A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Max's POV

What was wrong with me??? Had I no pride at all??? Why did I have to go and ask him if he wanted to stay for a bit after Mook and Ella left the house? On top of that, and worse, I had to go and offer to cook dinner for him tomorrow night, only to be turned down again! Where, just where was my goddamned pride???

I had a hard time going to sleep. I kept cursing at myself over and over. It was almost morning when I finally dozed off out of mental exhaustion.

But wait why was I even losing sleep over him. He was just my close friend for heavens sake. I  had nothing going for him at all. I loved Mook to pieces. Nothing and no one would ever be able to shake off the deep and tender love that I felt for Mook. She was the perfect partner for me.

"You better do something about your constant tardiness or your annual evaluation will suffer greatly," my supervisor warned me when she saw me clocking in late for work.

"I'm sorry," I said with an apologetic smile. "I will work hard on it, I promise."

At lunch break, my phone sounded a text from Mook.

Ella wants to know what Tul thinks about her.

"I have no idea," I texted back.

Talk to him. Draw it out of him.

When I did not reply she texted me again.

When are you going to see him again.

When he calls me.

I didn't want to invite Tul to my house again. I hated being turned down. It affected me badly when I got turned down by him.

When's he gonna call you?

I have no idea. Listen if you're free this evening, let's go watch a movie and then  have dinner afterwards.

I can't. Ella is coming over to my apartment this evening. She's gonna bring food and drinks cuz we're gonna be watching a chick flick on my home movie.

Another time then. Catch ya later.

Mook sent three heart emojis to end our text session.

After work, I decided to stop by the supermarket to buy some breakfast stuff. I was running out of pancake mix and maple syrup.

Shit why were there so many people shopping at this time. I could not find a space to park at the supermarket parking lot. I drove around slowly going through each row of parked cars waiting for some shopper to go back to their car and leave a parking spot for me.

Finally just up ahead I saw a shiny red car easing out of its parking spot. I quickly moved forward and as soon as the driver left I parked into the newly emptied parking space.

Inside the supermarket I went straight to the aisle that carried breakfast stuff. I picked out a box of pancake mix and dropped it into my shopping cart.

As I moved farther down the aisle to look for a bottle of maple syrup, I wondered what kind of breakfast Tul liked to eat. I also wondered whether he was a heavy breakfast eater or a light breakfast eater. Was he the kind who just ate a hurried breakfast of toast and coffee or tea or orange juice or milk, or was he someone who believed that because breakfast was the most important meal of the day he ate a heavy breakfast that consisted of scrambled eggs and sausages or slices of ham or bacon complete with a side of hot cereal and milk.

As I was walking around the supermarket with those thoughts circling my head I had not realized that I had been filling up my shopping cart with all the items  that I had pictured Tul eating for breakfast.