What Happens in High School

Bob’s POV

“I love you, Bob Bryar.”

“I love you, Max Banks.” I was certain it was true this time as I said it. I wasn’t exactly sure how love felt but I knew deep down that it was what I felt for Max. Lying in bed with her in my arms after sharing this pivotal moment in both our lives felt so natural and perfect. I knew that from this point on things would change; they’d only get better. I was completely and undeniable in love with Max and nothing could change how I felt. I was the luckiest person in all of humanity because I got to spend my days with the raddest and most perfect girl god had ever created. Yeah, she’s that amazing.

Max and I just lay there with her head on my chest. I wasn’t happy because of the fact that I’d finally gotten laid, in fact that didn’t even matter. It was the time afterwards, holding her close to me not speaking a word but just being with her that made the moment. That is when I realized things couldn’t have gone any better, and even the shaky hands and general nervousness wasn’t enough to ruin this time right now.

We stayed with each other for little while longer until it started to get late. “I wish I could stay here with you forever.” She said into my chest. I looked down to her as I ran my fingers through her soft brown hair. “I wish you could stay here forever, too.” She sat up a little and looked back down to me. Her blue eyes, beautiful as ever, met mine. She seemed to be looking into my soul; if she wasn’t careful her stares could kill a man. She smiled at me and I back at her. She came down and kissed me softly before straightening back up and saying, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” I looked at her confused.

“What are you talking about?” Her question made me a little nervous. Did she regret it? Was she disappointed in her decision? Thankfully my worries were suppressed when she replied. “You know, getting dressed. I hate to ask but, could you look away?” I smiled at her thinking about her innocence. We had just taken each other’s virginities, a pretty personal thing if you ask me, but still she wanted me to ‘look away’ while she dressed.

I sat up and brought my hands to my eyes covering them. “Okay, go ahead.” I felt the bed shift as she went to dress. After what seemed like a reasonable amount of time I brought my hands down. She was just fastening the last few buttons of her shirt as she looked to me and said, “Hey, no peeking.” I smiled at her playfulness as she came to sit down at the edge of my bed. She brought her hands up to her eyes just as I had and said, “Your turn.” I slipped on my shirt which was right next to me and went to get a new pair of boxers considering I didn’t feel like looking for my others right now. I slipped on my jeans and buckled my belt as Max let her hands drop.

I walked back over to her and took her hands in mine. She stood up to meet me and tentatively placed a kiss on my lips before pulling away. I brought my hand up to her cheek and looked into her eyes. “Max, I want you to know that nothing should change between us.This, was a good thing. I don’t want you to be nervous, I love you.” She placed her hand over mine and replied, “I know. I love you too, more than anything. But things will change, they have to. But they’re only going to get better.” I smiled at this and pulled her in close to me.

We stood there just holding onto each other, taking in the feeling. I knew Max had every right to be nervous. This was a big deal and I wasn’t even sure how to react myself. I didn’t want things to get complicated with Max but something deep down told me that everything would be okay. I hope I’m right.

…

On the day of my birthday I woke up to Jessie jumping onto my bed. “Happy Birthday, Bobby!” she screamed waking me up the rest of the way. “Thanks Jessie.” I replied as she wrapped her little arms around me and squeezing tight.

“I made you something.” She said jumping off the bed and running out of the room. She returned a moment later with a small gift, obviously wrapped by her, in bright yellow paper. She extender her arms thrusting the present into my hands. “Open it!” she said waiting for me to unwrap her gift. I started to tear of the paper and reveal a small trinket she had made out of clay of a small drum. “Wow thanks Jessie, I love it.” I said smiling at me sister and planting a kiss on her cheek causing her to giggle a little. “You’re scratchy, Bobby,” she replied as she pulled away. I smiled at my sister and said, “Yeah I know. Thank you for the drum, but I need to get dressed so…” she took the hint and hopped of my bed and left my room to let me dress.

I came downstairs a few minutes later and saw my parents sitting at the table. My dad looked up as my mother came over to me. She pulled me into a big mom-hug and said, “Oh happy birthday, Bob! How does it feel to be seventeen?”

“Eh, I don’t know. The same I guess.” Although after what happened with Max I would have to say, I did feel a little manlier, but I wasn’t going to tell my parents about that. My mother gave me a small smile and turned around to pick something up off the table. She picked up a card in a white envelope with my name written on it. She handed me card placing a kiss on my cheek and saying once again, “Happy Birthday.” I took the card and opened the envelope. I removed the card and opened it up. Inside was some birthday money and my parents had each written a note.

