Insanity (n.) Chapter 8

The long black curtains fluttered in the late night breeze as Tom shot up straight from his dream, but it honestly felt like more of a nightmare to him. A cold sweat was falling around his temples and down his face as he attempted to catch his breath. His rough fingers ran across his face and rubbed lightly at his chocolate eyes. As he sat in the middle of the bed all he could think of was how much he wanted Scout back but then he thought to the dream and he had this feeling maybe it was a lost cause. This wasn’t just any dream though, it was a dream that was really more like a small movie he was watching of a time not too far ago that was giving him a bit of a new perspective.

“Fuckers,” he breathed dropping back onto the bed rethinking everything.

The  balcony door was open a crack as Scout padded out from the bedroom she shared with Tom, his long t shirt barely skimming her bum. A little smile spread across her face as she caught Max’s grey eyes that were watching her from the edge of his bed. She mouthed a good morning to him before she slid out onto the balcony to find Tom with a cigarette between his lips.

“Morning babe,” she cooed settling down beside him, her legs twining over his jogger covered lap.

He gave her a cheeky smile before running his long fingers down her bare leg, “Finally crawled out of bed, eh?”

“Shut it,” she laughed before nuzzling herself into his side.

The two of them sat on the balcony listening to the different noises that surrounded them; from their neighbors below fighting to the loud siren coming from an emergency vehicle somewhere on the busy streets. Tom took one last drag of the cigarette before placing a kiss on the top of her head. It hadn’t been a good week for the two but last night they’d gone out and everything seemed to be okay so the two were at ease.

“Let’s go wander the city,” Scout sighed with a smile, breaking their happy silence.

She felt him shaking his head as she leaned against him, causing her to sit up, “I’ve got to go meet someone.”

“Someone,” she sighed. “Alright Tom you go meet your ‘someone’ and I’ll just sit here and worry about you. I mean, I’ve gotten pretty good at it so why should I get one day off?!”

Rolling his eyes he nudged her away from him, “Please Scout, lose the dramatics. You have no idea who I’m going to see so why do you need to worry?”

“Dramatics,” she scoffed standing up. “Anytime you go to see ‘someone’ you come back loaded and with a pocket full of more of whatever the hell ‘someone’ gave you.”

Flicking the cigarette butt he laughed, “Fuck off.”

“Love you too you wank,” she growled stepping back inside.

Hearing the harshness in that small voice he loved so much Max’s head snapped up, catching her just as she swiped a tear that had slipped from her green eyes. He watched as she made her way into their bedroom grumbling the entire way before slamming the door behind her. As he stood up to go check on her he was greeted by Tom walking in from the balcony and searching for his jeans.

“Mate,” he said. “Have you seen my black jeans.”

Sighing, “Yeah they’re in front of the couch…ya know where they aren’t supposed to be.”

“Piss off,” he growled grabbing the pants from the ground.

Max shook his head as he reached the shut door, “Pull it the fuck together Tom or you’re going to lose the best thing to ever happen to you.”

As he knocked on the door he watched as Tom rolled his eyes before pulling on his shirt and head for the door. He knew he could only say so much to him because he knew exactly how stubborn Tom was, the more you pushed him the more he went away from you. He leaned his forehead against the door as he listened for Scout.

“Scout,” he almost whispered. “It’s Max, can I come in.”

He heard a small sniffle before she answered, “Come in.”

Stepping into the dark room he watched her wipe at another tear before putting on a fake smile for him. She got up off the bed and quickly pulled the sheets up and made the bed for the first time in a while. Her small fingers picked at the corners nervously as Max stepped next to her, his hand grabbing hers and turning her to him. As they locked eyes he noticed more tears building up in the corners of her eyes.

“Everything’s going to shit,” she sobbed before the tears lept from her eyes.

Her body gave into the exhaustion of the constant fighting and her knees gave in. Max quickly caught her in his strong arms, pulling her small body into his and onto his lap. He rocked her back and forth, his heart beating erratically in his chest as he thought about how mad he was at Tom. This fighting had been going on so long and he had watched it take away the old Scout bit by bit. As he watched her body give in he couldn’t help but want to swoop in, be her superhero, but he couldn’t because she was Tom’s and for some reason she wasn’t letting go of the shell of Tom that he’d become in the past year.

“Go get dressed,” Max whispered into her hair. “Let’s go explore the city.”

She smiled hearing that smooth accent as she leaned against his rising and falling chest. Sitting up she gave him a smile before heading towards the bathroom to shower away the filth that she felt was consuming her. As she stepped into the shower she threw the shirt over the curtain and let it fall to the ground while she stood under the steaming water.

