"What a shame," Mr. Uppercrust says, his tone indicating he didn't actually think it was a shame.

Bradley glances at my mortified face before clearing his throat. "So... how about that weather, huh?"

"The weather?" I whisper to him. "Seriously?"

"I've never had to change the subject before," he mutters back in annoyance.

Roxanne's voice interrupts our conversation. "Yeah, the weather's been really nice with summer approaching."

"I'm excited for the summertime," my dad says, acting as if he hadn't just been asked about his dead wife. "Maxie gets to come home for two months, and we're going to spend every waking moment together!"

"Sounds... riveting," Bradley's mother muses, pushing her food around on her plate.

"You lookin' forward to spending time with Bradley?" my father asks cheerfully.

Mrs. Uppercrust lets out a small scoff. "My husband and I will be in the Carribean. Besides, Bradley's a grown man. He can take care of himself- he's been doing it for years."

I glance at Bradley, who shrinks down into his seat in embarrassment.

Roxanne stands up from the table slowly. "I think I'll excuse myself... I have to... feed my dog. Thank you for dinner, Mr. Goof."

She bolts away, not even waiting for a response.

"How rude," Mrs. Uppercrust mutters, shaking her head.

My dad stands up, gathering plates from around the table. "I'll tidy up. You guys keep talking!"

He leaves the dining room, disappearing around the corner into the kitchen and abandons me with the Uppercrust family.

Lovely.

The air is awkward again for a few moments, then Mr. Uppercrust speaks. "How did you deal with the loss of the X Games?"

Loss? What did he mean "loss"?

"Excuse us," Bradley says to his parents with a nervous chuckle as he grabs my shoulder. "I need a word with Max here really quick."

Before I can protest, he practically drags me out of my seat and into the living room. I scowl at him in indignance, incandescently swatting his hand away from my arm. He gives me a pleading look, and I raise a brow at him in a questioning manner.

"Look, I might have maybe told my parents that perhaps I won the X Games...?" His voice gets exponentially higher as he speaks.

"Mierda, you did what?" I ask in exasperation, running a hand down my face.

Bradley smiles pompously and slings a sweater-clad arm around my shoulder. "You'd consider me a buddy, yeah? How about you do this favor for me, buddy?"

I push him off of me angrily. "I'm supposed to pretend I lost? Do you know how self-absorbed you sound?"

"Hey, one of our lessons this week was granting favors for friends, right? You wouldn't want to be a hypocrite, now, would you?" His grin shifts to a more mischievous one, and it takes all my power not to bop him in the nose.

"... Fine. But only because I'm a nice guy, okay?"

Bradley laughs triumphantly at my response and walks back to the dining room, expecting me to follow him. As we arrive back at the room, Mr. and Mrs. Uppercrust's faces light up in a jubilant air of realization that we can talk about their son's "win". I sit down in my chair next to Bradley and give him a look that said he owed me.

"Well," I begin with feigned embarrassment. "Bradley sure kicked my team's butt."

Mr. Uppercrust hums in satisfaction. "He has always been a winner."

I nod with a small grin, patting Bradley on the shoulder. "He even promised me a reward of one hundred dollars to soften the blow. He's really been working on his thoughtfulness. Speaking of, why don't you give it to me now?"

"Of course," he says, obviously masking a death glare while reaching into his khaki pocket for his wallet.

He pulls out a one-hundred-dollar bill and holds it out to me with a hesitant expression. As I eagerly nab the slip of paper, he grabs my hand with both of his own hands and pulls me closer to him, his mouth next to my ear.

"Well played, Goof."

He leans back and lets go of my hand, along with the crumpled dollar. Something that's probably disgust bubbles up in my stomach from the interaction. Mrs. Uppercrust smiles in delight, and Mr. Uppercrust just hums again.

Bradley's mother speaks with a thrilled tone. "Oh, our Bradley has always been thoughtful, as well as a winner."

I exchange looks with Bradley, and we can already tell what the other is thinking:

Dios mío, these people are insufferable.

The Uppercrusts don't even wave in departure as they exit the house an hour later- well, except for Bradley, who does this weird salute action and visibly regrets it. Even with all of the passive-aggressive comments and the mention of my mother, my dad's cheerful manner doesn't falter, and I gain a little more respect for him. Bradley looks at me one last time before ducking down and sitting in the driver's seat of his red sports car.

~*~*~

"Okay, how do we sneak out of here?"

Roxanne voice drifts up from behind me, and I turn around to face her. Honestly, I forgot she was here- I've been too preoccupied with the memory of last night's events. Why did Bradley lie? Was he scared of his parents?

"Well... we could always just run," I suggest lazily.

She shrugs, grabbing my hand. "Let's run, then."

Without further hesitation, we bolt away from the party, ignoring the confused shouts of my friends.

We slow down as we near the entrance of Brewtiful Day, cautiously keeping an eye out for Nico or anyone else. Deeming it all clear, Roxanne and I creep into the shop, opening the glass door slowly as to not set off the gold bell at the top of the frame. To our relief, no one is at the counter, and as always, there are no customers.

"Let's go check," Roxanne says with a tug of my hand.

I draw my hand back, holding it against my chest. "Are you sure? I mean, we could get into big trouble."

She rolls her eyes and drags me behind the counter and toward the storage room. The ominous blue curtain loomed over us, a reminder that we didn't belong here. I take a deep breath, and Roxanne reaches open the curtain with me.

Before we can peek inside, Bradley pops out from the room, a look of surprise and anger flashing across his features.

"What're you doing here again?" He asks stiffly, his gaze harsh.

I grin sheepishly and look anywhere but him. "Nothing, nothing. Just... checking the place out."

He narrows his eyes at both of us, poking my chest with his index finger. "You're part of that group of people who wanted to see if the rumors were true, huh? Is that it?"

"What rumors?" Roxanne asks slowly.

Bradley pauses for a moment then crosses his arms. "If you're not trying to prove the rumors, then I'll ask again- what're you doing here?"

"Well- we wanted to- well, the thing is..." I scramble with my words, trying to find the right thing to tell him.

"You were just finding somewhere to make out," he says in annoyance, "Go do that somewhere else. I don't need to see you guys all up on each other."

My eyes widen, and Roxanne snorts. "Why would Max and I make out?"

"Because you can't seem to keep your hands off each other," he grumbles, looking away from us in exasperation.

"It's not like that-" I begin to speak, but Bradley rudely cuts me off.

"Go away and stay out of my life!"

I raise a brow at his reaction. "See you Monday, then?"

"Yes, fine!" He throws his hands up in displeasure then proceeds to herd Roxanne and I out of the shop. "Go away, though."

I glance back over my shoulder at him as he retreats hurriedly to the back room. There was a strange way about his reaction, and the wild accusations that went through my mind the day before seemed a little less believable. Something is going down in Brewtiful Cafe, and I intend to find out.

"There's definitely something fishy about that place," Roxanne says as she peers over her shoulder at a very exasperated Bradley in the window.

I nod and pull her closer by slinging an arm over her shoulders. "Let's not think about it. We have only, like, five hours left together before your flight to New York."

She smiles sadly, looking up at the cloudy sky. "I'm going to miss the stars at night. Gosh, you can see so many out here, but when I went to check out New York for the first time with Tammy, all I could see were city lights."

"You could always come down here to visit so that you can go stargazing again," I suggest with a small beam. "Tammy, too, if she'd like."

Roxanne looks over at me. "That sounds lovely."

We walk across the campus, hand-in-hand, both wondering if Roxanne really will keep her promise or if this is the last time we'd see each other.