Behind the Falls Read online

  The rest of the week is largely uneventful even though it featured several tests and one pop quiz. I’m just hanging around the house on a Saturday night. I got all of my homework done on Friday because I didn’t really have anything better to do. Max and Tabitha went to a show in Lancaster but I never heard of the band and I just didn’t want to go. Going to a club to see a rock show isn’t really something I’m comfortable with.

  Around six o’clock Max calls me. “What are you doing right now?” he asks brightly.

  “Mom just said dinner in ten minutes so I’m trying not to think too hard about what kind of monstrosity she has planned,” I admit. This brings a chuckle from Max.

  “Come over to my house. We’re getting pizza,” he says. I know his parents are out of town for the weekend with his younger siblings. They went to Pittsburgh for Lydia’s mother’s birthday and Max chose to stay home because of the aforementioned show he wanted to go to on Friday night.

  “Who is we?” I ask.

  “Elliot and I were recording and his little sister Katie came with him and then Tabitha and her brother and a few of their friends stopped by. There’s a few of us but no one that you don’t know from the lunch table. Come over. We missed you last night. You can’t sit home two nights in a row,” he cajoles.

  “Okay, if my parents say it’s alright,” I agree. Mom knows there is no parental supervision at Max’s house this weekend. I’m not completely sure she’ll be agreeable.

  “Do you want me to pick you up? They’ll let you come if I pick you up. Your mom can’t say no to me,” he says with confidence. It’s true. The more time my mom spends at the Maxwell’s hanging out with Lydia and the more she gets to know Max the more impressed she is. He’s smart, courteous and so self-confident that I think she believes he’s a good influence on me.

  “It’s only a few blocks. I’m capable of walking.”

  “Yeah, but I have to pick up the pizzas anyway and this way she won’t say no. You know you don’t want to eat dinner at home.” He has a point.

  “Okay, pick me up and convince my mom,” I say and hang up the phone. Mom is just calling me to dinner when there is a knock at the door. Mom beats me to it and looks out the side window.

  “Noah, you didn’t tell me Max was coming over. We’re just getting ready for dinner,” she says. She opens the door and greets him warmly. “Hello, Max. Is everything okay at home this weekend? Have you eaten yet? You’re welcome to join us.”

  “No thanks, Mrs. Blakely. I was just going to get some pizza. I was hoping it would be okay if Noah came over this evening? It’s been pretty quiet at my house,” he says. He’s not exactly lying but he knows as well as I do that my mom is more likely to let me go to an unsupervised house if she doesn’t think it’s full of un-chaperoned teenagers.

  “Well, I guess that would be okay,” Mom says. “I’m sure Noah would prefer pizza anyway. He’s been such a picky eater lately.” Sure, like it has nothing to do with the science experiments she’s been serving for dinner for the last few months. “Be home by midnight,” she tells me.

  Max called the pizza order in before he came to my house so our next stop is one of the two pizza parlors in town. One place offers delivery but they are not the good one. Max chose to pick up the pizza in favor of the really good stuff. I grew up on Chicago pizza and I give this place two thumbs up. I wait in the car and when he emerges with a stack of pizza boxes I wonder just how many people there are at Max’s house.

  “Uh, Max? Is this like a full on party? Because I can promise you if my mom finds out there were drugs or drinking or something I will never be allowed over to your house again even if I don’t do anything like that.” Max laughs out loud.

  “First of all, everyone drove to my house and I wouldn’t let anyone I know drink and drive. Second, if they want to do that kind of shit they can find other places to hang out. I don’t do that and they know I wouldn’t put up with it in my house. You’re fine, No.”

  “Like never? You’ve never just had a few drinks at a party or snuck some pot or anything?” I ask. I can understand not letting his friends drink and drive. I mean, his mom was killed by a drunk driver so that makes sense. But still, Max is a musician and looks like the kind of person you’d expect to do drugs. His sleepy eyes kinda make him look stoned a lot of the time after all. I can’t believe he’s adamantly against it.

  “Noah, my biological father was an addict that died of a drug overdose. Quite often that shit is hereditary. Do you really think I want to risk finding out that I got more from him than black hair and blue eyes?”