Max watched from the bed as her silhouette moved behind the white curtain. He bit his bottom lip as he tried to avert his attention away from his best mate’s girl but he couldn’t. She had become all he could think about the last few months and it was killing him. All he wanted to do was scoop her up and save her, take her back to Manchester where things were good.

Shutting the shower off Scout grabbed the towel hanging above the toilet before wrapping it around herself and stepping onto the tile floor of the bathroom. As she stepped out she caught Max staring at her with a longing look in his eyes. The subtle look made her pale cheeks go a rosy shade of pink, no one had looked at her like that in a long time, especially Tom. His stormy eyes quickly went to the ground as a small smile hit his lips from seeing her blush.

“Sorry,” he chuckled lightly. “I didn’t mean to stare.”

She smiled as she brushed her long hair, “Don’t apologize Max, no one has looked at me like that in ages.”

He shook his head knowing she was wrong, he’d been looking at her like that for some time she just hadn’t noticed until today.

The two of them laughed and joked as she messed with her hair for the first time in a while and searched for something to wear. As she stood in front of her wardrobe she eyed the dark tunic her mum had sent her just after they’d gotten to New York, the last time she had heard anything from her. Her small fingers went over the soft fabric before pulling it from its hanger and over her head. Gripping onto the wall she pulled her long boots on over her knee highs, an odd flutter going throughout her stomach as she thought about the look on Max’s face. Stop it — she thought to herself.

Her heavy boots scuffed along the old wood flooring of the apartment as she made her way back to where Max was still sitting on the bed. Stopping just in front of him she held out her small hand for him to grab causing him to look up at her. As he caught sight of her he could almost feel his heart jump into his throat, she looked amazing. Her long hair was flowing just to the side of her gorgeous face and her long legs were sprouting from the tunic he’d wanted her to wear for so long.

“Wow,” he breathed.

Her cheeks went pink again, “Uhm, thanks,” she giggled.

“You look absolutely gorgeous,” he cooed into her ear as he pecked her on the cheek.

Their fingers tangled together as he lead her from the apartment and down to the busy New York street below. As the two of them walked down the pavement Scout couldn’t help the huge smile that had spread across her face. The day had taken a turn for the better and she wasn’t going to let it go to waste worrying about someone who she was starting to feel didn’t care about her.

So she let herself free; if only just for a few hours.

Scout’s eyes fluttered open as her body started to wake itself up. As her green eyes finally popped open she caught sight of the figure that was laying silently next to her. She propped herself on her elbow to get a better look. It was the same man that had just been running through her dream, well memory really, of New York. Max’s strong chest rose slowly up and down as he snored lightly next to her. Her small hand was still placed on his abdomen as she smiled down at his freckled face.

Soon his misty eyes opened as well, catching her smiling down at him, “Good morning, you look awful happy.”

“I am,” she breathed. “I just woke up from the most amazing dream…well not really a dream.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Tell me!”

Her small body snuggled back down next to him, burrowing herself in the nook of his arm as she explained to him that she was dreaming about the first time she’d thought she could love him.

The heavy black boots were dragging against the wood chips that were scattered underneath the old swing she was sat on. As she went back and forth Max watched from the bench that was directly in front of it just a few steps away. These two had been wandering New York for almost three hours now and they’d really let themselves get lost, maybe even in a different way than one thinks. He had let all his reservations go about how awful it was that he was falling in love with his best mate’s girl and she had let her mind release all of the hurt she felt and was only thinking of the amazing guy that sat in front of her.

“Come swing with me,” she giggled over to him.

Shaking his head he smiled, “No thank you, I’ll just watch!”

Not even thinking to slow the swing she hopped herself off of it, landing hard, and made her way over to a laughing Max. She sat down on his lap, letting her head nestle into the crook of his neck as she let her feet dangle over his legs.

“You’re no fun,” she sighed.

He rolled his eyes knowing her game, “I know what you’re doing…you are NOT guilting me into swinging with you.”

Let’s just say it didn’t take much of her pouty face to convince him to join her on the other swing next to hers. Soon the two of them were laughing and talking as they pumped their legs to make the swing go higher and higher. He watched her face as they slowed down; her bright green eyes were lit up in a way he hadn’t seen in some time and it made his heart beat even faster than it already was, if that was possible.

Again, the two were off walking towards some unknown direction in the city to let themselves get lost a little bit more.

“Tom,” Kellan breathed taking another hit from the blunt. “This shit is amazing!”

