NEED YOU NOW , maximus

[vienna]

IT'S A QUARTER AFTER ONE, I'M A LITTLE DRUNK AND I NEED YOU NOW

SAID I WOULDN'T CALL, BUT I LOST ALL CONTROL AND I NEED YOU NOW

vienna had always been an optimistic person who went after whatever it was that she wanted. it was very uncommon to see her anything but content with her life. it was rare to see her miserable about anything and even more rare to see her drunk. the day preceding august twenty-second was always the exception to this. in fact, it was rather common to find her like this on such a day. she had never really stuck around anywhere long enough for people to notice the trend though, and those who actually knew of the event were understanding and didn't dare to bring up the subject. august twenty-second marked lola's birthday, vienna's best friend who had passed away shortly before graduation. each year on this day, she did just the same, curled up in her room with a bottle of alcohol and looked through old pictures until 12:01 when she would wish her best friend a happy birthday.

happy twenty-third birthday, lola. she thought aloud as the clock hit 12:01. with that, she took another swig of her drink before setting down the bottle and moving the pictures that were scattered across her bed. each year, once she had finished her wallowing, she would go do one thing that she was holding herself back from. this year, after moving from her bed in a very spur of the moment decision, she decided she would go see max. he had told her to give him a call if she needed anything, and well she didn't exactly need anything but his company sounded good right about now. her foggy mind hadn't exactly figured out why she was heading towards max's house, but somehow she found herself stumbling towards it.

she had been to his house only once. it was a wonder she was actually able to find it under these conditions. it was even more of a wonder that she actually wanted to find it. she had spent so much time running away from his pursuing, and here she was actually going to him. although, she'd never admit it sober, she did find him terribly charming. he was comforting too. something about him actually kept her intrigued, and that was hard to find for her. she had never really wanted to waste her time with anyone, but when it came right down to it, maybe it was time she started wasting time with people. after all, settling down was on her list of things to do in life, it was just down at the very end. she was scared of finding that too early, scared that maybe there could be someone to hold her back from the things she wanted. a friend, a romance, whatever the hell it was, she found him to be a threat to her ways.

"max, maaaaaaax!" vienna yelled up to his window once she had arrived at his house, as if he could actually hear her. she had never really handled alcohol all that well, and her actions were evidence of it. she grabbed a few pebbles from the ground tossing them at the window. "max, wake up!" she yelled to the window, tossing a few more rocks. what am i doing? she finally questioned herself after a couple moments, taking a seat on his lawn. she then pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed his number, letting it ring until he finally answered it. "max, i'm sitting on your lawn. come let me in." she said before hanging up the phone. her thoughts were a little fuzzy by this point, and her appearance was rather awful too but it didn't matter much to her.

[MAXIMUS PETER GOLIGHTLY]

it was on the record that every night before bed maximus peter golightly had a drink of warm milk. it calmed his nerves, soothed him, and lulled him to sleep. what wasn't on the record was the fact that every night maximus peter golightly also had several drinks of scotch. he had problems with anxiety, problems with his racing thoughts, and problems with insomnia in general. the scotch would make him sleep soundly. instead of tossing and turning every five minutes through a sober night of sleep, maximus would chug down a scotch with a milk chaser and then stagger off to bed. it became his normal routine. without the scotch, he couldn't sleep, he would go days feeling like a dawn of the dead zombie; with the scotch, he slept like a goddamn baby. the only downside to this alcohol-induced state of sleep was the fact that max was dead asleep once he passed out, world war three couldn't wake him up, let alone the screaming and pebbles that vienna was aiming at his window.

the one thing that could wake max up was his blackberry. he had become so dependent on the sound of it's ringing that it could wake him up no matter what. as his ringtone, freaky girl by rick james, rang out into the silence of his home, max's eyes popped open. still half asleep, max scrambled around for his blackberry. he could hear it, but he couldn't see it. it wasn't in it usual place, the nightstand drawer. the ringstone seemed impossibly loud compared to the silence surrounding him. after lifting several piles of clothes, max found his cell phone. it took five minutes and two rings for him to find it. “hello?” a drowsy max answered. it was much to his surprise to hear vienna dawson on the other end of the line. it was clearly her voice, but there was something different about it. she sounded upset, sad even. something was wrong, he knew it. it became even more apparent that something was wrong when vienna asked for max to let her in. vienna had been turning him down for months; for her to suddenly change her mind was a red flag. without questioning it any further, max said “okay,” pressed end on his phone, and went downstairs to let vienna in.

the deadbolt on max's front door seemed impossible to turn with his slightly drunk, half-asleep, uncoordinated hands. max felt like an invalid as he struggled to turn the large golden lock. it took him a couple minutes, but max was finally victorious in opening the large wooden door. he quietly opened his front door and looked out to the front lawn. as promised, there was vienna dawson, a blue-eyed beauty, sitting on his front lawn. max could hardly believe it. he leaned against the door frame and stared at her for a moment, admiring her picturesque looks. at work, he had to pull his gaze away from her, keep himself from staring, distract himself from thinking about her. this was his golden opportunity. he could stare as long as he like, until her eyes met his, until he got every aspect of this moment engrained into his memory. he memorized her silhouette before asking “vodka or scotch?” max laughed nervously before continuing on, “if you're here, you must need a drink and i don't got much else.”

[vienna]

IT'S A QUARTER AFTER ONE, I'M A LITTLE DRUNK AND I NEED YOU NOW

SAID I WOULDN'T CALL, BUT I LOST ALL CONTROL AND I NEED YOU NOW

vienna didn't move from the ground once she had slipped her phone back into her pocket. instead, she sat there taking a moment to think while she waited for him to come to the door. she could tell by the voice on the phone that he had been half asleep. knowing him, he'd probably take his good old time getting downstairs, not to mention, she'd seen him half-asleep a few times. he wasn't exactly the sharpest by that point. while she waited, she took a deep breath and searched her mind for why she had actually ended up max's. she knew it was a spur of the moment decision, but what had sparked such an idea? yeah, she was upset. yeah, it was a bad day, but how did max get into the equation? she just couldn't quite remember what had lead her to make such a decision.

she rubbed her head a moment, finally turning to look towards the door when she heard his front door open. she knew he wasn't able to see her looking just yet, but she caught him watching her for a moment before she actually turned and moved from the ground. standing up so quickly made her a little dizzy, but she stabilized herself after a moment. then, she made her way towards his front door, looking over his rather tired frame as she made her way towards him. vodka or scotch? if you're here, you must need a drink and i don't got much else. he was right, mostly. for her to be there, there just had to be some type of alcohol involved. she was having her bad day and he had told her to call if she needed anything. it may not have been a call per se, but showing up at his house was her way of showing him that she did need something.

what she needed, well that was a different story. at this point, alcohol probably wasn't what she needed, but what the hell, she might as well have some more. "how about both?" she asked, stepping into his house. as she stepped into his house and actually got a closer look at him, she noticed he looked a bit different too. maybe it was the large amount of alcohol in her system, or maybe it was his half-asleep appearance, but something was different about him and she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

once through his doorframe, she slid her shoes off and looked to him. "you told me to call if i needed anything," she began, "this isn't really a call, and i'm not exactly sure what i need, and now that i think about it, i don't really know why i'm here but i could use a little more to drink." she tried to explain her actions, but it didn't really work out. she couldn't exactly explain something that she didn't know. she wasn't really sure what she was looking for by showing up at max's, but for some ungodly reason, she had gotten the idea to go there. like every other place she had ever traveled to, she just went with the impulse and hoped it lead to something good. this was just the same.