Chapter 2: Hate Being Sober

Rating: (T-M) Not for Kids.

Pairings: Max/Nikki, Neil/Tabii, David/Gwen, etc.

A/N: I literally lost the whole document and I WAS SO MAD. Here it is, tho. Sorry for the lack of updates!

[10 Years Old]

Nikki lay against the grass, eyes staring up at the sky, the darkness consuming her in waves of adoration, and excitement. Today was a long day. And at the thought of knowing there was going to be another, it brought a swell of happy emotions from within her, and an itchiness to keep exploring until the next morning took over the moon.

Looking to her left, she saw Max laying there with her, eyes holding the same boredom, yet the same loving tranquility she grew fond of. His beautiful turquoise eyes blinked up at the stars, drinking in the moon, and the quietness of it all.

When feeling that Nikki was looking at him, he turned to her, an eyebrow raised in question.

Nikki stared back at him, face blank. After a little while, she grinned, sitting up. "It's pretty quiet, huh?" Nikki asked him, hands on the grass below them, her fingers pulling at some of the green strands.

Max remained with his back to the grass, hands behind his head. He shrugged. "Knowing this place, it'll probably go back to being the noisy shithole it is." Max sighed out, eyes turning back to the sky above him.

Nikki looked up as well, scrunching up her nose. "I dunno. It's been a good hour since Neil came back. Maybe it'll stay quiet forever." Nikki said, pulling in her knees, eyes shining from the moon's light.

Max looked at her then, admiring the stars in her eyes. "Maybe. Or maybe he might be back. Recording." Max huffed out, sitting up, turning to the few trees of the woods that hid their spot so well.

There he narrowed his eyes and noticed Neil holding onto a camera, flashing a quick picture before squeaking and running off.

Nikki looked where Neil once was, tilting her head. "Huh. And I thought he said he went off with Tabii." Nikki said inquisitive, shrugging it off.

Max turned back to her, sighing exasperatedly. "He always says that. It's always disgusting, too." Max grumbled, standing up with his teddy bear at hand.

Nikki watched him.

Max placed both of his hands inside his hoodie's pocket, his arm pressing against his side to hold onto his bear. "C'mon. Let's go. I don't want the stupid kids asking why we're out here by ourselves. And I don't want David giving me one of his stupid lectures again." Max mumbled to himself, heading off into the direction Neil scram off too.

Nikki stood up too, a gleaming smile on her face. Running behind him, she jumped when she caught up, the moonlight casting them a shadow that formed a perfect pose, of arm and arm.

[Present]

Nikki groaned as she curled her body against the soft bed, bringing unknown blue blankets closer to her body as to warm herself. Her head was pounding, and she felt as if she were about to throw up.

It was no help that she also felt really shitty; her whole body felt weak, and she could swear that she might have pissed herself. Though, she wasn't really sure.

Scrunching up her nose, a sudden familiarity of a smell brushed against it. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to check where she was currently located, in hopes that maybe that smell meant that she was in someone's house and not in some strangers.

Fluttering them open, her vision focused and she began to look around, her head pounding while doing so. Her eyes felt dry and heavy, and if that wasn't already much of an effort, her body certainly was. It felt like it was on fire when she moved her back to press against the mattress flat, her head looking around some more.

While looking around, she realized that the room was mostly made up of soft colors, consisting of light blues and whites. It also seemed to be a bit dirty, for it had a good few piles of clothes on the floor. It was shredded in pure darkness, and she thanked the heavens that it was ridden away with any light. Her eyes would hurt if she was met up with pure brightness.

Sitting up, she tried to ignore the pain in her head, and she clutched it as she got a proper view of the setting.

Unfortunately, the place didn't seem recognizable in the slightest. She didn't even think that she went in any room like this before.

Although, if the scenery wasn't familiar, maybe the smell might be.

Tilting her head upwards, her nose crinkled as she took in a good few sniffs. Instantly, she was able to place the smell better; the smell of lemon and Lavender. Max's scent.

Her back chilled and her breath frosted when she turned her body to the right, exposing it to the cold deepness of the room. With the blankets off her, her bare legs now felt naked inside a wintry palace.

Looking down, she noticed that her flats were placed there; she was now only wearing her bright yellow striped socks.