The sly grin of his ran across his lips, “I know…Molly sure knows what she’s doing, eh?”

“You bet,” he agreed. “Are you two fucking already or what?”

Tom almost choked on the bit of smoke that was caught in his lungs, “Oh no mate, you know I’m with Scout!” 

“Yeah,” he rolled his eyes.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean,” Tom huffed.

Gripping the blunt between his thumb and index finger he looked over at Tom, “It means Scout is always complaining about you hanging out with me and the rest of the guys and for fuck’s sake Max is basically fucking her with his eyes. Do you not see that Tom?”

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re on about,” Tom stammered avoiding eye contact.

Kellan chuckled as he inhaled, “Keep lying to yourself Tom but it’s not going to make it go away.”

Tom knew his friend was right, he could count on both hands how many times he had caught Max looking at Scout with this longingness to his eyes. It took everything in his body to keep him from decking him two nights ago when he had seen the two of them laughing with one another at the bar when he’d come back from the bathroom. He hadn’t really seen a change in Scout though, except for the anger he always felt radiating from her, but other than that she showed no signs of going to Max.

“She’d never cheat on me,” Tom muttered.

“Just let her go,” Kellan sighed. “You’ll see how fast she runs to Max once you’re out of the picture.”

“He was right,” Tom grumbled as he stood in the shower. “She went right to Max as soon as she could, I should have fucking known.”

He banged his head against the wall of the shower a few times before he heard someone’s feet shuffling across the tile.

“You talking to yourself now,” Kellan’s voice carried over the running water.

Chuckling Tom answered, “No mate, just realizing how right you were when you said as soon as I let her go Scout would run right to Max.”

Tom grabbed his towel from the shelf before turning the water off and stepping out. Soon him and Kellan were going over everything that he had been thinking and feeling since she had left. He told Kellan how much he had regretted doing everything he’d done to her but also how much, now, he wanted to beat the living daylights out of Max.

“HE took the one fucking thing I had left,” Tom growled.

Kellan nodded in agreement, “Maybe you need to listen to those friends of yours, clean yourself up…but do it for you. Then you can show her exactly what she left.”

“You’re right,” Tom grinned.

Scout had her face almost pressed against the glass of the tiny jewelry shop that stood on the corner of the street. Her eyes glittered as she pointed towards the gold and leather bracelet that was hanging from the mannequin’s wrist.

“Max it’s so pretty,” she sighed before starting to walk back up the sidewalk.

As she turned to look at Max she saw him slipping inside the shop where she had just been outside of. Quickly she made her way back to it and headed inside where he was talking to the lady the stood behind the counter. She was smiling ear to ear as she nodded her head, just before heading towards the mannequin. Max pulled some money from his wallet while she took the small piece of jewelry off of it and headed back to Max. Soon she was wrapping it up in a small box and handing it to Max.

“Maximillian Alberto George,” she breathed as he handed the box to her when they stepped outside.

He chuckled, “Don’t use my full name, it’s embarrassing!”

“You didn’t have to do this,” she said opening up the box, fingering the gold bracelet.

He stopped her in the middle of the sidewalk, placing his hands on either side of her face, “You deserve the world Scout, this bracelets all I can do for now.”

As the words slipped from his mouth her breath caught in her throat just as a tear sprung to the corner of her eye. He quickly swept it away before placing a gentle kiss to her temple and leading her back to the apartment. Their fingers were still intertwined together as they made the last flight of stairs to their floor. They could hear someone making noise from inside the apartment that caused them both to release their grip on each other.

“Hello,” she said opening the door.

They were immediately greeted by an extremely clean apartment, food smells coming from the kitchen and Tom sitting on the couch with a bouquet of Daisies in his hand. Scout bit her lip as she looked back at Max who now had a pained look on his face. As excited as she was that Tom had cleaned and was waiting for her she couldn’t help but feel guilty. Not because she’d spent the day with Max or the fact that she couldn’t keep her eyes off of him all day but for the simple fact that she knew this was hurting Max.

“Surprise,” Tom smiled as he made his way to her.

He had her wrapped in his arms soon enough, lips pressed to her’s, as Max watched on. The room was filled with every emotion possible. Max couldn’t help but feel angry and hurt, he knew she wasn’t his but he had been the one to make her feel better, to make her smile, not Tom and here he was trying to make up for being a twat once more. Tom on the other hand was smug because he could see the look on Max’s face and knew exactly what it meant, he had one. Even if it was just for now, he had won. But what he had failed to realize was that he had only won with Max because the girl in his arms was only thinking about the one he was smirking at from across the room, the one who had made her feel human again.