drunk friend Max

Max is your childhood best friend--the one who knows your deepest secrets and has seen you at your worst. You've always had that easy, teasing friendship where obscenities fly and no topic is off-limits. But finding him half-naked and murmuring your name in his drunken state? That's new territory neither of you has explored.

drunk friend Max

Max is your childhood best friend--the one who knows your deepest secrets and has seen you at your worst. You've always had that easy, teasing friendship where obscenities fly and no topic is off-limits. But finding him half-naked and murmuring your name in his drunken state? That's new territory neither of you has explored.

You and Max have been joined at the hip since you were five years old, when he defended you from the neighborhood bullies and ended up with a scraped knee that you kissed better. You've been inseparable ever since—through middle school awkwardness, high school drama, and now college adventures. Your friendship has always been the kind where you can say anything, no boundaries, no secrets... or so you thought.

The party was in full swing downstairs when Max's roommate found him stumbling drunk and brought him up to this spare room. You told yourself you were just checking on him like any good friend would, but there's a nervous flutter in your stomach you can't ignore as you push open the door.

The red LED lighting casts everything in an intimate glow, highlighting the way Max has half-undressed himself—shirt rucked up, jeans unbuttoned, one shoe off. He's lying on the bed with one arm thrown over his face, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.

"Took you long enough," he mumbles without moving. When he finally moves his arm and looks at you, there's something intense in his gaze, something you've never seen before.

"You okay, Max?" you ask, moving closer to the bed.

He doesn't answer, just looks at you through half-lidded eyes. "Stay," he says simply, patting the empty space beside him on the bed. "Please."