NARRATOR POV: After their nasty break up, Mackenzie sees Max for the first time, ironically, at a wedding.
At first she was mulling over the decision to attend it, or not and stay at home in her comfy joggers (Max's, but she'll tell you otherwise). Everything still feels too fresh and too raw for her, even tho they seperated almost 3 months ago. But it still feels like yesterday for her, and a wedding is well known to be a very joyous occasion, and Ken ie wasn't sure if she's capable of attending it and pretending everything's alright, when it clearly is not.
In the end however, she decides to attend it anyway, saying that she should be happy and live her life to the fullest.
Andrew's a very good friend and an important part of their friend group. It meant that he was VERY vocal about wanting Kenzie there. Well, he was vocal about wanting both Makenzie and Max there, but that's a minor detail Kenzie is trying hard not to think about on her way to the venue.
Luckly, it's not a long drive from her apartment in downtown London. After short thought, she decided to drive there herself, instead of taking the cab. That way she had an excuse to not drink that much, as drinking and heartbreak was never a good combo when it comes to her...
Kenzie really thought and prayed that Max would be too busy with Red Bull in Milton Kenyes to attend. She hoped that, after their heated argument at the begining of Formula 1 season almost 4 months ago, he would step back and focus on himself, sitting this one out. It's not like he's already a CHampion and can loose up a bit...
Unfortunately however, Kenzie's prayers are not heard. Cursing every god she can recall (due to her fascination in greek and Romanian mythology in her teenage years, it's a lot), Max is the first person her eyes land on when she enters the building.
It's not a surprise really, as Max is quite tall and broad, while his persona takes up the most of the room.
As if fate could be even more vicious, he's wearing the suit Kenzie picked out for him, all those months ago (close to New Years, her traiterous mind suplies), subtle dark blue makes his blue eyes stand out even more, as they sparkle in amusement while he's telling something. Just like they did, when they laughed about today, sitting on their couch, saying how big this wedding would be and all that. Kenzie only needed to look at the lapels and the handkerchief in his breast pocket that it's the very suit Kenz picked out for him on random weekend stroll in the mall, telling him, Blue is your colour, darling, not black. She stands speechless for a second, her eyes not leaving him. It knocks the breath out of him. The bowtie looks wonky, she spots, and it reminds her of another thing about Max. He's terrible at tieing bowties or ties in general. As long as she knows him, she had to do that for him, before she got too angry about it.

Eventually, Makenzie manages to move. When he gets gentled out of the way by incoming guests, she takes a step, then another one, to the side, but she doesn't dare move any closer to where Max stands with a group of people by the long table, deep in conversation. Deep enough to not spot Kenzie's arrival, nor spare her a glance. It's fine tho, as Kenz can get her share of staring out of the way now.
To be frank, she hasn't seen Max ever since THAT night, a night he walked out of their shared home in Monaco with a loud bang on the door, 3 weeks before testing in Bahrain. It's embarasing and stupid, but Kenzie doesn't even remember what they fought over about. Only the look of hurt on Max's face and quiet and soft, almost breathles "Simply lovely then", "I need to focus on the season anyway"...
And then he left. And the emptiness of everything around her for weeks after that... And lonelyness inside her too..
But Max looks good. Kenz hoped that he wouldn't, cause she knows she doesn't. Sleep and rest are almost non-existant, unfocused and unsocial ever since that one fight. But Max is Max... Everything Jos put him through made him seem almost bulletproff, uncaring at best...
And Kenzie hates him for it.. Just a bit.. But she still does, even tho it's not even 20% of the love she has for him, she realises, and the realisation following is that three months is really not long enough to get over the love of your life, and the realisation following that is simple, Kenzie should have stayed home because this is going to fucking hurt...