My mother’s read: “To my wonderful not-so baby boy. Have a fantastic day! I love you – Mom.” I smiled upon reading this then moved on to my dad’s. “I’m so proud of the young man you’ve grown into. Make this year as great as the last – Dad.” I wondered if my dad had meant to have me see the fact that he crossed out ‘young.’ I laughed a little at my dad’s dry humor, or attempt at, and looked back up to them. “Thanks guy, this is really nice. I love you both.” I was never really much of a sappy person like that but I figured that once a year wasn’t so tough a burden to be a little sentimental.

My mom made cinnamon pancakes, my favorite breakfast. I sat down with Jessie as we ate our pancakes and she went on about some picture she drew. I listened nodding or saying “Uh-huh” every once in a while. When she finished she ran off leaving her plate on the table and me the task of having to put it away, but I didn’t care. Today I was in a really good mood. I would meet Max at her house later and get to spend my birthday with her.

Once I was finished I cleared both mine and Jessie’s plates, rinsing them then putting them in the dishwasher. I went up into my room to put away my money and place the card from my parents alongside the clay drum Jessie had made me. I looked down at the little drum and picked it up. For an eight year old, she was pretty talented. Maybe one day she’d be as good of an artist as Max or Gerard.

The day went by rather slowly. It was cold and snowy and the weather was just generally icky. I hadn’t heard from Max all day but that might have been because of what she was planning for tonight. I hadn’t seen her since we’d slept together which was two days ago and I missed her. I wasn’t sure if she was avoiding me but it didn’t want to push it. I gave her time to process everything and think about what had happened. I was still processing it myself.

The day passed and all I thought of was Max, much like how she was all I thought of for the past two days. I was really missing her and I couldn’t wait to see her tonight. Before Max and I, you know, she told me of the plans she had for my birthday. I was born on December thirty-first, so most of the time my birthday was spent with my family while we counted down to the New Year. This year Max wanted me to go over to her house so we could be together when the ball dropped. I liked the idea of getting to spend the very first moments of the year together, unfortunately for her though, I saw right through her plans.

As sly as Max was trying to be about it, I knew she was going to throw a party for me. It was New Year’s after all. I just hoped she wouldn’t go crazy, all I needed was her and the guys to be happy. I didn’t give away my suspicions though; why ruin her fun? I’d pretend to be surprised and let her have her moment.

I spent my day doing next to nothing. It wasn’t exactly the birthday I’d hoped for but at least things would pick up soon. At around six o’clock we had dinner, nothing too special but my mom and Jessie did make a cake. On the top it read “Happy Birthday Boby!” written in my sister’s messy eight-year-old handwriting. Even though she spelled my name wrong it was still the best birthday cake ever, because she made it. I blew out the candles but all my wishes had already come true.

While my mom was cleaning up I heard a knock at the door. I walked over and answered it and was pleasantly surprised to see Max standing outside. “Hi Bob,” She said with a shy smile on her face, “Happy Birthday.” She stepped closer to lose the space between us. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to her lips. I rested my hands on the small of her back and drew her in closer. Just as our kiss started to deepen, I pulled away being as my mother and little sister were in the next room.

“Want your present?” she asked plainly but obviously a little excited. “Okay.” I replied wondering what it could be. She took my hand and led me outside and in front of my garage. “Come on,” she said tugging me along.As I stood outside the garage door I looked at max and started to ask, “What are we doing out-“

“Shh,” she broke in cutting me off. “Just close your eyes.” I gave her another sideways look before satisfying her request. I felt her step away from me leaving a cold, empty space where she had just stood. I heard the door lift open and really wanted to peek but forced myself to keep my eyes closed until Max said, “Okay. You can look now.”

I opened my eyes and looked into the garage. At first glance everything looked the same. Trap table and stools just where we’d left them after our last rehearsal. My drums were in the exact set up they’d always been in, nothing new and nothing missing. I couldn’t see what Max wanted me to so I looked over to her to see what I was missing. “Uh,” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what it was supposed to be.

She rolled her eyes and sighed a little as she came back over to me and grabbed my hand leading me to stand right in front of my bass drum. That’s when I saw it. Right on the front was a new front bass drum head, but not just any one. This was a picture of a galaxy, purple and dark blue mixed with black and some green. I saw the familiar white stars all around it. And right at the bottom, written in small, neat cursive: Maxine J. Banks.

“Are you serious?” I said turning to her to see the expectant smile on her face. I had no words. Max had painted a one of a kind bass front and not just that, her artwork was phenomenal. If I hadn’t already known what she was capable of, I thought it would have been done by a professional. “Do you like it?” she asked in a quiet tone, nervous of my answer. I turned my body to complete face toward hers and she did the same to face me.

Without a word I grabbed her waist, quickly pulling her up against my body. My lips found hers and I kissed her there in my garage. I felt her jolt a little at the sudden contact. She easily caught on though and brought her hands up to my neck resting her thumbs on the sides of my face. I opened my lips a little to get her to do the same. She followed my lead and parted her lips against mine. I heard her catch her breath as my tongue made its way into her mouth. We stayed this way for what felt like hours, kissing each other in my cold garage. I hadn’t realized until now just how much I’d missed her.

