Max Fuller's Maze

      

   
Chapter 8

Max's eyes opened slowly, and he blinked several times before he could focus on the wall in front of him. Tilting his head downward, Max spotted Taylor on his brother's bed. His friend was sitting up on his knees, above the cover, with a book in his hands. For a long time, he just laid there staring at his friend, taking him in. His eyes wandered from his bare feet to his face until he noticed that the book was one of his. He began to feel a smile tug at his lips and then his friend looked over and noticed he was awake. Max gave a little smile as he sat up in bed and ask, "How long have you been awake? "

Taylor shrugged, "About a half an hour. Other people are awake, but well, I wasn't sure what to do."

Max was able to hide his amusement successfully. "You could have had breakfast. I'm hungry, are you?"

Taylor agreed and still in their pajamas they headed downstairs. Max was used to the noise and the general chaos in the morning with breakfast. During school days, just about everyone ate together, but weekends were a bit more casual which somehow resulted in more chaos. His mom made them waffles and Taylor tried to be more polite this time, but that was probably lost in the sound of that least three different conversations.

Taylor seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the commotion and quickly slipped back upstairs after finishing his breakfast. Max was slower partly because his Aunt Stephanie drew him into a conversation with her boyfriend. He was only a few minutes behind Taylor but when he got back to his room, he found his friend already dressed. He felt a little disappointed by that and a little self-conscious as he changed.

Going back downstairs they played with Cosmos for a bit and then ARK. Time flew by and before he knew it Taylor's dad was there to pick him up. He wished his friend could stay a bit longer, but they said their goodbyes and once he was gone Max turned off his computer. Max went outside, followed by Cosmos. His furry friend was more interested in finding a good spot in the sun to sleep. He decided to kick a soccer ball around. Sports were not his thing, but it didn't hurt to mess around.

Ramona came into the backyard through the back entrance. She smiled at him and he smiled back. "Forgot your key?" Max asked.

"Yeah, I wasn't really planning on having a sleepover last night." She replied.

"I'm glad you made up." Max said trying to balance the soccer ball on his foot.

"What do you know about that?" Ramona asked.

Her tone was so sharp that Max flinched, and the ball rolled away. "Um, I don't know." Max said trying to figure out what he should say. "Jackson said you had a fight with Popko."

"Did he say about what?" She asked.

Max knew better than to answer honestly. "He said it was boyfriend girlfriend stuff." Max patted himself on the back for not really lying.

Ramona relaxed a bit. "Yeah, relationships stuff. So how was your sleepover? I'm guessing it's over."

"It was fun. What do you like about Popko anyway?" Max asked slightly curious.

Ramona laughed a little. "That's a good question."

Max just smiled and waited, expecting an answer. Ramona finally just shrugged. "He's cute, he's popular and I really don't know."

The way Ramona said that made Max wonder if she had ever thought about it before. "That doesn't seem like it's a good reason."

"Well we do talk about stuff and you know it's fun to have someone to do stuff with." Ramona answered. "It's just kind of hard to explain."

Max thought for a moment. "You and Jackson talk about stuff and do stuff together. Why didn't you want him as a boyfriend?"

"Well, first I just don't think of Jackson that way. Plus, he's dating my friend and it's just complicated."

Max was confused, but then a thought he couldn't share with her entered his mind. Was this complicated stuff all about making out and kissing and all that? Ramona had said he was cute. Was that really the only difference between a friend and a boy or girl friend?

"Max?"

Max pulled himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You had a weird look on your face."

"I'm just trying to figure it out."

Ramona shook her head. "Max, sometimes I'm not even sure if I understand it."

Max smiled and that was the end of the conversation. Unfortunately, Max's thoughts were not so easy to stop. What was the difference between a friend and a girlfriend? Max considered just about everyone in his classroom as his friend. However, he only ever hung out with a few of them outside of class and all of those were boys. So, what about Rose? He did like her, he liked spending time with her, and they talked about stuff. He liked that a lot because there were just some things you couldn't talk about with his other friends. He had kissed her at the New Year's Eve party, but he was supposed too. He had kind of wanted to, but they hadn't done it since. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? He had never really thought about it. Rose was a girl and his friend, but did that mean girlfriend?

Unfortunately, Max wasn't the type of kid who could put a problem aside. Like a convenient scab, he couldn't help but to pick at it. By the time lunch rolled around he was trying to develop an idea. He asked his mom if he could invite Rose over for a few hours. There was a little negotiation involved since he just had Taylor over, but his Aunt Stephanie help them out and once the meal was done the call was made and she was on her way.

When the knock on the door came Max jumped out of his chair and ran to the door not really realizing how much he just looked like Jackson from the night before. He opened the door with a big smile. "Hello Rose."

