Sweaters & Cigarettes (23 page)

"Fuck, if I know," Max
says, shrugging. "Like, fireworks, or lightning. Maybe even a
choreographed dance number, performed by pirates. Anything."

Theo sighs, huddling against the
cold. He wants to be annoyed with Max, somehow, which he kind of is, at the
moment. But he can't help but smile and feel all warm inside, all the same.
It's almost enough to warm up his cold-exposed skin. At least, until he feels
the uncomfortable sensation of something small and cold against his cheek.

Theo automatically blinks, and
brings his hand up touch his face. It's wet, and he frowns, before suddenly
noticing the reason behind it, as a small, white snowflake lands on his hand.
He looks up.

Max has noticed it, too, and he
chuckles, looking up at the black sky.

"Something like that," he
says, nodding up at the several tiny specks of white, falling out of the
darkness, and Theo watches.

It's snowing. Out of nowhere, there
is suddenly an endless amount of white snowflakes, quietly falling to the
ground, and Theo chuckles.

"Yeah," he says, still
looking up at the sky. "Although, I'm pretty sure you can't take credit
for making it snow."

He hears Max make a humming noise,
and looks at him. Max's eyes are on him, and they narrow slightly.

"Or can I?" he says,
pointing at Theo, and Theo raises his eyebrows.

"No," he says, shaking
his head, "you really can't."

Max simply smirks, though, lowering
his arm.

"Yup," he says, sounding
oddly smug. "I made it snow."

"You didn't make it
snow." Theo is kind of amused now, smiling. "Now, come on, get
down."

Max narrows his eyes at him for a
few more moments, before seemingly relenting and climbing off the statue. When
he reaches the railing, he smoothly leaps off of it and places himself in front
of Theo.

"I made it snow," he
says, his voice low, a small smile playing on his lips. "I love you so
much, I made it snow."

"Sure you did," Theo
says, looking at Max, his smile casually mirroring his. Although, he has a
distinct feeling that he can't completely disguise the way his heart does a
double-take at Max's words. "I'm very impressed."

Max nods in mock seriousness, and
he moves in a bit closer.

"You should be," he says,
placing his hands against Theo's waist, and Theo hums in agreement.

"Although," he says, cocking
his head a bit, as he takes his hands out of his pockets and moves them up to
the back of Max's neck. "With that logic,
I
could be the one who
made it snow."

Max frowns.

"Don't steal my thunder,"
he says in mock offense, shaking his head. "Just let me have this."

Theo scoffs lightly, suddenly
grinning.

The snow is falling just a little
bit heavier now, and it's just cold enough outside for it to stick to the
ground. It may be gone, tomorrow, though, but Theo doesn't care. He doesn't
care, because right now, it's all perfect, and tomorrow is an entire night
away.

He leans in and kisses Max softly,
amazed at how that small action can thrill him so much, every single time, and
he sighs heavily, content, as he pulls away. He ruffles some white puffs of snow
out of Max's messy, black hair, and smiles.

"Okay."

♦

"It's a motel."

Theo and Max have been wandering
around for a bit now, just hanging out, talking, but the cold is starting to
get the better of them, and somehow, they've ended up outside a motel. It's not
the nasty kind, though, Theo observes. It looks really clean, with more of a
hotel-vibe, really. But still.

He's not entirely sure why, but it
makes him feel oddly tingly and nervous.

"Yeah," Max says,
sounding a bit sheepish. "Must admit, not exactly what I had in
mind."

He turns to Theo, then, almost a
bit worried.

"We can go somewhere else, if
you want," he says hurriedly, knowing full well what a checking into a
motel implies, and Theo looks at him. "I'm not trying to steal your
virtue, or anything."

He adds that last part with some
uncomfortable, dry humor, and Theo chuckles.

"Real smooth," he says,
turning back to the building. He can practically feel Max's uncharacteristic
tension.

"Seriously, though," Max
says. "If you're weirded out by the whole motel-thing, it's fine. We can
go someplace else."

"Like, where?" Theo looks
at him pointedly, and Max just blinks, considering that for a moment. Then he
shrugs.

"No idea," he says.
"But a motel kind of screams
cliché
and kills the romance a bit,
don't you think?"

Theo considers that, looking down
at their entwined hands. It's actually really cold, by now, and his fingers are
far past slightly numb. He's entirely sure that Max feels the same, but for some
reason, neither of them wants to let go of the other.

"Well," Theo finally
says. "We can't go to my house. Can't even go to yours. And unless we want
to cut this night short, or spend it at a bus stop, this is our only
option."

He looks up at Max, almost
tentatively, from under his eyelashes.

"And as far as romance
goes," he adds, "I don't really care where I am. As long as you're
there."

Max just looks at him for what
feels like several seconds, blue eyes slightly stunned and almost dazed, like
they sometimes get when he looks at Theo. It makes Theo's heart beat just a
little bit faster.

Eventually, though, the still
unfamiliar feeling seems to get the better of Max, who cocks his eyebrows, a
casual smirk on his face.

"Speaking of
cliché
,"
he says, and Theo rolls his eyes, smiling, as he looks away.

"I was trying to be
smooth," he says dryly, and Max chuckles.

"Oh, you're very smooth,"
he says, kissing Theo's cheek. "I'm all aflutter."

"Shut up," Theo mumbles,
but his heart's not in it, and Max laughs again, moving in a little bit closer.

"You've got a point,
though," he says. "And if nothing else, I'm freezing my ass off and
would really like to get inside."

Theo glances at him.

"Alright, then," he says.
"Let's go inside."

It's about as awkward as Theo
expected it to be.