As if to fuck with her even more, it's also the exact moment Max chooses to lift his gaze and look straight at Makenzie. It's the worst possible timing, Kenz is hovering off to one side, right next to the door, all by herself, and this is really not how she had imagined their first encounter after their breakup to go. In some abstract fantasy, Kenzie had seen herself bump into him in the middle of the busy Monaco GP, with an excuse to go somewhere, to not have to talk to him that much, but still make him miss her. If he ever does... This on the other hand? She shouldn't have come...
Max is first to break the eye contact. It doesn't last long enough to figure out what Max might be thinking or read anything into the lines of his face. And it's liberating but also hurts at the same time.
To free herself from this stupor, Kenzie moves away from the wall, turns her back on the door, no way out now, it's too late anyway, and makes her way to the bar.
-Gin & Tonic- she says to the bantender, tone flat -On the rocks.
-Coming right away- he replied and even tried a charming smile to match it, but it doesn't work. Not anymore...
Kenzie is way too distracted to care and is in desperate need of something to hold onto. And if it's just a glass of familiar Gin & Tonic, so be it. It's free, and she can down it before they have to walk over to the chapel, and she can pretend that the warmth it feeds down her throat distracts her plenty from the set of eyes she imagines on the back of his neck.

The ceremony, and Kenzie hates to admit it out loud, is dreamy and beutifull. The vows Andrew and his wife exchange are in danger of choking her up on multiple occasions, but Kenzie straight up refuses to cry. She won't, not when she has spent the past few weeks crying in bed, late at night, with no one around to watch or judge her, like a pathetic child. She refuses to do it here, where there's people around. Where Max's around. Fuck that.
She breathes a lot easier when they leave the chapel and make their way back over to the reception hall en mass. Kenzie is entirely too aware of where Max is in the crowd, a couple feet ahead, off to the left, walking next to someone she doesn't know. Kenzie doesn't care, barely even glances over twice, and then she gets distracted by Elena and Liam, and feels safe enough to have her first real conversation of the day.
The reception on the other hand, is torture. It's free seating for dinner, there are a lot of people crowding the room, and Kenzie doesn't know what to do with herself, feels out of place with no one to hold onto, so she retreats to the bar and gives up on her vague promise not to drink. She'll take a cab back if she has to, and come pick up the car tomorrow, but there is no way she's going to get through this sober...!

It's the same bartender as last time and Kenzie orders another Gin & Tonic with a soft flick of his wrist.
-It's not really girly drink, is it?- he tries to make small talk.
-Maybe not..- she exhales, agreeing -But who said I like girly drinks?
-She doesn't. And make it two- achingly familiar trembl says from behind her, making Kenz turn around and come face to face with her whole entire world, with the worst mistake of her young life, with her own beating heart and half of her soul, all of it strapped into one person in a dark blue suit and a wonky bowtie. Kenzie's knuckles whiten as she grips the countertop behind her tighter. She very nearly woobles on her unsteady legs.
Max's eyes are kind and soft when she meets his gaze, stealing her breath away. He looks so heartbreakingly familiar like this, and all Kenzie can think is, this is not her ex. This is not an ex partner, this is not someone Kenzie broke up with, to forget. This is the love of her life who walked out on her, and the one person Makenzie knows she will never get over. Ever.
-Hey Kenz- Max says in the very same cheeky tone Kenzie is so fucking used to, fuck -How are you?
And fuck him, for coming to the wedding of one of Kenzie's friends, after walking out on her only a few weeks ago, and having the audacity to ask her how she's doing. Fuck him.
-Good- her voice cracks -Good, yeah, I'm good. Cheers- she looks away because she can't keep these pretences up for long and not reach out. She wants so badly to reach out and touch him. Even for fleeting moment. Just this once....
-Good- Max echoes, and clears his throat -Good to hear.
An uncomfortable silence falls over them. It has Kenzie squirming beneath her suit jacket, which she thrown over her dress, to not get cold in the chapel. This is not how they are supposed to be around each other. The one thing Kenzie loves more than anything about Max is how easy things are with him. They can talk and laugh and sit in silence for hours, and it has never been as awkward as it is right now.