While looking however, she immediately felt her head ache even more, and her stomach leap in sudden pain.

A burning liquid began to rise it's way to her mouth, burning and sizzling her throat in many hurtful ways.

She ran towards a trash can located near a black colored door, and raised it up to her face to ready herself.

Her stomach heaved as she emptied the load of liquidized contents into the trash bin, the roof of her mouth burning, her nose tingling with some sort of spice.

Her body felt extremely weak as she continued to throw up, her stomach in pain.

The blinding pain inside her head came to a softening pound when she finished, feeling less shittier than before.

While placing the trash bin down, she felt a rush of pain go down towards her abdominal section, and she almost buckled to the floor from said pain. What was happening with her? She's been hungover before; it was never this bad.

Her mouth suddenly tasted of poison, and she cringed at the sour, plain taste that came by to block out any other senses. Her cheeks flushed with some sort of warning, and her pupils dilated as she looked around, her nose taking in Max's scent.

There was a good few moments that she stood like that, her hand pressed against the white walls to keep herself up in balance. It wasn't until the smell of her vomit did she finally snap out of whatever shit she was on.

'Might as well throw this out..' Nikki thought to herself, grabbing the plastic bag surrounding the bin and pulling it up.

She easily tied it with no problem, and turned to look around once again to check and see if there was any doors.

There were two; one she thought led to the bathroom, and another she thought was the exit.

Testing out both, she decided that the one who was closest to her was the exit, for all she saw was a white hallway with no pictures or anything hung up.

From there, she stepped out, peeking around the wall to see if anyone would come by. You never know if some attacker is waiting for you to come out so that they could kill you. Trust, it's happened before.

After making sure no one would, she swiftly traveled through the small passage, the smell of Max becoming stronger and stronger the more she closed in on... wherever she was going. It felt intoxicating; his smell, and it was beginning to drive her nuts. What the fuck was going on with her nowadays?

She arrived at the end of the hallway and finally took in that where she currently stayed at was moderately big, not too small, and just enough room to place all necessary furniture.

The room she entered was dark, the lights were turned off, and the moon, who Nikki thought was gone now, was still peeking through the slides of the curtains.

While looking around, she heard a soft snore from what seemed to be the couch. Though, she couldn't exactly see who was sleeping. The back of the couch was blocking her vision.

Except for one thing; soft, bouncy, black curls. Nikki knew who those belonged to, and as much as she wanted to pet it, she resisted the urge to do that. She had to make sure it was Max.

Right after she threw away her... things, of course.

She silently made her way towards what seemed to be the front door, and opened it to look around. Right at the front, she spotted a black trash box, open for all it's glory.

After looking around and sniffing to check if there were any killers out, she quickly rushed to the trash can and threw away the load of chunks that escaped her so recently.

Nikki locked eyes with an object inside the bin, her mind trying to process or correct to what it was. It was pink and heart shaped with the letter 'N' plastered in the middle, and it oddly smelled like Max. Well, kind of, since this trashcan reeked.

Deciding it wasn't important, Nikki quickly dashed back inside, aware to keep it down in case that 'Max-maybe-stranger' would wake up. She didn't want to die yet, she still didn't have the chance to fight a bear!

Right before heading inside, however, she patted the pockets of her yellow shirt and red shorts, frowning afterwards when she realized that she no longer had that piece of gum Neil gave her before the start of the party. She must've dropped it...

Nikki took in Max's Lemony and Lavender scent once again once entering inside, and softly shut the door while locking it in the process. From there, she made her way towards the couch, a plan making it's way to her head.

Maybe she could just sniff him out and check if it was Max. That seemed like the easier option around. Though... then again, she would love the thrill to pounce onto the person sleeping, to see them scream or demand to be let go. It was funny to her.

Looking over the couch, her Magenta eyes widened when she saw that it was indeed, someone she knew, someone by the name of Max. It occurred to her that of course, no one has perfect soft black curls of hair;side from Max.

A devious smile broke out onto her face, and she looked around once more, before slowly sliding over towards the other side.

Her face was now facing his, her hands gripping the couch leather beneath her. Her cheeks seemed to flush once again, and her pupils widened as she took in his placid looking face.

Her hand made it's way to boop his nose, still grinning.

