"Yeah, I invited him over," I told my aunt, and she hummed, moving the camera a bit as we continued to talk. I was video calling Caleb's mum. She was in the kitchen trying to get some food ready, while I was working on homework at my end. It was Wednesday afternoon, and she was the only one at home now. They'd gotten a cat, and I could hear it purring in the background, mixing with the sound of the utensils Mrs. Wilson was using.

"Okay, will he be staying in your room?" she asked, making me look up from my journal. She was cutting peppers now and didn't have her eyes on me.

"Yeah, he will be," I answered after thinking about it for a while. I was staying in the guest room anyway, and it wasn't like there was somewhere else he could stay. I watched my aunt nod before biting her bottom lip. The first signs of snow had come last week, and Maxwell and I had watched the sky from his room's window since his floor had a wonderful view. It was cold, but that didn't stop Maxwell from wearing ripped jeans. I smiled to myself, thinking about my goof of a boyfriend.

"How's Candice?" I asked, realizing that it was just her and her parents at home now. Caleb and Wyatt were both living close to their campuses, and Ava had gone off for an international students' program in France. Although she was usually on her phone or tablet, I knew she didn't like being alone.

"She's taking it well. She misses you all, but she won't admit it," her mum laughed, moving the chopped peppers to a bowl before placing some onions on the wooden chopping board. I laughed too, thinking about Candice and her energetic sharp-tongued self. I looked on as Mrs. Wilson walked out of the camera's view. It seemed like the camera was on a small shelf, or heck, it was probably on top of the microwave because I could see most of the kitchen. I saw the brown cat by the door, but it meowed before walking out of view.

"That's a nice cat," I said, and my aunt laughed off camera. It echoed through the kitchen, and I let my gaze move from the brown tiles to the cream curtains.

"He's Candice's," she said, and I let out a small 'oh.'

"Have you heard from Wyatt?" I heard her ask as she came into view again, this time holding a bowl and whisking the ingredients inside.

I shook my head. "No, I haven't heard from him in a while."

"You should call him sometime," she said, and I could only nod. Wyatt had become friendlier and more outgoing but talking to him still felt odd, and like something wasn't right in some way. I could have sworn he hated me just a year or two ago, or maybe I had been imagining things — I never really could tell with Wyatt.

"Okay, I will," I said, thinking about how Wyatt slightly intimidated me. I didn't even have his number, but I could ask Caleb for it. I talked with Mrs. Wilson for some more time before we ended the call on a good note, and I went ahead to concentrate on my assignment. Oliver had headed to the main court for his volleyball game, and Maxwell was still in his music theory class, so I was the only one in the room. When I got a bit tired I went ahead to open the document of Maxwell's stories. He had sent it to me a few days earlier and reading them in my free time had sort of become a habit of me. His writing had a nice simple flow to it like he had measured the sentence sizes. And of course, I loved reading the little scenes of me and Maxwell together. It made me smile.

Finals were a month away, but Maxwell was currently writing his second set of midterms. I didn't have two sets of midterms, just one set that I had already finished, so I didn't spend as much time as I used to with Maxwell this week. Sometimes we talked through video call at night as he studied, and I worked on my papers, but I haven't seen him physically for a while — it was just a few days, I'm being overdramatic. I bit my bottom lip, sighing. I wanted to kiss him, pity.

Why are you thinking about that? I groaned to myself as my cheeks became warm. I shouldn't be embarrassed about wanting to kiss and touch Maxwell. It was normal to want to do those types of things with the person you liked — the person you were dating, but I still felt somewhat shy about it, and it was hilarious to Maxwell.

I blinked when I heard my phone's notification sound go off. I reached out for my phone, unlocking the screen before scrolling through the notifications until I found a message from Maxwell.

Message from: Maxwell.

Hey, my lecture's over and I have some time, can I come over?

WED, 3:45 PM.

A smile made its way to my lips, but it thinned out when I remembered that Maxwell had a test the day after tomorrow.

Message to: Maxwell.

Don't you have a test coming up? Shouldn't you be studying?

WED, 3:47 PM.

Message from: Maxwell.

:-(

Typing...

I'm dying. I haven't seen you in forever. I'll just say for a few minutes, I promise.

WED, 3:48 PM.

I stared down at the texts, blinking before deciding that he might as well come over. I mean, I wanted him here too, but I didn't want to interfere with his studies.

Message to: Maxwell.

Okay, just for a few minutes.

WED, 3:49 PM.

Message from: Maxwell.

:-)

WED, 3:50 PM.

About half an hour later Maxwell knocked on the door I shared with Oliver. I got up from my seat at my desk before heading to open the door. I was caught a little off guard when he dropped his bag and immediately made to pull me into a hug. I let out a little gasp, my eyes wide as his hands wrapped around me tightly.

"Gosh, I've missed you," he said, and I laughed, rolling my eyes as I made to hug him back.

"We're in the same building, Max. We always are. You're acting like we were on other sides of the planet," I said before we pulled away from each other. I stared at his freckled face, wavy ginger hair, and soft brown eyes. My gaze moved to the ground when I felt my chest flutter as he grinned at me. "Okay, God, I missed you too," I said looking up again, and Maxwell's smile widened before he leaned in to kiss me.

It stayed soft and sweet for a while, but soon Maxwell was pushing me back until we somehow ended up on my bed with him hovering over me. He kissed me for a while, and I smiled when he pulled away to just look at me, I loved the gaze in his eyes. I just loved it when he looked at me like I meant the world to him—and I hope I did.

"Are you still coming over to my place for the holidays?" I asked, remembering that his mum had reached out to him a while back, and I wasn't sure if that would affect his plans. I watched as his smile faded, and I rose a brow in worry, wondering if what I had said had caused it.

"No, I'm still coming over to your place," he muttered, moving to lie down beside me. I turned until I was facing him completely. I bit my bottom lip, reaching out to brush some strands of his red hair away from his forehead. He closed his eyes, humming as I made to run my hand through his hair.

"Did something happen?" I asked, and he just stared at me with his brown eyes. "Your mum?" he looked away at my second question, and I just sighed, not knowing what to do. If he didn't want to talk to me about it, it's not like I could force him to. I just hoped he would tell me in his own time.

"You know you can always talk to me, right?" I said instead, and Maxwell just smiled.

"Yeah." He nodded, reaching out to me so that he could hug me to himself. He placed his head on top of mine, sighing. "Yeah, I know that."

The room went quiet after that. The clock ticked in the background, and the branches of the tree outside the room's window clawed at the glass as the winds blew them about. It was going to snow this evening. Maxwell stayed for a few minutes just like he had said he would. He left the room after fifteen or so minutes, leaving me by myself again, but I was worried this time. Did his mother not act as he had expected? Did she do something out of place? I tried to stop myself from worrying, but I couldn't.

What happened?