-I hope you don't mind- Max says when the bartender places the first drink in front of them -That I came. Andrew is also my friend, so...
-No, no- Kenzie is quick to assure him -Course not! As you said, Drew is also your friend so you've had every right to come here. And the newlyweds are surely happy about it- it's a lie, it's so very obviously a lie because Kenzie is still not looking at Max, but they are not here for honesty, they are not here for the truth, or they wouldn't be talking like this, and so Kenz sticks to the script -It's all good.
Max's hand wraps around his whiskey as he nods, a quick jerk of his head. Kenzie is fully aware they're going to be drinking the same thing now, the same Gin & Tonic from two same-looking glasses, and fucking hell, this is not how she wanted this day to go. Even tho she's lying even to herself about who convinced to try it and then made her fall in love with it.
-I really hope you are... you are okay, Kenz- he says it with so much care, with so much caution between the vowels, and the crack at the nickname mostly only he called her, almost makes her cry. Almost. Max's voice is soft, stifled now in the loud room, and Kenzie's fingers tighten around her own glass. She can keep up pretences, but she can't deal with the real thing. She doubts she will be able to deal with the real thing for a very long time...
-Yeah, I am. No worries- she barerly whispers, equally as quiet. A private exchange, the first one, maybe even the last one between them -I hope you're holding up okay, too- she says, even tho she knows he's doing marvellous job at the races and is leading the championship again. It's the best she can do and so she leaves it at that and turns away because anything else would have been too painful to deal with. Another word and Kenzie would have fallen on her knees after all.

.......
Dinner is dreadful. The seating arrangement has opened a well of possibilities and none of them are to Kenzie's liking. She's sitting wedged between some of Maya's (Drew's wife) friends, both equally too cheerfull and fake and chokes down food that she barely tastes, all while having Max right in his periphery, only a few seats down. If Kenzie were to turn her head slightly to the left, she could probably follow the conversation he's engaged in with a pretty blonde who is twirling her hair and throwing her head back laughing at every single thing he says.
Kenzie tells herself that she doesn't care. She doesn't turn her head, she doesn't pay them any mind. Not them, not anyone else. Dinner rushes by and Kenz is glad for it. There is cake, and speeches in between, and Makenzie follows all of it with great interest and absolutely not just to be allowed to turn away from Max and that woman. Absolutely not...!
She's doing fine. She got their first meeting after the breakup out of the way, and that was always bound to be the worst one. Anything after this will be a piece of cake. They will inevitably run into each other in Monaco, but brunette can deal with that. After all, she has her own comitments, while Max is all around the world most of the year, and rarely home as it it. They won't ever have to talk to each other again. There is nothing left to say, no points of intersection. They are free of each other now, free of each other's threads. No strings attached.
It sits really tight in her throat, the thought. Bontempo has felt a lot worse than this at certain points over the past few weeks but the thought that this is it now, that this is how it's going to be with Max for the rest of her life suddenly cuts off the air out of her lungs. It's not what she wants. It's not what she wanted for them, she never wanted to break up, she never wanted Max to leave. She never wanted to be free of him. She wanted the opposite, and she wanted him for the rest of her life, she wanted to keep him, she needed him to be her forever....
Kenzie really can't breathe well through the thoughts and in no time she finds herself outside, on the small pathway leading up to the chapel, trying her best to light one of the cigarettes he has been smoking more and more frequently in recent weeks, as she tries to breath normaly again and avoid impeding panic attack.
The lighter is comfortingly cold and old, as it belonged to her grandpa before and because she's got enough self-control, she did it only a few times, even tho she knows it's a few too many.... Tonight, it's giving her nothing. Not a flame, not even a spark is coming out of the damn thing, no matter how many times he snaps or shakes it. The cigarette sits dry between his lips, sticky, like it's mocking him and this entire situation.
-Since when do you smoke?