He creased his brows and moved, nose crinkling a tad bit.

Once again, she bopped his nose with her index finger, causing him to, surprise surprise, make a face of discomfort.

That's when she decided that she'd scare him awake. But... He seemed to have been the one who brought her to this place, so maybe yelling to wake up wouldn't be a good idea.

But who cares, right? Nikki just wanted to scream like a lunatic.

And so, she did.

"MAAAAX!" She yelled into his face, her grin faltering when he suddenly jumped up and fell off the couch.

Fell off the couch...and connecting his body towards hers.

It took him a second to recover. He groaned and rubbed his head, eyes closed from how tired he was. When he opened them, he took in that Nikki was now below him, still as a board.

"What the fucking fuck, Nikki!?" Max erupted, scrambling himself off her body as to not clog her oxygen she sometimes refused to breath in.

Nikki wheezed and sat up, her smile quickly returning when she saw his alarmed expression. "Haha!" She laughed, instantly standing right up, "Got you!" She said, her eyes bright with action. And to think she felt like shit only moments ago.

Max sighed heavily and stood up, brushing off his pants, and his now regular grey shirt. That black one he had was pissing him off. Not that he would say anything, since he would reluctantly admit that it suited him. Unfortunately. "Never. Again." Max grumbled, his grim expression returning.

"Always, again." Nikki replied, smiling. Though, from the way Max was tiredly looking at her, she blinked, realizing her mistake. "Wait, that doesn't make sense..." She mumbled, thinking. However, she shrugged, deciding that she didn't care. Max smacked himself in the face, absolutely tired of everything.

"The things I do for..." Max stopped and cursed to himself, murmuring some other things before slouching his body back onto the couch.

Nikki took his mutters as an invitation to sit by him, maybe to talk and ask what exactly she was doing here.

Max noticed the curious glint in her eye, and he instantly stopped her, "You're in my house. You passed out. I brought you here. And yes, you were sleeping in my room." He answered briefly, not at all up for getting his head riddled with questions.

Nikki closed her mouth, no longer with the urge to ask anything. Except for one thing. "Yeah... I have one more question." She told him, and he raised an eyebrow, clearly interested.

She crossed her arms. "Why didn't you just take me back to my place? I mean, hey, this place is actually pretty rad! But, you know where I live. And you know my house is closer." Nikki told him, trying to conclude certain things to herself. Of course, she was legitimately grateful that he actually took care of her instead of just leaving her back at the cabin party, but it was confusing her as to why he would bring her to his own place, of all places. He's told her himself, that he hates having anyone over. And he hates to be responsible for someone else's stupidity. Well, he hates everything. But those important details conflict with her knowledge of his negativity towards all things.

Max opened his mouth to respond, but he found himself without anything to say. So he opted for the most easiest option. "What? I can't be nice, now? First you guys complain about me being too rude, and now you're- nevermind." He grumbled, telling himself that it was useless. Why should he explain himself in the first place? All he did was help!

Nikki only stared at him dryly, clearly expecting an answer that wasn't complete bullshit.

Max rolled his eyes at an attempt to get her to stop pressuring him. Maybe if he shows that he doesn't give a shit she'll stop.

Unfortunately for him, this is Nikki we're talking about. And she seemed the most stubborn of the three.

With a scowl, he sighed, closing his eyes, debating whether to offer to take her home, or to just let her stay and not bother him the rest of the night. He already had enough migraines that night, especially with Preston and Nurf being fucking imbeciles when he carried Nikki to his car, trying desperately to ignore the stupid hollers of 'getting pussy tonight' from them. Those idiots always found a way to piss him off.

"—it would also be fun! Hey, where's Neil?" Nikki asked, looking around the room for him.

Nikki seemed to have been talking, which Max, not at all feeling guilty, was pleased that he somehow tuned her out. Though that question seemed to rile him back in. "Neil? He went off with Tabii. Probably to fuck or something." He said while scowling, his tone bored and irritated.

Nikki seemed to cringe. "Oh no... I hope he didn't use that Dinosaur condom I gave him." She muttered, floofing out her green hair.

Max raised an eyebrow. "Condom? What the fuck? What condom? I never saw you give him anything." He replied, utterly confused.