  “I guess I never thought about it. The stuff I overhear people talking about at school…I was starting to think I’m the only person that doesn’t at least drink,” I admit. “So, why do you have a house full of people if there’s no party?” Max laughs his regular Max chuckle.

  “I know you were homeschooled your whole life so I’ll tell you a secret. You learned typical teenaged behavior from movies…probably bad eighties movies at that. Kids at home without parental supervision does not always equal epic blow out. If you haven’t noticed there’s precious little to do in this town. Everyone was bored and one person texted to see what another was doing and so on and so on and everyone just ended up at my place. Even if you’re not doing anything wrong it’s nice to hang out at the place that has no parents telling you to turn down the music or to keep your voices down or lecture you about smoking and threaten to tell your parents or for God’s sake stop with the cussing.”

  We’ve arrived at Max’s house and he gets the pizza out of the back seat of Lydia’s Subaru Legacy and hands me half the stack. I don’t know if word gets out or if the delicious odor of hot pizza brings everyone but soon the crowd is flocking to the kitchen. Max gets paper plates and napkins and pop for everyone and we dig in. Some of us sit at the table, others stand at the breakfast counter and Max himself sits on the kitchen counter next to the sink. I look around the suddenly crowded room but I at least recognize everyone here.

  There’s Elliot of course because he’s been here all day recording with Max. His little sister Katie is fifteen and she sits with us at lunch sometimes so I know her well enough to say hi to her. Darcy with the purple hair is here. A girl named Tessa that kinda dates Tabitha’s brother Terry is here as are Tabitha and Terry of course. Rounding out the group is Kyle, Terry’s best friend and Tabitha’s supposed crush. I don’t really know him and I don’t like the way he eyes me up and down when he comes into the room.

  Max tells me about the “sick beats” Elliot laid down earlier and promises to play me what they’ve been working on as soon as he has a chance to add more instruments to it and do a rough mix.

  “He’s too modest,” Elliot says as he demolishes a slice of pizza. “It’s all Max. If he didn’t write such great shit I wouldn’t have any inspiration for my mad beats.”

  After everyone is stuffed and most of the pizza is gone, Max sends everyone back downstairs while he cleans up the kitchen. We’re all spread out around Max’s bedroom and studio when he comes down the stairs. Max puts on some music and the guys start talking about playing Grand Theft auto which is what they were doing before Max left for the pies.

  “Oh God, please no more video games,” moans Darcy. “If I wanted to sit around and watch boys get crazy over video games I could have stayed home with my little brothers.”

  “How about truth or dare?” Katie says. Her suggestion gets a few affirmatives mostly from the girls but the guys aren’t really interested.

  “How about spin the bottle?” suggests Tabitha.

  “If you really want to kiss me you don’t have to do so under the farce of a game,” teases Elliot. Tabitha rolls her eyes.

  “Come on, Kitty Cat, aren’t we too old for that by now?” says Max.

  “No, I think it’s a good idea,” Darcy agrees. She shoots a look at Kyle then winks at Tabitha.

  “Yeah, come on, Maxwell. This could be my one and only chance to get any acti
on around here,” laughs Elliot. Eventually we’re all sitting cross-legged arranged boy girl in a circle but since we have an uneven number Elliot and Max end up seated boy, boy.

  “Well it was your grand idea,” says Max handing a water bottle to Tabitha. “You first and don’t pretend you don’t know the rules. You kiss whoever the bottle lands on no matter who it is and the kiss has to last at least five seconds.”

  “Yeah and that means one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”begins Elliot.

  “We know!” shout Darcy and Tabitha in unison. Tabitha spins first and the bottle lands on Max, big shock.

  “Fixed!” yells Terry.

  “Cheat!” says Darcy.

  “Do over!” adds Elliot. Max laughs.

  “No, that’s okay. You know the rules. No do overs. Besides, it’s not like you can really ‘fix’ a random spin.” He crawls to the center of the circle on hands and knees to meet Tabitha and they kiss. I’ve seen Max and Tabitha kiss plenty of times but not recently. It’s more than a casual kiss but doesn’t have the heat of their usual kisses.