"Hello, boyfriend," Rose said coming inside. "Thanks for inviting me over."

"It's always nice seeing you. So how have you been?" Max said closing the door behind them.

They spent about twenty minutes just talking. Mostly just catching up since the last time they saw each other. During a lull in the conversation Max made his move. "Do you want to go play in my room to play?"

"Sure, what would you like to play?"

"We can figure it out when we are up there." Max started to feel butterflies running around in his stomach and he rubbed his hands against his pants feeling like they were wet.

The first snag in Max's plan came when they walked into his room and saw Jackson sitting by his desk on his phone. "Out." Max said pointing towards the door.

Jackson looked up from his phone, "You're kicking me out of my room?"

"Yep, this is reverse déjà vu the sensation of something you have done to me before."

Rose chuckled and even Jackson smiled at that comment. "You know, I think I'll go before I become the family dog or something. Enjoy playing house." Jackson said looking down at his phone as he walked out of the room.

"We could play that." Rose suggested.

Max walked over to the door and closed it. "Maybe later. I was wondering if I could ask you for a big favor."

"Anything Max. What is it?"

"Well, there is this anatomy book at my school. It's in our library. It shows all our insides and stuff like that. I know boys and girls are different in the private area, but I was wondering if I could see." Max felt his face start to blush. It was weird, he hadn't felt like this when it was Taylor or Jackson. Not this embarrassed and there was no excitement. It was sort of curious.

Rose looked away and Max quickly added. "You can see me too."

That caught her attention. "You just want to look, no touch?"

"No touch," Max agreed. "I'll even put my hands behind my back."

She slowly moved her head from side to side. Max knew her well enough to know she was considering her options. "All right, but we have to do it together. At the same time."

Max had already thought it out. "We could both strip down to our underwear, and then pull down on 3."

"You thought about this." Rose said with a slight smile.

Max smiled a little, "I like to think things through."

"I like that about you." She tilted her head towards the door. "Does that have a lock?"

"Yeah, but everybody knocks before they come in."

"Lock it."

Max locked the door and when he came back, they started. They agreed to undress down at their own pace. Max was a lot quicker, he had his socks, shirt, and pants off in under thirty seconds. She started to pull her shorts down and made him turn around. That was a bit weird, but he did it anyway. When she said he could turn back around he did it so fast that he nearly tripped over his own feet.

His first impression was that her underwear was weird. Not just because it was My Little Pony, it just looked different. there was no flap like he had but that made sense. The anatomy book thing had not lied, he had looked at it. The drawings were kind of vague and all of the insides.

"Thor, he's kind of my favorite." Rose said.

Max didn't understand at first until he looked down and saw that was who he was wearing. "I like him, but I think I like Iron Man more. That's Rainbow Dash, right?"

"Yeah, she's not my favorite, but I like her." They were both silent for several seconds before Rose suggested, "I can count down." Max agreed, hooking his thumbs into his waistband. When she said three, they both push them down.

Max wasn't sure what he thought. Her underwear slid down to her ankles so he could see, but there just wasn't that much. He remembered he was supposed to put his hands behind his back, and he did as he wiggled his underwear down so he could step out of it.

"Can I get closer?" Max finally asked.

"Okay, but no touching." Rose reminded him stepping a half a step closer to him.

Even with a closer look, there didn't seem to be much to look at. He had to kneel to get a better look, but it just looked like folds of skin. "Does it do anything?"

"What?"

Max leaned back and bringing one of his hands forward pointed towards his thing. "This gets hard and it sort of sticks out sometimes."

She shook her head. "No, I can show you the inside, I guess."

Max nodded and watched as she slightly spread her legs and brought both hands to her front. She spread the two pieces of skin apart. Unconsciously, Max pulled his head back. With the skin separated his friend's privates reminded him of a documentary about lions. In particular, the part where they brought down a gazelle.

"Okay, would you like to get dressed?" Max said standing.

"Um, can I see you get hard first? Or does that just happen?" Rose asked.

Max really didn't want to and if it had been a different girl. he probably would have said no. It was Rose, though, so he brought his hand to it and tried. It took a while. Thankfully she didn't ask for anything more and they both dressed quickly. He asked if she still wanted to play house and she did. It was fun. It was a game he liked. It was more complicated than being a Space Marine and pretending to blow away aliens, that was fun too, but so was playing house.

It wasn't until she left that he really thought about what he had seen. Rose was pretty and he liked her a lot. However, her private bits where at best boring and well he didn't want to use the word disgusting. When he had been with Taylor or Jackson, it had been exciting and fun. Maybe because he knew what boys had down there, he had sort of wanted to know how different they were from him. Maybe now knowing what Rose had down there, maybe the next time it would be better? No, he was pretty sure he would be happy to never see that again

End of chapter 8.

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