I placed one final soft kiss against her lips before finally responding. “I love it, and I love you.” She smiled and wrapped her arms farther around my neck, holding me tight. I slid my arms more around her waist pulling her close to my body. She nuzzled her face into the side of my neck and softly whispered against it. “I love you too.”

She went in for another kiss just barely grazing my lips before playfully pulling away and saying, “Hmm, I should save that for midnight shouldn’t I?” I smiled at her before quickly going in and stealing another kiss from her anyway.

“It’s getting kind of cold, we should go in.” She nodded her head and I took her hand to lead her inside. She greeted my parents and sister briefly before heading up to my room. I shut the door and turned back to her. She stood there just looking at me. I walked over to my CDs and pulled out my jazz camp mix. I slid it into the radio and took Max’s hands and placed them on my shoulders. The music started and I set my hands on her hips.

It was just like the first time we’d danced together, only now it was easier. In the months that we’d gotten to know each other we’d become so comfortable. It was as if, and I know this sounds stupid, we were made to be with each other. We fit together perfectly, each and every one of our little quirks. We stepped in time to the music as we looked into each other’s eyes. The moment could not have been more perfect. There was nothing, not even little siblings to interrupt us.

Suddenly though, the clock caught Max’s eye and she stepped away saying, “Hey so it’s almost nine. Want to head over to my house?” I could tell she was trying to hide her urgency but I played along anyway. “Alright, I’ll grab my jacket.” I said slowly walking over to my closet to take out my coat just to make her squirm. I slipped it on over my shoulders and took Max’s hand before shutting off the light and exiting my room.

We said goodbye to my parents before heading out. We walked hand in hand as we made our way down to Max’s house. She nervously bit her lip as we walked but quickly stopped to smile at me when I looked over to her. She was so bad at hiding things.

Her first give away was how fast she was walking. She wasn’t running or anything but her steps were definitely quicker than her usual pace. The next was the fact that when we got to her house, all of her front lights were off. Completely normal.

She seemed to get even giddier as she approached the door and by that point she couldn’t contain the huge smile that spread across her face. Once the door opened the lights turned on and all the guys were inside. They all said, “Happy Birthday, Bob!” as Max and I stepped in. I tried to fake being surprised but I was just as bad an actor as Max, so I just smiled and replied with “Oh, wow. Thanks guys,” instead.

Everyone was there. Gerard even brought his girlfriend, Barbara and Frank brought along Jamia who he’d finally started dating about three weeks ago. I was so happy to see all of my friends in the room and was excited to spend the very first moments of the year with them.

Even though the party was small, it was still really fun. We all talked for hours eating candy and just having fun. We all got to know Barbara and Jamia better considering most of us had never met them before. They seemed cool enough and made Frank and Gerard happy so there wasn’t anything not to like.

As the clock approached midnight we all started to count down. As the seconds ticked by my birthday came to an end but the New Year was just beginning. With about ten seconds left I grabbed Max and finished counting. “Three, two, one.” Just as the clock struck midnight I pulled Max close to me and kissed her hard. I didn’t even care that we were making out right in the middle of a room filled with our friends. That didn’t matter because as our lips moved together everything was shut out. The rest of the world didn’t matter right in that moment, all that did was me and Max.

After a minute I pulled away and looked back at Max. “Definitely worth waiting for.” She breathed out still trying to recover from the unexpected embrace. I smiled back at her and was lost in her beauty for a moment. That is, until we heard Gerard let out, “Oh damn, Max and Bob are gonna need some space.” She rolled her eyes at him while Mikey punched his brother.

…

Everyone left around one am. I had such a great time with all my friends and just about the best first hour of a year imaginable. I was surrounded with the coolest people on earth and the raddest girlfriend anyone could ask for. I stayed a little later with Max after everyone had all gone home, after all, my parents hadn’t set a curfew.

Max and I quietly snuck up to her room as not to wake up her parents or brother. We were careful not to make a sound as we cleared the steps and went into her room. She shut the door before quickly switching on the lights then turning to face me. She stood leaning against the door, tilting her head to one side and asked, “Have fun?”

“I did. This was the best birthday ever; I got to spend it with you.” I walked over to her and placed my hands on her hips. She leaned forward to place a kiss on my lips, just barely long enough. Just as she moved away I brought my hand up behind her head pulling her in again. I felt her smile against my lips as she kissed me back.

Notes

So I've realized a few things today: I'll never be able to post on time, this story is WAY mushier than I though, I can't handle glass without slicing my finger, and it's a bad idea to say yes to a date with your best friend... Enjoy the reading, and have a nice day/night!!!