You Plus Me Equals

Max grabbed his bag out of the back of the car and popped in his headphones turned on the music and head through the soccer field next to the running track.

The sun was blaring and the bright green grass was damp enough that every footstep he took, sprayed small droplets of water in little puffs of mist around his feet. The shoes he wore had air holes for ventilation and he could almost feel the slight cool from the water through the holes.

He walked past the goal and stared into the distance glimpsing the track and the small group of about fifteen runners that were warming up on it. The coach stood out wearing his dark green and red hooded jacket that matched the uniforms the boys themselves were warming up in.

As he got closer one head, in particular, stuck out among the others. And the bright red turned. Sam waved at Max a large grin on his face. He waved back with a little sigh, just this one time he wished that Sam and he had different interest, or at least if Sam could skip or be late for something.

Nope, Sam was always punctual for everything and tried not to miss ever. He got great grades and always had enough time to do anything he wanted. Secretly he was a little jealous of his friend who seemed to have it all so... put together.

Today especially, he really wished he could have everything work out the way Sam did.

Max walked over to the tracks, the closer he got to the group of boys, the more he stretched and moved his muscles. Prep was number one, and preparing himself for the warm-ups he would have to do for the next half hour before he could even start to actually run was super important.

Despite everything this was the one thing, he couldn't afford to do wrong. Doing something wrong here, being distracted. Could mean an injury that would break him, wreak his scholarship, and destroy his future. He had to get his head in this. There was no other option.

Max threw his bag down and didn't bother to join the group. Normally he would. Normally he would be in ample spirits to goof off and joke around while warming up. To listen as the coach chuckled and snapped at the regular trouble makers. But today he just wanted to listen to his music, do what he had to and get out of there.

Focus.

He was so focused on his warm-up routine that he jumped, startled when the green suit with a red stripe appeared close to him in his peripheral vision. And he jumped back and yelped.

"WHAT THE HELL SAM!" Max yelled, pulling out his headphones and staring with annoyance at his friend.

"So how did it go?"

"What do you mean?" Max played stupid.

Sam had been asking him the same question for the past three days and every time he would evade him change the subject and escape. This time he could do two out of the three.

In classes, he could pretend to be lost in the work and listening to music. But now they were warming up and running.

So he couldn't pretend to not know what he was talking about. Or to not have heard him.

But he still tried anyway.

"Oh come off it Max!" Sam snapped, annoyed.

Max stopped his stretching and dropped his leg he had been holding backward and pressed against his b.u.t.t down onto the ground in shock. Max stared at him, startled.

'What... Sam rarely talked to him this way, ever...'

Max watched as Sam stared at him thoroughly worried and annoyed with him and his actions. He knew Sam was angry, hurt and so angry at him that he snapped. Otherwise, Sam never talked to him like this. So he knew the way he had been acting the past few days was bad, and it had to be pretty bad to get this reaction from him. Sam never snapped unless he knew he needed a sure fire way to get Max to shut up, listen, and then explain what was really going on instead of holding it inside himself.

It was the only way he knew how to cope in these situations. And he had a huge feeling in his gut that Sam had really hated doing that just now. And it really made him feel even worse inside. Because he had put his friend in a predicament that he shouldn't ever have to.

Sam stared at him expectantly. One hand was on his hip the other was placed inside his pocket and he leaned back and winced in the sunlight as he waited for Max to come clean.

"How do you figure out who to love?" Max asked finally.