As soon as Max walked into the house, he dropped everything. All that mattered right now was the conversation he was having over text.

   "Parents aren't home..." he noticed. "Perfect. Not a thing to distract me." He went to sit on the couch...

   ...And missed, crashing to the floor.

   "God dammit!" He hissed, rubbing the back of his head. His phone pinged and he snatched it up, forgetting about the injury.

Preston: I still can't believe I have to be Veronica Sawyer for Halloween.
Max: hey, it's only fair
Preston: That I have to dress as your character's girlfriend? Sure.

   Max froze. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "Did I unintentionally ask him to be my date?" His fingers hovered over the keyboard. "Way to go, me."

Max: I mean, if you want to put it like that...

   It took the teen on the other end a bit longer to respond. "Did I mess this up?" he thought, worried. The phone vibrated.

Preston: So it's a date?

   Max felt his heart skip a beat as he typed.

Max: It's a date.

•~•

   He flipped between messages throughout the night. From the insanity of the group chat to the bliss of Preston Goodplay. He could hardly eat with his phone constantly going off. The teen was getting drowsier by the second.

   Finally, Neil decided to call in a night and so did Nikki. Max let out an exhausted sigh and trudged towards his room. The phone buzzed.

Preston: Are you still awake?
Max: yeah
Max: bout to go to sleep, but yeah
Preston: Shit. My bad. I don't want to keep you up.
Max: dude its fine
Max: it's only midnight anyway

   He made it to his room and flopped onto the bed. They talked for a few more minutes until he was too tired to go on. The boy fell asleep mid-conversation.