[16] Don't Like Coffee

Then I do a double take. I squint my eyes suspiciously. "You sure you don't want your regular?"

I'm not quite sure why I ask, but I'm certainly now enjoying how flustered he appears.

"Yeah well um I don't really like coffee," Jack says as his cheeks start to burn up. The obvious crack in his voice doesn't really help ease his embarrassment.

Max and I are both struggling to hold back from laughing now.

Max turns to face Jack, "Can I ask why?"

I watch his Adam's apple move as he gulps and then shrugs. "Coffee makes me nervous," he states with some bit of nonchalance.

Just because he hides the content of his statement with ease, doesn't mean I'll let it slide. Jack-- nervous? In what world? I have to know more. I ask him, "Then why do you order it every day?"

Jack shrugs, "I dunno. It's called liquid courage so..."

I interrupt somewhat rudely, "No, it's not." Then I end with a laugh, "you're thinking of alcohol."

His face displays pure irritation and he grits his teeth. "Whatever."

This only adds to my curiosity. I squint my eyes, "And what would you need courage for exactly?"

"A... lot of different things."

"But you hate coffee?" I ask, hoping to expose the obvious contradiction he doesn't seem to grasp.

He responds, "Yeah, tastes like cat pee."

Max raises his eyebrows with wide eyes and nods while humming, "Agreed."

I don't need them ganging up on me so I take the offensive, asking, "Wait, how do you know what cat pee tastes like?"

Jack ignores my lame attack, continuing, "and it gives you bad breath."

"So does alcohol," I point out.

He smiles with no kindness. "And how do you know that, Mr. Sunshine?"

There's no way I'm answering that. I deflect, "Why do you even come here if it just makes you nervous?"

"I never said that."

"You said that coffee makes you nervous. Why come here every day to buy coffee, then?"

"I got coffee because I didn't know you had hot chocolate."

"But why come here at all-"

"We're not here to talk to me, we're here to talk about Max," Jack states, cutting me off.

I guess he has a point. We should focus on that mystery first.

I tap Jane, another waiter that works here, on the shoulder and ask her kindly to get our orders.

"Yeah," I turn to Max "What's going on? Earlier you seemed... not okay."

Max pales.

"Y-yeah well it's kind of hard to explain," he stumbles on his words, "and I don't want to make a big deal out of nothing."

Jack furrows his eyebrows at Max and insists, "If it was bothering you that much, it's not nothing."

Max mutters, "I have four older brothers."

Jane brings the drinks to the table and I thank her.

Jack looks even more confused, "Cool?"

Max shakes his head and explains, "They're the Thorton twins."

My eyes widen and I slowly exclaim, "Oh," because now I realize where I recognized Max's last name from. His infamous older brothers. I never connected them as being family members because Max looks so different than them.

"That makes more sense," Jack states, the look of confusion disappearing from his face.

"The Thorton twins, as in Luke and Sam Thorton?" I ask, hoping to (while also hoping not to) confirm my suspicion.

"Yep, and don't forget the older ones who also managed to terrorize half their grade and the one below them before they left for who knows where this year after barely graduating," Max says, the resentment in his voice obvious.

"Luke once stole all of my gym clothes while I was showering," I reflect on the memory with distaste.

"They haven't done anything to me personally, but I've heard some things around," Jack comments.

I re-adjust myself in my seat. "So are they bullying you at home?" I ask seriously.

Max eyes widen, "No!" he protests forcefully, then gets quieter, "No, I mean, not really."

"What does 'not really' mean?" Jack inquires.

"That's not the main problem," Max stresses dismissively.

I immediately push him to confess, "Then what is?"

Max looks hesitant but admits, "The main problem is that everyone, everyone, has somehow been affected by my brother's cruelty. They see my last name and..."

He shuffles in his seat and looks down at the table.

"No one wants to be friends with me."

Oh.

I was not expecting that.

"They are scared of me," Max reflects with sadness, then adds, "which actually hurts more than when they get angry."

I want to push him and ask what they do when they get angry, but he soon answers my question for me, adding, "They're angry about what my brothers did and see me as a way to get revenge."

Jack seems taken aback by Max's sudden confession and this only continues as Max continues, "I'm socially ostracized! The reason that it's so hard is that it's not just one group of people, it's the whole school. The students, the teachers, the janitors, the principal, the coaches- they all avoid me like the plague."

"Wow," is all I can manage to say. Jack looks just as shocked.

I'm about to let Max know how sorry I am that this is happening to him when his phone buzzes, shaking violently on the table. He grabs it and takes a glance at it, his eyes scanning over the contents displayed on the screen.

Max sends us an apologetic look and stands, stating, "I've got to go."

"W-well okay, we'll talk more about this later," I say before he walks away. He turns his head and nods to show that he heard me. I slump back in my seat, stunned by how hurried everything has been today.

I don't stay in this state for long as I'm jarred by the grating noise Jack makes by standing up from his chair. I don't know what the etiquette is for situations like this so I choose to just stay sitting. Jack stands there for a moment as I avoid looking at him.

Apparently, this is an offensive choice somehow because Jack pulls me out of my seat and drags me down the hallway and up the stairs to my bedroom. Am I really that impolite? Maybe I should work on my hosting skills.

He turns around to slam the door and push me up against it so that our bodies are making contact in places that I don't think they should. For my personal sanity, at least.

I can't read the expression on his face but it doesn't look happy. He has one hand secured around my forearm and the other holding a tight grip on the collar of my tee shirt.

His hot breath hits my cheek as he lets out a huff and tightens his hold on me. He shifts his weight on his feet slightly and leans into me.

The muscles in his jaw clench as he grits his teeth.

"About earlier..."

------

AN: Hello!

Thank you so much for reading and staying with me as I do my best to have a plot that works with the characters.

What do you think Jack is going to say (or do *wink wink) about earlier? They did kind of get oh so rudely interrupted by Max...

Please comment (I respond to most) and vote! It really means a lot and inspires/encourages me to keep writing and more importantly improve my writing!

I'll edit this chapter later btw

Love,

Leah