Nikki knocked on her head, a wash of recognition crossing along her face. "Ohh, not Neil. Silly me! I meant Harrison. I really hope Harrison didn't use that Dino condom." She corrected cheerfully, though a feeling of dread seeped through her. She doesn't want to be an Aunty just yet! Nerris wasn't even ready to have kids yet...

Max had this bewildered look on his face, a ton of things running through his head. For example, the thought that Nikki might have had sex with him that night, or that the condom she gave Harrison might be the one she found next to a dog shit pile. Oh god, he hopes none of those are what happened.

Nikki looked at Max, looking confused. "What? Did I accidentally not breathe again? I swear, that one was unintentional!" She said exasperatedly, looking at how Max now shook his head.

God, what was happening?

Looking through the window, Neil's genius eyes narrowed, trying to see if his friend or both of his friends were home. He parted away from the window when he saw some sort of dark haired figure turn around, and he quickly leaped for the door, hoping that the unlocking device was gone, and hoping that whoever just stood up wasn't an intruder. Oh god, Max probably died! He knew he shouldn't have left them by themselves, they always get into stupid trouble!

Reaching for the door-unlock-er, Neil frantically pushed at it's numerical buttons, hoping that—

"SHIT—" Neil toppled over and landed on his face, wincing as his nose connected to the carpeted floor. Great, it was crooked enough, he didn't need anymore adjustment!

Max, who was the one who opened the door, stared down at him, clearly unimpressed. "Why am I not surprised." Max deadpanned, sighing tiredly.

Nikki popped up behind Max, holding onto his shoulder for support. Upon seeing Neil, she perked up and grinned. "Hey Neil! Did you know about Max's lemony home? I sure didn't!" She said cheerfully, smiling down at his face scrunched up in pain.

Standing up, Neil brushed off any debris that got stuck on his clothing, fixing his orange curls before regarding them plainly. Then, a panicked look overcame his features. "Do you two have any idea how worried I was!? I come back to the cabin, suddenly swarmed by phones from Nurf, Nerris, Harrison, and whoever was at the party, with pictures of Nikki passed out on top of you," He pointed at Max, "With your face clearly expressing an immense displeasure of pain!" Neil exclaimed, waving his arms around.

Max stared at him with a tired look, and Nikki only smiled, completely unsure of what in the holy fuck he's talking about.

Neil pulled out his own phone, tapping nervously against it. "I leave you guys off for a few hours and this!" He showed his phone to Max, "Is what I receive!? Seriously, guys, you need to be more cautious, more careful—"

Max widened his eyes, his mouth parting. A small blush formed on his cheeks, though, he shook off that feeling, glancing at Nikki who looked at the phone with an equal amount of surprise. "Chill out, Neil. Seriously. We're okay. Nothing happened." Max told him, growling a little from the exposed picture. His shirt was up, for Pete's sake!

Neil scoffed. "Nothing happened? NOTHING HAPPENED!? BULLSHIT! Something happened, or else people wouldn't be talking about it!" Neil screamed, pacing back and forth.

Max pinched the bridge of his nose, tired. "Look, Neil. I'm fucking tired. And if you're not here to stay over or to pester me, then I suggest to get the fuck out." Max growled, turning around and grabbing his blanket, ignoring Nikki's odd look, and the face of a frustrated Neil.

Heading off to his room, he ignored the sudden chit chat that commenced between Nikki and Neil, wincing at the parts of "You almost kissed him!" or "Don't tell me you guys had been dared to sex!" God, what would it take to erase what happened earlier this night off of the list of things?

Max sighed.

Heading inside his room, he realized that his clothes were all over the place, and that Nikki had woken up to something so disgusting. Ugh. Why?

Laying down on his bed, he realized it was still slightly warm from where Nikki once lay, and he sighed once again.

Feeling something vibrate against his sweats, he reached inside his pocket to turn on his phone, receiving a message from Preston.

Opening it, his eyes widened when he took in the picture, his cheeks flushing a tinge bit of red.

He sat up, looking at the photo of him on the floor once again, with Nikki passed out on top of him.

Funny, she looked as if she heard her name.

The name he called out before she passed out.

A/N: You know, this took a while because of the file. It had been done, though unfortunately it was as good as gone.

Toodles~

Ana.