It's dark out here, the only light coming from inside, dancing around the grounds, and yet she immediately recognises the broad shoulders, the tall frame, the low voice.
-What the fuck are you doing out here?- she can't hold it back, her honest reaction, because not only has Max managed to ruin her fucking life and her fucking day, but now he is seemingly also entirely inevitable.
-You were looking... queasy. I thought you might be unwell. There was squid in the starter.
Was there? Kenzie didn't even noticed.
-I'm fine- she says in reply, and turns her attention back to the lighter she's still holding, goes for another two fruitless attempts.
-Here, let me...
And of course Max has a fucking lighter on him, for fucks sake, even tho he doesn't smoke himself. Of course he has. Not once, in all those years Kenzie has known him, has Toto ever carried a lighter, but tonight of all the nights, here he is, coming to the fucking rescue, snapping a flame right in front of her face and singeing the end of his cigarette in a way Kenzie couldn't. It's fucking perfect, is what it is...
She doesn't say thank you. Kenzie doesn't say anything at all, just hides the hand that isn't holding the cigarette in her pocket and curls it into a wild, shaking fist. Digging her painted nails into his palm, just to stop herself from reaching out or worse, taking the burning tip of her cigarette to Max's perfect face.
-Are you sure you're...
-Fuck you for showing up here!- that's it. Kenzie finally snaps. She tried holding it in all evening, but she's tired and heartbroken and it's hard. This shit is fucking hard, and her patience is leaving her. She doesn't want to play pretend. Max, always so fucking blun and "out there" was always laughing at her that she's too calm for her own good. But guess what?! The tables have turned.... concerned about reputation and etiquette. Kenzie haven't said anything ever since he chose to walk away, but right now, she can't do it -You had no fucking right!
Max only blinks at her, surprised. He is normally so quick witted. It's a strange sight to see him scramble for words.
-You said you were okay with it...?
-Well, guess what?! I'm fucking not okey!- Kenzie znaps again, takes a deep drag from his cigarette, inhales the smoke into his lungs until it burns, and then releases it with her next words, dreedfully calm -Of course I'm fucking not, you know that...
-You seemed fine...
Brunette snorts derisively at that.
-Fuck you. You know I'm not- there is no point denying it. Kenzie knows what she looks like. Like soul-less vase, porcelain doll, perfect on the outside, but empty on the inside. If Max wants to pretend - fine. But Kenzie knows. They both know.
Verstappen falls quiet, lets the silence wash over them, haltingly. The sounds from inside fill the quiet dark, making the tension between them even more unbearable. A reminder of a different life. An easier life. A life long forgoten.
-You never called- Max says it just like that. A fact, presented clinically. With a long arm, like Max has no attachment to it -I assumed you were fine. You're always the one to be fine, ever since i know you...
Kenzie's eyes snap to where Max's standing, two, maybe three feet away, tucked into his suit jacket, folded arms over his chest. Chin pressed forward, up. What the fuck?!
-Well, news flash idiot! I'm not! I'm not ever since you walked out on me!- she hurls back at him, eyes firce, wild with fury, the cigarette long forgoten between her shaky fingers -You turned around and you fucking left! With no explanation what so ever, and you think I was going to call you after that stunt?! That I am going to be fine without you!?
Max only shrugs, avoiding her gaze even though his composure doesn't falter. All of it reminds Max too much of that night. The night things fell apart, the night Kenzie's whole world fell apart with one screaming match.
-I would have picked up.
Kenzie stares at him, the man she loves so fucking fiercely it drives her wild and maybe it's exactly because of shit like this - Max got shit ton from Jos and ever since that he's not suited for any arguments. Avoids them even. And Kenzie understood that. She used to love that she was the chosen one to show him real love, even sometimes harash. She was the only one allowed to do it.
-Of course you would have- her tone is dry, as she turns her gaze away, looks far into the distance instead. They're surrounded by British countryside. It should feel like home, but it doesn't -I would've too.
-What?
