kitchen organizing the tableware they used for dinner. “Can Max stay the night?”*

*“Stay the night, so sudden? Did something happen?”*

*“I haven’t asked.”*

*“Well, as long as the two of you go to sleep early, I see no problem.”*

*“Thanks.”*

*He sent the message to Max. The ‘read’ sign came up right away, meaning Max had their chat opened. Not even a second after, William heard a knock on his door. He looked in that direction in shock.*

*‘He was right outside?’*

*He opened up and saw Max with a suitcase that would carry more clothes than needed for a sleepover. He let him in and Max walked straight to his room, strangely, not saying hi to Celia whom they could hear singing in the kitchen. In his room, Max put his suitcase in front of the bed and then walked to one of the windows and stayed looking outside.*

*“Is everything ok?”*

*“My parents were fighting. I didn’t want to hear them so I just left.”*

*William looked at the big suit and tried to lift it. It was heavy so he wondered how big of a fight it was for him to fill the suit with probably all his clothes.*

*“Your parents never argue in a way that makes you want to avoid it. What was it about, if I can know?”*

*“I told them I’m bisexual,” Max said bluntly.*

*William froze for a moment.*

*“Oh, ok.”*

*Max looked back at him with an angered expression.*

*“’Oh, ok’?”*

*William shrugged.*

*“I kind of knew already.”*

*“What?” Max paled.*

*“I don’t know. It was more like a hunch.” He got closer to Max.*

*“And you never mentioned it?” Max looked angry and William didn’t know why.*

*“It was just a hunch. And I didn’t care if it turned out to be true.”*

*“You don’t care?” Max said angry, but with his eyes filling with tears. William tried to reach him but Max pushed him away. “We are nothing! We are just neighbors who spend a lot of time together.” A tear escaped one of his eyes. “My mother raised me my whole life and she—”*

*Max’s voice broke and sobbed. He covered his mouth with a hand but the sobs and the tears kept coming out. William reached out and pulled him into a hug. He could imagine now what the fight was about. His mother was very religious. The reason William had the hunch was that every time Max's mother started to preach her ideas against gays, lesbians, or bisexuals, Max looked very uncomfortable and like he wanted to leave the room.*

*“You are my best friend. A brother God sent me without having to get my mother pregnant. I’ve met you my whole life and you are one of the best human beings I’ve met, who you like and love doesn’t make you any lesser than the great person you are.”*

*Max’s knees buckled and he dragged William down with him. William hugged him tighter, patting his back softly and letting him cry on his shoulder. He saw movement in the corner of his eyes and looked to see his mother's face through the slit of the door, with tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks. She pouted and waved him goodnight, closing the door, not wanting to make Max more uncomfortable or interrupt his relief.*

*He stayed with him there until he stopped crying and then rested on the bed. They talked for a while as they were not sleepy yet.*

*“Do you like any of us?” William asked curious, considering his likes and how close they all were. Max looked beyond uncomfortable and looked at the ceiling.*

*“I don’t want to make everything uncomfortable.”*

*“Bro, this is already uncomfortable.” William chuckled. “So you like us.” Max looked at him with a sad expression and nodded. “Who do you like more?”*

*“Leo,” Max whispered with an even sadder face.*

*“Leo?” William asked bewildered before cracking up.*

*Leo was probably the straightest of them; he was just very comfortable with flirting with everybody around. William knew the sad face came from; they were not going to push him away, but they were not going to date him as any of them shared his preference. In Leo’s case was worse because he might try to comply to not hurt Max and their friendship, and that would make things worse at some point.*

*The next day, they were at the cafeteria eating, Max sitting next to Theo, and Leo and William sitting in front of them.*

*“I’m bisexual,” Max said bluntly.*

*Leo, who was directly in front of him, spit out what he was chewing, getting it on him and his uniform, and started coughing and gasping for air.*

*“Were you planning to kill me?” Leo asked between gasps and coughs, taking a napkin and trying to help him clean the food he got on him.*

*“I was just informing you. I’m fine.”*

*“Ok.” Leo sat down, clearing his throat, and cleaning the tears his choking had brought. “Now what?”*

*“You don’t care?”*

*“No.” he looked at the other two. “Do we?”*

*William and Theo shook their heads and looked at Max with a smile.*

*“Ok, then,” Max muttered looking at his juice with his eyes tearing up.*

*“Now let me finish my sandwich without getting me to put a foot on the other side.” Leo was about to bite when he stopped. “Wait, do you like any of us?” Max looked at him and shook his head. “Well, ok.”*

*While they were walking back to their classroom, William approached Max and talked low so the others wouldn’t hear.*

*“Will you never tell them?”*

*“I don’t see the point. I’ll just get my mind around the idea that it’s impossible and move on. I’ll find a girl to love and have a family.”*

*“A girl? Not a guy?”*

*Max looked at the guys around them, his eyes stopping on the other soccer teammates on a side of the hallway and grimacing.*

*“The three of you kind of set my standards way too high when it comes to men.”*

*William chuckled and put an arm around his shoulders.*

*“Sorry, I guess. We are that amazing.”*

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“You are cheating, right?”

William looked up to see Max looking at Leo with a frown.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Leo said.

“We already cleared the deck, Will and Theo don’t have the joker, me neither, so you are hiding it.”

“Why can’t they be hiding it?”

“Because you are the one who usually cheats.” He grabbed one of his arms and pulled him, and both started to struggle.

“Where did the love go to?” Leo complained before biting Max’s arm.

“You, motherfu—” he started before kicking one of Leo’s legs, making him lose balance on the chair, the joker card coming from underneath him. “You see!” he continuously kicked him.

Theo was laughing looking at the two of them bicker, William was too, but stopped when his phone started to ring. Thinking it could be Leah he quickly grabbed it but saw it was an unknown number. Looking at the screen, he felt a chill running down his spine, having a bad feeling, so he picked up expecting the worse.

“Hello?”

“Why her?” said a voice.

William found himself hanging up the call without thinking. He blinked in surprise when he noticed what he did.

“Who was it?” Asked Theo seeing his expression.

“I think it was Samantha.”

“You think?” Max asked, stopping his fight with Leo.

“It was too fast, I didn’t process it properly.”

“What did she say?”

“’Why her?’” he repeated.

“You can stay in my apartment again,” Max said.

“Or mine.” Leo and Theo said at the same time.

“I cannot be running away every time she tries to sneak through the window.”

“I would; that’s creepy,” Theo murmured.

“You cannot let her get to you. She just wants your full attention on her, so you cannot confront her upfront.”

“I don’t want her to reach Leah,” William muttered.

They all stayed quiet; none knew what Samantha was capable of, sneaking into William’s house and planting cameras and mics could be just the beginning of a much worse path. When she finds out Leah is pregnant and both she and William were keeping the baby, she could just go berserk on them.

William wrote a message for Leah and sent it.

*“Samantha tried to contact me again, she probably saw the photos. Trust me; she is crazy so take care, ok?”*

*“Melissa could easily stab her if she tries something weird on me. Don’t worry about me. You know the famous said ‘if I don’t have you, nobody will.’ So take care of yourself. I want the baby to know their father.”*

William sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa, looking at the ceiling and having another chill after reading Leah’s response.