Channing shot a look of anger over toward a shocked Max.
‘Whatever,’ Channing said, his mood blackening by the second. ‘I guess I’ll just come home from a few hours ploughing through paperwork and clean up myself… it’s not like Daddies, or supposed Daddies, ever clean, is it?’
This was enough to prompt a clearly perplexed Max into action.
‘Hey,relax,’ Max said, springing up from the couch and walking toward Channing. ‘What’s got into you, boy?’ Yeah, I’ve had a chill morning. So what? I’m sorry you’ve obviously had a less good time, I really am. But please don’t be a jerk and take it out on me. Okay?’
Channing looked at Max.
It was clear that Max was a little pissed off himself at this point. Part of Channing wanted to confess his feelings of stress and anxiety over everything, but he couldn’t get the words out.
Talk to him, he’s your Daddy.
Make this right, Max will understand.
Just…
However rather than explaining what was wrong, Channing simply turned away from a frustrated Max and continued on with the cleaning.
‘Hey!’ Max snapped. ‘Don’t be so damned rude, boy. This isn’t cool. It’s not coolat all.’
‘Urgh. It’s always about you, isn’t it?’ Channing said, his voice highly-strung and full of spite. ‘Poor Max. You’re supposed to be a Daddy. And Daddies should know what to do or say! No, just keep focusing on yourself.’
Channing immediately regretted lashing out like that, but his pride prevented him from apologizing like he knew he should have. And it seemed like the comment was just about all that Max could handle too.
‘Okay, that’s how you see me?’ Max said, his voice trembling with anger. ‘Well screw you too. I’m outta here, man.’
With that, a clearly furious and hurt Max picked up his jacket and stormed out of the apartment.
Every bone in Channing’s body was aching to run after Max, but yet again he couldn’t force himself into action.
As he heard the sound of the building’s front door slam shut, something suddenly dawned on Channing.
I was a real ass just then.
Have I pushed him too far?
Is Max… coming back?
The prospect of losing Max all over again was something that Channing could barely contemplate. This reminded him verymuch of the times in college that Max would leave in a storm of emotion and leave a trail of chaos and hurt feelings behind him.
Except this time it was different.
Channing felt like it washewho was to blame in this instance.
What had Max actually done wrong? Nothing really.
Suddenly, Channing felt incredibly regretful about his behavior. The day had started off on an unsteady footing after a terrible night’s sleep, but since then it had only gotten worse and worse. This felt like the worst point of all.
The only thing that Channing could hope for would be that Max would realize that Channing was acting out of character and calm down and come back home to talk things through.
Hoping for Max to come back was one thing.
But Channing knew from painful experience that when the going got tough, Max more often than not chose to bail and not look back…
Chapter 18
MAX
