You Plus Me Equals - Chapter 33

Sam winced and pointed at his watch. Max felt like screaming and just giving up on everything right now, ‘On his responsibilities. His team, his school, his family’s expectations, his stupid five-year plan… Who cares! WHO CARES!!!’

He just felt so horrible inside for somehow hurting and twisting this entire thing so bad. For devastating such a sweet kid like Leo.

‘But he also knew how much the people around him relied on him and so he felt absolutely torn in half.’

Sam motioned towards the track and Max nodded agreement while shooing him away. A look of disdain on his face. Sam turned away begrudgingly and Max turned back to face Leo.

“Leo?” He looked at Leo, who was already walking away. Max could hear the soft sobs. And wondered what to do.

‘Go to him?…

Stay.

Give up and stand there like an idiot.

Give up and just leave, get in his car and drive far away from the mess he had created?

Max walked behind Leo tentatively.

“Leo…” Leo continued to sob.

” Leo,” He said even gentler this time. He wanted to catch up to him but was scared that would be too much for whatever emotional mess Leo had turned into in front of him and that he would make Leo hate him even more somehow just by being closer to him again.

So he kept his distance walking well paced a few steps behind and beside him.

“Go away Max, You have a race,” Leo said, sniffling in between each word. His voice sounding thick and sticky.

“Are you sure?…”

“Leo, Please, I think we should still talk.” Max sped up this time and caught Leo’s wrist in a repeat of before.

But this time Leo shook him off angrily.

“Max, I mean it… leave…!” Leo snapped.

He turned back around to face Max. Max blinked, surprised at Leo’s outburst.

“I was wrong. I can’t trust you, go to your track meet Max…”

“I hope that you and Sam are great…”

“At the race, Leo added vehemently. Took a deep breath and then said with as much genuine good feeling as he could muster.

“Win, for the university okay.” Leo’s voice broke over the words and he ran off.

Max just stood and watched him.

His heart felt as if it had been shredded by some pair of wicked claws, and he wasn’t sure how it had happened. He felt utterly defeated. He had just wanted to be sure of his own feelings. He had just wanted to do the right thing…

It was a mistake. Getting distracted from his goals. It was a mistake… these stupid things called feelings…

But it wasn’t because that had helped him to meet Leo, that had helped him open up, and stop living his world in the same mundane pattern he had been living in for almost eight whole years.

Max sighed his insides in pure agonized torture.

‘He really felt like he should go after Leo, but he was on the roster for the race tonight and he had already missed most of his practice. The captain of the team bailing, leaving without any known reason would disqualify the entire team from the finals…’

So despite how crushed it made him feel, how dead inside hearing the words he couldn’t be trusted had felt. How much those words had gutted him and made him feel like a bad person. He let it go and turned away from Leo. He started back towards his field and his waiting teammates even though it killed him to do so he picked up the pace and jogged back to the tracks.

Placing a showman’s smile on his face despite the hurt he felt inside.

‘When he was alone.’