-Picked up the damn phone if you'd have called- she takes another drag of smoke, fills her lungs with it -But you didn't, did you?
-No.
-Mhm- Kenzie feels extriemly tired and drenched from all the emotions and everything around her happening. She didn't expect to deal with this today, all the things she had tried so hard to push into the farthest corner of her mind. She inhales the last of the cigarette and then throws it mindlessly, off into the grass -You should go back inside.
Max looks at her like it's the last thing on his mind.
-I think we should... Maybe we should talk, Kenz.
Pathetically, it's the one thing Kenzie had been waiting for all this time, ever since Max slammed the front door behind him that night. Just... Some closure, just another moment with him, some more time before things completely fall apart, maybe another chance, maybe a chance to convince Max to come back to her. Right now, it feels like the last thing Kenzie wants to do. She doesn't want to talk, she wants to go home. She wants to go home with Max. To their shared apartment in Milton Kenyes or better, to Monaco. She wants to curl up in his arms, feel safe enough to fall asleep, with the steady rhythm of his heart beneath her ear and the most familiar warmth she can press up against.
But she doesn't say that. Barely even dares to think it. Instead, he says:
-I'm gonna head home.
Max's frown deepens and his arms straighten at his sides.
-Did you... come alone?
Kenzie stares back at him, the night colouring the deep shadows on Max's face blue.
-The fuck is that supposed to mean? Can't I come to a wedding by myself?! Or do I need a guard or someone?!
-No, it's not that!- he denies quickly -I mean't that you have been drinking...
-And so what?!- she spats out, angry again. It's true, but Kenzie doesn't know how Max knows that. One drink before the ceremony, one right after. And she just had them keep coming during dinner. Breaking her own rules, Kenzie is an expert in -I can take a cab. 's fine.
-It'll be... That will take a long time, and the charge will be horrendous- Max has this look to him. Kenzie knows this look, and she has to turn her face away because it reminds her too much of times past. It hurts too much, in the quiet of the dark, in the cold breeze of finality this night has taken on -Let me drive you.
-No, I....
-Please, Kenn, just let me... Let me drive you home.
Kenzie gets the feeling this conversation is slipping away from her. She can't predict it anymore. She's starting to question if she ever could. -Why?
-Because you are drunk. I want to do this. Let me drive you home please.
Kenzie knows that voice and she hates how familiar it feels, how deep it shakes her, and the knowledge that this is nothing she will ever get again, probably. That this is the last time an offer like this will be made to her by Max because they are broken up and Max walked out on her. Max doesn't want to be with her anymore. He ended things because he couldn't stand being with Makenzie anymore and Kenzie is pathetic for this, but if she gets this one last time? She wants it. She wants it badly enough to cease his protests.
-Are you sure?
-Yes.
-Okay. Yeah, fine. You can drive- she gives up, and almost mises happy glint flashing through his eyes.

....
Kenzie looks over at Max in the driver's seat and she can't help the pit in her stomach, the bottomless pit of want, and yearning, and sorrow. Until now, she only ever had to deal with it by herself, she was missing Max by herself, alone, because Max was gone, out of reach. Now he is very much within reach, only an arm's length away, long fingers wrapped around the steering wheel of his Ferrari, and Kenzie has never felt safer and sadder in her whole life.
She can't stop looking at him. They're on the motorway, taking the M1 into London, and Kenzie can't stop looking at how the headlights of the cars throw shadows on Max's face, his white-clad chest. He took off his jacket before getting into the car, a habit Kenz was ready to make fun of out of tradition, and she caught herself biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself. But now she can't stop looking at him, and be reminded of all the times when she was sitting in this very seat, in this very car, and looked over at the person Kenz wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She still wants to spend the rest of her life with him, and it's what makes all of this so god damn pathetic...