The guy at the front desk looks to
be in his early twenties, and he raises his eyebrows at the two of them
pointedly, when they ask for a room (with a double bed). He doesn't look snide
or judgmental, though; it's more of a
nice work, bro
-look, and it makes
Theo feel awkward enough to intently look at the flower-patterned, old
wallpaper on the opposite wall, rather than straight at the guy. He feels his
cheeks heat up, and hopes that they're still flush enough from the cold for him
not to notice.

Max, on the other hand, as casually
as ever, accepts the keycard and pays for their room, and Theo goes with him as
they leave the front desk. The guy leans back in his chair and actually smiles
a bit, looking amused, and Theo really tries not to think about it, as he
disappears out of sight.

"Well, that was awkward,"
Theo mutters, mostly to himself, and for a second, he's worried that Max will
take offense. But he doesn't. Of course he doesn't.

"Nah," he says, fiddling
with the keycard in his hand. "He just knows the main reason two teenagers
would check into a motel together."

Theo exhales slowly, glancing up at
the ceiling of the hallway.

"Yeah," he says, rather
dryly. "Not helping."

Max doesn't answer, only chuckles
quietly, as he gives Theo's hand a light squeeze, and soon enough, they've
reached their room, which is at the far end of the hall, on the first floor.
It's not nearly as tacky as Theo somehow expected; he has never actually spent
the night at a motel, before.

There's a big double bed in the
middle of the room, a small TV against the opposite wall, and a small,
adjoining bathroom, all of which feels very simple, small and underwhelming. It
helps ease Theo's nervousness a little bit, somehow.

It' not that late yet, and seeing
as how they don't really have anything in particular to do, anyway, they decide
to simply wing it.

Theo makes a point to text Riley,
since he won't be coming back home tonight. He uses Max's phone, and simply
lets Riley know that he's okay and not to worry about him, appreciating the
fact that Riley replies simply with an
OK
rather than a small,
precocious lecture on how mad their parents are going to be.

Theo and Max end up going out to
get some food, then going to the store to get some snacks, and Theo tries not
to glance too long at the condom selection by the counter of the cash register.
He's not sure why he does that. Probably for the same reason as he thought
about it last time he and Max were about to spend the night together. He can't
really shake that thought, especially not when they're spending the night at a
motel
,
of all places.

They walk through the cold, back to
the motel, hands locked together the whole time. Max smokes a last,
evening-cigarette on the way there, and when they arrive inside and make their
way past the front desk, the guy behind the counter gives them a nod of
recognition, which Max returns with a small salute. When they get back to their
room, they end up sitting on the bed, legs crossed, opposite each other, unwrapping
the fast food they've bought.

Theo closes his eyes and really
savors the bacon cheese burger in his hands, actually letting out a small moan
of satisfaction, as he bites into it.

"Whoa, easy there," Max
says, and Theo opens his eyes. "I can't handle competition like
that."

Theo smiles, still chewing, before
he swallows the bite down.

"I don't know, man," he
says, cocking his head. "It's a pretty good burger."

Max doesn't say anything, simply smiles.
It's a soft smile, a genuinely happy one, and Theo can't help but feel all warm
inside, as he sees it.

It's only lately that he has
started to realize how Max's smiles really have changed, how his entire
expression seems to have changed. Sure, he's still somehow the same bitchy,
sarcastic asshole he's always been, but when he's with Theo, that other side
comes out, the soft one, the happy one. The one that plants lazy kisses against
Theo's throat, when they're close to each other, the one that smiles, instead
of just smirking, and the one that likes to snuggle up close, underneath warm
covers, when he gets the chance.

That side of Max has come out
gradually, and Theo isn't entirely sure that side even properly existed,
before, which is somehow a very sad thought.

They don't go outside again, after
that. Instead, they just cuddle up on the double bed, watching
Star Wars:
Return of the Jedi
, which is the only decent thing on TV at the moment, and
share the snacks that they've bought. Eventually, they end up narrating the
movie, like a commentary, and it leaves them both in tears from laughing so
hard. And the snow falls quietly outside the window, and Theo realizes that he
can't think of any place he'd rather be right now, than right here. Right here,
in this stupid motel room, watching
Star Wars
on a tiny, crappy TV,
eating snacks and laughing, with Max's warm body and soft-smelling skin, only
inches away. It's simply all kinds of perfect.

By the time the movie is over, they
end up just lying on the bed, on their backs, with mellow music streaming from
the tiny speakers on Max's phone, their fingers entwined. Theo looks up at the
ceiling. There's a tiny crack, right by the wall, and he studies it for a
moment.

"What are your parents
like?" he asks, practically out of nowhere, and he feels Max shift
slightly, next to him.

"What?" he says, and Theo
turns his head to look at him.

"Your parents," he says.
"What are they like?"

Max just looks at him, blinks, and
then seems to wrap his head around the question.

"They're, uh..." he
starts, looking for the words. He frowns. "They're ambitious. I guess
that's a word for it."

He looks up at the ceiling.

"They don't really care about
stuff that isn't useful." He pauses. "I mean, they probably care about
me, they're my parents. But they don't really seem to care about, uh..."

He rolls his tongue piercing
between his teeth for a moment, deliberating, a small frown on his face.

"Failure," he finally
settles on. "If you don't succeed, you're not really useful, and..."

Max shrugs.

"I think that's why they let
me do pretty much whatever I want," he says. "They're never really
around. Even when they're at home, and not working, it's like they're not even
there. Mostly, they don't really ask me stuff, don't really talk to me about
stuff. Except for school, if I do badly, or do well. Then they're all over
it."