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21
Tatum
Max opensthe door and his jaw falls practically to the ground. He recovers quickly and then runs his hand through his hair. He steps aside and motions for me to come in. We don’t disconnect from our eyes as I enter.
“We’re making milkshakes, would you like one?” He asks, he seems nervous.
We?“Um, sure. If you have some pineapple…?” I trail off. Who is ‘we’? I set my bag on his table and shrug off my coat. We round the corner and I see a slim blonde arranging the ingredients to milkshakes and maneuvering through drawers in the kitchen as if she’s been in it a million times. She doesn’t notice that I’ve entered the house yet, as I’m cemented to the ground. I look at Max, who smiles.
“Tatum, I want you to meet my friend Nikki. Nik, this is Tatum.” He says interrupting her. I note that there’s no change in his voice. Chill Tatum, he’s got friends, some of them will be females!
His friend practically squeals as she drops the measuring cup on the counter.
“We were seriously just talking about you!” She is quite excited. “Hi, I’m Nikki. So, so, so nice to meet you.”
Okay, so Max has told her about me. I think that should be a good thing, right?
“Yeah, nice to meet you.” I say. Max pulls out the barstool for me to sit on and then returns to the main kitchen area and reaches into a cupboard and pulls out a can of pineapples. He forgets to close the cupboard and I notice the shelf is line with cans of pineapple and instantly my heart swells.
“Pineapples?” Nikki asks him as he sets the can down beside the strawberry basket.
“For Tatum.” He says smiling. “The baby wants pineapples and so the baby gets pineapples.”
This time my jaw hit the floor. Max goes about adding everything into the blender, and Nikki looks up at me and smiles. Her smile is sincere and I decide that I don’t hate her. Why would I hate her, Max and I aren’t together.
“So Tatum, Max says that you work with Davis. What grade do you teach?” Nikki asks pulling up the barstool next to me.
Okay, so she knows Davis too, she’s perfectly harmless, completely and perfectly harmless.
“Davis and I teach at different ends of the school, but we’re friends. I’m in kindergarten and he’s in 5th.” I explain.
“I knew I should have majored in education.” She huffs. “Why didn’t I major in education Max?” She laughs.
“Because you would rather fuck with people’s minds than mold them?” He offers with a smile looking up from pouring the milkshakes.
“I’m a psych major.” She explains.
Max hands me my milkshake and Nikki hers and we are all silent as we take our sips.
This tastes delicious!
I think as I take a second and third sip.
“I should get back to the grind. Thanks for the break Max, and Tatum, it was really great meeting you. I hope to see you soon.” She smiles. She takes the glass with her and as she opens the door she yells back, “I’ll bring the cup back.”
A minute goes by before either Max or I say anything. He has now taken the seat his friend Nikki was sitting on.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming over, otherwise…” He started.
“No, I was around the neighborhood. I shouldn’t have come over unannounced.”
“I’m glad you came over though. Funny though, Nik and I were just talking about you.”
“She seems nice. Girlfriend?” I had to ask.
He stops drinking from his glass and sets it down in front of him and turns to completely face me.
“No, just a friend. If she was my girlfriend, that all would have been a lot different.” I guess he’s right about that.