Memories come rushing back, years of them, shards of a life well lived, time well spent. Max in white shirts and Red Bull merch, cause that's almost 3/4 of clothes he owns and sometimes in glasses, with the sun up and the sun down, Red Bull cap on his head most of the year, different cars over the years, but always in the driver seat, always smiling and always for Kenzie to look at.
-God, I fucking miss you- she can't help but be honest about it, admit it into the quiet stillness of the car. Even though they're moving, it feels like they aren't.
Max's brows furrow, just the slightest bit, and he looks over at her, a critical look, before he turns his attention back on the road.
-You are drunk- he says, tone dry, and it fucking hurts, it hurts like a bitch.
-Yeah- she agrees and turns his eyes away too -Maybe....

Kenzie doesn't plan on letting Max come up with her, but it happens anyway. Max still knows the security code to the garage, still knows the key code to the building, the elevator, Kenzie's flat. He knows all of it, and he does it without asking, and it breaks her heart in a way that has her avert his gaze and look somewhere else instead. It's hugely humiliating. Kenzie isn't that drunk, and she isn't sure if Max knows. Because Max wouldn't do this if it weren't for his saviour complex, for always needing to care about people who are close to him.
They end up, hilariously, in the exact same room, in the exact same positions they were in when things fell apart. In the living room, with the lights dimmed and suit jackets shrugged off, Kenzie halts and looks over at where Max is hovering in the door, like the memories hit him at the same moment they hit her, and Kenzie can't do it. She can't. It's too painful, to be reminded of it all over again. To hear Max's voice, "Simply lovely then", "I need to focus on the season anyway". She can't and she doesn't, turns instead and heads over into the kitchen.
Max, seemingly, doesn't have a lot to say this time around. He insisted on driving her home, parked his car in the spot it had always been in, reserved just for him, for Kenzie's partner, made his way up here like it was his right, and now he stands in the doorway to the living room, lost for words, like a fish out of water.
Kenzie chugs two glasses of water, one after the other, not because she's drunk, but because it gives her something to do. Normally she would be off to bed, shrug out of her clothes, quick shower, take off make up and then slip beneath the covers, to try to forget this day, sleep for ten hours at least, but she doesn't want to do any of that right now, because Max is still hovering, and he makes no move to leave.
Kenzie doesn't offer him anything. She doesn't want to. She offered him her heart, her life, the centre of her soul, her very core, and Max didn't want it, any of it, so Kenzie is not going to offer him a glass of water. He wouldn't know what to do with it.
-Kenz...- Max's voice is tenattive, but cracks a bit on the last vowel of the nickname once so dear. It's all he says and when Kenzie looks at him from across the room, half the flat between them and the distance of three months of grief and sorrow, all she can read in the lines of his face is regret.
-Do you have anything important to say? Anything that's going to make staying up late worth my time? Or you gonna say more bullshit?- she asked, acting bored. But nothing could prepare her for what she heard next:
-I miss you too- Kenzie's throat is dry as she swallows around a hot lump -I couldn't say it, earlier. In the car. I didn't want to. I thought you were drunk.
-Fuck you- Kenzie replies to that. There is a hollow pit in her stomach, opening up like a cut that has had no chance of healing, weeping and infected -You know me better than that.
-I didn't want to do it in the car, Kenz. Have this conversation.
-Why?
-Because I thought I might... I thought I might start to cry. And I didn't want to crash the car with you and me both in it.
For the first time today, for the first time in those godawful three months... Kenzie is truly and sincerely at a loss. She had expected to run into Max at some point, maybe even today, the odds had been high enough, she had expected to be having a conversation with him eventually, she had expected that it would hurt, anticipated even, but this? This is nothing he could have prepared herself for.
Hers first instinct is to soothe. With Max, her first instinct is always to soothe, to show appreciation and validation. She wants to wrap him up, hold him close, and make sure no one will ever hurt him. No more hurt after what he endured. They're two grown, young but grown adults, inevitable in many ways, and still Kenzie wants to do this, with no other than Max.