  Max spins and ends up with Darcy who teases him that he doesn’t know what he’s in for. Their kiss has more heat than the one between Max and Tabitha. Darcy spins and ends up kissing Elliot next. Elliot spins and kisses Tessa. So far everyone is pretty good natured about the whole thing. No one goes overboard but no one acts especially shy either. I spend every spin mentally willing the bottle to not land on me.

  After Tessa spins and lands on Terry amid more calls of fixing and cheating, Terry spins and lands on Katie. She looks as nervous as I feel as she leans into the center of the circle and gets a chaste kiss from Tabitha’s older brother. It last exactly five seconds and I can’t help wondering if it was the poor girl’s first kiss. She’s blushing furiously.

  Katie spins and gets Kyle. Their kiss is also a chaste five second kiss. The oldest two boys in the group are more than aware that this is Elliot’s little sister and that she’s the youngest person in the room. Kyle spins and gets Tabitha and I’m really interested in how this will play out. I think everyone assumes that Tabitha suggested this game as an excuse to kiss him.

  She doesn’t act nervous or even especially excited. The kiss isn’t any hotter than any of the others so far. As a matter of fact, this game is so tame I’m not even afraid anymore. Several spins later the bottle is in Darcy’s hand and her spin lands on me. Okay, I’m afraid now.

  I meet Darcy in the center of the circle and just pray that I don’t make a fool of myself. Darcy gives me a reassuring smile before she kisses me and I remember that she was in on the whole get Noah kissed at his first school dance plan that went down last month. Darcy’s lips are soft and she gives me a gentle kiss, lips slightly parted but no tongue. I don’t think it lasts much longer than the five seconds that the stated rules require.

  I spin and end up with Tabitha. Before she joins me in the center of the circle I see her shoot a quick glance at Max. I have no idea what it means. She didn’t do that when she kissed Kyle. My eyes dart to Max to see if he noticed her brief look and he’s just watching us, taking it all in with his usual sleepy look when Tabitha presses her lips to mine.

  Unlike Darcy’s kiss, Tabitha does use some tongue. As a matter of fact, I can’t be sure what it looks like to anyone watching but to me it seems like more of a kiss than she gave Kyle and everyone thinks she likes him. It definitely lasts longer than five seconds.

  “Okay, come on, don’t be stingy. Share some of that,” Elliot laughs and Tabitha breaks away. Tabitha spins and lands on Terry.

  “Oh come on, do over,” Terry argues. “She’s my sister!” he complains when everyone urges him on.

  “Don’t be such a pussy,” Tabitha says and puts her lips on his for exactly five seconds. The game continues and eventually everyone has been kissed at least once. The game is losing its excitement when Darcy spins and gets Tabitha.

  “Yes!” says Elliot enthusiastically. “Now we’re talking!” Kyle joins Elliot’s enthusiasm with some catcalls and whistling of his own.

  Tabitha and Darcy really play it up and move tauntingly slowly into the center of the circle. They both kneel in front of each other and Darcy licks her lips. Tabitha slowly and seductively brushes a strand of Darcy’s hair behind her ear. Elliot, Kyle and even Terry are going crazy, egging them on and begging them to just do it already.

  They take each other’s face in their hands and begin to kiss. They start out slowly with gentle, soft kisses but then it escalates quickly into open mouth and obvious tongue action. They press against each other and continue to kiss for well more than five seconds. They know exactly what they’re doing to the guys. When they finally break apart there is a moan around the circle.

  “Oh.My.God. That was so hot,” Elliot sighs.

  “Holy shit,” Kyle says. Terry just whistles. I look around the circle and see Katie looking a little uncomfortable and Max is just kinda looking at me with an unreadable expression. Tabitha and Darcy giggle as Tabitha spins again. She gets Elliot who makes a big deal out of kissing her after the show she just put on with Darcy. After they kiss, Elliot spins and it lands on Max.

  “Do over,” says Terry.

  “Oh, no way,” argues Tabitha. “Darcy and I kissed and everyone was fine with that.”

  “But two girls kissing is hot!” Kyle interjects. Elliot looks at Max who shrugs and they kiss as chastely as Tabitha and Terry kissed for five seconds, no more and no less.

