I raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned.
"I thought you'd like pink more than the the basic ugly bandaids,” he confessed and I smiled.
"How did you know how to do that?"
He gave me sad smile.
"My mom was sick a lot when I was little. She was so unwell, but we couldn't afford to let her stay in the hospital if her condition wasn't progressing. We moved her to homecare and there were days she'd pull out her IV when she was upset. I got myself trained to be able to insert it in case anything happened and a nurse couldn't travel down,” he revealed.
My shoulders sank at his words and as much as I tried to hide my sadness, I failed miserably.
He smiled, shaking his head and moving a few strands of my hair out of my face.
"It's okay. She's not suffering anymore,” he whispered.
I slowly moved over to one half of the bed, thankfully not waking Logan. I patted the bed for Maximus to sit next to me. He was hesitant but took me up on my offer, sliding his legs beneath the sheet and relaxing next to me.
"She's not? Did the illness get better?"
He smiled.
"No. She's in heaven with my dad."
My mouth opened to respond, to say something comforting like 'I'm sorry,' or apologize for bringing it up, but no words came out. Losing someone was so hard and I had yet to move on from Gabriel's death.
Maximus moved his arm to pull me gently to rest on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't give me that face. I've...almost come to terms with it. She was sick for a long time and that's kind of the reason why I met the Parks. Brax was my first friend since no one wanted to chill with the fat kid with a sick mom."
"What?" I glanced up at him, horrified that kids would do such a thing.
Sure, I had my share of bad rumors spread about me and after Father's and then Gabriel's death, I saw the true side of people, but I would never be able to deal with people coming to my face and saying those words.
"Kids aren't nice when you don't fit in with the cool crowd," Maximus pointed out.
"But...that doesn't give them the right to tease you," I countered.
"I know, Jewel. Just...that’s how it was. I was the perfect target for any bully. When I met Brax, he noticed how closed off I was. I rarely talked. I had to deal with my dying mother and the reality my father was already gone. I guess I grew up fast but gained weight because I had to make my own meals which was hard and we didn't have a lot of money after Mom's treatment."
He sighed, using his free hand to ruffle his hair and looking up at the ceiling, as if to stop the tears I noticed in his eyes.
"It's something I hate talking about. I actually haven't told anyone else but here I am randomly spilling my guts to you. I just...hated life back then. The bullying happened every day. I was called a pig and because I had a wider frame and not bulky fit thighs, they nicknamed me My-thigh-us. I thought they meant Mythus, talking about ancient gods and their power but it was simply a term they used to make fun of my fat thighs. It sucked balls and I was lonely..."
I lifted my hand and wiped the tear that had escaped his eyes. He smiled, looking down to meet my gaze.
I didn't want him thinking I felt sorry for him, I despised bullying and the lingering effects it had because I myself had experienced those effects, even to this day.
"Once I started opening up to Brax, he found out I was getting bullied. It was shortly after my mom had died and I was forced to go to school the next day while they figured out which foster care I'd be placed in. I didn't know what was going to happen to me, or what my future would hold, and I was frightened they would throw away all the memories of my parents. They hadn’t been bad people, they just both had an illness that they couldn't conquer, yet I felt I was being penalized for it. When I got to school, instead of people saying ‘sorry for your loss,’ they laughed."
He took a deep, calming breath and continued.
"They laughed and laughed as if my mother's death was funny. No one knew the pain I held in my heart, but they thought it was hilarious. I stood there in shame and cried, wishing I could just fade away to be with my parents. That's when Brax showed up at my school and beat the shit out of the bully who always started the taunting. When the teachers got involved, Brax explained everything that had happened."
"Wow...did the teachers apologize for not noticing?" I wondered.
"They didn't believe us at first. They thought I was making things up since a few students involved were from well-off families. They thought I was jealous of their quality of life, because mine was spiraling down into nothing. That's where Kage comes in." Maximus smirked.
"Kage?" I asked.