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Roxanne watched as her ex boyfriend and his current best friend argued over absolutely nothing in front of her. They had been going at it for nearly ten minutes. She took a peek at her watch. Fifteen minutes now.
“Better get comfortable, sweetheart, those two can go on for hours,” Roxanne looked over as Tank approached her side, handing her a bottle of water. She took it with a smile and then turned her attention back to Max and Bradley.
“All I asked was what a good place to eat lunch would be!” She exclaimed. Beside her, Tank chuckled, and took a seat on a ledge.
“They’re tryin’ to impress ya,” He told her. Roxanne leaned against the ledge as well, propping her elbows up behind her.
“Are they always like this?” She asked, taking a sip of her water.
“Believe it or not, I think they enjoy each other most when they’re fighting with each other,” Tank laughed. He watched Bradley nitpick Max’s argument, which caused the latter to turn red in the face and counter with something new.
Roxanne shook her head. “I don’t get why they’re so unable to get along. Why be friends if all they do is argue, you know?”
“There’s more to it under the surface, honey,” Tank noted. Roxanne blinked, and turned to look at him.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
Tank sighed. It wasn’t really his place to point out the underlying infatuation between the two. After the X games, Bradley hit rock bottom. Tank himself couldn’t just throw away years of their friendship, despite how mad he had been at him. Bradley was an annoying little shit, but he was his annoying little shit. Tank looked after him as though he was actually family. Once Max saw how forgiving Tank was towards the old College X Games King he too offered an olive branch of peace. It wasn’t until the two started bonding over their similarities did an actual friendship form.
Still, old habits die hard. The two would fight over literally anything and everything under the sun. It didn’t take long to realize that Bradley was using the fights to cover up his obvious crush on the younger Sophomore.
Tank started paying attention more closely to the arguments, and discovered that Max was acting the exact same way towards Bradley.
Roxanne took Tank’s silence as a moment to reflect. She was visiting the campus as part of her internship, and used the opportunity to reconnect with her old friends. Sure, she and Max didn’t end up working out as a couple, but there was just something safe about a first love that couldn’t be replaced. Max would always be part of her life, no matter what.
Roxanne watched the two, trying to figure out Tank’s words. Realization settled in, as she noticed how close the two had gotten during their ‘argument’.
She wasn’t sure too much about Bradley, but she was sure about one thing at least. Max Goof was down bad.
“How long do you think until they figure it out?” She asked Tank. Tank snorted.
“No tellin’,” He said, honestly. “I swear, those two are both oblivious.”
Roxanne shook her head. “Well, Max at least would be the one to figure it out first. He’s always been one to go after who he wants.”
Tank’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Wanna make a friendly bet, sweetheart?”
Roxanne turned to look at him with a grin. “What are you suggesting, exactly?” She asked.
“I bet that those two won’t get their shit together until they graduate,” Tank laughed. Roxanne joined him by giggling.
“Nah,” She said. “Max’ll figure it out sooner than that.”
“We’ll see who ends up being right,” Tank smirked, nudging her shoulder playfully. Roxanne laughed.
“What are you two snickering about over there?” Max called, causing them both to look and realize that the two had finally grown tired of arguing.
“Don’t worry about it, baby!” Tank called back, giving Roxanne a wink. They both got up from the ledge and made their way over. Roxanne tried not to laugh out right at Max’s confused look.
“So, are we actually going to go somewhere to eat or what?” She joked.
“I finally convinced the sophomore to ease up, and let me buy lunch for everyone,” Bradley said, with a satisfied grin. Max looked at him, sour.
“I’m only agreeing because I’m hungry and broke,” he retorted.
Roxanne smiled at the two. “Well, let’s go. I’m starving,” she said cheerfully.
“You know I’ll get you next time right?”
“Don’t worry about it, Baby Goof…”
“You’re always doing that! You can at least let me pay you back!”
Tank and Roxanne sighed and let the two start another argument with each other, ahead of them. Roxanne shook her head as she and Tank kept their distance.
“At this rate, you’re probably going to win.” She grumbled.
Tank laughed. “I know my boys pretty well, sweetheart,” He said fondly.
Roxanne beamed at him. She was so happy that Max made such good friends in college, and especially was happy that he and Bradley seemed to be so enamored with each other.
It was such a shame she was probably going to end up losing the bet.