  “Lame,” says Tabitha.

  “Incredibly lame,” agrees Darcy. “That could have been so hot.” Kyle mutters something under his breath but I can’t make out what he said. The game continues and it seems pretty tame and likely to break up soon when Elliot has a spin that lands on Kyle.

  “No fucking way,” Kyle says with vehement hostility. Terry gives him a shove towards the center of the circle.

  “Come on, man. I had to kiss my SISTER,” Terry laughs.

  “At least she’s a GIRL,” Kyle says louder than necessary

  “Hey, I had to kiss Maxwell,” says Elliot acting offended.

  “Well yeah but I AM adorable,” Max shrugs and everyone laughs. Everyone, that is, except Kyle.

  “No, it’s disgusting,” Kyle says.

  “Geeze, bruise my ego why dontcha,” Elliot laughs. “Just suck it up and let’s get on with the game,” he says as he makes his way into the center of the circle. Kyle surprises everyone by shoving Elliot roughly away.

  “Get away from me you fucking homo!” Kyle jumps to his feet. “What is wrong with you freaks? Are you all a bunch of fucking fags?”

  “Don’t be such a tool,” Terry says but Kyle is already headed for the stairs. Terry gets up and looks to Max apologetically. “Sorry he’s such a dick. It was fun but he’s our ride so we’d better jet. Tabby? Coming with us?” Tabitha looks to Max who doesn’t say anything right away so Elliot offers her a ride home.

  After Kyle and Terry and Tessa leave things eventually get back to normal. Elliot challenges his sister to a video game and Darcy calls dibs on the next game. Darcy seems to have gotten over her boredom with video games considering how spin the bottle ended. They’re all sitting on Max’s bed.

  Max picks up an acoustic guitar and sits on a chair in the corner just strumming chords lightly without singing while he watches them play. It occurs to me that he plays right handed even though he writes with his left hand. Tabitha sits on the floor near him and tries to get him to talk but he seems to be in a quiet mood tonight. His answers are pleasant enough but brief.

  I’ve never been much for playing video games. I’ve never been very good at them or even really cared to try to get better. I’d rather kill time watching movies or reading a book. I enjoy watching Elliot play though. He’s really good and makes it look like fun. Who knew video game spectating could be entertaining? It’s still pretty early but my eyes are getting heavy as I sit on the floor and lean against Max’s bed and watch the game. I did get up rea
lly early to run this morning and I had way too much pizza. The full stomach is making me groggy.

  I’m barely aware of what’s going on around me. At some point Tabitha sat on the arm of Max’s chair and I wouldn’t have even noticed that until she tries to kiss him. He doesn’t really kiss her back but he’s not rude or anything. No one else even seems to notice anything is going on.

  “Come on, why not?” she whispers as she tries to coax him again. This time he actually says no very quietly. She’s persistent though and either whispers something in his ear or just kisses it. I can’t tell. I let my bangs fall in my eyes and I’m facing the TV but I’m watching them out of the corner of my eye.

  “Tabitha, we talked about this,” he says very quietly. No one else notices until Tabitha gets up and storms out of the room and up the stairs. I’m surprised when Max doesn’t follow her. All he does is puts the guitar down and sighs.

  “What’s with her?” Darcy asks offhandedly without really looking away from the TV. She’s trying to uncover Elliot’s weaknesses so she can use it against him when it’s her turn to play.

  “Needed some air,” is all Max says. A half hour goes by and Tabitha still hasn’t returned. I go upstairs to get something to drink and I see her huddled on the patio. I skip the drink and slip into my jacket to join her. She looks up when she hears the patio door and then she gives me a sort of frown.

  “Oh, it’s YOU,” she says and I have no idea why she’s using that antagonistic tone. I didn’t do anything to her after all.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I ask as I lean against the wall next to her. It’s chilly enough that we can see our breath and she’s only wearing a shirt so I offer her my jacket.

  “Pfft, chivalrous are you? Keep it. You have like zero body fat to keep your skinny ass from freezing,” she says. I lean against her to lend her some warmth. “What are you doing out here anyway?”