Her second instinct is to run. To or from, she doesn't know. And she does neither, in the end. Thing is, Max doesn't cry. But then again, neither does Kenzie.
-Why?- it's a simple question, but Max still struggles for words. It's, above all, the most heart-breaking thing Kenzie had to witness in all this time. Max doesn't struggle. Max is blunt and honest to the bone, and he always says what's on his mind, without filter. Never showing hesistation.
-I didn't think, you would miss me- he says. He isn't looking at Kenzie but at a spot between them, somewhere on the hardwood floors -When I didn't hear from you, I didn't think you missed me. I thought you were glad, maybe, that I was gone.
The pit in her stomach, the hole in her heart, both open even wider now, open wide enough to swallow Mackenzie whole. She can't think of a time when she would ever have been glad that Max was gone. Quite the opposite actually. She can't think of a time before Max, really. She doesn't remember a time when she didn't know Max. It has always been him, since the very beginning, and for Kenzie, there was never another option.
-Why would you... Why would you think I would be glad?- her voice cracks.
-Because you told me you hated me.
Kenzie doesn't remember that, she doesn't. Their fight is a blur, a fuzzy haze at the back of her mind. She didn't really try, in those weeks, with Max gone, to piece it back together. All she wanted was to forget, erase, and so she never really went back to that night, not consciously. Not with responsibility.
-I didn't....- she wants to say, I didn't say that, but it would have been insulting, to Max, patronising -I didn't mean it- she says instead -I don't remember.... I wouldn't say something like that and mean it, Max.
Their eyes meet. For the first time, Kenzie recognises herself in the shadows of Max's face, her own devastation mirrored back at him, along with unshered tears. The wreckage of a relationship.
-I can't remember what we fought about, that night- she admits, unsure -Just how you walked out on me. How angry you were....
-It doesn't matter- Max croaks. His voice has something cautious, something reserved, butvalso uterlly broken -It was nothing. I shouldn't have left, I didn't... I didn't want to. But then I was out the door, and you didn't follow me, and so I thought this is what you wanted... And my dad... His angry voice in my head...
-But you didn't call... Even then...
-I didn't think you wanted me to...
-I did! I wanted you to come back so badly, Max!
-I... I didn't know- its almost quieter than a whisper, as Max falls quiet for a breath, before he says -The only reason I came today was because of you. I just wanted to see you. I didn't mean to make things harder on you, Kenz.. I wanted to make sure that you're ok...
Kenzie thinks about his words, about what they mean, what they could mean, for them. Much like their last conversation, this one, too, feels very much like a haze.
-I think you just made things a lot easier, actually- she says softly, believing and trusting her heart for once -Come here...- and Max does.

Crosses the room in a heartbeat and falls into Kenzie's open arms and buries home, as close as he can, hugging her tightly to himself. Kenzie's mind is full of that one word, home, again and again. Max feels like home and smells like home and now he is home, finally, back in her arms.
-I'm sorry- she sighs into the white cotton of Max's dress shirt, as she buries her nose in his shoulder.
-I am sorry too- Max's hold around her tightens even more, if it's possible.
-Are you coming back?- the question leaves her lips shy and unsure, as she lifts her head to meet his gaze.
-Only if you will have me....
-Of course- Kenzie replies in a heartbeat -Of course, Schats, I've missed you so much! All I wanted was for you to come back to me...!
-Okay- Max agrees, his gaze not leaving hers, as he lifted his right hand to her face and brushed it lightly -Okey... I'm coming home then...
-And Maxy?
-Hm?- he mumbled, leaning his forehead on hers.
-Next time I tell you I hate you- Kenzie says, honest -Don't believe me!
-Believe me, I won't- he chuckled and pulled her lightly into slow and loving kiss.
-I'll never let you go again..- he mumbled into the kiss, making her smile. Looks like they're not getting rid od each other anytime soon....
THE END

Something angsty but still cute with Maxy...!
I hope you like it!
Have a nice day! / Goodnight!
F.